Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 25, 2010
The story's spine is how the county board, egged on by bloggers, came to unanimously pass a law requiring county police to check the immigration status of anyone they stop if they suspect the person might be an illegal immigrant. Six months later, faced with fiscal and legal realities and stiffening resistance from many non-Latino residents, the board retreated and required police to check only those actually arrested. Since all arrestees are checked, chances of racial profiling are diminished.
The film is edited and paced to make county board politics look Shakespearean. The camera nearly achieves the ideal of the proverbial fly on the wall, venturing into private homes and businesses in search of the stories behind the story.
The filmmakers' good faith effort to create a "safe space" for all varieties of raw emotion pays off. The desperation of those who speak at the edge of tears about discrimination and deportation is heartbreaking. But the panic and anger in the raised voices of those who decry this "invasion" are no less sincere or moving, in their way.
9500 Liberty airs at 8 p.m. Sunday on MTV 2, MTV U and MTV Tr3s (with Spanish subtitles).
Link to the Washington Post article.
Link to 9500 Liberty's Youtube page.
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