From the Restore Fairness blog:

Even as we skirt the issue of immigration, our museums and movies are seeing to it’s life and soul. A network of 13 U.S. museums has hit upon a unique idea - to craft a new vision of immigration in locations connected to history by understanding how previous generations have faced and tackled these issues before us.

If it’s sounding a little fluffy, let me give you some amazing examples of what’s being done. In Chicago, a city with a rich labor movement, intersections between healthcare, labor, and civil rights are being explored to envision the city’s future. In Detroit, an emphasis is on putting a face to Detroit’s newcomers and their integration into its urban culture. And in Charlotte, recent and longtime residents are finding ways to live together in the transitions of a rapidly changing city.

The museums are part of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, a network of historic sites that remind us of past struggles and connect these to modern times.

Meanwhile, the New York Times has depicted one man’s personal journey to America, drawing the frightening parallels between America’s immigrant past and present. Tun Funn Hom, an 88 year old Chinese American man, entered the U.S. as a “paper son” with false identity papers because of restrictive laws, including the Chinese Exclusion Act, a law that barred native Chinese from naturalizing. He was ultimately given citizenship expedited by his service in the military. His life story has been made into a 4 minute video on permanent display at the Museum of Chinese in America.

And finally, Amreeka is playing at theaters now, a feel good, often amusing film about life for a Palestinian single mother with starry eyed hopes in small town Illinois – “a bittersweet search for a place to call home.”

Take action to fix a broken immigration system - www.restorefairness.org

Photo courtesy of www.changingplacesproject.org