Fear and Learning at Hoover Elementary
I watched the documentary called Fear and Learning at Hoover Elementary. The filmmaker named Laura Simon, was born in Mexico and her family immigrated to America when she was six. She began her career working for a non-profit organization that dealt with immigrant rights and education. Her personal odyssey and involvement with dilemmas of her students led her to the making of Fear and Learning at Hoover Elementary. During 1994, California voters sanctioned Proposition 187, which denies public education and health care to all undocumented immigrants.
Hoover is the largest elementary school located in the Pico Union, known as the Ellis Island of Los Angeles. It has over 2,700 students speaking 32 different languages; in which most are economic and political refugees from Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador living below the poverty line. The conflict over Proposition 187 leaves the children feeling unwanted and scared. Both the students and their families are unsure of the impact this new legislation will have on their lives as well as the fear of deportation.
The movie is addressed by a fifth grader named Mayra. Mayra is nine years old and leads the camera around her school and around her single bedroom house that she shares with three of her family members. She lives with her mother and uncle, both being undocumented immigrants from El Salvador. Mayra is worried about the ramifications of being kicked out of school and if she was going to be deported. She talks about the impacts that Prop. 187 have on her and other kids at the school. The stories and voices of Mayra and other students demonstrate the lack of awareness, compassion, and racism that exists at Hoover.
Mayra’s dreams were of going to school to become a lawyer because she wants to help people. Her life outside of school made me sad, she showed us spending the day alone in the apartment while her mother and uncle were at work. She was very bored and she was not allowed to leave the apartment to play
Hoover is the largest elementary school located in the Pico Union, known as the Ellis Island of Los Angeles. It has over 2,700 students speaking 32 different languages; in which most are economic and political refugees from Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador living below the poverty line. The conflict over Proposition 187 leaves the children feeling unwanted and scared. Both the students and their families are unsure of the impact this new legislation will have on their lives as well as the fear of deportation.
The movie is addressed by a fifth grader named Mayra. Mayra is nine years old and leads the camera around her school and around her single bedroom house that she shares with three of her family members. She lives with her mother and uncle, both being undocumented immigrants from El Salvador. Mayra is worried about the ramifications of being kicked out of school and if she was going to be deported. She talks about the impacts that Prop. 187 have on her and other kids at the school. The stories and voices of Mayra and other students demonstrate the lack of awareness, compassion, and racism that exists at Hoover.
Mayra’s dreams were of going to school to become a lawyer because she wants to help people. Her life outside of school made me sad, she showed us spending the day alone in the apartment while her mother and uncle were at work. She was very bored and she was not allowed to leave the apartment to play
Cited: Fear and Learning at Hoover Elementary. Dir. Laura Angelica Simon. 1997. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaXz4fHmFFM. Hernandez, Kelly Lytle. "Migra!" Hernandez, Kelly Lytle. Migra! Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2010. 88-89. Molina, Natalia. "How Race is Made in America." Molina, Natalia. How Race is Made in America. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2014. 21-22.