05 Sep Could a hug break the border?
By popular demand The Abrazos Tour – the nationwide screening series of our new film BORDERLAND | The Line Within – has more than doubled the number of cities! Beginning September 9th through November 4th, 2024, these special events with local partners, protagonists from the film and we, the filmmakers, will create energized gatherings to talk about and act on immigration humanely.
Here’s where we’ll be on The Abrazos Tour:
Boston MA
Hartford CT
New York NY
Chicago IL
Minneapolis MN
Washington DC
Houston TX
Austin TX
El Paso TX
Tucson AZ
Phoenix AZ
Flagstaff AZ
San Diego CA
Los Angeles CA
Santa Barbara CA
Mill Valley CA
San Francisco CA
Palo Alto CA
Ashland OR
Milwaukee WI
Santa Fe NM
Woodstock NY
Seattle WA
Bellingham WA
Philadelphia PA
New Haven CT
Find all the information about these events here.
Gabriela Casteñeda, protagonist in BORDERLAND and organizer with Movement of Immigrant Leaders in Pennsylvania (MILPA), presenting the film. Photo courtesy Steve Lawrence.
What if the estimated $25,000,000,000 of our tax money (just this year) which is now used to capture, incarcerate and deport immigrants, was instead used to create support services that welcome immigrants to our country and recognize the invaluable contributions that they make to our economy and culture? What if we gave work permits to people that have been deported and wrenched from their families, allowing them to return again to embrace their spouses and children who remain living here?
In BORDERLAND | The Line Within there is a moving scene with the Border Network for Human Rights (BNHR) as they declare Abrazos No Muros (Hugs Not Walls). We watch as family members who are separated from each other by the border wall come together to hug for just three minutes.
“In the midst of border walls, in the midst of all these aggressions–the rejection of refugees and children dying in detention centers–today we having an act of love, hope and protest,” says Fernando García Executive Director of BNHR, as he’s helping the families come together in the middle of the Rio Grande River.
A war on immigrants is not the answer. It’s not only inhumane, it’s harmful to our society and to our democracy. We will use the national tour of BORDERLAND | The Line Within to generate conversations and actions centered on changing the narrative about immigration. We will encourage the public to pressure their representatives to reform existing policies so that there is order at the border through a rational visa program, rather than through a militarized zone.
Please join us if you can at any of our stops in the list above. And if you’re not there, You can also screen the film in your community. Find out how here.
We’ll see you on the road!
Featured image: Gabriela Castañeda embraces her father for the first time in 30 years at the Border Network for Human Rights’ event “Hugs Not Walls”, from BORDERLAND.
