Before Hurricane Katrina, the melting pot of New Orleans was about two-thirds black and a third white. The Latino population was almost unnoticed. But a new spice is being stirred into the gumbo. With half of New Orleanians still not home a year after the flooding, tens of thousands of Latino migrant workers have arrived to rebuild, half of them undocumented. They were unprepared for what they found--everything from discrimination to health hazards to deportations. After the storm, the government let contractors hire people without a fair wage, safe conditions or legal status. With their bare hands, workers gut homes that soaked in a cocktail of cancerous chemicals. Some worked for weeks and never get paid. Meanwhile, the mayor has wondered how to keep New Orleans from being "overrun by Mexican workers." Many local black residents share his view of Latinos as a threat. When I migrated to this country from Peru as a child, I learned what tolerance was by feeling neither accepted nor tolerated. Tolerance is about getting along with people who may be different. It's also about how society tolerates the mistreatment of its people. Still, I believe that the acceptance of the Hispanic working class into a new New Orleans will be slow, but sure. The seed of tolerance is intolerance. I've never made a film before. I learned about this contest on August 29th and became compelled when I learned about the plight of migrant workers in the Gulf region.
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- video added November 16, 2006
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I''m impressed and inspired by your work, Miguel! Thanks for your perspective - I had no idea that this was the reality in New Orleans.
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I've lived on both coasts, but never in the south. It seems like all regions have their versions of "the melting pot". Often times, it seems places with the most differences, or that are supposed to be the most liberal, has the most xenophobia. Where have you lived that's the most accepting of others?
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