At Saturday’s LACMA Art + Film Gala, while Donald Trump was hosting Saturday Night Live on the other side of the country, Oscar-winning writer-director Alejandro González Iñárritu gave a heartfelt speech on immigration reform in which he discussed his experiences as one of two million Mexicans living in Los Angeles (where he has resided for 14 years). From his speech:
We are the only creatures on planet earth that want to see ourselves in the mirror. Because we know we are the same, but we are different, we need to share. We need to see ourselves projected in other members of our species to, in turn, understand ourselves. Cinema is that mirror. It is a bridge between the others and us.
Unfortunately, there are currently people proposing we build walls, instead of bridges. I must confess that I debated with myself, if I should bring up this uncomfortable subject tonight. But in light of the constant and relentless xenophobic comments that have been expressed recently against my Mexican fellows, it is inevitable.
These comments would be unacceptable if they were targeted against another minority, nevertheless, these millions of people do not have a voice or any rights — even though they have lived here all of their lives.
These sentiments have been widely spread by the media without shame, embraced and cheered by leaders and communities around the U.S. The foundation of all this is so outrageous that it can easily be minimized as an SNL sketch, a mere entertainment, a joke.
But the words that have been expressed are not a joke. Words have real power; and similar words in the past have both created and triggered enormous suffering for millions of humans beings, especially throughout the last century.
If we continue to allow these words to water seeds of hate, and spread inferior thoughts and unwholesome emotions around the world to every human being, not only will millions of Mexicans and Latin American immigrants be in danger, but immigrants around the world now suffering will share the same dangerous fate.
There is no human being who, as a result of desiring to build a better life, should be named or declared illegal, and be dispossessed or considered disposable.
I would rather propose to call these people “undocumented dreamers,” as were most of the people who founded this country. By naming them that, we can instead start a real and human conversation for a solution, with the most precious, forgotten, and distinguished emotion a human being can have: compassion.
