A number of educational and nonprofit groups including Adirondack Voters for Change, the Joint Council for Economic Opportunity of Clinton and Franklin Counties and the SUNY Plattsburgh Gender and Women’s Studies Department are sponsoring showings of a documentary in the region. “Forbidden: Undocumented and Queer in Rural America” has received accolades including the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Social Justice Film Award and the Emmy’s Television Academy Honors award, which recognizes outstanding social issues programs. The film tells the story of Moises Serrano, a gay undocumented resident of North Carolina who has become an activist for Dreamers.
Serrano will be in New York’s North Country for the upcoming screenings. He tells WAMC’s North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley he revealed his undocumented status in 2010.
“I have to live every single day with the fear that my family is going to be taken away from us. My name is Moises Serrano and I am queer and I am undocumented and I am unafraid. I immigrated with my parents when I was 18 months old. They believed that if they came to this country and worked hard that I could become anyone that I wanted to become.”
“Something that both the Obama Administration and the Trump Administration have in common is actually their pursuit of undocumented immigrants and immigrants with no status. So specifically as far as enforcement we actually haven’t seen a change. Now the Trump Administration of course has been worse. And for us for the documentary we never expected I believe as many Americans did not the result that came from that election. And that’s why we decided to include the speech that Trump gave against immigrants. We included a part of it in the film and I think it just really sets the tone. And we did that before the election and now it has set a power precedent for what is happening."
“Forbidden: Undocumented and Queer in Rural America” will be screened Monday, September 30th at 7 p.m. at the Pendragon Theatre in Saranac Lake and on Tuesday, October 1st at 7 p.m. in Yokum Hall at SUNY Plattsburgh.
