The Story
Aung Moe San was born in a UN refugee camp near the Burmese/Thai border. She and her family are in the ethnic Karen minority. For years, the Burmese military has persecuted Karen villagers in this region.
Aung: First the Army shoot. Then they burn my parent’s house. They killed the animals. Now there are no more Karen people in the village.
For over a decade, more than 100,000 Karen refugees have lived in the camps, waiting for the conflict to end. In 2006, Aung’s family applied for asylum in another country.
Aung: We had to wait a long time. They made a big paper on the wall, and we had to find our name and what country we go to. It said we go to California.
In July 2007, after losing her luggage somewhere between Bangkok and San Francisco, Aung stepped foot on American soil with literally only the clothes on her back. One month later, she started her freshman year at Oakland International High School.
Aung: The teachers are very nice. They are not scary. They are not hitting us. My English is very better now.
What kind of challenges and transformations will teens like Aung undergo in their first year at an American high school? Will Aung learn English and blend into America’s cultural mezcla while staying connected to family and tradition? Are the combined burdens of poverty, displacement and cultural alienation too crushing to overcome? Can a team of dedicated faculty and social workers give kids like Aung a lifeline to a better life – known to many as the American Dream? Is an English-only education the best approach in our increasingly global economy?
These are questions at the heart of Immigration High, a documentary following a year in the life of immigrant and refugee students at Oakland International High School. A gripping, sometimes heart-wrenching exploration of the lives of these vulnerable teens, Immigration High will capture the 2008-2009 school year. Teens will be followed from their first home visits with school staff in August through the end of their first school year in June.
In this age of entrenched anti-immigrant sentiments on one side, and renewed immigration-rights activism on the other, Immigration High will spotlight the personal over the abstract. It will give these new young Americans a face and a name and a voice. It will make real their hardships and accomplishments. Finally, it will contribute to a deeper and broader understanding of how immigrants fit into what is an increasingly elusive American Dream.