Comments on: Filmmaker Notes: Nina Alvarez

By: ESL TEACHER

ESL TEACHER — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:55:13 +0000

I am an ESL teacher in K-12.I would like to point out that it is very difficult to bring your family into the country legally and to do so illegally can leave a teenager or young adult with just as an uncertain a future.The reason for gang membership and recruitment of teenagers in this country is similar to that in El Salvador ,kids who search for identity and feel ungrounded are an easy target.This has been going on for much longer than this latest group ,it has always been an issue .The American Bloods and Crips have been around for quite awhile, there are and have been Asian,Irish,and Italian gangs .

Regarding poverty ,what should parents do ?We have access to some amount of support in the US,in many places there are no government services ,what would you do if you needed to survive and had no support available?

It is a double edged sword, a big issue with many of my students at the moment is repatriation with parents who came here when their children were very young , these children are being brought here as teens to live with parents who are strangers.They must navigate American culture , the school system with little English , these parents work a lot so the kids are often on their own in a way.This is not only Latin America ,this occurs in families from many areas of the world as well ,immigration is tangled web ,it is not always possible to bring your family here together.Some of these kids at times will choose MS13 over the family they do not know or if they find little success in school and adolescents period don’t think as adults ,they are searching for who they are and the bigger picture is not always so clear. This makes it is very easy to make a decision that can ruin their life .

One solution might be to remember it a takes a village ,community cohesion.Citizens with an education, English, and rights move outside of your comfort zone to tutor ,or give time in some way to lower income schools and communities.If you are an immigrant who succeeded and many, many do ,then give back! Don’t just finger point ,it gets us nowhere. I often feel like I am down at the bottom alone with everyone on top arguing about “shoulds” and “should nots “,while yet another kid slips through the cracks.

By: salvador a alvarez

salvador a alvarez — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:07:38 +0000

im agree with dan manly, because im a former gang member, who started in the gang world after watching a movie about gangs in los angeles, when you are young you are tring to be respected and admired for others, so thats how most young kids get in to the gangs, i thing the biggest mistake the media had made is make this kind of films, because this make gangs member feel very important it makes them feel famous. what they really want is most people show them respect for who they are, in most cases when you are a gang member you are looking to be respected for other members thats how they start doing crazy things,like stabing,killing,robbing,rapping,kidnaping,all kind of crimes just to get to the top of the gang. thanks god i could got out of that, now im a person who try to help kids not to get in this gang wold.

By: Cali

Cali — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:21:43 +0000

Let their storys be told!
these are the storys we almost never hear about. and if we do, some people dont want to hear about them. why?
to every positive there is a negative.
in order to understand it we must see it.
we all know or have seen the happy side of life and the joys that comes with it.
whats the bad side?
its not just death, gangs and drugs.
there is intense emotions
and everything else u dont get from being happy.
Listen and try to have an understanding of how they really feel.

By: Kathryn Duerst

Kathryn Duerst — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 05:55:47 +0000

I think sometimes it takes going through the pain yourself to have compassion toward others going through it. These folks responding are not seeing through the same eyes with which I see. I know the hardship of being forced to choose between children and a means of survival. I also rebel against the idea of leaving my own children, so that I did choose poverty over leaving them, in fact. But what a hard choice!!! Poverty is cruel. Even now, because of the finacial pressures on me, I have local people telling me I need to go away to take care of myself and let God take care of my children, and I just think, if only these people would learn a little compassion, what a wonderful world this could be. Meanwhile, I have great admiration for Vilma and great compassion also. I weep for her and her son. It is a hard, cruel world, as I have also learned, when fathers abandon and poverty does its ravages. Working so much as I have to, I am basically separated from my children though I chose to stay with them.

By: Sandra Villarreal

Sandra Villarreal — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 16:45:49 +0000

Upon watching the show I really didn’t have the opinion that Diego’s mom did the right thing in abandoning her son. Instead I blamed his choice of life on his mother. I am a single mother of 2 (15 & 17) and the thought of leaving my children anywhere doesn’t ever cross my mind. But the decision to leave your children in another country saddens me. I was brought to tears watching the show and looking into Diego’s eyes when he spoke to his mother broke my heart. I held onto the hand of my son and just cried, and when I had looked over at him, he also had tears in his eyes. My son asked “would you ever leave us and go to another country?” I told him no, but our circumstances are alot different then that of El Salvador. My only aggrevation is yeah Vilma wanted a better life for her children, but why didn’t she return to get her boys or send for them? Yes I agree that her work is very hard and back breaking, I know my mother did the same thing and I would join her too; but I couldn’t fathom the idea of leaving the reasons why I live day to day behind in another country. I have issues dropping them off with friends at the mall. Your article was wonderfully worded I have to give you props for that, and the story on tv was an eye opener for me. With much love and respect, take care.

By: dan manly

dan manly — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 04:08:06 +0000

I couldn’t agree with you more, Rae. The problem is, nice guys don’t make very exciting film copy. A film about bad boys is easy and ubiquitous. It’s more difficult to stimulate an audience with valor, but it has been done.

By: Rae Ponce

Rae Ponce — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:10:21 +0000

In no way did this documentary glorify the lives of the gang members. What I saw was the pitiful attempt of a bunch of scared little boys trying to raise themselves into men in an extemely disfunctional and abusive way. What made it worse were the small children who are exposed to so much violence and destructive behavior. Maybe much more thought needs to go into the decision of parents to leave their young children in search of better resources. More men need to step up to the plate to model positive male behavior. But good luck with that, right?

By: Miguel Reyes

Miguel Reyes — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:23:23 +0000

As a Salvadorean who lives in the US, I truly sympathize with Nina’s comments. Having left El Salvador during the early ’80’s, I saw the frustrations and sacrifices that many Salvadorean families made to find a safer and promising future for their children. In our specific case, my mother worked several jobs to support our family. Luckily enough, we got an education and are contributing members in our adopted country.

Nevertheless, other Salvadoreans did not have the same faith. Alienation and the destruction of family connections have contributed to the deterioration of the Salvadorean society. You see mothers and sons/daughters who have not seen each other for years because of economy and safety concerns. We are truly losing a whole generation of young people in a country who needs them the most!

By: Byron Crape

Byron Crape — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 05:11:39 +0000

Oh, I see that PBS mentions the 18th Street Gang and well as the split…I’m sorry I did not see the beginning of your doc…I’m assuming that 18 is the current 18th Street?

By: Byron Crape

Byron Crape — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 05:07:09 +0000

Dear Nina,
I lived and worked in a war displaced community along the railroad tracks in San Martin in El Salvador through one year of war and three years in the process of peace. After the peace accords in the early 1990’s, I knew that some guys had been deported from LA gangs (I had previously worked with gangs in LA). I met three Homies in my community from the LA 18th Street Gang(not Salvadorans). They had been sent down as a delegation of the 18th Street Gang to organize a branch in El Salvador. I spoke to them. At that time I knew of three other LA Gangs organizing in the country…I wonder if the “18″ was originally the “18th Street” Gang (one local guy that lived on the tracks had proudly showed me his new “18th Street” tatoo on his leg at the time after the delegations visit)?

By: dan manly

dan manly — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 03:32:57 +0000

What you’ve created is an advertisement for street gangs. By empathizing with an individual who chose a life of crime, you glorify that individual and their choice, thus perpetuating the misery that you “document”. Job security, I suppose. For every Salvadorian emigre that joins a gang, there’s 30 who don’t. Let’s hear about them, if your censorship will permit it. The root of the problem is the government’s domestic policy. Not the U.S. government, the government of EL SALVADOR. You’ve inferred that the misery is a U.S. problem, which is as ludicrous as saying that U.S. contribution to global warming can be remedied in El Salvador.

By: Carol Kaye

Carol Kaye — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:02:50 +0000

how can we help?