Checkpoint Moth Performance

Ana Alderstein, a former Pitzer student is shown in this video clip describing her experience in helping to stop unjust checkpoints in the city of Pomona.  Her presentation is at The Moth in New York, an acclaimed not-for-profit organization dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling.  Ana, like other students, played a major role in changing checkpoint policies.  What gave a rise to organizing against traffic checkpoints in the city of Pomona was the uncovering of data that showed that the majority being stopped were undocumented immigrants who, not only did not have a driver’s license, but who also could not afford to pay the exorbitant feeds of a ticket, tow truck fees, and impoundment costs.  The rise of a coalition, Pomona Habla, developed when the police began to openly locate checkpoints in front of schools, businesses, and in neighborhoods (at all hours of the day) that primarily affected Latino families and immigrant workers.  Ultimately, through the organizing efforts of the coalition, the city council agreed to numerous recommendations and – ultimately, the coalition played a major role in statewide legislation supporting, the right of anyone stopped at a DUI checkpoint to call a friend or relative with a license to pick up their car and in passage of  AB 60 that legislates the right of a California driver’s license to any person  regardless of their immigration status.

See the movie clip

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