By Nate West
Assistant News Editor
The Franciscan Center for Social Concern (FCSC) and Clare College sponsored a guest to speak on immigration Tuesday in Walsh Amphitheater.
Dr. Claudia Chiesi, ’69, executive producer of films on human rights at Siren Films, spoke to students about a variety of issues relating to immigration to the United States and Canada.
Chiesi helped produce the documentary film “The Sugar Babies,” which discusses and presents the world of the children of sugar cane cutters.
Sister Suzanne Kush, O.S.S.F., introduced Chiesi to the audience. Chiesi said in a world of about 7 billion people, around 220 million of them are immigrants. She also said the numbers are constantly changing and are never the same at any given moment.
Her goal during the presentation was to answer the who, what, when, where, why and how of immigration. She said she wasn’t able to complete them all by the time her presentation was over.
Periodically throughout her speech, Chiesi mentioned different reasons why immigration was and still is important to the nation’s youth.
“It’s the baseline of our humanity in the 21st century,” Chiesi said. “We are all somewhere in the line an immigrant, and as people continue to migrate, for whatever the reason, it will continue to be with us.”
Chiesi also brought with her a few stories about immigration she said touched her, the most powerful one being a man who carried his son more than 900 miles from the Honduran border to McAllen, Texas in hopes of finding a better life in the United States.
When she had finished her presentation, attendants could stay after for a brief question-and-answer portion in which she answered any lingering questions.
When the presentation ended, Chiesi mentioned a few ways students can get involved with fighting factors that force foreign citizens to immigrate.
She said when she had come here a few years ago, she mentioned to the school a few ways to get involved. The best one, according to her, was getting involved with Fair Trade USA.
Fair Trade USA is an organization that works to ensure that products coming into the United States are “justly compensated,” according to fairtradeusa.org.
“If you have fair trade, which is to say you pay the proper price for sugar and coffee and cocoa, then people can stay where they are,” Chiesi said. “ You don’t have to leave the Ivory Coast because they’re growing cocoa, and if you pay a decent price, people will stay there and pick the cocoa bean. It’s an economic reality.”
westnl11@bonaventure.edu
