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THE NEW AMERICANS SERIES GUIDE AND ACTIVITY BOOK
EPISODE DESCRIPTIONS Episode One: Airs Monday, March 29, 2004, 9 P.M. The first two-hour episode begins three of the five stories we follow during the course of the series, as we are introduced to the Palestinian, Nigerian and Dominican subjects. Our journey begins in their homelands or refugee camp, as we see the subjects' roots in their country and culture, and hear their dreams and expectations of America. The episode concludes as they make that momentous trip to the United States. Viewers get the chance to understand the subjects' sense of national identity before being confronted with America and the powerfully defining — and sometimes confining — label of "immigrant." Israel Nwidor lives in a small tent with his wife, Ngozi, and two children. "When I get to America, I want to lie on a good bed. I just want to have a nice sleep," says the ever-optimistic Israel. Trained as a chemical engineer, he was unable to get a job in Nigeria's oil industry because of discrimination against the Ogonis. "I will be accepted in America," he says, confidently. "Today, blacks living in the northern part of America are free and not discriminated against." Barine Wiwa-Lawani is the sister of the slain Ogoni activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa. Educated in England, she ran a thriving catering school and two restaurants in Nigeria that were bulldozed by the government, forcing her to flee. We follow the Nwidors and Lawanis from the United Nations refugee camp through their first few months in Chicago. It proves to be a tumultuous time for the Nwidors as they struggle with low-paying jobs in the hotel industry as well as unexpected health problems. Dominicans Ricardo Rodriguez and José Garcia are highly prized baseball prospects in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. In this episode, we get know these two young men—Ricardo, a shy but disciplined country boy, and José, a talented and charismatic player who splits time between baseball and five girlfriends. Ricardo is on his way to America, one of the few prospects in the camp chosen to travel to spring training. "Everything depends on dedication and luck—most of all luck," he says. We follow Ricardo to Dodger City in Vero Beach, Florida where he meets the legendary Tommy LaSorda, who "likes what he sees" in Ricardo. José struggles to live up to the Dodgers' expectations as an outfielder. After converting him to a pitcher, he finally makes his way to spring training. He and his fellow players train extremely hard and spend their limited free time hanging out and flirting with local girls. For all their talent, we are reminded that they are still teenage boys. At the end of the episode, José and Ricardo are on their way to Great Falls, Montana to play in the minor leagues. Naima is a young Palestinian woman who falls in love with and marries Hatem Abudayyeh, a first-generation Palestinian-American man, after a whirlwind courtship. With one brother dead and another imprisoned during the first Intifada, Naima is determined to leave the West Bank because, as she says, "What I want in life, I don't see it here." In Palestine, we follow Hatem and Naima as they continue to get to know each other and prepare for their marriage and the move to the United States. Naima's experiences of growing up in an occupied territory have had a profound effect on her, but Hatem does not share Naima's fatalist views of her homeland. "I know Hatem loves Palestine and would love to live here. But I must go to the States for my future and to grow as a person." For all of Naima's self-assurance about her future in America, upon her departure she is distraught as the finality of leaving all she has ever known sinks in. Episode Two: Airs Tuesday, March 30, 2004, 9 P.M. The first hour of episode two of THE NEW AMERICANS shows how our Dominican, Nigerian, and Palestinian subjects grapple with the culture shock of being in the United States. In the second hour, we are introduced to Pedro Flores, a Mexican meatpacker living in Garden City, Kansas, who has been separated from his family for thirteen years. He is finally ready to legally bring his family north to live with him in America. The 1999 death of General Sani Abache paves the way for a fledging democracy in Nigeria. When the Wiwa family gains permission to hold a proper burial for Ken Saro-Wiwa, Barine unexpectedly returns home for the ceremony. What was intended to be a private burial becomes an emotionally charged celebration by thousands of Ogonis. Despite her joy at being reunited with friends and family, Barine assures us that she has no desire to stay. "Even if it was safe, I could not come back and just live in Nigeria, but I can't just live in America either. I now live between two cultures." Israel and Ngozi Nwidor could not afford to make the trip home, but we meet their families and learn more of how Israel's activism lead to his torture and eventual flight to freedom in America. Ngozi becomes pregnant, a most welcome bit of news to their families in Nigeria. Israel hopes that his wife will finally "give him a boy." Ricardo Rodriguez and José Garcia arrive in Great Falls, Montana, a small white working-class community that is home to the Dodgers' single-A minor league team. We meet Ole and Marie Steinmac, the "host parents" with whom they'll live. Despite the language gap, the Steinmacs and the rest of their community embrace the Latino players with open arms. Quickly, Ricardo and José become choir members at Ole and Marie's church, singing hymns in Spanish. On the field, Ricardo, as expected, performs very well, quickly ascending to the status of the team's ace pitcher. José is not so fortunate. He hurts his arm and misses most of the season. Off the field, things take a turn for the worse when one of José and Ricardo's teammates, Ramón, is arrested and charged with sexual assault by a local woman. While some in the community want to believe Ramón is innocent, for others, the incident confirms stereotypes about Latino men. José and Ricardo feel the different way some locals look at them now. Says Ricardo, "I just want to leave this place." Naima arrives in Chicago with Hatem and her mother, Umajahed, who has come for the wedding. They are greeted by scores of eager relatives—Naima's older sister and her children live just down the block from Hatem's family. After a traditional henna party, large wedding and honeymoon, Naima and Hatem begin their lives together, very much in love. Naima goes on her first job interview, and it quickly becomes clear that, despite her outward confidence, her grasp of English is painfully weak. She ends up taking a job teaching Arabic at a Muslim grammar school where she must wear a veil—something she avoided at home. Hatem lands a job at a local Arab community group, his first real job since leaving college. With the advent of the second Intifada in September of 2000, Hatem becomes increasingly political — a development which will have a profound impact on his and Naima's marriage in the next episode. Pedro Flores has been in Garden City, Kansas for thirteen years, separated from his wife, Ventura, and their six children by poverty, necessity and immigration law. He works as a meatpacker and lives frugally in a boarding house, trying to save up enough money to finally bring his family up from Mexico. The Flores's six children—five girls and one boy—live with Ventura on an impoverished ranch 1500 miles and a hostile border away from Garden City. We follow Pedro as he returns to Mexico in hopes of bringing his family back with him. We are there as he sees his family for the first time in many months and as they travel by bus to Juárez, where they begin the arduous process of trying to legally imigrate to America. Pedro finds out that his and a sponsor's income is not enough—the INS will not allow him to bring his whole family over. The couple desperately tries to find additional sponsors, to no avail. The scene ends with their young son Pedrito pleading with his parents "not to leave him behind." Episode Three: Airs Wednesday, March 31, 2004, 9 P.M. The final episode of THE NEW AMERICANS tells the story of Anjan, an Indian computer programmer, who comes to America's Silicon Valley in search of the high tech "American Dream." The series also brings all the other stories to a dramatic conclusion. Through them all, we witness the complexity and variety of the immigrant experience in America. Anjan's father, a devout Gandhian, believes India is suffering from an American "brain drain" and worries that his son will be "corrupted" by America's secular materialism. Anjan promises his father that he'll return to India in 100 weeks to resume his career here with even greater prospects for success. On an H1-B visa in the U.S., Anjan easily finds employment during the dot.com boom, often working for 16 to 18 hours a day. Since Harshini's visa does not allow her to work, she fills her days with taking care of the apartment and shopping, a lifestyle that depresses her. When the dot.com bust devastates the high-tech industry in 2000, Anjan loses his job. Shortly afterwards, Harshini becomes pregnant and Anjan scrambles to find new employment. At the end of the episode, Harshini heads back to India with daughter Amita, while Anjan stays on to search for yet another job—overstaying his 100-week plan by 35 weeks. The Flores Family stays in Juárez for a week, calling cousins and friends to secure the sponsorship needed to obtain visas for the entire family. We watch as they finally succeed, pack up their house, and make the long trek to Kansas. Garden City, Kansas has embraced its rapidly growing immigrant population and provides an unexpectedly supportive environment for the Flores family. All the older children are allowed to enroll in high school and do very well. Eldest daughter Nora becomes a star pupil, much loved by her teachers, while young Pedrito quickly begins to master English. But Pedro's wife, Ventura, so misses her home and extended family that the family makes the difficult decision to leave Kansas for migrant work in Mecca, California, where they can live with Ventura's sister and family. Once there, we see how much the family has given up: They've left better jobs and schools for back-breaking field work in a state where their older children are not allowed to attend high school. Their story ends with the older kids and parents picking strawberries; their aspirations looking harder than ever to achieve. Ricardo Rodríguez is being seriously groomed for ascent to the Major Leagues. José's future, on the other hand, remains uncertain after disappointing performances land him back in Great Falls for a second season of Rookie League baseball. José further disappoints his host parents, Ole and Marie when he becomes seriously involved with a young woman who is Mormon. By the end of the series, Ricardo has been traded to the Cleveland Indians and sees his dream come true—he makes his major league debut as a starting pitcher. For José, it's his third season with a minor league team, this summer with the single-A Georgia Waves. His baseball career hanging in the balance, José's life in America grows more complicated when he meets and eventually marries an American woman in Georgia. In Chicago, Ngozi gives birth to a baby boy. Israel names him Karm, after the strongest tree in their homeland. The great joy they feel is cut short when, two weeks after the baby's birth, Israel finds out his older brother Brendan has been killed in a car accident back in Nigeria. Israel takes the loss hard and, coupled with continuing economic woes, the normally resilient Israel has begun to lose his optimism. "My dreams are gone now. I'm just working and hoping my kids dreams can come true." Barine continues to struggle with her two twin daughters over boys and college plans, but we are there when she proudly watches them graduate high school. Soon after, she buys her first home in America, on Chicago's Southside. With her daughters heading off to college, we end with Barine feeling at home in her new world, and finally enjoying some hard-earned success. In this final episode, we see the painful plight of Naima Abudayyeh's homeland extending to America and throughout the world as the second Intifada grows more violent. Hatem becomes increasingly political, helping to organize large-scale demonstrations. His very American belief that protesting and speaking out can make a difference clashes with Naima's feelings of hopelessness. And the comfort she takes in her religion is at odds with his secular political beliefs. After September 11th, 2001, we witness the impact that growing anti-Arab sentiment has on the members of the Abudayyeh family and the Arab-American Action Network, Hatem's non-profit organization. By film's end, the center has been torched, Hatem is working around the clock more committed than ever, and Naima is very unsure about how she feels about her marriage and her new life. |
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