Photojournalism students capture the lives of immigrants in Michigan
Alberto yells from the cow holding pen asking Victor how many more cows they need for the twenty station parlor. While at home he explained that his father is a surgeon in Salina Cruz, Mexico. "I send my parents $1,200 every time I get paid. We make three times as much money here in America than we did in Mexico, but things are more expensive here. I work more hours here but I am happy, I sing all the time, even if I’m not good at it," he said.
Photojournalism professor Kent Miller sits in his Moore Hall office, iPad in hand, as he skims the daily news. A self-professed "news junkie," Miller pauses as he reads a headline from MSNBC.
A Senator from Iowa has proclaimed all immigrants who attempt to re-enter the United State illegally after being deported should be given the death sentence.
"The ideas we see in the media is just talk of immigrants. We hear people talking about immigrants but we never see them," Miller said. "To have this blanket idea of not knowing who these people are is a real disservice in the discussion (of immigration). So we set out to put faces to the faceless."
Stories like this spawned the topic for Central Michigan University's photojournalism workshop. This year’s theme: “Fences: Faces of Migration.” Miller along with world-renowned photojournalist Danny Wilcox Fraizer led a two-week workshop which sent 14 CMU photojournalism students across the state in an effort to tell “the story of migration.”
"The really admirable thing my students did is immerse themselves in the lives of these people for the short time they were photographing their subjects," Miller said. "Some of them even spent the night with their sources, spending every minute of free-time with their subjects and driving miles and miles to finish (their project)."
Workshop participants showcased their work Nov. 14 in the Charles V. Park Library Auditorium. Banners illustrated with the students' work were hung on the fences near the Biosciences Building construction site, where they will stay until the end of the semester.
"Our goal was, and still continues to be, to bring about an understanding of these people on a personal level so that people can have a better idea of who they truly are," Miller said.
All fourteen of the projects are available for viewing online on the project's website.
Moving Target
Photos and story by Emily Mesner
In September 2014, Ezatullah, 38, and his wife Pashtoon, 35, traveled from Afghanistan to the U.S. with their sons, Basir, 17, Maiwand, 16, Janan, 11, Kawoon, 8, and Ehsanullah, 6, and their daughter, Khatera, 13. Together, they made the 6,800 mile journey in search of a more secure life.
Ezatullah worked for education and human rights campaigns in Afghanistan in hopes to help those in his country receive better educations.
“This is not about the politics. I need to help these people,” Ezatullah said. “I have a responsibility to my kids, myself, and my nation.”
As well as his campaign work, Ezatullah coordinated local and international media, and is a published poet and journalist.
Ezatullah was a very prominent public figure in Afghanistan, which caused the need to move due to a lack of security for him and his family.
“I was planning to go to Virginia to start work at a radio station. We got to New York and an International Organization for Migration representative said, 'No, you’re going to Lansing.'”
Ezatullah had never heard of Lansing and quickly looked on his phone at the airport to learn more about the city.
That night, they were taken to a small house which had holes scattered throughout the structure and water in the basement. They paid $700 per month, not including utilities. With no car, they walked more than five miles to buy groceries.
“We didn’t sleep the whole night. We were scared,” Ezatullah said. “If you’re new here, you have no other options, no one to help you.”
The family lives in Lansing in a three-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment.
“Here, I am nothing. There, I was something,” Ezatullah said. “I have seen a lot of hard times in my life, but I don’t complain. Now I just think of my kids to have a better life. In this world, you have to fight to survive.”
His children are all excelling in school. Pashtoon is taking English classes and Ezatullah is working towards his undergraduate degree in political science as well as working at the Department of Human Services near Lansing.
“I enjoy it because this is for my family. The day will come that they will have a better life,” Ezatullah said.
Picking this life
Photos and story by Claire Abendroth
"If you pick six boxes, your whole body aches,” said Ignacio Jurado, a worker for Uncle John’s Cider Mill. “People come and pick two or three boxes and leave. Nobody wants to do it, but we do.”
Jurado and his family are the epitome of hard workers. Seven days a week, he and his children are out in the field at Uncle John’s Cider Mill, picking boxes of apples and packing them in bags.
Ignacio “Nacho” Jurado, 57, is an immigrant from Chihuahua, Mexico. He traveled to America in search of work as undocumented when he was 11-years-old. Since then, he has gained citizenship and is working toward changing his wife’s status from green card holder to a citizen.
Work is a big part of he and his five children’s lives.
“Many people say that we are workaholics,” Ignacio said. “We aren’t workaholics - we have to work to make it in this world.”
Depending on the season, he may work more than 100 hours a week. His commitment to his work is fueled by his desire to help his close friends.
The children work nearly 40 hours a week and attend school. Balancing schoolwork and work is something the children had to learn early on in life. Leo Jurado, 13, Ignacio Jurado, 17, and Adriana Rodriguez, 18, go to school full-time at St. John’s Middle School and High School. They struggle to find time to finish their homework and participate in school activities between their busy schedules working at the cider mill. Helping to pay bills is something Jurado’s children have experienced throughout their lives.
Jurado often reminisces about the memories from his childhood in Mexico, but appreciates the life he has made in America. He encourages his children to continue their education and hopes they will use their knowledge of hard work to help them succeed in the future.
Looking Forward
By Jordyn Hermani
Miller hopes the photojournalism workshop will continue many years into the future, though it may change to a bi-yearly format.
Fraizer views the event as a way for students to gain experience as photographers outside of the classroom.
"(The workshop) is about bringing my passion for the work I do and sharing that with the students, and helping them find topics and issues that they feel passionately about, that they connect to and that they want to make sure the public knows about," Frazier said during the showcase on Nov 17.
Referencing reactions to the showcase, the banner and the photo stories overall, Miller said the work of his students can go on to benefit not just themselves, but society as well.
“I firmly believe that photography is a catalyst for social change,” he said. “I instill in my students they can make a difference with their photographs.”
