YouTube Campaign Seeks to Spark New Immigration Dialogue
November 15, 2011 by Kevin Michael Gray
How do you define an American? Today's featured article discusses a cutting edge YouTube campaign about diversity and immigration laws in America. What are your thoughts? Tweet about them: @seedingideas
Jose Antonio Vargas, the journalist famous for outing himself as an illegal U.S. immigrant in The New York Times, and his organization Define American have launched a social media campaign to start a conversation about illegal immigrants and reforming the immigration system.
The campaign encourages Americans all across the world to share their personal stories about “what it means to be an American” and the effects of the immigration system on their lives. Users can share their story via text, audio or in the form of a YouTube video.
The campaign follows the same formula that turned the It Gets Better campaign into a worldwide phenomenon. The goal, says Vargas and Define American co-founder Jake Brewer, is to open an honest dialogue across the country about immigration and immigration laws’ effects on families and communities.
“Only the Internet and only social media is vast enough to make room for an actual dialogue and an actual conversation,” Vargas tells Mashable.
The campaign kicks off with the support of some big names and a few powerful stories. Stephen Colbert, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Palm Pilot inventor Jeff Hawkins, Twilight: New Moon director Chris Weitz and Craigslist founder Craig Newmark are just some of the people who have recorded videos for the Define American campaign.
There are also some touching stories that don’t come from household names, though. For example, one English class at Northwest Yeshiva High School in Seattle recorded a video discussing what they think it means to be American.
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