History of IDEA
Jeannie Oakes, Founder and Former Director
Youth Voice in School Finance
NEW REPORT: Los Angeles' road to A-G for all
Without Dollars and Sense Powerpoint
Past Educational Opportunity Reports
Appreciation: Tam Tran, Advocate for the undocumented
- 06-04-2010
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Commentary by Julie Thi Underhill/New America Media
Julie Thi Underhill is a filmmaker, photographer, essayist, poet, and doctoral student of Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley.
When I learned that Tam Tran had died in a car crash earlier this month, I felt sorrow and disbelief. Had the young woman I’d befriended last November, over conversations about the Vietnamese diaspora, filmmaking, activism, and graduate school, really been killed in car accident along with her friend and fellow activist Cinthya Felix? When I met Tam at the American Studies Association conference, she was so centered, compassionate, and warm. Over dinner, Tam had mentioned her advocacy for undocumented students through her filmmaking—she later sent me her film “Lost and Found.” Yet she’d relayed her passions so humbly. Tam never announced that she was, actually, a nationally celebrated advocate for the rights of undocumented immigrant students, an effort she began in earnest as a student at UCLA. (more...)
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