Storytelling Critique: CAIR Coalition

The organization I decided to analyze was Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition (CAIR). This is a nonprofit that provides legal assistance to undocumented people who are currently in a detention center or immigration proceedings. I watched their campaign video on their website. Although it does not have as many views, it does a good job presenting the story of an undocumented woman named Sara from Morocco. The first clip in the video is of Sara sharing how her dad used to beat her mom and sisters back in her home country. In the second clip of the video, the Director of CAIR highlighting Sara’s persistence and love for education that encouraged her to get/earn a visa to move to the United States. Sara came to go to school, but her visa expired, and she decided to stay. Later on, she gets in trouble with the law and is placed in a detention center. During her time in custody, one of her cellmates tells her about CAIR Coalition, and she agrees to meet with them to ask for legal help. Sara explains that CAIR was diligent to connect her to a pro-bono lawyer who decided to take her case. She eventually won the asylum case because she couldn’t go back to the violence in her home and country.

This woman was one of the lucky ones to get her status fixed, and her lawyer talks about the process in the video. She was in a difficult situation because she did not have any family in the United States and she could not even communicate with her mom while detained.
The story is moving, and it has an emotional appeal. I think the organization did a good job featuring Sara's story because she talks a lot about how she felt when she was away from her family. She also talks about feeling so hopeless that she never thought she was getting out of the detention facility. She is crying for part of the video. In the end, she shares that she feels empowered and independent because she can stay in the country without fear of deportation. 

This video also includes some of the moral foundational values (Matthews et al., 2016) we discussed in class. The Director points out the harm detention brings to families, and they care to bring hope to the hopeless. The Director says, “if Sara had been deported... I think is not just a loss for Sara, but it’s a loss for the humanity that we all believe in.” I think this quote was essential because it’s a wake-up call for more people to care about this issue. This quote and whole video can make someone feel guilty because it brings up the unfairness/oppression of a system against refugees and migrants. It also a good job presenting numbers of people detained and the number of people they serve each year, which is about 5,000. The use of numbers can be used to show their successes, but the need to do more and get more money for resources.

The video was emotionally touching, but it was eight minutes long. The opening was Sara talking about the violence she experiences, and this could get people to finish watching it. However, the information coming up can be predictable. From the first minute, I could predict the story of success. I knew that they were able to help this woman and about the importance of their work. Some of the information was very repetitive, and it was coming from Sara (the person affected). I think they could have transmitted the same message without her repeating the same thing a couple of times.

Overall, I think the video can be useful to get people involved with the organization, but the ask did not feel clear because it's brought up at the end. It asks viewers to "Support. Partner. Educate. Advocate." The Director points out the importance of pro-bono work and donations to help people in need. A lawyer might feel encouraged to volunteer for the organization, and people can easily donate. Sara's story was powerful because it is coming from her. I think that if the Director or someone else narrated this story, it would have victimized Sara. That is one of the challenges some advocacy organizations face because they often deal with sensitive information and not everyone can show their face and share their life story.

Link to the Org https://www.caircoalition.org/
Link to the Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=354&v=lI7xFAYAorM