Featured Individuals
Ramon Resa, MD Ramon was abandoned by his mother at age 2 and raised as 1 of 14 children in a two-room house. He and the other children in the household all worked as a full-time migrant child farm laborers. In second grade his teacher told him he should go to college, because with a degree he could choose any career he wanted. Ramon decided to go for it and became the top student in his class. He attended UC Santa Cruz and earned his MD at UCI Medical School. Once he received a license to practice, Dr. Resa returned to the area he grew up where is has been a doctor and role model for kids like he once was for over 30 years.
Blanca E. Rubio Blanca came to the U.S. with here parents. She was deported 2 times as a child. She eventually became a U.S. citizen and attended school in inner-city Los Angles, went on to college and became a teacher and student advocate for her community. Blanca is now an elected California State Assembly member, where she advocates for the safety of teens and women facing domestic violence, seeks resources and support for dreamers and all underserved student populations, including foster youth. She hopes her story will encourage other undocumented boys and girls that it is possible to overcome everything they face and become successful U.S. citizens too.
Enrique Diaz Enrique arrived in the U.S. undocumented age 2. By age 6 he was a full-time migrant child farmworker. To follow crops for work, his family took shelter in abandoned buildings, or vacant mobile homes. Most of their housing lacked running water, power or sewer. Enrique attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, California where he studied computer engineering and computer science. During his senior year Enrique was hired by Apple as a R&D scientist/engineer. While working there he contributed to the development of pivotal products such as the Bondi Blue iMac, the Cube, iPad, and MacBook Pro.
Katherine Flores, MD. Kathrine’s mom died during her birth. She was raised by her Grandparents and grew up living in a tent with a dirt floor. She worked in the fields along side her Grandparents as a migrant child farmworker. Katherine attended Stanford and UC Davis Medical School; she is an Associate Clinical Professor in Family Medicine, UCSF School of Medicine; Director of UCSF Fresno Latino Center for Medical Education and Research.
Fernando S. Mendoza, MD, MPH Fernando, son of an immigrant farmworker, was told that he could not become a doctor due to his background. It turns out that he couldn’t become just a doctor. Fernando studied medicine at Stanford and Harvard; Not only did he become a doctor, also a Professor of Pediatrics and Associate Dean of Diversity at Stanford School of Medicine. Professor Emeritus, Dr. Mendoza, is internationally recognized for his research and publications on health policy concerning Hispanic populations which include health care equity, and the sounding the alarm about the dearth of diversity among medical educators.
Anna M. Caballero Anna is a California State Senator. She was born to a family of copper miners. Anna is a graduate of UCLA law school; the first female Mayor elected in the 126-year history of the City of Salinas; First Latina elected to represent the 28th California Assembly District in 2006; she authored key pieces of legislation including the, Middle Class Housing Act (SB 6), to help families achieve the dream of home ownership, school cafeteria health legislation that ensures locally grown, quality produce for California students (SB 490), and the Distressed Hospital Loan Program (SB/AB 112), to keep struggling hospitals from closing their doors.
Esteban G. Burchard, MD, MPH Esteban was raised by a single mom in the tough Mission District of San Francisco. He studied at Stanford and Harvard schools of medicine and is a highly-acclaimed research scientist; he’s authored hundreds of scientific research papers published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Professor Emeritus, Dr. Burchard is a UCSF Distinguished, Endowed, Tenured Professor of Pharmacy and Medicine; A Pulmonary & Critical Care Physician-Scientist trained in Genetics, Immunology, Epidemiology, Pharmacogenetics, and phase 1 clinical trials.
Lisa Ramirez, EdD. Lisa was a migrant child farmworker who grew up in Texas. She was kicked out of high school for punching the principal. Lisa left home to join the U.S. Army where she took to advanced education. Dr. Ramirez went on to earn her doctorate in education; served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Programs in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education for many years.
Raul Ruiz, MD, MPH, MPP The son of immigrants, Raul grew up working in the fields with his family. He went on to attend UCLA and Harvard; When Dr. Ruiz received his license to practice medicine he returned to his community to serve as a much needed ER doctor. Dr. Ruiz ran for and was elected to the U.S. Congress where he’s a leader and advocate for safe and responsible child farm labor laws, accessible health care for underserved populations and advocates for an earned pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and their families.
Tony Cárdenas Education was important to Tony’s immigrant parents. They didn’t have the opportunity to attend school beyond the first grade. Their influence helped motivate Tony and nearly all of his ten siblings to earn advanced degrees. Tony, an engineer, was elected to the U.S. Congress; while in Congress he worked to expand opportunity and support of Latinos interested in STEM careers; He sought for additional funding to bolster children’s health care; and tirelessly advocated for reforming law enforcement practices and policies concerning minor children convicted of crimes. The former Congressman believes minors who break the law should not be incarcerated and society can and must find alternate solutions that will result in more positive outcome for all.
Told They Can’t © is currently available for private screenings and live in person speaking events with the film subjects.
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