Did you catch last night’s special report on the refugee family we profiled?
If so, you might enjoy reading my producer, Michael, notes.’
Here they are.
PRODUCER’S NOTES
Existing almost completely under the radar in this, and most other major cities, refugees are largely misunderstood, if even acknowledged.
However, when I initially pitched this story that would later inspire the News 5 report, this premise was not the basis for the article. Nor was the lede which would connect the two reports: that while generations of people have come to the U.S. for better opportunities, these people — refugees — were coming because their lives seriously threatened by their own government.
In fact, the idea seemingly cultivated itself — as it often does — through a series of discussions with a local family who sponsors several Barundian (Africa) refugees, and a crime that came over the scanners while I was working the newsdesk one day here at the station: a man who had robbed at least one refugee in Cincinnati, having followed him home on the bus, was finally caught in Detroit for a different crime. An affiliated station from the Motor City called down here to let us know, in case we wanted to follow-up on the story. I happened to be here to recieve that call; the dots began to connect.
I began to piece together a possible story, making a few calls to Catholic Social Services. Perhaps this was common, people who had a rough grasp of the English language, and who came from a country where their police were more corrupt than anyone else… perhaps they were being terrorized — as this man had been — and were afraid to say anything to officials, though they were now in the states.
Happily, this turned out to be the exception, in the experience of the refugees I have since interviewed. At least the robbery part.
But what I began to see was a group of people, severely dedicated to hard work, family, and freedom — the brick and mortar of what Americans claim as somewhat of an underlying national ethos.
And of course, as Sandra Ali reports for News 5, we see the struggles that families and individuals like these have to go through in such a short amount of time. Though we weren’t able to get into it here because of time constraints, I was able to venture into the addition of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to the overall landscape of many refugees lives (many have been witness to gruesome violence and death first hand) which they have to essentially forget about as they establish themselves State side.
The Sapkota family came to us by chance. We had been with them over a month, from the moment they wandered off of the plane at CVG. We had a general background, but no clue how many families we would have to meet in order to find a story that was palatable for television, or who would even want to be recorded. Not only were they extraordinarily photogenic, but they were more than willing to unveil their experience, though it sometimes meant reliving trauma.
When Sandra and I got together to write the story, we led with an essencially timeless introduction. But this narrative could have started with various topical overtures had it been written or shot at any time in the last few years. If it were done over a year ago, it might have begun, “While an intense immigration debate rages on Capitol Hill…” or even locally juxtaposed with the Butler County bar sign declaring proprietors must speak English. But by chance, the final interview was shot on the heels of the most recent tri-state event that left millions without power. In an ironic twist, the 13 Sapkotas, fresh from a camp near Pakistan and India, having been Queen City residents for just over a few weeks, if for only a moment, were perhaps the most adept Cincinnatians.
— Michael D. Altman produced this News 5 special report
Michael D. Altman
Assignment Editor
WLWT-TV, News 5
1700 Young St.
Cincinnati, Ohio
45202
Sandra Ali's Newsroom 