Vanguard

Issue date: 10/15/07 Section: News

The Quest for Social Justice, a grass roots non-profit organization in Mobile that seeks to find ways to diminish the origins of poverty, racism and injustice, will bring to the University of South Alabama Barbara Martinez Jitner Oct. 18 in the Humanities Building room 150 to view her documentary "La Frontera." Jitner was the writer and producer of the documentary.
Jitner is a Latin writer, producer and director and is an executive producer of "American Family," a series that debut on PBS in January 2002. She has worked with Academy Award nominee Gregory Nava as one of the few Latina supervising producers in a network series. She wrote her PBS premiere that got critical acclaim and was promoted to executive producer. She wrote nine and directed seven of the show's first 22 episodes.President of El Norte Productions, Jitner is developing many films for Gregory Nava, including Nava's "Bordertown," "Zapata" for Disney and "Tattooed Soldier" for HBO.
Jitner vividly shares her first-hand experiences, providing personal insights into the crippling poverty and the gender discrimination of the slave like NAFTA factories that have sprung up along the American Mexican border. Jitner will present the film and host a Q-and-A from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The film "Bordertown," starring Jennifer Lopez and Antonio Banderas, scheduled for release October 2007 is based on her story.
The Quest is an organization in the Mobile community that is trying to get USA students involved. Interaction that raises understanding and awareness, individual involvement and education are the foundation of The Quests arsenal against society's ills.
Recent successful events that focused on seeking to improve racial interaction in Mobile included a visit by the inspirational speaker Coach Herman Boone of "Remember the Titans" fame. Coach Boone was invited to speak to nearly 2,000 middle and high school students at the Mobile Civic Center earlier this year. He utilized his lecture to encourage the young people of the audience to become active partners in The Quests struggles against injustice.
Another event that has found great success is The Quests' series of dinner dialogues designed to bring about candid and open communication between the races; conversation is focused on issues that affect everyone, regardless of color. These dinners typically have a speaker that serves to inform and educate. The speaker sets the stage to generate facilitated round-table discussions, endeavoring to enable everyone at the table to share ideas, opinions and more importantly, a wonderful evening of conversation. These gatherings have been aptly named Bridges, with the most recent ones held at The University of Mobile and Springhill College.

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