Jack Pitney is a consultant with TMCF film and Professor politics at CMC attended the DC screening of TMCF in DC where he was asked few questions:
What do you do with people who tell you, ‘Oh, I hate politics! I can’t believe you’re into politics.’?
Politics is really about everything. You can’t identify any realm of life that isn’t affected by politics, art, infrastructure, climate, you name it. Politics has something to do with it. And to be effective in any field of work, you do need to know something about politics.
The journey from being, a well-known top leader in the Republican Party to these days, having a different stance and leaving that, that’s quite a journey. Can you kind of describe what happened?
Well, my journey from being, a, a Republican activist, a staffer for the Republican National Committee, worked in several campaigns, including the Bush 1988 campaign. Well, as Ronald Reagan said, I didn’t leave my party. My party left me, for many years. Republicans stood for things such as balanced budgets and for disability rights. Bob Dole was one of the champions of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
So you have this former student producing a film about migrant child farm workers, individuals who are now high profile professionals. You’re playing a role as a consultant. How how does that feel for you? And what what are the main things you like about it?
I’m honored to be part of it. To look at the amazing people who are profiled in this film, Doctor Race. I just for one, people who faced, daunting odds overcame them. And not only that, they’re giving back. And that’s the common thread to all these stories.
Not somebody who just achieved professional status and made a lot of money. All which is true. But, these are people who are giving back to the community, making a contribution and showing what would be missed if we gave up on the contributions of immigrants. If we shut the door. Because when you shut the door to immigration, you’re shutting to the door to the future.
You’re doing without all of the contributions they could make in the future. And that’s something that is bad for the country. It’s something, ultimately, that would make all of us suffer.
Something you’re really encouraged by in politics or in students, the student body and your career?
What encourages me, in my student body, in these times is looking at what my students have made of themselves. Many of them have had journeys not unlike those in this film. People who came from, difficult backgrounds. And put effort into it through ability, through hard work, made something of themselves and most important, contributed to their community.
You know, one of my students came from a broken home, later became governor of his state. That’s just one example of many. – Pitney {steve bullock??}
some additional comments.
The stories in this film are not just Hispanic stories. They’re not just stories of people of color. They’re American stories. Because if you look at the people of this country, everybody except for the Native Americans, everybody has an immigrant story and that immigrant story. If you look at it carefully and honestly, you’ll see that our forefathers had struggles.
Our forefathers faced discrimination. And that’s something to remember for people who, downplay the significance of people of color and of immigrants because, the insults and the deprecations that they encounter in everyday life, those are things that were thrown at all of our ancestors. And that’s something we all have in common.
Tell us, one of the couple of the weird things that was said about, the Irish, for example.
Well, most of my great great grandparents were born in Ireland. And when they came to this country, they were called Saint Patrick’s, Vermont. It was said that they brought crime, that they brought disease. All of the things the people are saying about recent immigrants were said about Irish immigrants. And there was indeed a call to deport them.
About Jack Pitney
Jack Pitney is a consultant for the documentary short film The Migrant Child Farmworkers to High-Profile Professionals©, narrated by Xolo Maridueña (star of Blue Beetle and Cobra Kai.) He is the Roy P. Crocker Professor of American Politics at Claremont McKenna College who received his B.A. in political science from Union College and a Ph.D. in political science at Yale. Prior to joining the CMC faculty in 1986, he worked in the New York State Senate, as a Congressional Fellow of the American Political Science Association, for Senator Alfonse D’Amato of New York and the House Republican Policy Committee. During a leave of absence from CMC, he worked at the Republican National Committee, as deputy then as acting director. He has written for The Washington Post, Politico, The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times, among others. His scholarly works include The Art of Political Warfare, The Politics of Autism and American Government and Politics: Deliberation, Democracy, and Citizenship. His most recent book is called The Comeback: The 2024 Elections and American Politics.