UNifeed: COSTA RICA / RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

COSTA RICA / RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

In Latin America one woman hopes to make history by becoming the region's first black president. UNTV

Duration:06:33Date:03 July 2009

Categories:

United Nations Television, HUMAN RIGHTS, COSTA RICA

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Full Script

STORY: COSTA RICA / RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
TRT: 6.33
SOURCE: 21ST CENTURY
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / SPANISH / NATS

DATELINE: FEBRUARY 2009, LIMON, COSTA RICA

SHOTLIST:

FEBRUARY 2009, LIMON, COSTA RICA

1. Various shots, people dancing during a afro Costa Rican carnival parade
2. Various shots, flashes and crowds interviewing presidential candidate 3. 3. Various shots, Epsy Campbell delivering a speech
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Epsy Campbell, presidential candidate:
 “The time has come to inspire the people. The time has come to open the doors that defeat fear, to grow, to create more participation by the people.”
5. Med shot, Epsy crossing a street
6. Med shot, scenes of Limon
7. Wide shot, man crossing a street
8. Med shot, Epsy addressing group of people
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Epsy Campbell, presidential candidate:
 “I am part of a group who have to work centuries to be recognized as a human. I am part of a group who fight a lot to develop their country and the country denied them.”
10. Various shots, meeting with Epsy
10. Wide shot, Costa Rican flag
11. Various shots, scenes of Limon
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Epsy Campbell, presidential candidate:
 “If people see you as strange, that means discrimination.  If people make jokes about you or your family that means discrimination.”   
13. Various shots, city scenes
14. Med shot, child playing with yellow toy truck
15. Various shots, city scenes 
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Epsy Campbell, presidential candidate:
“It’s the most important opportunity in my life because my voice is not only my voice.  It is the voice of the people that don’t have any opportunity.  I am not talking about me. I am talking about people who need a lot of things like human right.”
17. Med shot, woman cooking
18. Med shot, girl carrying basket in garden
19. Med shot, entrance to grocery
20. Med shot, girls playing in garden
21. Med shot, boys walking on road
22. Zoom in, Epsy with her family
23. SOUNDBITE (English) Epsy Campbell, presidential candidate:
 “The reason I am part of the fight is I have a father and a mother in my family every day who made me proud to be a black girl, a black young girl, and a black woman.”
24. Various shots, Epsy with her family
25. Various shots, (b&w) people walking
26. Wide shot, coast of Costa Rica
27. Various shots, town scenes
28. SOUNDBITE (English) Epsy Campbell, presidential candidate:
 “Most of the black people came here to build the railroad.  My great grandfather came to work here.”  
29. Zoom in, old still in sepia of a train 
30. SOUNDBITE (English) Epsy Campbell, presidential candidate:
 “It’s a lot of tears here…”  
31. Wide shot, railroad
32. Med shot, Epsy walking 
33. SOUNDBITE (English) Epsy Campbell, presidential candidate:
 “It is here we see more the difference between the gaps in this country.  The young people here don’t have a lot of employment opportunities.  You see more needs in terms of housing.  This is my people, and this is my motivation to be part of the generation of change in Costa Rica.”  
34. Various shots, Costa Rican community 
35. Various shots, Epsy walking at night
36. Med shot, Epsy and another woman rushing into building
37. Various shots, meeting 
38. SOUNDBITE (English) Epsy Campbell, presidential candidate:
 “One of the most important priorities is to promote the political participation of the people; the actions of people in their own neighbourhood, the participation of the people in the local, very local government.  I think (the) political arena has a new opportunity to take back the past of racism.”
39. Various shots, meeting
40. Med shot, Laura Wilson in house picking up her handbag 
41. Med shot, Laura Wilson walking into house
42. SOUNDBITE (English) Laura Wilson:
“What we have to do is get together, go to our people, all go to our communities.  We have to call the government.  We have to sit down with each political party at the table. That’s what we have to do, we have to get aggressive.” 
43. Med shot, people gathered at tin roof setting
44. Med shot, two men talking
45. Med shot, Epsy and two men talking
46. Med shot, flag
47. SOUNDBITE (English) Kyung-Wha Kang, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights: 
“The political process is the most important decision-making process of any society.”
48. Various shots, Kang at a conference
49. SOUNDBITE (English) Kyung-Wha Kang, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights: 
 “To have a part in that process is the first step toward claiming their right toward equal treatment in society.”
50. Various shots, conference 
51. SOUNDBITE (English) Laura Wilson:
“We have to prove to Costa Ricans and to the world that we can reach and we make the difference. “  
52. Med shot, children playing in backyard 
53. Med shot, Epsy talking to reporters
54. SOUNDBITE (English) Epsy Campbell, presidential candidate:
 “We’re facing a change in this country.  We are working for a new society.  This is the reason of my fight and this is the reason of my life. “
55. Various shots, Epsy and other people

STORYLINE:

Their culture is brimming with music and with a rich history but many black Costa Ricans say they are facing racial discrimination and division and are struggling to find equality in their own country.

And from within that group has emerged a woman who many believe is a powerful symbol of change. Her message is clear

SOUNDBITE (English) Epsy Campbell, presidential candidate:
 “The time has come to inspire the people. The time has come to open the doors that defeat fear, to grow, to create more participation by the people.”

Her name is Epsy Campbell and she’s one of nearly 75,000 black people living in the Central American country of Costa Rica.

SOUNDBITE (English) Epsy Campbell, presidential candidate:
 “I am part of a group who have to work centuries to be recognized as a human. I am part of a group who fight a lot to develop their country… and the country denied them.”

This denial, she says, is one reason she’s taking an historic step – seeking her party’s nomination to run in 2010 as the first black candidate for President of her country.

While Costa Rica does have anti-discrimination laws, she says many black people here still feel invisible, excluded, not even being granted full citizenship until the mid 1950’s.

SOUNDBITE (English) Epsy Campbell, presidential candidate:
 “If people see you as strange, that means discrimination.  If people make jokes about your or your family that means discrimination.”

But Epsy says she’s running not just for the black Costa Ricans, but for all those in her country who have felt disadvantaged, including the poor.

SOUNDBITE (English) Epsy Campbell, presidential candidate:
“It’s the most important opportunity in my life because my voice is not only my voice.  It is the voice of the people that don’t have any opportunity.  I am not talking about me; I am talking about people who need a lot of things like human right.”

People like her parents who were born poor but always dreamed of something more

SOUNDBITE (English) Epsy Campbell, presidential candidate:
 “The reason I am part of the fight is I have a father and a mother in my family every day who made me proud to be a black girl, a black young girl, and a black woman.”

Her odyssey, she says, was ignited from the painful past of her ancestors when tens of thousands of black people migrated from the Caribbean seeking work largely settling along Costa Rica’s eastern Coast.

It’s a region marked by poverty and is where Epsy’s own story began.

SOUNDBITE (English) Epsy Campbell, presidential candidate:
“Most of the black people came here to build the railroad.  My great grandfather came to work here.”

He, like so many others, was too poor to ever return home.

SOUNDBITE (English) Epsy Campbell, presidential candidate:
 “It’s a lot of tears here.”

Coming back, she says, is a both a connection to her past and a rallying cry for her future.

SOUNDBITE (English) Epsy Campbell, presidential candidate:
 “It is here we see more the difference between the gaps in this country.  The young people here don’t have a lot of employment opportunities.  You see more needs in terms of housing.  This is my people, and this is my motivation to be part of the generation of change in Costa Rica.”

And so, she says, she’ll fight to bring better healthcare and education and more jobs to those in need and there’s something else she wants more representation in government by minorities who’ve suffered discrimination.

SOUNDBITE (English) Epsy Campbell, presidential candidate: 
“One of the most important priorities is to promote the political participation of the people; the actions of people in their own neighbourhood, the participation of the people in the local, very local government.  I think (the) political arena has a new opportunity to take back the past of racism.”

And she’s inspiring others throughout Costa Rica – people like Laura Wilson, a former housewife who is now a local municipal leader who’s using her position to teach children about their black identity and call attention to their rights.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Laura Wilson, local municipal leader:
“What we have to do is get together, go to our people, all go to our communities.  We have to call the government.  We have to sit down with each political party at the table. That’s what we have to do, we have to get aggressive.”  (15.60”)

SOUNDBITE (English) Kyung-Wha Kang, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“The political process is the most important decision-making process of any society.”

Kyung-wha Kang, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights.

SOUNDBITE (English) Kyung-Wha Kang, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“To have a part in that process is the first step toward claiming their right toward equal treatment in society.”

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Laura Wilson, local municipal leader:
 “We have to prove to Costa Ricans and to the world that we can reach and we make the difference. “

A difference in a country struggling for equality and while the journey may be long Epsy says, it must continue.

SOUNDBITE (English) Epsy Campbell, presidential candidate: 
“We’re facing a change in this country.  We are working for a new society.  This is the reason of my fight and this is the reason of my life.”

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