Arizona Mexico Border

PANORAMA IMMIGRATION

A Minuteman volunteer guards Arizona's border.

Eyes Vo unteer Help T he U.S. Border Patrol is exploring ways to use citizen volunteers to help it pro-tect the border, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert C. Bonner announced this summer. In April, hundreds of volunteers spread across a 23-mile

stretch of the Arizono-Mexico border to keep migrants from illegally crossing the

border. The scxalled Minuteman Project attracted international attention and criti-

cism, even from the Border Patrol- The effort also spav/ned other similar campaigns

along the U.S.-Mexico border.

POLITICS

A New Black- Hispanic A liance? In an effort to unite Hispanic and black Americans, Rev. Al Sharpton and Christine Chavez, the granddaughter of activist Cesar Chavez, have joined forces to create the Latino & African-American Leadership Alliance. The group aims to bring more attention ta the groups' shared interests.

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For seven seasons, she has dished it outas Rosario, the feisty maid on NBC's Wills. Grace. Recently, HISPANIC caught

up with the woman behind the wisecracks.

HISPANIC: Who was your inspiraHon for the role of Rosario?

M o r r i s o n : Rosario reminds me a lot of my mother. She would take o bullet for those

four [Will, Grace, Jack and Karen]. She's a

highly educated tough oi' broad (laughs).

H : Has there ever been a role you turned

down and kicked yourself later?

M : No. My instincfs are pretty good. But I

won't do anything that'll pollute [the air-

waves]. What we do does influence and

we have o responsibility. I don't believe in

censorship but I believe in self-awareness.

H : What's something people

would be surprised to learn about you?

M : Gosh, there's a lot of things. Well, I can do all ethnic ranges of diaiects and I want-

ed to be the first female professional base-

ball player (laughs).

H: What advice would you give aspiring

Hispanic actors and actresses?

M : It's the work that's important, not the

celebrity. The work is where you'll derive

your true fulfillment. This is an excellent

time right now for Hispanics because the

industry is just breaking wide open and

opportunities are going to be coming fast

and furious.

l<iy Fernandez

HISPANIC • SEPTEMBER 2005