Ramon Resa, MD is an abandoned boy who became a doctor. Our film about his life puts a human face on not only migrant farmworkers, but any who have been overlooked, marginalized or dismissed by today’s society. His example speaks to people of all ages and ethnicities. This includes the millions with a foster care background, or troubled/broken families where poverty, neglect, abuse and failure is the norm, to the kids who are the first in their family to aspire to enter college; the millions of inner city kids with little or no opportunity to escape the “hood” in order to make their lives better, and yes, the thousands of children out laboring today in the hot, dusty fields for low pay and little or no hope for advancement in life.
I met Dr. Resa nearly a dozen years ago at a National Speakers Association event designed to help authors and speakers learn to pitch their story to national news media. I was a member of a media panel which included an editor from The Huffington Post, myself (I’ve a National TV news background) and a few other representatives from online news publications. Dr. Resa was an audience member at the event and during the Q&A time he stood up and asked me if I thought “Farmworker Boy to Pediatrician” was a good headline for a pitch to a national TV news outlet.
Over the last couple of decades I’ve covered hundreds of stories which touched on a wide variety of issues. None of them prepared me for this question from Dr. Resa. A farmworker boy becoming a doctor sounded totally impossible in addition to my never having heard of anyone who accomplished it. As Dr. Resa’s told me more about his journey I realized his was a story that needed to be told to the entire world. Dr. Resa’s life story is not only inspiring, it’s timely and critically important in our society right now. Dr. Resa’s life story has the power to debunk negative myths and stereotypes about Mexican American migrant workers and for that matter any and all immigrants who come to America to find a better life.
I passionately believe RAMON RISING audience members of all ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds will leave theaters after watching this film encouraged, empowered and absolutely certain they too can change their lives, their communities and the world for the better.
Jesse Gift | Executive Producer, Writer/Director of RAMON RISING
Contact: Jesse@RamonRising.Film