The Supreme Court is expected to make a decision this week on SB 1070, the controversial Arizona anti-immigrant bill. SB 1070 was passed by the Arizona legislature and then signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer in April 2010. However, a number of its provisions have been legally challenged. Among them is one that would require undocumented immigrants to carry registration cards at all times. Also, being challenged is the law’s encouragement of police to conduct an arrest without a warrant if they have reasonable suspicion to believe a person is undocumented. Finally, the nation’s highest court will also determine the constitutionality of criminalizing those caught transporting immigrants. For the past two years, SB 1070 has sparked spirited and militant protests among pro-immigrant advocates through the country and here in LA.

One such activist is Garrick Ruiz, who is featured in the first in a series of short films on Uprising called No Ordinary People about local activists in our community. These are individuals who have dedicated their lives to working on social and political issues but rarely find themselves in a media spotlight.

Garrick has devoted his life to social justice causes for over 15 years. One of the issues closest to his heart is that of undocumented immigration, particularly the recent targeting of immigrants seen in states like Arizona. In the following short documentary made by longtime editor and filmmaker Bipasha Shom, exclusively for Uprising, Garrick discusses Arizona’s SB1070 which many activists feel unfairly targets Latinos and other people of color through racial profiling. The documentary also explores the motivations that have led Garrick to pursue a life of activism, facing arrest and incarceration.

This film features original music by Franklin Newby.

Watch the first episode of No Ordinary People here: