Inspiring Leadership in Immigrant Communities - ILRC

Inspiring Leadership in Immigrant CommunitiesJanuary 2003ARE THERE ANY THINGS THAT NEGOTIATORS SHOULD REMEMBER TODO DURING THE NEGOTIATION SESSION?Some possible answers: take notes, note the name of the person with whom you arenegotiatingIF THE PERSON SAYS NO, WHAT DO YOU DO?Some possible answers: see if he or she really means “No,” refuse to accept “No” asan answer in your mind, ask to speak to a supervisor, continue negotiating withpeople higher up the chain of command, write a letter about what happened to otherpowerful people, conduct a media event to educate the community about the issueB. Introduction to the Negotiation Exercise (10 minutes)Start by telling the participants that during the next hour they will be practicingnegotiations with each other. Then give them this brief introduction to the exercise:a. There are many possible ways families, community members, neighbors, tenants,clients and others can be negotiators. Some of the things we do to negotiate arewriting letters, making phone calls, meeting with the an institution or person face-tofaceand going to community meetings to build community support to negotiate.b. This exercise will allow all of you to practice at a negotiation by having a mockcommunity meeting with the INS Border Patrol. The meeting is really a groupnegotiation around an abuse of the rights of people. The Border Patrol has beenstopping and questioning people on street corners near schools in San Jose, Calif., forthe last four weeks. Community members have complained that severalundocumented children were picked up by the Border Patrol on the way home fromschool. The Border Patrol does not have a history of conducting enforcement actionsnear schools and this makes these events in San Jose even more outrageous in theeyes of the community. The Border Patrol is concerned about getting a lot of negativepublicity around this issue, especially because it has affected children and schools.c. Each of you will be assigned a role in the role-play. You’ll have about 20 minutesto prepare for a negotiation. We will split into small groups of about seven people foreach group. Two-three people in each group will play INS Border Patrol officials, andthe others will play community members outraged at the Border Patrol’s recentaction.Everyone must make a presentation of at least two minutes during the negotiationexercise. The team of “community members” must determine the order and focus ofeach person’s presentation.Please Note: Tell the participants that even though the Border Patrol activityhappened over 500 miles from the border, it is based on a real Border Patrol action12-6