Gregory Torrales, head of the South Carolina Hispanic leadership council

'It's a capitalistic world so I might as well join in'

Hector Sanchez, supermarket manager, Columbia, South Carolina

Hector says a new immigration law, due to come into effect in the state in Janua, will affect everyone, not just illegal immigrants. His main concern is the economy: he was forced to sell his house last year as house prices dropped

Amanda Elias Vargas, director of Lexington hospital interpreting services, Columbia, South Carolina

Amanda Jackson, immigration campaigner, Columbia, South Carolina

'Do we want to go down as a country that galvanised divisiveness or a country that truly gave it her all for all of her citizens'

A South Carolina welcome

(it got better)

Asmorom George, taxi driver, Washington

'I like his plan, but Obama needs help'

Alan, Courier in Washington DC

When I first asked Alan 'what's next for America', he said: "The end?"
He didn't get much more optimistic once the camera was rolling

Ved Sharma, street vendor, Washington

Ved, a stall holder in Washington, selling umbrellas the day we meet, says prices are going up but the economy is getting worse. He wants to see a different president in 2012

Steve Timms, construction worker in Washington

Steve said he had lost his house after struggling to find work and is now renting a room from a friend. After a time out of work he is now working on a site in the city centre but he says that the construction industry is still struggling

Roxana Olivas, director of the Office on Latino Affairs, Washington DC

...and co-founder of Latinas Unidas for Obama. Yesterday she was at a protest outside the department of US immigration and customs enforcement, protesting the impending deportation of four women

http://ola.dc.gov/DC/OLA/About+OLA/Who+We+Are/Director%27s+Biography/Roxana+Olivas

Charles Hall, executive director of the Georgia Fruit &Vegetable Growers Association, on a trip to Washington

Stephen Johnson, director of the Americas programme at the CSIS, Washington D.C.

Esmerelda Pinera, housekeeping staff, Washington

Concepcion Piccioto, outside the White House, Washington D.C.

 

Concepcion has been protesting outside the White House since 1981, and her anti-nuclear weapons campaign has been called the longest continuous act of political protest in the United States. In 1988 George Joseph Tanber wrote this lovely pieceabout her vigil for Toledo magazine. Concepcion gave me a photocopy of it this week.

Dawit Fisseha, K Street, Washington

What's next for America? Washington DC

This trip will cover, by plane, train and a probably far too big automobile, 8,000 miles, 10 states, and perhaps a trip over the border to Mexico.
Along the way I am going to be asking a different person each day, 'what is next for America'. A deliberately vague question, the hope is that we hear some interesting voices, be they on the economy, the political system and who will win in 2012, or on America's place in the world.
At the end of week one I have seen Obama being (apparently) helicoptered into the White House, met the protester who has been camped outside since 1981, spoken to Washington's finest about immigration law, and eaten fried pickles. A good week. Not all of them are in the videos, but a few.
I will be in Washington DC for six days until the trip takes me to South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and then down to some of the border states.