EP53 \ How do we Define American? Pt. 1 - Central American-US History-Present • May 5th •
We discuss some of the history of US political intervention in many Central American countries that has lead in no small part to dire human rights crises that cause so many to flee in extremely violent conditions; and some of the realities that face these communities today in the US. While looking at how we imagine who 'deserves' to be a citizen, we will explore how we define American - and what this means to us. The title of this episode is inspired by the organization - Define American - during the show we hear from founder Jose Antonio Vargas in conversation with New Jim Crow author Michelle Alexander, among many others.
Though these issues affect very many nations across the world, as the show aired Cinco de Mayo, we explore some of the ways that the USA interacts with the nations and communities from south of our border, historically to present day.
Here are the resources we used, extremely educational and interesting, check them out in full. If you missed the show or would like to listen to it again, be sure to check it out as a podcast at talkitoutradio.media, it will be posted shortly. If you would like an mp3 copy of the show for download, simply send us a message and we will happily send you one.
Resources:
Hunter of Stories - Eduardo Galeano - Nation Books, Nov 14, 2017 - translated by Mark Fried
The Sudden Departure - Left Behind - April 19, 2019 - This American Life
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/673/left-behind/act-one-3
Define American: a non-profit media and culture organization that uses the power of story to transcend politics and shift the conversation about immigrants, identity, and citizenship in a changing America (giving inspiration for this episode's title)
https://defineamerican.com/
Adam Ruins Everything - Why the US Immigration Courts are a Huge Mess
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCUW9H3rt_A
truTV - Sep 21, 2016
In the US, we have thirty times more Radio Shacks as we do Immigration Courts.
Sources:
https://www.trutv.com/shows/adam-ruins-everything/blog/adams-sources/adam-ruins-immigration.html
Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America - Full Documentary - 2012 - Juan Gonzales
https://youtu.be/UyncOYTZfHE?t=776
Explores the political events, social conditions and U.S. government actions that led millions of Latinos to leave their homelands and move to America, based on book of same title.
Migrants’ Stories: Why They Flee
By THE CONVERSATION APR 11, 2019 IMMIGRATION LATIN AMERICA NEWS
By Anthony W. Fontes, American University School of International Service
https://www.latinousa.org/2019/04/11/whytheyflee/
How US policy in Honduras set the stage for today’s migration
October 31, 2016 - Updated October 25, 2018 - Joseph Nevins, Professor of Geography, Vassar College
https://theconversation.com/how-us-policy-in-honduras-set-the-stage-for-todays-migration-65935
The Continuities Between Immigration Detention and Mass Incarceration - March 30, 2015 - Ohio State University Moritz College of Law
https://youtu.be/gN9gqQp1_Rk?t=540
César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández (clip - visiting professor, University of Denver Sturm College of Law; publisher, crImmigration.com blog)
A discussion featuring Michelle Alexander (author, The New Jim Crow), César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, Silky Shah (co-director, Detention Watch Network). Moderated by Amna Akbar (professor, Ohio State University Moritz College of Law), introduction by Inés Valdez (professor, Ohio State University Department of Political Science).
http://crimmigration.com/2015/04/23/immigration-detention-mass-incarceration-a-conversation-with-michelle-alexander-silky-shah/
Defining American
https://defineamerican.com/about/ “..In the 3 months...CNN has used the term ‘illegal immigrant’ or ‘illegal alien’ a total of 1,634 times.” Gabriel Ariana, 9/16/15 - HuffPost - https://youtu.be/tU22aaHrFMc?t=176
Guide to Difficult Conversations
https://defineamerican.com/conversation/
https://s3.amazonaws.com/i-src.defineamerican.com/2019/01/190131-FactsMatter.pdf
None of Us Deserve Citizenship
On what moral grounds can we deny others rights, privileges and opportunities that we did not earn ourselves?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/21/opinion/sunday/immigration-border-policy-citizenship.html
Michelle Alexander - Dec. 21, 2018
Spirit of Justice: Jose Antonio Vargas & Michelle Alexander
https://youtu.be/h1UFwSYOTms?t=2227 - 37:07
Union Theological Seminary - Streamed live on Nov 8, 2018
3 Cinco De Mayo Misconceptions Debunked
Franchesca Ramsey | Special Guest Kat Lazo | MTV Decoded - Published on May 3, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ah0X2hn1PI
Further Resources:
How To Fight Back Against Trump’s Deportation Raids - Jennifer Velez - February 24, 2017
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/how-communities-are-defending-themselves-against-raids/
“The world has got to see how this country is treating its immigrants.”
Keeping Our Families Together: 6 Ways to Fight Back Against Trump’s War on Latinx Immigrants - Aug 8, 2017
https://medium.com/@SolidarityWOC/keeping-our-families-together-6-ways-to-fight-back-against-trumps-war-on-latinx-immigrants-da551f25990b
11 Latinx Activists You Need To Follow After Trump's DACA Decision
Kyli Rodriguez-cayro - Sept 6 2017
https://www.bustle.com/p/11-latinx-activists-you-need-to-follow-after-trumps-daca-decision-81008
Adam Ruins Immigration - Full episode - aired September 25, 2016
https://vimeo.com/182752065
Adam takes us on a journey to illustrate that an expensive border wall wouldn't keep out the majority of immigrants who enter legally and overstay their visas. He then explores how the relatively recent militarization of the border has created an illegal immigrant problem where there wasn't one before, racist mass deportations have historically led to disaster, and immigration courts are a huge mess that are broken from top to bottom.
Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent - 1971 book by Uruguayan journalist, writer and poet Eduardo Galeano
Galeano analyzes the history of the Americas as a whole, from the time period of the European settlement of the New World to contemporary Latin America, describing the effects of European and later United States economic exploitation and political dominance over the region.
Adam Ruins Everything Podcast - Episode 20: Doug Massey Gives Us the Facts on Immigration - 2/15/2017
https://www.maximumfun.org/adam-ruins-everything/adam-ruins-everything-episode-20-doug-massey-gives-us-facts-immigration