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Part One:
We speak with Sam Fullwood III from ThinkProgress about America’s racial problems. From the founding of our republic to this very week, racial divisions have defined who we are as a country and the way we think about what it means to be “truly American.” We analyze the spirited discussions at last week’s Democratic debates, and the subsequent rise of the birther movement’s ugly racist head.
Part Two:
We chat with Kit Johnson, professor of immigration law at Oklahoma College of Law. We focus on a question that underlay a feisty argument between Julian Castro and Beto O’Rourke at Thursday’s debate: Should it be a crime simply to cross the U.S. border without authorization?
Such criminal punishment has been on the books since 1929, but was rarely enforced until the 21st century and especially since Pres. Trump instituted his “zero tolerance” policy in 2017. The government says that criminalization deters people from other countries who are fleeing violence, persecution and starvation.
But criminalization of parents leads to separating children from their families at the SW border. And this results in the children being incarcerated separately in detention facilities such as Homestead FL, Tornillo TX, and Ft. Sill OK. Is the deterrent “benefit” worth the shredding of American values that these inhumane policies represent?
