0:08 – Mondays with Mitch – Mitch Jeserich is the host of Letters and Politics, weekdays at 10AM. Up for discussion this week: the GOP-controlled Senate and Democrat-controlled House are moving on substantially different police reform measures this week. Plus, we talk about disclosures from John Bolton’s book and the Trump administration’s fumbled attempts to fire Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
0:34 – The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 last week that the Trump administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it tried to rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the immigration policy known as DACA. What happens now to current and previous DACA recipients? Could a future president revive the policy DAPA, which would protect parents of U.S. citizen children from deportation? We talk with two guests:
Hiroshi Motomura is a professor of law at UCLA, where he teaches immigration and citizenship. His books include “Immigration Outside the Law.”
Aidin Castillo is directing attorney of immigrants’ rights at Centro Legal de la Raza. Castillo says potential DACA recipients unsure of their status or rights to apply should get in touch with organizations like hers.
1:08 – Assemblymember Rob Bonta, who represents District 18 encompassing Oakland, Alameda and San Leandro, is introducing legislation that would classify discriminatory 911 calls as hate crimes. It’s in response to incidents like Amy Cooper calling police on a Black bird-watcher in New York City: a racially-motivated phone call making a false emergency report.
1:18 – What happened the last time white nationalists tried to come to Oakland? Tur Ha Ak joins us to talk about the need for organizing against racists — he is the founder of Community Ready Corps (CRC), a liberation organization that combats white supremacy and actively builds and supports self-determination. White allies can get involved with Community Ready Corps Allies and Accomplices, a companion organization.
1:34 – The Supreme Court is releasing decisions throughout the month. We check in with Marjorie Cohn, professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and former president of the National Lawyers Guild. Listeners can read Cohn’s articles here.
1:49 – Seattle’s police union, SPOG, was successfully booted from the King County Labor Council in a vote last Wednesday, after weeks of organizing by workers in other unions to hold them accountable for racism and brutality against the community. We talk to Jane Hopkins, a registered nurse and executive vice president of SEIU 1199 Healthcare Northwest, and Isaura Jiménez Guerra, public school teacher and union member in the Highline Public School system south of Seattle.
Photo by Jonathan McIntosh of 2006 May Day march in Los Angeles, CA.