colorlines

Last week, an Arizona State Senate committee approved a set of bills that would bar undocumented immigrants from public schools and hospitals and revoke birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants. I spent most of February in Arizona, where I talked with communities about the daily struggle against a growing climate of fear as families are separated by deportation, undocumented immigrants are trapped with abusive partners because abusers threaten to call ICE and children are left alone when their parents disappear after traffic stops. Distributed by Tubemogul.

"There was no there there. There wasn't a whole lot you could sink your teeth into, but it was very much Obama in 2008 in terms of 'let's spend responsibly, let's all get along, let's be scientific and smart and go forth and be Americans and we're exceptional,'" said ColorLines editor Kai Wright of Obama's State of the Union speech last night. Obama made the case for "winning the future" with investment in education and green technology, Kai notes, but didn't lay out specifics for how to get there--but with Republicans putting up Paul Ryan and Michele Bachmann putting up her own Tea Party response to the speech, he may still get four more years. Campaign 2012 begins now, and Kai joins Laura to discuss what's coming next. Michele Bachmann isn't the only one who believes in American exceptionalism--there was plenty in Barack Obama's State of the Union speech that reiterated the notion that the US is somehow above the rest of the world. But what does all that mean now? Richard Wolff says "We are exceptional these days not only in the nice and happy things but in things that are not so good." And Maya Wiley points out "It's good if we feel strongly about the importance of our nation. What's complicated is what's behind it." Maya and Richard join Laura in the studio for a discussion of American exceptionalism in 2011--the hard truths we're not acknowledging, what Obama spoke about in his speech, and what changes need to be made to live up to some of the promises being made by politicians on both sides. What happens in Tunisia apparently doesn't stay in Tunisia. Cairo, the capital city of Egypt, has been rocked by protests for the past two days that show no sign of stopping. While the US State department is issuing statements that the government is stable, everyone's paying attention to unconfirmed reports that President Mubarak's wife and family have landed in Heathrow airport in London, landing with 97 pieces of luggage. Al Jazeera English, which can be seen on Free Speech TV alongside GRITtv, had this report from the early morning hours in Cairo. In the State of the Union speech, Barack Obama did get applause for saying that the US stands with the people of Tunisia. Now, he didn't mention the two decades of support the US had given the dictatorship. Laura has some thoughts on the US response to the protests in Cairo as well. Distributed by Tubemogul.

This weekend saw critical votes on Don't Ask Don't Tell and the DREAM Act--one victory and one defeat for progressives. Kai Wright of ColorLines notes that it was grassroots organizing and militant activism that brought both these bills to the point of passage. "In the end it's the outside that moves people. Literally outside the White House, chained to the fence, or DREAM act students hunger striking," he notes. Kai joins Laura in studio to talk about what can be learned from the movement around the DREAM Act and Don't Ask Don't Tell, moving beyond "inside/outside" strategy, and why the military is traditionally a first step toward wider equality and rights for all Americans. "I think a comic's job is always to question authority and question the status quo," says Kelly Carlin, daughter of famous political comedian George Carlin. Now, with more Americans trusting Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert to provide not only information, but even political rallies, it seems that political comedy is more relevant than ever. Kelly joins GRITtv contributor John Fugelsang and comic Lee Camp for a discussion on the place of political comedy--when your guy is in the White House, when the subject is popular and when it's not, parody and satire and the difference between, and much, much more. Finally, militant action moved Don't Ask Don't Tell, and now it's time to come out against war--and for Bradley Manning.

"Who needs gay bashing when you have the Ground Zero mosque?" Richard Kim, senior editor at The Nation, asks guest host Esther Armah. In a week when gay and lesbian couples may see obstacles to their right to marry in California fall away, he notes, right-wing media are strangely silent on the issue. Even Glenn Beck is suddenly sounding a libertarian note. Instead, it's all about the "Ground Zero mosque," even as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown decide not to pursue their case to uphold Prop 8. The Ninth Circuit and the Supreme Court will rule on the case soon, but it seems that the fearmongering over the issue has shifted dramatically.