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GRITtv: March 11, 2011

"We live in one world, not three. I'm very much against that we have three worlds. We have one world dominated by the same system," says Nawal El Saadawi, the pioneering Egyptian feminist thinker. In part two of her conversation with Laura, Dr. Saadawi elaborates on what real democracy would look like, in Egypt and around the world, on the connections between capitalism, patriarchy, and religious fundamentalism--and not just Islamic religious fundamentalism. A little over a year ago, Rose Mapendo visited us in our New York studio to tell us her story. Rose escaped from the Democratic Republic of Congo with nine of her ten children, and she became a humanitarian activist. Pushing the Elephant picks up ten years later, as Mapendo reunites with her daughter and is struggling to heal her family and homeland as an advocate for refugees. The documentary exposes the hidden effects of war on families, and the collective power of women. Dr. Peter Gomes died recently; the Harvard theologian advocated for the rights of gays and lesbians after coming out about his own sexuality in 1991. Just after that, he gave the sermon at Rev. Jacqui Lewis's commencement. She shares her memories with us. Distributed by Tubemogul.

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GRITtv: Jacqueline Lewis: Remembering Peter Gomes

Any preacher will tell you that you learn something about their heart and soul in the sermons they preach. I am a preacher, so I can tell you this is the truth. On a warm and wonderful May Saturday in 1992, Dr. Peter Gomes preached my Princeton Theological seminary commencement, and we learned something about his heart and soul. Although Dr. Gomes had come out to his Harvard colleagues in 1991, he came out publicly just before accepting the invitation to be our commencement speaker. Our president opposed gay ordination, but did not rescind the invitation. So as the press, our community and the Church listened in, Gomes playfully broke the tension: "I know that my being here today is the cause of no small consternation for some of you," Gomes began. "After all, I am... (dramatic pause) black... and I am... (dramatic pause)... Baptist... and I am (dramatic pause)... from Harvard!" We howled with laughter. What I remember even more is the way my eyes filled with tears when I heard something this great preacher said near the end of his sermon, called "Lions and Doors." Reflecting on the story of a man named Daniel, who was thrown into a lions' den for being faithful, whose life was spared. “The moral is not ‘be good and God will save you from Lions. NO, the moral is God is good and if you believe that and remember that you can face the lions, even the church lion, even for lunch and even if they eat you up (which they did not in this case). God is still Good and because of that, so are you. God is still good, and so are you. Dr. Gomes’ heart and soul knew that the goodness of God means all of God’s people, no matter race or ethnicity, no matter gender or sexual orientation, no matter their station in life are GOOD. How dare we treat them as otherwise. Preach it Dr. Gomes. We will miss you! Distributed by Tubemogul.

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GRITtv: March 11, 2011

"We live in one world, not three. I'm very much against that we have three worlds. We have one world dominated by the same system," says Nawal El Saadawi, the pioneering Egyptian feminist thinker. In part two of her conversation with Laura, Dr. Saadawi elaborates on what real democracy would look like, in Egypt and around the world, on the connections between capitalism, patriarchy, and religious fundamentalism--and not just Islamic religious fundamentalism. A little over a year ago, Rose Mapendo visited us in our New York studio to tell us her story. Rose escaped from the Democratic Republic of Congo with nine of her ten children, and she became a humanitarian activist. Pushing the Elephant picks up ten years later, as Mapendo reunites with her daughter and is struggling to heal her family and homeland as an advocate for refugees. The documentary exposes the hidden effects of war on families, and the collective power of women. Dr. Peter Gomes died recently; the Harvard theologian advocated for the rights of gays and lesbians after coming out about his own sexuality in 1991. Just after that, he gave the sermon at Rev. Jacqui Lewis's commencement. She shares her memories with us. Distributed by Tubemogul.

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GRITtv: The F Word: Larry Summers: Goodbye To All That

The Internet was all a-Twitter yesterday when news broke that Larry Summers, director of the National Economic Council, will step down by the end of the year. Summers -- ring a bell? Maybe you remember his comments as president of Harvard that gender skewed admissions numbers might be explained by female frailty in the area of math and science. Or perhaps you remember his role, chasing away Brooksley Born, chair of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CTFC) in order to push through Clinton's deregulations—you know, the ones that helped lead to the current crash.

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GRITtv: May 11 2010

President Obama got his second chance to nominate a Supreme Court justice not even a year after the first one with the retirement of John Paul Stevens, the Court's oldest member and its liberal backbone. He has nominated Elena Kagan, the current Solicitor General and the former Dean of Harvard Law School, but many progressives are unhappy with the choice, wishing that Obama had instead chosen a staunch liberal who would not run the risk of moving the Court to the right. Catherine Albisa of the National Economic & Social Rights Initiative joins us to talk about Elena Kagan--and about pioneering attorney Rhonda Copelon, who passed away recently. What are the odds of getting a Rhonda Copelon on the Supreme Court someday? The federal government keeps trying to tell us that things are looking up for the economy, but cities and states across the country are still struggling to meet budget requirements. One of the things on the chopping block here in New York City is after-school programs, which provide kids of working parents someplace to go, get help with homework, and stay off the streets. GRITtv's Sam Alcoff and Anna Gold visited one such program, CAMBA, in Brooklyn and brought us this report. Actress and activist Lena Horne passed away this week at the age of 92. She was memorialized around the U.S. and the world as a beloved entertainer, but some have noted her background in work with the NAACP and the Civil Rights movement--as John Nichols wrote at The Nation, "Such appearances earned Horne a reputation, she joked, as the 'bad little Red girl.'" Poet and musician Joy Harjo joined us in studio and performed some of her poems for us; this poem, "Equinox," she dedicated to Lena Horne. We'll have more from Joy soon! Finally, as we see more cuts to social programs, Laura notes that despite what the Tea Party crowd says, our tax rates are the lowest since Truman's time.

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GRITtv: Cathy Albisa: On Elena Kagan and Rhonda Copelon

President Obama got his second chance to nominate a Supreme Court justice not even a year after the first one with the retirement of John Paul Stevens, the Court's oldest member and its liberal backbone. He has nominated Elena Kagan, the current Solicitor General and the former Dean of Harvard Law School, but many progressives are unhappy with the choice, wishing that Obama had instead chosen a staunch liberal who would not run the risk of moving the Court to the right. Catherine Albisa of the National Economic & Social Rights Initiative joins us to talk about Elena Kagan--and about pioneering attorney Rhonda Copelon, who passed away recently. What are the odds of getting a Rhonda Copelon on the Supreme Court someday? GRITtv with Laura Flanders brings participatory democracy onto your computer screen and into your living room, bridging the gap between audience and advocates. Watch any show, at any time: http://grittv.org Distributed by Tubemogul.

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GRITtv: Should We Do Away With the Senate?

With the election of Scott Brown to Ted Kennedy's former Senate seat, Democrats in DC seemed to give up on getting any major legislation passed. 59 votes (well, 58 and Joe Lieberman) was just not good enough. The blame has been flying -- it's Obama's fault, Rahm Emanuel's, Harry Reid's -- but what if the problem simply is the Senate? What can we change? Would eliminating the filibuster -- the so-called "nuclear option" back when Republicans were suggesting it -- be enough, or is the Senate, with its two-Senators-per-state-regardless-of-population mandate, just too fundamentally undemocratic? We ask the New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg, author of OBAMANOS!: The Rise of a New Political Era, Lawrence Lessig, Harvard professor and author of a new Nation cover story on the subject, and Nancy Scola of the Personal Democracy Forum.

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GRITtv: Henry Louis Gates' Arrest: A Teachable Moment?

There's been an endless cycle of commentary on the Henry Louis Gates affair since the Harvard Professor was arrested in his home and President Obama made the off script remark that the Cambridge police had "acted stupidly." Both men are now saying it is time to move on and that what happened was a teachable moment. But what, if anything, have we learned? Bill Fletcher, Jr., Executive Editor of Black Commentator, Ron Kuby a Civil Rights Attorney and the host of Doing Time with Ron Kuby on Air America, Dennis Parker, Director of the Racial Justice Program at the American Civil Liberties Union, and Rev. Irene Monroe, a Ford Fellow and Doctoral Candidate at Harvard Divinity School on race, class, and law enforcement in America. The ACLU has recently published a report on racial profiling that you can find here.

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