kai wright

"Everyone from the FDIC to the Pentagon have said that people are doing this as a way of life ... they are trapped in a series of loans," says Kai Wright of individuals and families who've become entangled in the system of payday lending. High-interest loans are being made to the people who need the extra cash most--and who are most unable to repay. As the Republican congress introduces a bill aimed at doing away with financial reform and continues its efforts to stymie the efforts of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, payday lending will continue to be attractive to low-income borrowers, and even more dangerous in the long-term. Is our economy, still reeling from the effects of the sub-prime mortgage explosion, prepared for any more suffering consumers or unscrupulous lending?

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.

President Obama came to New York to deliver a speech at Cooper Union this week, critiquing the financial crisis and making the case for the financial regulation bill heading for a Senate vote. He made the case for both free markets and for regulations on those markets, and called for Americans to come together to support financial regulation. GRITtv headed to Cooper Union as well, and spoke to Sarah Ludwig of the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Program about Obama's speech and whether government intervention is the solution, and Kai Wright of ColorLines and The Nation about the ongoing problem with foreclosures and whether Obama's solutions will help anyone keep their home.

How did the mainstream media cover this week’s Iranian election, tea-bagger rally in D.C. or former President Carter’s comment about racism and politics in the U.S.? Our media panel, Max Blumenthal, Janeane Garafolo, and Kai Wright, discuss newsmakers’ hits and misses. And in this week's Got Docs?: Raymond Myles was a man of profound contradiction: gospel singer, hustler, prominent representative of the New Orleans Black Church, scorned gay worshipper. Now, he is the subject of Leo Sacks' A Taste of Heaven: The Heartbreak life of Raymond Myles.