Episode 02: The “Joker” and Cancel Culture, and Immigration & an Expanded Lens on the Crisis at the Border with Tsion Gurmu

In this episode of Momentum, Hiba and Chevon take on ‘cancel culture’ in the comedy world, discussing “Joker” director Todd Phillips recent comments about not being able to make comedy films because of “woke culture”, and Saturday Night Live’s recent hiring and firing of Shane Gillis.

Race Forward’s Research Associate Yirssi, joins the conversation to talk about her work with “Shattered Families” around the intersection of immigration enforcement and the child welfare system, and gives us insight into the current state of the work and what she saw on her recent trip to Arizona and Mexico.

Our featured guest is Tsion Gurmu, Legal Director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), who joins the podcast for a conversation on her background as an asylum seeker from Ethiopia, BAJI’s efforts in lifting up black immigrant experiences with narrative projects such as their recent Black Lives At The Border webinar and direct work in Tapachula, Mexico.

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Resources (by order of mention)

Shattered Families

www.raceforward.org/research/reports/shattered-families

Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project

www.firrp.org

RAICES

www.raicestexas.org

Al Otro Lado

www.alotrolado.org

Colorlines Reporting

www.colorlines.com/series/shattered-families

BAJI (Black Alliance for Just Immigration)

www.baji.org

Black Lives At The Border (report and webinar)

www.baji.org/resources-webinars-black-lives-at-the-border/

http://bit.ly/BAJI_Webinar

Demands from the Assembly of African Migrants in Tapachula

http://bit.ly/demands-assembly

National Immigrant Integration Conference

(October 20-22, 2019)

www.niicnewamericandreams.org/register-2019

About Race Forward:

Race Forward catalyzes movement building for racial justice. In partnership with communities, organizations, and sectors, we build strategies to advance racial justice in our policies, institutions, and culture. Race Forward imagines a just, multiracial, democratic society, free from oppression and exploitation, in which people of color thrive with power and purpose.

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Executive Producers:

Hendel Leiva and Melissa Franqui