Organizer with the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond
Organizer with the New Orleans, Louisiana-based People's Institute for Survival and Beyond
PROFILE
Kimberley Richards
Guest
FROM Kimberley Richards
To the Point
Thousands Demonstrate for 'Jena 6' In the rural town of Jena, Louisiana today—a town of 3000 people, thousands showed up for a demonstration reminiscent of the civil rights movement of the 1960's and 70's. What sparked the demonstration is the following: A year ago, a black high school student asked school officials if he could break tradition and sit under a tree where whites congregate. Shortly afterward, nooses were hung on the tree; the local District Attorney says there is no law under which anyone could be charged for such a provocative action. In the meantime, after a fight, during which a white student was bloodied and knocked unconscious, six black students were charged with attempted murder. Mychal Bell has been convicted of aggravated battery and was to be sentenced today, but an appeals court overthrew the conviction , saying he should not have been tried as an adult. Civil rights leaders Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton held the demonstration anyway.
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To the Point
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.
To the Point
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.
To the Point
Janesville and the American Dream Janesville, Wisconsin is the hometown of Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. But he couldn’t prevent the closing of the General Motors factory after 100 years. On this Memorial Day rebroadcast of To the Point, we hear what’s happened to what once was a model of American middle-class unity.
To the Point
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.