Alleged Police Brutality and ICE Retaliation in Edison, NJ
An interview with community advocates on the tensions that have erupted in EDISON—a North Jersey town that is now 30% Asian American—following the alleged July 4 police beating of resident Rajnikant Parikh. On August 2, Parikh was inexplicably arrested by immigration officials the day he was scheduled to speak at a rally in his defense. DEEPA IYER and REEMA DESAI of South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow join us tonight with the latest.
Guests
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DEEPA IYER is the Executive Director of South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow (SAALT), a national, non-profit organization dedicated to fostering civic engagement by South Asians using a social justice framework. Ms. Iyer is an attorney with nearly 10 years of experience in civil and immigrant rights.
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REEMA DESAI is the New Jersey Outreach Coordinator for SAALT. She is a New Jersey native and maintains a general law practice in Woodbridge, New Jersey. www.saalt.org.
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CAIR on National Intelligence and the UK Airline Terror Plot
Following the U.K.'s revelation last Thursday that it has arrested 23 of its citizens for allegedly plotting to explode passenger planes traveling to the U.S., Muslim American groups are urging law enforcement agencies to exercise caution against ill-defined stereotyping in their investigations and practices. Arsalan Iftihkar of the Council for American-Islamic Relations will talk about what his organization believes are effective intelligence policies.
Guests
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ARSALAN IFTIHKAR is the Legal Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1994, CAIR is America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, with regional offices nationwide and in Canada. CAIR Website.
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Focus on FATAL LOVE: Suitcases on Tour
A special two-part interview on the Queens Museum's FATAL LOVE exhibition this Saturday, August 19th, focusing on two of the featured events.
Joining us to discuss the performance/installation piece Suitcases on Tour will be visual artist Chanika Svetvilas, and Mabel Tso of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. The interactive performance features individuals carrying red, orange, and yellow suitcases, echoing the high security alert levels and the paranoia and suspicion associated with unattended luggage during a time of heightened security.
Guests
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CHANIKA SVETVILAS first presented Suitcases on Tour as a public art performance and installation in front of Borough Hall in Columbus Park, Brooklyn in 2004. More recently, she has exhibited at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum and at the Denver International Airport. Svetvilas contributed to the NuyorAsian Anthology, published by Asian American Writer's Workshop (1999) and will be presenting a one person show at Gallery Three, Fort Greene, Brooklyn in January 2007. She is also the founding member of ThaiLinks, a creative collective dedicated to increasing awareness on issues affecting Thai communities at home and abroad through art and activism. www.thailinks.org
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MABEL TSO is the Community Outreach Coordinator for the Anti-Trafficking Collaborative at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), where she worked on addressing the needs of immigrant workers and residents in Chinatown and the Lower East Side post-9/11. She is born and raised in Chinatown in New York City, and speaks Cantonese and Mandarin fluently. www.aaldef.org
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Voices of Resistance: Muslim Women on War, Faith, and Sexuality
A discussion with Sarah Husain, editor of the recently-released anthology, Voices of Resistance: Muslim Women on War, Faith and Sexuality (Seal Press), a collection of fiction, poetry, interviews, essays, letters, and artwork that challenges homogenous stereotypes of Muslim women as the "Islamic Other," and celebrates the diversity of Muslim women across race, nation, sexuality, and gender.
Guests
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SARAH HUSAIN is a Pakistani-American activist/poet who was born in New York City but grew up in Hong Kong, Sudan and Pakistan. She has been writing and organizing grassroots anti-violence community projects, linking communities of color around issues of police brutality, anti immigrant and detention, to anti-domestic violence work. In 1997 she co-founded South Asian Against Police Brutality and Racism, a South Asian American organization based in New York City. Her written and performance poetry deals with identity, memory, nation, violence, bioterrorism and the female body. She most recently edited the anthology Voices of Resistance: Muslim Women on War Faith and Sexuality (Seal Press).
Music
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