On this Independence Day show, we discuss the battle for civil liberties in Vermont and around the country. Jay Diaz and Lia Ernst have been staff attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont since 2015. They have been arguing — and winning — precedent-setting cases that address racial profiling, government transparency, immigrant rights, prisoner rights and other issues. They discuss what’s at stake and why they fight. (July 3, 2019 broadcast)
Peter Gould has been involved in Vermont arts as a performer, director, teacher, and author for more than 45 years. He is the founder of “Get Thee to the Funnery,” a youth Shakespeare program in Craftsbury, Vt. which celebrated its 20th season in 2017. As half of Gould & Stearns — a 2 man touring theater company — Peter traveled throughout the country and internationally, performing more than 3,000 performances, including their original play, “A Peasant of El Salvador.” Peter received a B.A. and Ph.D from Brandeis University, where he is currently an adjunct professor at Brandeis, teaching mindfulness and problem solving. Peter has published five books, including his latest, Horse Drawn Yogurt: Stories from Total Loss Farm. His first book was Burnt Toast, a legendary Back to the Land novel. His book Write Naked, which received the 2009 Green Earth Book Award, given to the writer of young adult fiction that most inspires environmental consciousness and stewardship in its readers. Gould is the recipient of the 2016 Arts Education Award from the Vermont Arts Council. In this Vermont Conversation, Gould performs and tells the story behind “Mother of Exiles,” a song he wrote based on the poem by Emma Lazarus, which is on a plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty. He proposes it as an anthem for the modern immigrant rights movement. (September 6, 2017 broadcast)
Peter Gould, author, performer, 2016 Vermont Arts Council award winner
Part 1 (includes performance of Mother of Exiles):
In early February, Fadwa Alaoui, a resident of the Montreal suburb of Brossard, was turned away at the U.S. border station at Highgate after being questioned about her Muslim faith and her views on Donald Trump. The Moroccan-born Canadian citizen was headed to Vermont to do some shopping, which included buying a toy for her five-year-old son Youssef who had recently completed chemotherapy. In Vermont, undocumented farm workers discuss their fear of immigrant roundups, and activists discuss strategies for defending basic rights. (February 15, 2017 broadcast)
Fadwa Alaoui, Muslim Canadian citizen denied entry to US
The Trump administration’s first immigration crackdown led to more than 680 arrests in just a week in a series of operations around the country. Two leading immigration advocates and attorneys discuss the fallout and how Vermont is fighting to protect the rights of immigrants. (February 15, 2017 broadcast)
Erin Jacobsen – supervising attorney, South Royalton Legal Clinic, professor, Vermont Law School
There are approximately 1,500 migrant workers on Vermont’s farms, especially in the dairy industry. Often working up to 80 hours per week, many migrant workers live in isolation on rural farms and earn less than minimum wage. Migrant Justice is an advocacy organization with a mission “to build the voice, capacity, and power of the farmworker community and engage community partners to organize for economic justice and human rights.” On June 13, 2016, Migrant Justice scored a major victory when the Grand Isle Sheriff’s Department agreed to pay nearly $30,000 to settle a case regarding discriminatory treatment against an immigrant dairy worker, Lorenzo Alcudia, who was turned over to Border Patrol after a traffic stop in which he was a passenger. We talk with farmworkers and activists from Migrant Justice. We also speak with a representative from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a nationally known farmworker’s organization that has won landmark agreements with Taco Bell and other major restaurants. (June 15, 2016 broadcast)
Will Lambek, Enrique Balcazar, Gilberto Lopez Morales, Migrant Justice
Jay Coen Gilbert, co-founder of B Lab, talks about how to create and protect B corporations, businesses that include a social mission. We also speak with Cheryl Dorsey, president of Echoing Green, a global social venture fund, and Sofia Appelgren, founder of the Swedish social enterprise Mitt Liv (My Life), which helps immigrants enter the workforce.
Vermont Conversation 