First hour: Activists protest the separation of immigrant families
Second hour: What should we do when artists misbehave?
In the last six weeks, nearly 2,000 children have been separated from their parents after crossing the southern border without proper documentation. While their parents are sent to immigration detention centers or to jail, the children are sent to government facilities or foster care. The move is part of the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy. Activists across the country are protesting that policy, and many of those activists are immigrants themselves. This hour, we hear their stories and discuss the challenges they face. They also discuss what they’d like to see in terms of a national policy on immigration. Our guests:
- Gabriela Quintanilla, Western New York Associate Coordinator for Rural & Migrant Ministry
- West Cosgrove, Western New York Coordinator for Rural & Migrant Ministry
- Cesar Vargas, co-director of the Dream Action Coalition, and New York’s first undocumented attorney admitted to the New York Bar
- Aly Wayne, undocumented immigrant from Senegal, and member of the Syracuse Peace Council and Black Immigration Network Steering Committees
Then in our second hour, what should we do when artists misbehave? In other words, when an author, actor, director, or artist does something offensive, acts inappropriately, or steps over the line in some way, should we stop consuming their art? When do we give them a pass? The founder of Writers & Books, Joe Flaherty, dealt with this question when he was arranging for Philip Roth to visit Rochester. The late writer was considered a misogynist by many readers. But, as Flaherty wrote in an essay on the incident, “you have to separate the writer from his characters.” What do you think? Should we consume and share the work of Louis C.K., Aziz Ansari, Harvey Weinstein, Philip Roth, and others? Should the work of artists in question stand on its own? Where do we draw the line? Our panel discusses those questions. Our guests:
- Joe Flaherty, founder of Writers & Books
- Patti Lewis, local actor, director, and teaching artist
- Jonathan Ntheketha, senior assistant director of student success and outreach in the Multicultural Center for Academic Success at RIT
- Bob Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University
