Where Everybody Knows Your Rights

·1 hr 28 min·5 clips

Maribel reveals how her undocumented father died in a car accident and authorities never notified the family.

The episode opens with host W. Kamau Bell framing the discussion around Thanksgiving and celebrating community activists. Guest Maribel Hernandez-Rivera, the ACLU's National Director of Immigrant Community Strategies, joins from Honolulu, where she attended the ACLU of Hawaii's 60th anniversary. She updates listeners on immigrants' rights since February, describing increased cruelty, family separations, violations of due process, and the militarization of streets with National Guard deployments. Maribel emphasizes that immigrants have constitutional rights and critiques the administration's policies as abnormal and pretextual. She highlights underreported stories, such as a recent immigration raid in Hawaii and the intersectionality of issues affecting vulnerable communities. Maribel then shares her personal history: she came to the U.S. from Mexico at 13, was undocumented, and her father died in a car accident without authorities notifying the family, illustrating systemic dehumanization. She stresses that joy is a form of resistance and offers hopeful examples, like communities stopping deportations and the ACLU litigating against ending birthright citizenship. The episode then features three ACLU People Power volunteers. Kathy, a retired Lutheran pastor in Willmar, Minnesota, discusses her work to end a 287(g) agreement between the county sheriff and ICE, describing how Minnesota 'nice' can hinder honest dialogue and how her community has diversified due to local industries. She details meeting with the sheriff and organizing vigils. Sophia, a 19-year-old college student from Wyoming volunteering in Colorado, talks about her activism since age 13, focusing on juvenile justice and immigration issues. She mentions the Aurora, Colorado, private detention facility known for human rights abuses and training youth activists. Terry, a Navy veteran in Memphis, Tennessee, discusses the National Guard deployment in his city, linking it to racial targeting of black-led cities and wasted resources. He shares how he got involved with the ACLU through the No Kings rally and a vigil at an ICE detention facility in Mason, Tennessee. Throughout, themes of community solidarity, intersectionality, and maintaining hope recur.

As heard by us

A warm conversation about faith, civic courage, and the responsibility to protect people who need protecting.

The day after Thanksgiving gives this single-episode review its frame: a conversation about what it means to show up when other people need protection. W.

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Why you'd press play

Press play when Thanksgiving leftovers have you wondering what showing up for other people really requires.

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