breakthrough

GRITtv: Speaking Out: Transgender Detainee Faces Twice the Abuse

Esmeralda came to the U.S. seeking asylum from her native Mexico. She tried twice to enter the country legally, each time forced into detention. As a transgender woman, she was segregated and subjected to abuse from guards on her first attempt, and when she tried again, she was held with male detainees. Eventually, her claim was successful and today she works as an advocate for others who have survived sexual violence. In this video from Breakthrough, she tells her story of speaking out against abuse.

Add new comment

GRITtv: Nov. 12, 2009

Why aren't reporters asking the real questions? That's what our media panelist Rose Aguilar asked today, and it's a valid question. Rose Aguilar, John R. MacArthur, Dan Gross and Hendrik Hertzberg discuss this and other media questions in our Thursday segementt. "Yoga is slow medicine but it is medicinal in character," Deirdre Summerbell says. She's the founder of Project Air, where she uses yoga to help women and girls in Rwanda, survivors of the genocide, reconnect with their bodies and heal their spirits.

GRITtv: Breakthrough Films' 'Restore Fairness'

It's odd that the Bush administration legacy evokes so much literature: sometimes Orwell's 1984, other times Kafka. This next piece belongs to the latter: from Breakthrough Films, here is "Restore Fairness," which looks at the harrowing lack of due process in America's immigration detention policies.

Add new comment

GRITtv: August 31, 2009

There are few US writers who have spent as much time in Palestine as Kathleen and Bill Chritison. Over they years they've provided an indispensable overview of life in Palestine and their assessment of what's happening today is grim indeed. Settlements are continuing apace and there doesn't appear to be a serious or even a minor shift in US policy.

GRITtv: Breakthrough TV

Babies, with months of advance notice, sometimes get born in crazy places: the backs of cabs, elevators, manger floors, all over. But when out of control immigration laws come into contact with pregnant women, the result isn't a funny anecdote. Breakthrough tv brings us the story of Juana Villegas.

Add new comment

GRITtv: Breakthrough: A Surprise Visit

As the right wing's war on immigrants veers between alarm sirens, when talking about fat government contracts to build walls, to silence when it comes to easily exploited workers, the stories that go missing are often the ones involving real people. The Human Rights Organization Breakthrough has been working for years to uncover these sorts of stories, and in light of today's panel, we wanted to share this recent one, called "A Surprise Visit," about how those who claim to push "family values" are also so quick to break families apart.

Add new comment