The Migrant World and the Perilous Path Across the Border

Sonali Kolhatkar speaks with Kelsey Freeman.

Kelsey Freeman is a writer and educator focusing on immigration policy, indigenous rights, social justice, and public policy.

She received a Fulbright fellowship to teach English and study migration in Central Mexico and she currently runs a college readiness program for Native American high school students.

Her new book is called No Option But North: The Migrant World and the Perilous Path Across the Border.

American supporters of President Trump routinely echo his simplistic rhetorical flourishes against immigrants to the US. They scream “build the wall” without bothering to understand what it is that drives migration from Central America and Mexico into the US, or what the human cost of that migration is.

Now, a new book written by an American who spent time in Mexico and spoke to migrants heading north attempts to humanize the people who dream of a better life in the US. What they have experienced is harrowing and unlike anything most of us would ever experience.

Rising Up with Sonali is a radio and television show that brings progressive news coverage rooted in gender and racial justice to a wide audience.

Rising Up With Sonali was built on the foundation of Sonali Kolhatkar's earlier show, Uprising, which became the longest-running drive-time radio show on KPFK in Los Angeles hosted by a woman.

RUS airs on Free Speech TV every weekday.

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