Joe Tomain: Energy, Infrastructure, and the Decisions Shaping Our Future

Brian Derrick: Political Strategist and Founder of Oath

We are so lucky to welcome Brian Derrick, Founder of Oath, [https://app.oath.vote/] to the show. Oath is a data-driven political giving platform designed to help donors make more strategic decisions about where to direct their contributions. By analyzing thousands of races across the country, Oath helps donors identify candidates and campaigns to support. Brian is one of Meredith's favorite go-to political strategists, helping people navigate complex political issues and election cycles through his trusted whiteboard breakdowns. Our conversation begins with shared Ohio roots, from the University of Cincinnati to Ohio State University, before turning to some of the most pressing political questions facing the United States today. We explore the continued dismantling of the Voting Rights Act and the growing impact of gerrymandering across the South. Together, we examine Trump’s escalating corruption, the influence of billionaire money in politics, and the role media algorithms increasingly play in shaping public opinion. The conversation also explores voter engagement, Latino voting trends, the future of the Democratic Party, and why helping people believe politics can improve their lives remains one of the most important challenges facing American democracy today. SHOW NOTES Episode Transcript Here [https://www.fireonthebluff.com/sites/fireonthebluff.com/files/HRP_Brian_Derrick_episode_final_transcript.pdf] Brian Derrick & Oath Oath Website - Become a Donor  [https://app.oath.vote/] Follow Brian Derrick on Instagram: @brianderrick [https://www.instagram.com/brianderrick_/] Follow Oath on Instagram: oath.vote [https://www.instagram.com/oath.vote/] Politico Magazine featuring Brian Derrick's Interview, “Democrats Have a Billionaire Problem. This App Is Trying to Fix It." [https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/02/06/democrats-campaign-donation-app-00139666/] Voting Rights & Democracy The New York Times Editorial Board, “There Has Never Been an Example of Presidential Corruption Like This” [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/20/opinion/trump-doj-slush-fund-criminals-corruption.html] Business Insider,“Viral ‘Last Breath of the Confederacy’ Speech Puts Louisiana Man on Political Map” [https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/viral-last-breath-of-the-confederacy-speech-puts-louisiana-man-on-political-map/ar-AA23vOhd] Podcasts The Right for Your Vote to Count Podcast: [https://open.spotify.com/episode/376VP34Id4y8DzijQzP0zi?si=4qoDqCMJQhu9xmbt74bxjQ&nd=1&dlsi=768f1d3407324764] Featuring Brian Derrick Stacey Abrams' Podcast, Assembly Required: * Episode: “How SCOTUS Is Erasing Black Voters” [https://open.spotify.com/episode/42LsdRpA6ys9LBj2q3F9Cd?si=41NJuY__QOiS5UnuQjuIZw&nd=1&dlsi=1454ae32433341af] featuring Abby Phillip * Episode: “What’s Next for Voting Rights and Why Activism Matters” [https://open.spotify.com/episode/1AGYsuZz6SRjDrHPbVBNaD?si=gSuiXSHNQoOOOOF9grKTwQ&nd=1&dlsi=7766a4daad354f41] featuring Jane Fonda

Professor Tara Van Ho: Business, Human Rights, and International Law

Today we are joined by Professor Tara Van Ho, a leading scholar in the field of business and human rights whose work examines the growing intersection of corporate power, economic inequality, international law, and human dignity. Tara is a Professor of Law and Director of the International Legal Studies Program at St. Mary’s University School of Law. Prior to joining St. Mary’s, she taught at the University of Essex School of Law and worked closely with the Essex Human Rights Centre, one of the most influential institutions in the development of modern international human rights law. Her scholarship and advocacy have focused on corporate accountability, climate justice, investor-state dispute settlement, and the responsibilities of multinational corporations under international law. This conversation also carries a special connection for us personally. Tara is a fellow Ohioan from Cleveland, a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of Law, and a former fellow of the Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights. Throughout the episode, we reflect not only on the evolution of the business and human rights movement, but also on the importance of mentorship, community, and the shaping the next generation of human rights scholars and advocates. We dive into growing legal and moral questions surrounding climate accountability, and why business and human rights has become one of the most important and rapidly evolving areas of international law today. Tara also shares insights into her own path into the field, her experience studying under pioneers of human rights law, and how legal education can help students think critically about systems of power, governance, and justice in an increasingly interconnected world. SHOW NOTES Episode Transcript Here [https://www.fireonthebluff.com/sites/fireonthebluff.com/files/HRP_tara_van_ho_episode_final.pdf] Professor Tara Van Ho: St. Mary’s University School of Law Faculty Profile [https://law.stmarytx.edu/faculty/tara-van-ho/] Academic Journal Article George, E., Martin, J. and Van Ho, T., (2021). Reckoning: A Dialogue about Racism, AntiRacists, and Business & Human Rights [https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wilj/vol30/iss2/7/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Human Rights Quarterly: Defining the Relationships: "Cause, Contribute, and Directly Linked to" in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights [https://commons.stmarytx.edu/facarticles/812/] by Tara Van Ho Resources Business and Human Rights Resource Centre [https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/] Essex University: Human Rights Centre [https://www.essex.ac.uk/centres-and-institutes/human-rights-centre] UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights [https://www.ohchr.org/en/business-and-human-rights] The Nathaniel R. Jones Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice [https://foundation.uc.edu/give/jones] - University of Cincinnati

Iain Guest: The Advocacy Project, Transitional Justice, and Disappearances

Iain Guest is a journalist, human rights advocate, founder of The Advocacy Project, and former adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where he taught human rights after decades of work across international media, the United Nations, and grassroots advocacy movements around the world. From documenting disappearances in Argentina and producing BBC documentaries, to working with the United Nations in Cambodia and Haiti, Iain’s career has consistently focused on amplifying the voices of communities directly affected by violence, repression, and conflict. Iain and Professor Bert Lockwood first came to know one another through Iain’s early manuscript on Argentina’s Dirty War, which became the first book published in the University of Pennsylvania Press Human Rights Series edited by Professor Bert Lockwood. Their friendship and shared commitment to international human rights work continues throughout this conversation. In this episode, we reflect on disappearances from Argentina to Nepal, the evolution of international accountability mechanisms, the role of the United Nations, and the importance of survivor-led advocacy rooted in local communities and historical memory. This conversation was recorded on April 1st, 2026, several weeks before we lost Theo van Boven on May 9th at the age of 91. Theo, the pioneering Dutch human rights scholar and former UN official, was a dear friend and colleague to both Iain and Bert, and his work and influence are reflected throughout much of this episode. He will be deeply missed. SHOW NOTES Episode Transcript PDF [https://www.fireonthebluff.com/sites/fireonthebluff.com/files/HRP_Iain_Guest_episode_transcript.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com] The Advocacy Project [https://www.advocacynet.org] Founded by Iain Guest in 1998, The Advocacy Project partners directly with grassroots organizations and survivor-led movements around the world, supporting community-driven initiatives focused on transitional justice, storytelling, reparations, education, advocacy, and historical memory. The Advocacy Project: Grassroots Grants Campaign [https://www.advocacynet.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2025-GG-fundraising-button-Jan-24.pdf] Behind the Disappearances: [https://www.pennpress.org/9780812213133/behind-the-disappearances/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Argentina’s Dirty War Against Human Rights and the United Nations: University of Pennsylvania Press Theo van Boven: A former Director of the United Nations Division of Human Rights, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, and one of the central architects of modern international human rights accountability mechanisms. International Commission of Jurists — Tribute to Theo van Boven [https://www.icj.org/icj-mourns-the-passing-of-theo-van-boven-a-leading-light-in-the-human-rights-movement/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Professor Cees Flinterman: Maastricht University [https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/events/prof-dr-cees-flinterman?utm_source=chatgpt.com]

Professor Richard Ashby Wilson of Princeton on Anthropology, Hate Crimes, and Human Rights

Professor Richard Ashby Wilson joins us for a timely and important conversation on human rights, hate crime enforcement, authoritarianism, and the widening gap between laws written on paper and justice experienced in everyday life. A longtime colleague and friend of Professor Bert B. Lockwood, Richard is currently Professor of Anthropology and Co-Director of the Princeton University Human Rights Initiative. Prior to Princeton, he founded and directed the Human Rights Institute at the University of Connecticut, where Bert also serves on the board. One of the world’s leading legal anthropologists, Richard is the author of eleven books examining transitional justice, international criminal tribunals, incitement, and the failures and possibilities of legal systems. Richard’s journey into human rights began in 1983 when, as an 18-year-old pre-med student at Johns Hopkins University, he learned that U.S. tax dollars were funding death squads in Central America. That moment changed the course of his life and led him into anthropology, determined to document stories and communities too often ignored or erased from public view. Over the next four decades, his work would take him from Mayan communities rebuilding after genocide in Guatemala to South African townships navigating the aftermath of apartheid and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In this episode, we discuss Richard’s groundbreaking research on hate crime enforcement in the United States and the alarming reality that, despite more than 150 years of hate crime legislation, only a small percentage of actual hate crimes are ever charged or prosecuted. We explore why targeted communities often do not trust the systems meant to protect them, how police discretion and prosecutorial practices shape outcomes, and what these failures reveal in America today. Also, we discuss Richard's work helping draft hate crime reform legislation in Connecticut, as well as the growing pressures facing democratic institutions around the world. SHOW NOTES Episode Transcript PDF [https://www.fireonthebluff.com/sites/fireonthebluff.com/files/HRP_Richard_Wilson_episode_final_transcript.pdf] Professor Richard Asby Wilson, [https://anthropology.princeton.edu/people/richard-wilson] Princeton University Department of Anthropology Princeton University Human Rights Initiative [https://anthropology.princeton.edu/HRI] UConn Human Rights Institute [https://humanrights.uconn.edu/] Key Publications and Scholarship The (Non)Enforcement of Hate Crime Laws in the United States, [https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-062124-122707?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Richard Ashby Wilson, Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 2025 New Legal Realism at 20: Rethinking Law in an Era of Populism and Social Movements [https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4771109] Richard Ashby Wilson, Jeffrey Omari, and Pablo Rueda-Saiz, Connecticut Law Review, 2024 Incitement on Trial: Prosecuting International Speech Crimes [https://www.cambridge.org/us/universitypress/subjects/law/public-international-law/incitement-trial-prosecuting-international-speech-crimes] Richard Ashby Wilson, Cambridge University Press, 2017 Writing History in International Criminal Trials [https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/writing-history-in-international-criminal-trials/AC6AA457BAE1B3EA17894CCB14394848?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Richard Ashby Wilson, Cambridge University Press, 2011 The Politics of Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa [https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/politics-of-truth-and-reconciliation-in-south-africa/05F510515275AB1D1C0508D50B4862A2?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Richard Ashby Wilson, Cambridge University Press, 2001 Maya Resurgence in Guatemala: Q’eqchi’ Experiences [https://www.oupress.com/] Richard Ashby Wilson, University of Oklahoma Press, 1995 Hate Crime Laws & Reform House Bill 6872: An Act Revising and Consolidating the Hate Crimes Statutes [https://www.cga.ct.gov/2025/ba/pdf/2025HB-06872-R000763-BA.pdf] UConn Today Law: UConn Law Professors Lead Drafting of New Proposed Hate Crimes Bill [https://today.uconn.edu/2025/02/uconn-law-professors-lead-drafting-of-new-proposed-hate-crimes-bill/] Organizations to Support Anti-Defamation League (ADL) [https://www.adl.org] Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) [https://www.splcenter.org/] National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) [https://naacp.org/] ACLU: Immigrants’ Rights [https://www.aclu.org/issues/immigrants-rights] National Immigration Law Center [https://www.nilc.org/]

Dina Francesca Haynes: Refugee Protection, Immigration Law, and the Responsibility to Defend Democracy

We are thrilled to welcome Professor Dina Francesca Haynes, Executive Director of the Schell Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School, and a nationally recognized expert in immigration and refugee law, human trafficking, and gender and conflict. Her work has taken her to some of the world’s most challenging environments, including Rwanda, Bosnia, and Afghanistan, where she worked alongside international institutions to support displaced communities and strengthen legal protections in fragile settings. She has clerked on the Constitutional Court of South Africa and represented hundreds of clients seeking asylum in the United States, bringing both legal rigor and compassion to her practice. Dina studied under Professor Bert Lockwood as both a student and an Urban Morgan Human Rights Fellow at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, a connection that makes this conversation especially meaningful across generations. Dina has spent her career showing up, in airports, in courtrooms, in conflict zones, and in classrooms, and the body of work she has built stands as a powerful testament to what conviction, courage, and compassion can achieve. In our conversation, she shares insight into the realities facing migrants and asylum seekers, the legal challenges shaping immigration policy today, and the responsibility lawyers carry when institutions are under strain. SHOW NOTES Episode Transcript PDF [https://www.fireonthebluff.com/sites/fireonthebluff.com/files/HRP_Dina_Haynes_episode_transcript_final.pdf] Professor Dina Francesca Haynes, [https://law.yale.edu/dina-francesca-haynes]Executive Director, Schell Center for International Human Rights, Yale Law School Schell Center for International Human Rights [https://law.yale.edu/schell], Yale Law School Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights [https://law.uc.edu/academics/centers/urban-morgan-institute.html], University of Cincinnati College of Law Books On the Frontlines: Gender, War, and the Post-Conflict Process [https://academic.oup.com/book/12693?login=false], Oxford University Press Handbook on Gender and Conflict: [https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/28341?login=false]Edited by Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Naomi Cahn, Dina Francesca Haynes, and Nahla Valji, Oxford University Press Article Celebritizations of Human Rights [https://www.jstor.org/stable/24541773]: Dina Francesca Haynes: This article examines how celebrity advocacy can shape public attention, policy conversations, and funding priorities in the human rights field, while also raising important questions about representation, accountability, and the voices of affected communities.