KPFA - Letters and Politics

Host Mitch Jeserich recounts the story of a protest known as the “Bath Riots.” The riots are known to have been started by Carmelita Torres and lasted from January 28 to January 30 and were sparked by new immigration policies at the El Paso–Juárez [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Paso%E2%80%93Ju%C3%A1rez] Immigration and Naturalization Service [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_Naturalization_Service] office, requiring Mexicans crossing the border to take de-lousing baths.  Carmelita Torres who crossed the border daily from Juarez to clean houses in El Paso.  She refused to take a toxic disinfectant bath. Press accounts estimated that, by noon, she was joined by several thousand demonstrators at the border bridge. When others saw their resistance they joined in by protesting as well. Within an hour, there were more than 200 women blocking the entrance to El Paso. By the end of the demonstration, there were several thousand protesters. Once the officers tried to break up the crowd, the demonstrators threw rocks at them. They laid in front of trains and vehicles. When police aimed their guns into the crowd, they responded by yelling louder. The police were unable to break them up and she was arrested. After her arrest, she went missing. Until this day, it is not known what happened to her (Wikipedia).   Photo: El Paso disinfection station and Mexicans waiting to be de-loused at the international bridge at the US immigration station on Wikipedia The post The Bath Riots of 1917 & the People’s Response to Racist Immigration Policies [https://kpfa.org/episode/letters-and-politics-june-12-2025/] appeared first on KPFA [https://kpfa.org].

Guest: Caroline Fraser [https://www.carolinefraser.net/] is the author of Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, which won the Pulitzer Prize as well as the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Heartland Prize, and the Plutarch Award for best biography of the year.  She is also the author of God’s Perfect Child: Living and Dying in the Christian Science Church, and her latest Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers. The post Serial Killers & Toxins: The Correlation [https://kpfa.org/episode/letters-and-politics-june-11-2025/] appeared first on KPFA [https://kpfa.org].

Guest: David Bacon [https://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com/] is a photojournalist, author, political activist, and union organizer. His work focuses on labor issues, particularly those related to immigrant labor. He has written several books and numerous articles on the subject. He is the author of The Children of NAFTA, Communities Without Borders, Illegal People, The Right to Stay Home, and In the Fields of the North. [https://kpfa.org/app/uploads/2025/06/InTheFields-232x230.jpg] Photo by David Bacon. At a protest against immigration detentions in Santa Maria, CA, a young woman holds a sign honoring the work her parents have done as farmworkers, June 2025. The post The Military Response to Sanctuary Cities & Immigrant’s Right to Work [https://kpfa.org/episode/letters-and-politics-june-10-2025/] appeared first on KPFA [https://kpfa.org].

Guests:  Sonali Kolhatkar [https://www.sonalikolhatkar.com/]is an award winning journalist, broadcaster, writer, and author. She is the founder, host, and executive producer of Rising Up With Sonali that airs at KPFK, KPFA and the Pacifica Radio stations. She is also a Senior Editor at YES! Media, and the author most recently of Talking About Abolition: A Police-Free World is Possible. Ben Camacho [https://bencamacho.com/] is an investigative journalist and documentary photographer. His work focuses on state-sponsored violence and the communities impacted by it.  He is part of The Southlander, a new worker-led outlet in the LA area.  He has been covering the ICE raids in LA. Marjorie Cohn [https://marjoriecohn.com/]is professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, dean of the People’s Academy of International Law and past president of the National Lawyers Guild. Her books include Drones and Targeted Killing: Legal, Moral and Geopolitical Issues.  Her articles can be found on Truthout.org. Mohamed Shehk is with the Arab Resource and Organizing Center [https://www.araborganizing.org/]. He talks about Trump’s attacks on immigrants and his latest travel ban. AROC is organizing in the Bay Area to prepare, respond and resist these attacks.   Photo credit: Ben Camacho, ICE Raids, Compton, CA, 2025 [https://bencamacho.com/] The post Trump’s Deployment of the National Guard to LA [https://kpfa.org/episode/letters-and-politics-june-9-2025/] appeared first on KPFA [https://kpfa.org].

Guest: Emily Hauser is a senior lecturer in classics and ancient history at the University of Exeter, UK. She is the author of three novels reimagining the women of Greek myth: For the Most Beautiful, For the Winner, and For the Immortal. She is also the author of How Women Became Poets, and most recently, of Penelope’s Bones: A New History of Homer’s World through the Women Written Out of It. [https://kpfa.org/app/uploads/2025/06/PenelopesBones-153x230.jpg] The post Women in Ancient History [https://kpfa.org/episode/letters-and-politics-june-5-2025/] appeared first on KPFA [https://kpfa.org].