Looking back on the state of race relations in LA and exploring how we can move forward, LA's busy immigration court system, 2016 tech roundup.
LA's busy immigration courts could swell under Trump
The nation's busy immigration courts – already burdened by an unprecedented backlog of half a million cases – could strain even more if a Trump administration steps up deportations as promised.
"This is the year that the crisis really came to a head," said Jennifer Chacón, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine and observer of the immigration courts. "We've had growing backlogs, but people are getting their cases calendered for years from now."
Those cases nationwide are at 526,175, according to the Transcactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, which uses government data to track the immigration courts. California currently has nearly 100,000 cases, with about half filling the courts in Los Angeles. That has all led to wait times at the courts that range from 2-4 years. (The Denver courts currently chart the longest average wait time in the nation, at 1,033 days, or 2.8 years.)
The burden on judges could also increase, as dockets swell with more cases and those on the bench come under increasing pressure to render decisions.
"I see this as a pot that is going to boil over and scald everybody," said Bruce Einhorn, a former immigration judge in Los Angeles. "I just don't see pragmatically how you can almost double the number of cases without spending huge amounts of money to try to accommodate the dockets of the cases already on schedule and those that will be brought into the system."
The backlog of cases is not new. It has steadily increased over the past decade — even as fewer immigrants have been apprehended along the Southwest border in recent years. In response, the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the agency that oversees the courts, has added more judges, including one to Los Angeles in November. It's also prioritized juvenile cases in an effort to speed up cases of migrant youth.
President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to step up deportations, starting with what he called an estimated 2-3 million undocumented immigrants with criminal records. That could affect the detention system, where many immigrants are held as they contest their deportation or await court dates.
The largest privately-run site in California is in Adelanto and holds about 2,000 adult detainees, but its troubled record on health care and treatment of detainees raises questions about how it and other sites could handle a boost of detainees.
Another factor that could affect the courts is who ends up heading the Justice Department, which ultimately runs the courts. Trump has named Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) to be attorney general.
Sessions, who still must clear a confirmation hearing, has fought efforts at comprehensive immigration reform as a senator and has pushed for limiting legal immigration. As attorney general, he would wield tremendous influence over the courts, including overseeing the hiring of judges, setting priorities and reviewing an appeals process for court decisions.
Looking back: Blackness in Los Angeles in 2016
Like the years before it, a lot of the racial discourse in 2016 was shaped by viral videos, protests, and unrest.
During the presidential campaign, race often became a polarizing issue. So much so that Donald Trump was only able to attract eight percent of all American black voters.
As tumultuous as 2016 was for communities of color across the country, there is little to suggest that 2017 will be much better. At least, that's the consensus of three local black leaders.
Ahead of the new year, Take Two brought together three voices from the African-American community to look back at the events of the year, and look forward to 2017.
(Answers have been edited for clarity.)
Guests:
- Shamell Bell, Ph.D. student at UCLA and one of the original members of Black Lives Matter
- Tyree Boyd-Pates, educator, and activist.
- Tyrone Howard, director of the Black Male Institute at UCLA.
Highlights
Tyree Boyd-Pates, how would you characterize the year for African Americans living in Los Angeles?
Sadly in 2016, for African Americans, Los Angeles is still fraught with the same repressive conditions that Africans Americans have had to deal with for the last 30 years.
Much of our concentrated areas are still dilapidated, and the only areas that are developing are the ones that are faced with the threat of gentrification.
Political representation is still kinda indistinguishable from candidates, and police relations are collectively still at a deadlock.
Tyrone, looking broadly at the needs of the African American community in Los Angeles, what do you think is going to be the most critical factor for continued growth in the next year and beyond?
Part of what we have to recognize is that growing inequality continues to have a real racial element to it. We see that poverty continues to impact African Americans in ways that it doesn't affect other populations.
I'm an educator, so I think that the quality of education for African Americans in 2016 is in need of some significant enhancement. These issues are all intertwined. When we improve the quality of education, we improve the opportunities for families, for working wages and living conditions, we improve neighborhoods and communities. It's really a holistic approach we have to take.
Economic empowerment, better quality education, a real bold and courageous political representation would be three starting points I would begin to focus on.
Back in August at a rally in Michigan, Donald Trump made this impassioned plea:
https://youtu.be/vnHfyvEFTUo?t=12s
"Look at how much African-American communities have suffered under Democratic Control. To those hurting, I say: what do you have to lose by trying something new?" - Donald Trump
I don't see what we have to lose, but I see what we have to gain in ourselves. I see that we have to gain faith in ourselves and our communities and our interconnectedness, and our abilities to have these conversations.
I'm a TA at UCLA and had many white students coming to me crying and wanting to engage in the conversations and me having to tell them, you know, these types of hard conversations have to happen during Christmas break. I want you to write those things down. Sit with them. Ruminate with them. Continue to have these hard discussions.
I think that, in a way, Trump gave us the ability to put the white supremacy on blast.
Tyree, looking nationally and locally, what do you hope we can focus on in the next four years?
This election and this tenure of Donald Trump is what African Americans need. This threat that Donald Trump poses for us is nothing new and we saw this with Reagan and the Clinton administration. This will — potentially — spark a black organizing and arts renaissance that will politicize and reinvigorate us in a whole new way.
And so I already thank Donald Trump for what he's going to do to African Americans including myself as we continue to organize and solidify our black political power once again.
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue media player above.
'20th Century Women' explores punk rock, adolescence and battling cancer in the '70s
In "20th Century Women" Annette Bening plays a fifty-something mom raising her adolescent son in Santa Barbara, California.
For help, she enlists two younger women:
Julie is her smart and provocative neighbor - she's played by Elle Fanning and then there's Abbie, a free spirited punk artist played by Greta Gerwig.
Take Two's Alex Cohen spoke to Gerwig about her character in the film and how she...a child of the 80's...got in the mindset to play a 1970's punk.
To hear the full segment, click the blue play button above.
2016: The year technology took center stage
Tech has had quite a year in 2016. From exploding smartphones to self driving cars, virtual reality gear for the home, and a presidential election dominated by twitter and email hacks. In 2016, technology become more influential than ever before.
For a look back at tech in 2016, Take Two's Sanden Totten spoke with Larry Magid. He's a technology analyst for CBS Radio News and author of a syndicated column about tech for the San Jose Mercury News.
Highlights
Tech and the 2016 presidential election
Donald Trump, I have to say, did an amazing job in how he used Twitter to reach out to his supporters and have a direct relationship with his supporters. Sometimes in the middle of the night and sometimes in ways that infuriated some people and... obviously inspired others. But you have to give him credit. He was able to bypass the media in this case, reach out directly through Twitter, and still get the media because it made news. So every time, Donald Trump would tweet something that was at all out of the ordinary... the media would pick it up... it was a big part of the election story.
We also have the other side of things, the Hillary Clinton emails which became an issue. And then, the hack of both the DNC (the Democratic National Commitee) and of course, John Podesta and other Hillary Clinton aids, which all came out on Wikileaks. So, I think if you add all that together... I wouldn't be surprised if that could have swung the election... a lot of votes could have been affected by those two phenomena.
Virtual and augmented reality
A virtual reality headset takes over your entire field of vision. It's essentially opaque. What you're looking at when you're wearing it is two computer screen in front of each eye and it's able to create sort of a stereoscopic three-dimensional view of the world.
With augmented reality, these lenses are transparent and the computer images are superimposed in the lens. The example I like to use is, imagine you're standing in Lafayette Park... and you're looking at the White House but instead of just looking at the facade, you're looking directly into the Oval Office... You wouldn't be looking at that in real time, but maybe you would be looking at Abraham Lincoln walking around the White House or maybe getting a tour from the First Lady. These have implications not just for tourism, but for training and education.
Pokemon Go is a very good introduction to augmented reality. Just imagine if you were taking that to a higher level with really quality imaging. It has all sorts of implications.
Automated home technology
My house is a good example. I have an electronic door lock which not only can I remotely lock and unlock, but also when someone rings my doorbell, I can see who they are. I can have a conversation with them assuming it all works. It doesn't always. Sometimes it has delays and by the time I'm notified somebody's at the door, they've already left. And in one case, it turned out to be a repair person who go to the house before I did, so I let him in right from my phone.
And then the Amazon Echo which is my favorite product. It's that cylindrical shaped digital music player and home automation system that starts at about $50 for the Echo Dot and goes up to about $180. It's connected to my home automation system so when I'm lying in bed and it's time to turn the lights off, I just say, ‘Alexa, turn off the light.’
Quotes edited for clarity
To hear the interview, click the Blue Media Player above.
Art installation ‘Underwater Pavilions’ brings you below the Pacific Ocean
There are lots of interesting places to take in a little art in Southern California but artist, Doug Aitken takes it to a new level. He's created an installation beneath the waves titled Underwater Pavilions. It's currently open to art-loving divers, just off the coast of Catalina Island, near Avalon.
The underwater sculptures are designed to interact with the local ecology. They're a result of collaboration between the artist and Parley for the Oceans, an organization that raises awareness for ocean conservation.
KPCC’s A Martinez spoke with the Doug Aitken about the interdisciplinary endeavor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPE5rHTr5qs&feature=youtu.be
Highlights
Inspiration for Underwater Pavilions:
When we think of where can art exist and where can it exist outside of the traditional spaces, we look at times to the tradition of land-art. Works by people like Robert Smithson or Michael Heizer. But we don't really look beyond the earth itself. I think in a lot of ways, living on the West Coast, you find yourself constantly looking out at the ocean. And here we have this vast expansive space. Over 70 percent of the earth is under water. To us, our view is often very limited. We see a horizon line. We see a field of monochrome color. And I was really inspired to find a way to crate something that allowed the viewer to step underneath the surface of the ocean and see this kind of inverted planet that is there.
Art interacting with marine life:
The three different pavilions are at different elevations so the closest one is approximately 10 feet from the surface of the water. That receives much more light and reflectivity. The deeper you go, the darker they become... Half of the material that the sculptures are made of is a kind of aggregate material. It's almost like a lava rock. Over time, this starts becoming colonized. You have something that almost appears like algae that then grows and grows. As that continues to grow, different forms of sea life begin to cling to it and live on and around it.
The viewer's experience:
The value of art for me is to kind of transform or to lodge one into the present. To be kind of, in that moment, at that time. And to be conscious of everything around yourself. And I think if this project can put someone into a situation that is foreign and unique and there's something about it that wakes you up for a moment, then I would be more than grateful.
Quotes edited for clarity.
To listen to the interview, click on the Blue Media Player above.
Tuesday Reviewsday: The best music of 2016
If you love music, but don't have the time to keep up with what's new, you should listen to Tuesday Reviewsday. Every week our critics join our hosts in the studio to talk about what you should be listening to in one short segment. This week A Martinez is joined by music supervisor and music journalist Oliver Wang with their top picks of 2016.
Morgan Rhodes
Best Album
Artist: Solange Knowles
Album: A Seat At The Table
Song: Cranes in the Sky
Best Song
Artist: Le Son
Song: Without A Sound (Single)
The artist you missed in 2016
Artist: James Tillman
Album: Silk Noise Reflex
Song: Casual Encounters
Oliver Wang
Best Album
Artist: Beyonce
Album: Lemonade
Song: Freedom
Best Song
Artist: Jamila Woods
Album: HEAVN
Song: HEAVN
The artist you missed in 2016
Artist: NoName
Album: Telefone
Song: Shadow Man
The Brood: Why teenagers want their parents to be like potted plants
Parenting a baby or a young child involves a whole lot of close proximity. Parents are almost always near their kids, making sure they stay out of harm's way.
As they get older, parents get a bit of a breather— most teenagers can fend for themselves. But that doesn't necessarily mean they don't want mom or dad close at hand.
"What Do Teenagers Want? Potted Plant Parents" is the headline of a recent New York Times piece penned by Lisa Damour.
She's a psychologist and author of "Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions Into Adulthood."
Interview highlights:
What does it mean to be a potted plant parent?
What I have learned from teenagers, and what the research bears out, is that teenagers want their parents around, but that doesn't necessarily mean they want to interact with their parents. I think so often when adults interact with their teenagers, we come with an agenda. It's a parent who wants to have a conversation or teacher who's asking something or a coach who's asking something, and I think what can get lost in the mix is that it's a really wonderful thing for a teenager to have an adult nearby, but for that adult to not have any expectations.
Why is this what teenagers want?
It's sort of a perfect set-up for being a teenager, in a way. Their job is to become independent, to branch out, to move away. And yet, any of us who spend time with teenagers, one thing we know is that their needs emerge quickly and they can feel kind of 'crisis-ey.' Things can be really fine one minute and then really not okay in the next minute. So I think for teenagers, the somewhat ideal set-up for them, psychologically, is for them to say to the parent — you know, in unspoken terms: 'Let's do this. Let's pretend like you're not there, but if I need you, I'm going to need you pretty quickly, so don't go anywhere.'
What if you can't be there with your teen? What if you have to be away?
There are ways to be present, even while absent. A great way to do that is through digital means— things like, dropping a text to say 'I'm thinking of you' or saying 'I'm available on FaceTime.' Even if we're at distance, we can say to a teenager 'I'm standing by if needed.' The other thing is, that we shouldn't underestimate the value of just that. I think that we can have this sense of we need to connect, I need to hear about your day, you need to ask me for guidance. And that's great, if that's where the teenager is, and they want that. But, absent that, just saying 'I'm standing by and here if you happen to need me,' that, in and of itself, is of great value to teenagers.