Beloved Homeless Advocate Dies

Speaker 1: 00:00 The life and legacy of father Joe Carroll, Speaker 2: 00:04 His legend lives on it lives on in those very same people who may touched. Speaker 1: 00:10 I'm sure. Jade Hindman Maureen Kavanaugh is off. This is KPBS mid-eighties call to action to fix any qualities Latinas are facing in the world. Place. Speaker 3: 00:29 Latinas are a third Speaker 2: 00:31 Of all employed women in San Diego county employers really stand to gain Speaker 3: 00:37 A lot and lose a lot unless Speaker 2: 00:40 They really pay attention to Speaker 3: 00:42 This demographic group. Speaker 1: 00:44 However, water supply shortage is impacting those who depend on the Colorado river and the cinema junkie podcast is back that's ahead. On midday addition, a San Diego icon has passed away. Father Joe Carroll, a Catholic priest who spent 40 years raising tens of millions of dollars to help the unsheltered died at 80 Saturday. He will be remembered for turning a small charity that served peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the eighties into what's now called father Joe's villages, providing everything from housing to job training to thousands of people. Each year, San Speaker 2: 01:26 Diego has lost one of its legends and we have lost one of our best friends, but his legend lives on it lives on in those very same people who may touched that Speaker 1: 01:39 Was Jose Gonzalez, a long time friend of father. Joe's joining us to talk more about father Joe's legacy is deacon Jim Vargas, president and CEO of father Joe's villages, deacon Vargas. Welcome. Speaker 2: 01:54 You know, we all know Speaker 1: 01:56 What a gym father Joe was and what a gem father Joe's villages is to this community. Take us back to how it all started before it was father Joe's. It was St. Vincent DePaul's when father Joe first started there in the eighties, what was it like Speaker 2: 02:11 Very different as you can imagine of the situation of homelessness in general was different, but also be the environment was very different when he took over in 1982, it was, it was sort of a thrift store that St Vincent DePaul village had. And basically he knew people were hungry. So he started handing out peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We just want more and more people kept coming to him. He knew he needed to do much more than that. And he had the corral, the charisma to be able to really fin circle himself with individuals who fell in love with his vision of taking people off the streets, taking them off the streets and improving their situations. And so in time, within five years time, he had a mass $12 million in was that $12 million. He started the first building Joan Kroc center, and it, the first of its kind in the nation rash actually, and that it provided the comprehensive services that individuals who are mired and homeless as needed. Speaker 2: 03:08 It wasn't just a matter of just those peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And, you know, it was advanced to more nutritious meals. It also was in recognition of the fact that some individuals had health issues. So we establish a medical clinic and then he went on to care for their children. Those were our children. They have special needs because of their situation of being out there on the streets and homeless. And he wanted them to be able to compete well with their peers in school. So that would not be, be the future homeless individuals on the, on the streets. And so he established a therapeutic childcare center. Um, he realized that that those who are on the streets need needed income. Well, how do you have income? You have it through employment. How can you gain employment where you need marketable skills? So we establish an inform the services center in order to be able to train individuals and then help them find jobs so that they could have the income to be self-sufficient. So there's just so you know, and so the shelter was just the basic Jade and he realized that there was much more than just shelter. So how Speaker 1: 04:08 Would you describe father Joe's impact on San Diego and homelessness? Well, Speaker 2: 04:13 I think father Joe's impact has been tremendous over the years. I mean, he was setting the stage for a new way of tackling this issue of homelessness. And, and as I mentioned before, in, in a comprehensive way, in a very holistic way, in a very unique way. So it was not applying the same standard across the board. It's realizing that people are at different stages of their lives and different stages of their situation. And, and as a result of meeting them where they, where they are. Um, so if, if someone has just fallen onto hard times and just helping them pick themselves up from those hard times and applying the resources that they need, if it has to do with someone who's been chronically homeless and there's a lot more at play, well, then it, then it's climbed those resources. They might be health issues involved, uh, behavioral health concerns. Speaker 2: 05:02 And it's applying those resources that are, that are necessary and a lot of others. So it may take a longer period of time and just recognizing that is sometimes as it doesn't take on the first time and that sometimes you have to work with people, literally you have to work with people sometimes for years. And, and it there's, it could be that you work for months before even engaging them and having them being able to, to come into, into your facility for services at all, because maybe there's distrust in and abuse in the past, in their lives. And so it's, it's again, the impact that, that he has had and continues to have past to do with how you treat these individuals as human beings and realizing that they are, uh, they're different, they're each different than their circumstances. Speaker 1: 05:51 You know, what was unique about father Joe that enabled him to build father Joe's to what it today? Speaker 2: 05:57 I think what was unique about father Joel was twofold, at least twofold anyway, right? Uh, one is that he had the charism tube and the vision to be able to impart that to others, um, so that they can see they came and they shared in his work, in that vision. And he was able to convince them that this was God's work, that it was very necessary and it was an obligation. It wasn't a nice thing to do. It was a Mustang to do. And then on the other side of it, it w it was how he cared for those entrusted to him. They, uh, have confidence in him. They have faith in him. They believed that he wanted the best for them. And as a result, they were willing to put their trust in him that he could better their situation. And so those were two major facets in a sense of him that made a tremendous difference in his work. Speaker 1: 06:54 You spoke to father Joe about his ability to fundraise. Why did he say he was so successful Speaker 2: 06:59 At that? Well, first and foremost, I think he would just give the credit to God. Right. I mean, and, and he would say, well, if I was assessable, because, because God was in the midst of it. All right. And I think first and foremost, he would say that I, um, I think, um, pragmatically, the, the reason he was successful is, was his willingness to go out there and make himself vulnerable in a sense, right? I mean, he had the tag of the hustle of priests, and that's a fancy way of saying that he was a beggar. And he, and I w I talked about that in a lot of times, he did not mind going out there and begging for resources, financial and otherwise, because he wasn't doing it for himself. He had been entrusted with these souls who in very much needed his help, independent upon him. And, and that was a grave responsibility that he, that he had on his shoulders. And so that made it, he became as a result very fast. I was just going out there and begging for money and hustling for the resources that were necessary. Speaker 1: 07:59 Yeah, no, there's been a surge in the number of people living on the streets in downtown and likely across the county because of the pandemic. What advice, what wisdom will you be taking from father Joe and addressing this current crisis? Speaker 2: 08:15 The situation in of homelessness in general, and, and specifically in San Diego. And when we look, when we looked downtown, um, especially, you know, the growing number of those who are on the streets and, and, and if, particularly of late in the last 15, 18 months or so, uh, primarily do because of COVID and, and, and, and the effect of that, or the pandemic. Um, and, and so it's, it's a matter of, as father Joe always did. It was a matter of meeting them on the streets, which is what we continue to do. I mean, we do through our outreach, through our street health, as an example, um, realizing that a lot of these individuals won't access traditional medicine in a way in brick and mortar. And so it's going out to them and caring for them, right? They're medically on the curbs. He building relationship with no father, Joe was all about building relationship that makes all the difference in the world. So it's building those relationships and then being able to in time, then help them in, in other ways, getting them then actually off the streets, providing the shelter that they need and the basics that they need, and then the additional resources in order to help them become self-sufficient. So at the heart of it all is still father Joe's approach of meeting an individual where they are. It's not expecting them to meet us where we are, it's meeting them where they are, because that's, uh, that's how we can be most effective. Speaker 1: 09:39 Been speaking with Dick and Jim Vargas, president and CEO of father Joe's villages, deacon Vargas. Thank you very much for joining us and sharing father Joe's legacy today. Speaker 2: 09:49 Thank you so much shade. I it's, it's my pleasure. And I, and I know people will want to celebrate his life and we'll be announcing a celebration of lives that got, that will be public opening of public events. Uh, we'll have information about that in the very end of the next few days. And people have been leaving flowers and cards on 15th street, and we encourage that as well. People want to share stories online can do so as well, by going on swamp website, there's so many ways people have asked, how can they express themselves? I've been asked about, you know, how do you, how do we, how do we continue his work? You know, so we, we've established a legacy fund in his name to honor him in his work as well. And so there's that aspect. There's so many ways in which people can express their, their love for, for him. And I would encourage that Speaker 1: 10:45 The pandemic brought upon a number of drastic changes to the American workplace. And in many cases, these changes prompted many to leave the workforce entirely Latinas have left the workforce at rates higher than any other demographic, and have had some of the highest unemployment rates throughout the pandemic. According to UCLA research in response to this trend monitor San Diego and the Kim center for social balance as released a snapshot summary of the issue in an effort to highlight the inequities that Latinas in the San Diego region face in the workplace. Joining me with more is Heyo Kim executive director of the Kim center for social balance. Hey, oh, welcome to the program. Thank you, Jay. Thanks for having me. So you are releasing the first ever regional report today on the status of Latinos in the workforce, and it measures any qualities. What have you found in your research? We Speaker 2: 11:41 Have found that despite the fact that modern de San Diego members tend to be in the upper echelons of professions, they are still experiencing the same kinds of barriers to career success as Latinas in all professional tiers. And that's worrisome, uh, considering that Latinos are a third of all employed women in San Diego county employers really stand to gain a lot and lose a lot unless they really pay attention to this demographic group. So Speaker 1: 12:22 What are some of the obstacles that are standing in the way? One of the biggest Speaker 2: 12:26 Ones is representation over half of our participants. Our survey participants reported that there is not fair representation in leadership, and that serves several purposes. First of all, there's the visual affirmation that Latinas can be part of the leadership narrative in their organizations. And there's also the hand down effect, you know, the, uh, the mentorship and the opening of opportunities that Latinos can create for each other. And then of course the influence on our younger generations where they see what's possible. So how are Speaker 1: 13:04 Latinas being left behind, say, as the nation continues, its economic recovery from the pandemic, Speaker 2: 13:10 Females are still falling behind in terms of rates of promotion pay as well as representation in positions and industries that pay more and have higher levels of respect if you will. And that's not changing, unfortunately because Latinas were leaving the workforce in such high numbers because of COVID, but it's actually getting worse. And as they come back into the workforce and employers are really going to benefit if they're able to pay attention to the needs of this group, not necessarily as a special group, but simply to implement practices and policies that ensure that, uh, their promotions, their pay advances, their access to career advancement tools are fairly distributed. And, um, access is fairly offered. Speaker 1: 14:08 There's growing speculation that there isn't so much of a labor shortage as there is a shortage of fair compensation and benefits for many workers. Does that play into what we're seeing with Latinas in the workforce at all? Speaker 2: 14:21 It does in a lot of ways. I mean, particularly when you're talking about benefits, uh, family leave, you know, in addition to basic state requirements, accommodations for flexibility, working from home, when it works for people, sometimes it doesn't work, um, and that's, that needs to be paid attention to as well. Um, a lot of these things can help Latinos and other groups. And let's be honest, we're really talking about in general, um, because women are the largest, I hate to say marginalized, you know, people in group in the workforce, and they're often the most, uh, burdened with caregiving and other home responsibilities. In addition to their work responsibilities, Speaker 1: 15:07 The report is also a call to action. So how can the business community in the region support equity and equality for Latinas in the world? Of course, absolutely. Speaker 2: 15:17 It's a call to action. Uh, research says that if you want to make widespread cultural transformation, you really need to do it on the local level. But if you're going to do, if you're going to have a United community response, you need to have local data. So the chem center is launching a full regional assessment. The first of its kind, I think in the country actually, uh, sometime this later this year, and we are hoping that all employers will join forces with us, uh, elected officials, foundations, unions, you know, all our partners and would be partners in the community will join forces with us on a company by company basis. Employers should really pay attention to the highlights that we, um, point to in the report because every community is different. Every company is different. So the highlights that we provide are at least a baseline for what San Diego is addressing. What we're addressing here is very different from what's happening in Tulsa, Oklahoma, or New York city. So let's pay attention to what's going on here. And then to employers, I would urge you to do your own assessments. Speaker 1: 16:34 Ben speaking with Heyo Kim executive director of the Kim center for social balance. Hey Al, thanks so much for joining us. Speaker 2: 16:42 Thank you, Jade. I'm really glad that you're calling attention to this Speaker 1: 16:52 Listening named to KPBS mid day edition. I'm Jade Hindman Maureen Kavanaugh has the day off the Colorado river is tapped out. It supplies 40 million people in the Southwest, including in San Diego county, but a prolonged warming and drying trend has left the nation's two largest reservoirs at record lows. For the first time, a shortage will be declared by the federal government, Luke Runyon from K UNC traveled 1400 miles of the river to get a sense of how those who rely on it are coping. Speaker 4: 17:23 The river starts on Colorado's Western slope, where father and son Wayne and bracket Pollard run cattle up on a sagebrush covered hillside. We look down into the rifle valley where the men use the rivers water to grow hay. Speaker 5: 17:37 Typically it should be high water, and it hasn't really come up at all. Speaker 4: 17:41 They list off all the [inaudible] that come with life in the west. This year, driest hottest lowest worst. Last Speaker 5: 17:50 Year was considerably dry. Maybe the ice we'd seen. And now we're looking at even dryer. Our Springs are starting to dry up, up on the mountain and everywhere Speaker 4: 18:02 This direction, it comes with the usual lack of rain and snow and the relentless sun. And now a hot wind has arrived. Bracket says it's like someone is pointing a giant hairdryer at us. Pastures Speaker 5: 18:14 Is just like sucking the moisture out even more so Speaker 4: 18:18 Nearly all of the upper Colorado river basin is experiencing severe drought or worse. Tributaries are running low and hot. And without enough feed the regions ranchers are looking to sell the Pollards plan to offload about half of their cows over the next few weeks. Speaker 5: 18:34 I mean, you're looking at a serious loss of equity in, in really just rural America in the rural west. Speaker 6: 18:42 So the first couple of miles is going to be really choppy. Speaker 4: 18:50 250 miles downstream. The river becomes a massive reservoir lake Powell where Sherry fastened, Nellie and husband, Randy Redford are vacationing. The reservoir fills Glen canyon, amaze of red rock on the Colorado plateau. The lake is headed toward its lowest point since it was built fast and Ellie veers their speedboat into a sidekick, Speaker 6: 19:13 You know, places where you've voted for 20 years and gone flying over all of a sudden. Now there's big islands and rocks, Speaker 4: 19:20 White bathtub ring on the brick colored walls looms over us. The record low level means its dam is generating less hydroelectric power and it makes for a hair raising boat ride. Speaker 6: 19:32 Plus when the canyons get narrower, then you got to worry about other traffic wardens. So we'll wonder wracking Speaker 4: 19:39 An estimated four and a half million people visited in 2019 spending more than $420 million. But this year, several paved boat ramps no longer reached. Speaker 6: 19:51 So you've got the same number of visitors using fewer launch ramps. So you're going to have longer lines, shorter tempers, Speaker 4: 19:59 Further downstream in a Las Vegas gated community, the Colorado river's water spurts out of a sprinkler and onto manicured grass catching the eye of Devin [inaudible] water waste investigator, Speaker 6: 20:12 And there's too much water leaving the property at the moment. So we're going to get out of the car, throw our lights on and document the spray and flow violation is what Speaker 4: 20:21 We call it. So works for the Las Vegas valley water district. She pulls out her phone to take a video of the offending sprinkler. Speaker 6: 20:28 So what a waste investigator 9 3 9 3. It is Tuesday, June 15th at 8 0 7. I am Speaker 4: 20:35 Like this recently got a death sentence this year in Nevada declared so-called nonfunctional turf, illegal lawns that are only ornamental Chilchos agency projects that nearly four acres of turf in the Las Vegas valley will be ripped out over the next five years. Las Vegas already restricts lawns in new developments and pays homeowners to replace their yards. Speaker 6: 20:57 So unfortunately we D we are in a desert and grass is one of those high water use users, Speaker 4: 21:03 But the Las Vegas area has kept growing during the drought adding 315,000 people in the last decade alone. As the river keeps shrinking demands have to shrink too. Otherwise the whole system gets drained. Conserving now means less pain down the line. [inaudible] Speaker 6: 21:21 Um, so all of these restrictions have allowed us as a community to kind of keep populating. I mean, the population isn't going anywhere, you know, so we have to kind of accommodate to that Speaker 4: 21:32 Shortage. Declaration means another round of steep cuts to water supplies falling. The hardest on Arizona farmers, if reservoirs keep dropping further, reductions are coming to Nevada, California, and Mexico. This is used to be the Riverbed near the rivers end, Jordan Joaquin, president of the Fort Yuma Quechan Indian tribes stands on its banks. Looking out on what used to be the start of the rivers, expansive Delta. Now just a narrow channel. Speaker 7: 22:01 Are we standing today? If this was to be watered, this will be all covered with shrubbery, willows, Cottonwood as well. So Speaker 4: 22:08 Not far upstream water is drawn off to serve customers in Los Angeles and Phoenix and to irrigate crops, including local ones. It says tribal council member, Charles Escalante Speaker 5: 22:20 Tease everybody when they're from back east. I'm like when you're eating a salad in December, thank us because that's where it's coming from. Speaker 4: 22:28 The tribe's share of the Colorado is part of a century long list of legal agreements among those who use it. But Joaquin says in the past tribes were largely excluded when Speaker 7: 22:39 Tribes were consulted. If that's what they call it, it's at the very end decisions were already made. Speaker 4: 22:45 The entire watershed is gearing up for a new round of policy negotiations. Perennial questions are being made more urgent. Can the watershed adapt to climate change? How will everyone get by with less? And Joaquin says, how can river management be made more inclusive? Speaker 7: 23:05 Water is very important to us. You know, water is sacred to us. So the most meaningful thing is to be part of the negotiation at the table, not the back table, the beside table, but at the table of discussion Speaker 4: 23:20 Because the answers to those questions will shape life in the west for everyone who depends on the Colorado river for decades to come I'm Luke Runyon Speaker 1: 23:36 Last week, governor Newsome extended the drought emergency in the state to 50 of California's 58 counties. He also asked that voluntarily reduce their water usage by 15%, but he stopped short of issuing a mandate. The state is already working on some measures that officials hope will keep the water flowing during the dry summer months ahead. That includes a massive rock barrier through part of the Delta and Contra Costa county, which has recently been completed. That barrier is expected to preserve water supplies for millions of Californians, the $10 million emergency project, as part of governor Newsome's executive order dealing with the drought that California reports, Keith Mizoguchi spoke with a principal engineer with the state department of water resources to find out how it all works. Speaker 8: 24:27 Every title cycle, every title rise, you get salt to your water pushing in from the ocean. And what happens is three, the, the natural melt of the snow or precipitation or the release of stored water. We're able to push the, the salts out. And so there's this push and pull of the ocean, pushing the salt in and the fresh water, pushing it out. And really, we need to have enough fresh water to push it out. But specifically this west false river channel, it allows great conveyance from the San Joaquin river on that flood tide pushing into the flooded Frank's track island. And what that does is on every title cycle. Um, you're basically further injecting the salt deeper into the interior Delta. So by blocking off that channel, what we're doing is we're changing the way in which water fills into Frank's track. Um, and so now we're getting water that comes into the north from old river. And so you're also getting more water that's coming from the Maconomy and Georgiana SLU and the Delta cross canal, fresher Sacramento water in that. And now it goes into a Frank's track. So by changing that plumbing and changing that dynamics, what we're able to do is we're able to preserve the salinity in the interior Delta. Why Speaker 9: 25:45 Is it important to keep the salty water from the Pacific ocean in San Francisco bay away from this area, Speaker 8: 25:53 As the salinity increases key constituents in the water also increase one. That's a big concern is bromide. And so as the bromide increases and you disinfect that water, it creates disinfection byproducts. These disinfection products are, are toxic. They're a problem. And at some point, you know, if the concentrations are too high, uh, the water that you're pulling out of the Delta is no longer usable. You can't blend it and it's no longer a water supply Speaker 9: 26:26 Looking at the bigger picture. What does this rock barrier mean for fighting the drought this year in California, Speaker 8: 26:34 Through these actions, we're able to conserve water in our upstream reservoirs, as well as through, uh, California, uh, being more mindful of their water use. So it does play a very important role in the bigger picture because specifically without these actions would utilize too much water. And so we we'd see our reservoirs dropping too fast and we just would not be confident in when those would refill. And so this does play a very important role in that because it's one of the best ways we know of, um, maybe only second to conservation to be able to save some of that water so that we can use it later in the season. Jacob Speaker 9: 27:16 [inaudible] is a principal engineer for the state department of water resources. Jacob, thanks so much for your time today. You're welcome. Key fab, great day. And he was Speaker 1: 27:26 Speaking with the California reports, Keith Mizoguchi last week, California attorney general, Rob Bonta announced guidelines for the state department of justice to investigate all fatal officer involved shootings of unarmed civilians in California. These new protocols stem from the passage of last year's assembly, bill 1506, which called for the formal establishment of California police shooting investigation teams, Bonta has said he hopes the new guidelines will strengthen accountability and transparency and investigations of officer involved shootings. Joining me now with more on the implications of this legislation is the executive director of community advocates for justice and moral governance, Genevieve Jones, right? [inaudible] thank you so much for having me so first, how will this legislation change? How fatal officer involved shootings are investigated? Speaker 2: 28:24 The first thing is that we're actually going to have the attorney General's office do these investigations. And what that means is that for community members, this will be seen as a more neutral and attached body looking into fatalities at the hands of law enforcement officers in California. The next thing that this bill does is it requires the attorney General's office to establish a unit by 2023, that would upon request of local police departments review the local police department's use of force policies. And so, as you can see, this bill is very transformative in a lot of ways, and I think it will be great for our state. And Speaker 1: 29:07 So what will be the major changes in how officer involved shootings are investigated here in San Diego? What Speaker 2: 29:13 I believe we will see in San Diego is more of a review of these shootings that has more transparency, where the attorney general will release a report that gives the basis for the determination as to whether there was a criminal offense or whether there should be the prosecution of a police officer. This is something we have not seen before. And another thing in San Diego that we haven't seen before our members of law enforcement actually be prosecuted for killing an unarmed civilian. And so we may see a change in that. So Speaker 1: 29:45 Now with this legislation, does that mean that the California police shooting investigation teams will show up on the scene of a fatal officer involved shooting and start the investigation process start collecting evidence? Or is this something that will still be investigated the same only having this investigations team look into it? My Speaker 2: 30:04 Understanding is that people from the attorney's general office, people who are in these specialized units, who will only deal with the officer involved shootings that end in fatalities will be deployed on the scene and we'll investigate what role Speaker 1: 30:19 Will San Diego's commission on police practices play in implementing and observing these new protocols. Speaker 2: 30:25 As we look to the implementation of measure B, which revamped our former community review board and established that independent commissional police practices, while we await the finalized ordinance, it's a little difficult to tell how they will work in tandem. But what we do know is that these are community members who will be looking at and investigating complaints of police misconduct and also things like police shootings and killings. And so I think that we have the opportunity to see both of those entities work together as a relates to fatalities. Speaker 1: 31:05 How does this new guidance offer new pathways to justice for victims of police violence? Well, Speaker 2: 31:11 You know, we constantly say that no one is above the law. And when there's a failure to prosecute law enforcement officers for criminal behavior, or when community members feel that the district attorney is not fairly assessing all of the evidence available, or it's not applying the facts to the law and an impartial manner or without bias, it begins to erode trust if there was ever a trust there, but it definitely cuts against this idea that justice should be pursued on behalf of all victims. So with this bill, I am hopeful that when the attorney General's office does these independent investigations, they will once start to establish trust in those communities and community members will be able to trust the process so that whatever decision is made. And Speaker 1: 31:58 What's been the initial response from the community to this change in protocol. I think Speaker 2: 32:03 The community is hopeful. I believe that the community sees this as, again, a first good step, because there has been a lot of mistrust of the district attorney's office and prosecuting law enforcement officers when they do kill unarmed civilians. I think they look to the state as being more neutral and detached and therefore they would be more fair and their investigations and assessing the facts of what happened. And how Speaker 1: 32:29 Is law enforcement responding to the establishment of these new investigation teams? Speaker 2: 32:33 I would say that the district attorney's office itself says that it welcomes state involvement, but here's what I would say. The proof is going to be in the pudding. This bill does not put every single officer involved shooting on the plate of the attorney general. This is only a review and investigation into those killings of unarmed civilians by law enforcement. So that means that the district attorney and local police agencies are still going to be investigating on their own, any police shooting that doesn't result in a fatality or any police shooting that results in a fatality where someone actually was armed. And so what I'm hoping is that even if they say this as a welcome change, that it will actually inform how they look into investigations and how they can be more transparent with the community about how they have resolved investigations. Speaker 1: 33:26 I've been speaking with Genevieve Jones, right? Executive director of community advocates for just and moral governance. Genevieve, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me and Joe Biden has pledged to end for-profit immigration detention. That's what California aims to do with state law assembly, bill 32, but as KQ EDS for Rita job, Lola Ramiro reports, the Biden administration is fighting that law in court Speaker 10: 33:57 AB 32 bands, private companies from operating the tension centers. After the contracts with us immigration and customs enforcement expire. The Trump administration sued California to invalidate the law a few days after it went into effect in January, 2020. But if AB 32 survives in court, it could transform the way I does business, not just here, but nationwide says state attorney general, Rob Bonta, who authored the loss and assemblyman. Speaker 2: 34:27 And it was always the hope that others would replicate what California has done, and also ban for-profit private prisons and detention centers, which are inhumane, unjust, unsafe, California argues Speaker 10: 34:40 That private detention facilities pose quote, an unacceptable danger to detainees, and that the state has the right to regulate industries within its borders. But nearly all ice detainees in California are held at for profit facilities. And the federal government says AB 32 interferes with its authority to do immigration enforcement. Here's the attorney mark stern with the us department of justice at a court hearing last month, Speaker 2: 35:07 The Supreme court, this court and other courts have held that restrictions on the government's ability to carry out its operations using contractors when they are less intrusive than Southern Speaker 10: 35:25 California, Congresswoman Norma Torres says it's time for the Biden administration to drop the lawsuit against AB 32 Speaker 2: 35:34 For us as legislators, uh, representing a state of California, I just stand up for the wishes of our state. Speaker 10: 35:44 She and two dozen other members of Congress wrote to the us attorney general to say pursuing that lawsuit goes against Biden's stated goal at a rally in Georgia to mark his first hundred days in office Biden, address protesters in the crowd and repeated his campaign plan. Speaker 11: 36:06 There should be no private prisons period, none period. That's they're talking about private detention centers. They should not exist. And we are working to close all of them. Meanwhile, Speaker 10: 36:19 The Biden administration has requested nearly $2 billion from Congress to keep the immigration detention system pretty much intact. That worries Jackie, on Silas with immigrant defense advocates in Sacramento, Speaker 2: 36:33 His decision to side with private prison companies won by continuing to pursue Trump's litigation against the state of California and to failing, to make good on his campaign. Promises is something that no one is going to forget, and he has the opportunity to reverse course, but thus far, his behavior has been a betrayal Congresswoman Speaker 10: 36:54 Torres and state attorney general Bonta say they hope the Biden administration will work with California on this one and consider alternatives to jailing immigrants for the civil violation of not having valid papers, Speaker 2: 37:07 The civil cases, and, uh, folks don't need to be detained at all. They can come to all of their hearings and go through whatever process is part of their individualized case, uh, without being detained and without taxpayers wasting resources on locking people up and ice Speaker 10: 37:27 Spokesperson says the agency won't comment on litigation, but that ice needs operational flexibility to house people in its custody, the white house and the U S department of justice did not return requests for comment for the California report. And [inaudible] Speaker 1: 37:56 KPBS mid-day edition. I'm Jade Hindman Maureen Kavanaugh has the day off KPBS arts reporter Breathtec Amando has been hosting cinema junkie since 2015, the podcast took a quarantine break to retool and returned on July 14th. Cinema junkie is KPBS his longest running podcast, and it is fueled by Beth's addiction to movies. Here's a preview of this month themed podcast Speaker 12: 38:24 As far back as I can remember, I've always been addicted to whether it's Martin score Ceci or Monte Python. Speaker 11: 38:35 I'm being repressed, Paul Newman or Pam Greer. Speaker 1: 38:39 It's too easy for you. I want you to suffer Speaker 12: 38:41 Hong Kong action or film noir. Speaker 11: 38:47 [inaudible] Speaker 12: 38:47 I say I just get high on movies and I have my dad to think he kept me home from elementary school one day to watch on the waterfront because he felt it was an important film about power, corruption and loyalty. You was Speaker 11: 39:00 My brother. Charlie, you should have looked out for me a little bit, Speaker 12: 39:03 Laid the groundwork for me, thinking about film in a larger context text, you Speaker 11: 39:07 Don't understand. I could have had class. I could have been a contaminant. I could have been somebody that's Speaker 12: 39:16 Like a Mondo host of cinema junkie, where you can satisfy your cellular Lloyd addiction and mainline film. 24 7 cinema junkie has been on a quarantine break, but returns with some exciting new features. It now weighs in at a leaner 30 minute runtime and has new share your addiction and cold Turkey segments for celebrities and listeners get to rant and rave about movies. Speaker 13: 39:39 You're like me. You have that one movie that you love that you have the hardest time defending because nobody else on the planet does it. Speaker 12: 39:46 Plus there'll be a companion video for each podcast called geeky gourmet, where I show you how to make a drink or food item theme to the movies discussed in the podcast. Bacon is key to all hobbies, cooking butter, lots of butter, lots of cream for cinema junkie. I speak with celebrities, scholars, cinephiles geeks and people who just get as intoxicated by film. As I do, Speaker 13: 40:12 It means trucks. Burner is everything. That's great about an exploitation, Jeff, defensive enough, and it's just politically incorrect enough, enough action and that violent. Like I watch it. And it's like, I'm a cat getting into how many rubbed I'm just purring like, oh, this is exploitation protection. Speaker 12: 40:35 That was one of my favorite guests, author David F. Walker talking about blaxploitation in honor of Comic-Con, which returns virtually later in July. The theme for this month's podcast is a celebration of pop culture. So on July 14th, I speak to Arnold T Blumberg about the Marvel cinematic universe. He taught the first college course on that topic. Here's a clip from my interview. As Speaker 14: 40:58 We were watching the movies, I would turn to the students to find out what do you think? You know, what do you think this character is doing? Why this house represents? Of course, the core movie, the reason why I did the course in the first place, the one that was sort of the, the pitch was winter soldier, because my argument was, and that's where you mentioned the thing about freedom for S you know, for security. There's so much in that movie. That's like they deal with drone strikes. They deal with the surveillance state and the freedom for security issue. Um, and there was so much in winter soldier. My, my pitch at the time was that this point in things for Marvel, all they had to do was make a really cool adventurous captain America movie. They did not have to do anything else. And yet what they wound up doing was a movie that actually had some things to say in and around all the adventure and excitement. Speaker 14: 41:52 And it demonstrated that these movies operate on different levels. It's not just a frivolous adventure. You can also incorporate these things and make something out of that. And when we would talk about it in class, it really didn't take much work to get to that. I mean, to be perfectly honest, too, some people might think it's like, oh, I don't know how you come up with these things, but really for some of us, I guess you look in a movie and you think, how can you not notice that it's not exactly subtle there in many cases to there, they have the characters practically just scream the themes out loud. It's not like they're really hiding any of the things they're doing, but I guess some people like to look at a different levels of moving. They don't necessarily think about the other part. And for some of us, we look at it and go, well, you know, obviously it's about this. And when we were in the classroom, everybody would get really energized. And particularly if they enjoyed it, and sometimes particularly if they didn't, they would have things to say about why that was and conversation. We'll go from there. Well, Speaker 12: 42:51 In these films, even though they're entertaining, they also have a way of educating or at least, you know, raising issues about ethics, morality, race, gender class. And how did you see Marvel films kind of touching on those? Speaker 14: 43:08 Well, I mean, it's like everything else, these movies exist in our world. They've been made by people here, everybody who was cramped to craft these movies has brought themselves to it. They can't not reflect all the various things going on in our country and our culture in the time when they're made, for example, in Marvel, they're as guilty as anyone else in this culture as well of having flaws of, of incorrectly or improperly or inappropriately representing some things, because they are reflecting the culture in which they're made. So like for example, the it's not all positive, but it's also can be very instructive and telling about where we are. So like, for example, like we're just now getting to the point where the black widow movie is coming out and captain Marvel came out and there's a sequel of that, but it's like, it took this long before we had women in lead roles in this, and it's taken until phase four before we were going to have an Asian lead in one of these and, and the black Panther movies and the sadness of losing Chadwick Bozeman. Speaker 14: 44:14 But we had that, but why did it take that long? It's like, there are no easy answers because these are problems. And even Marvel is not immune to these kinds of problems. Marvel is still a very white story and it's a very male story and this all the way back to the source material and to the people that created it and to the comics that proceeded it. And it's important at the very least that if there are things that are bad about these movies, that's also worth talking about, and maybe that gets people thinking about how can you make it better? And in some respects, maybe it's, it's certainly not enough, but in some respects we are seeing some things getting better. So there are ways that these movies can be instructive and educational as much for the things they're doing wrong as for the things that they might deliberately or sort of tangentially trying to communicate that are good. Speaker 14: 45:08 That's also, I feel part of the importance of media literacy is you got to look at these things and not feel like you're a fan. Like as much as I'm like, I think playfully, I hope people understand playfully being a bit more derogatory toward DC. It's like, there are a lot of great things about the DC characters as well. And there's a lot of stuff that's bad about the Marvel characters. You're not really beholden to any of these people. They're big corporations that don't care about you. So you don't need to feel like you're loyal to anything, just come at it with your own perspective and see it for what it is. We Speaker 12: 45:43 Explore the MCU on July 14th and then on the 28th cinema junkie does a crew call to look at the contribution of stunt people with Brad Martin and Mickey fashion cello. You can find the full episodes wherever you listen to podcasts. Speaker 1: 45:57 That was Becca Mondo, her revamped podcast, debuts on Wednesday. And you can join Beth on July 15th for a live Twitch relaunched party for details, go to kpbs.org/cinema junkie.