Speaker: Erika Pinheiro
TED Salon: Border Stories
Date: September 2019
Location: New York, New York
Description from TED website:
At the US-Mexico border, policies of prolonged detention and family separation have made seeking asylum in the United States difficult and dangerous. In this raw and heartfelt talk, immigration attorney Erika Pinheiro offers a glimpse into her daily work on both sides of the border and shares some of the stories behind the statistics — including her own story of being detained and separated from her son. It’s a clear-eyed call to remember the humanity that’s impacted by policy — and a warning: “History shows us that the first population to be vilified and stripped of their rights is rarely the last,” she says.
My Review / Notes / Thoughts
This is a very interesting talk, and while a few years old, it is still quite relevant in today’s environment.
I’ve recently been working with some faculty to help them develop two Social Justice courses. So of course, this talk stuck out to me. I could easily see this talk incorporated into the social justice courses. It would be a great piece for sparking deeper thought from the students. There could be a discussion about the talk. They could research the changes that have occurred since September 2019 and either discuss those changes or even write a paper on the changes that have occurred. They could also debate if those changes are for the better or for the worse.
Other than Social Justice courses, I am sure this talk would work with Political Science, Social Work, and Criminal Justice courses to name a few.
What other fields of study could you see using this talk to spur conversation and engagement in your students? Are there other activities that you think that this talk could be used to develop?
Until next time … live long life-learner!