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On this episode, Kumars is joined once again by Mariame Kaba, organizer extraordinaire and @prisonculture on twitter, who returns as co-host. Kumars and Mariame start off the show celebrating 50 episodes and a complete first year of Delete Your Account, before moving on to more serious topics. Mariame talks about recent developments in the campaign to free Bresha Meadows, a young black girl who was imprisoned for killing her abusive father in self-defense. Mariame discusses the plea deal that Bresha and her family have accepted that will see her eventually freed from custody, although only after several additional months in jail and an involuntary treatment center. We discuss how this development is a huge win for her and her family, and for activists fighting to keep her from being tried for murder as an adult, but also talk about how this still isn't justice, as Bresha shouldn't have served a day behind bars.
For the interview, Kumars and Mariame talk to Nesreen Hasan, a Palestinian-American youth organizer with the Arab American Action Network, a grassroots organization working to provide necessary services to Arab immigrants and Arab Americans in and around Chicago. We learn about how Nesreen got involved with organizing work, and about the role that the Arab American Action Network plays in the local community. We discuss the current status of Trump's Muslim ban and AAAN's efforts to fight against it. We also talk about recent violent attacks targeting Muslims and how these attacks impact organizers like Nesreen and the communities they serve. Nesreen also talks about the campaign to free Palestinian activist Rasmea Odeh. Rasmea is the Associate Director of AAAN who was arrested in 2013, ostensibly for lying on immigration documents, but in reality due to her political advocacy and organizing work. Rasmea came to the US after spending a decade in an Israeli prison for a crime she didn't commit, where she was tortured and raped. It was her failure to list this time spent in prison on her US immigration documents that saw her facing years in prison. Nesreen discusses the plea deal that Rasmea recently accepted that will keep her out of prison but see her deported.
You can follow AAAN on twitter at @aaanmarkaz. Support their work, as they face a serious budget crisis due to Illinois' GOP governor, by donating here.