[captioning made possible by democracy now!] ♪ amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now. >> i have a huge issue with blackface. this is not from birth of the nation mockery. this is on a real, connected level. not just a visible representation, but the experience. amy: rachel dolezal breaks her

silence just a day after she resigned her post as president of the spokane chapter of the naacp amid reports she falsely portrayed herself as black. she says that is how she identifies. we will host a roundtable discussion. then as tens of thousands individuals born in the dominican republic, mostly of haitian descent, face expulsion, we speak with haitian-american writer edwidge danticat. >> haitians of dominican descent can be expelled from the dominican republic. it is something that can potentially become one of the most catastrophic refugee crises in our region. amy: all that and more, coming up. ♪ amy: welcome to democracy now democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. greece's central bank has warned the country is on a "painful

course" toward defaulting on its debts and dropping out of the eurozone. in a statement, the bank urged the greek government and european creditors to reach a deal before greece's current bailout expires at the end of month. the greek government has rejected european demands for further pension cuts. the bank of greece warns a default quote "would snowball into an uncontrollable crisis," and bring "deep recession, a dramatic decline in income levels, an exponential rise in unemployment and a collapse of all that the greek economy has achieved over the years." russia has announced plans to increase its nuclear arsenal. on tuesday, russian president vladimir putin said his government will add more than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles this year. speaking in brussels, nato secretary general jens stoltenberg accused russia of nuclear "sabre rattling." >> this is unjustified.

it is destabilizing and dangerous. this is something which we -- it is one of the reasons why we are now increasing the preparedness of our forces and are responding by making sure that nato in the future is an alliance which provides protection for all allies against any threats. amy: the russian move comes just days after it was revealed the pentagon has drafted plans to store heavy weaponry, including tanks in eastern europe for the first time since the end of the cold war.

"the new york times" reports the plan would see enough weaponry for as many as 5,000 soldiers stored across several countries, from estonia to bulgaria and poland. russia has urged the u.s. to abandon the potential move, saying it would violate a 1997 agreement in which nato pledged not to deploy a major troop force near russian borders. egypt has upheld the death sentence of ousted president mohamed morsi and dozens of others. the ruling came in the case of a 2011 prison break, one year before morsi became egypt's first democratically elected leader. he was later ousted in a 2013 coup. morsi's attorneys say they will appeal. the morsi sentence has drawn international criticism, including from the u.s., a key ally of the egyptian regime. white house press secretary josh earnest said the u.s. is "deeply troubled" by morsi's sentence. josh earnest: we are deeply troubled by the politically motivated sentences that have been handed down against former

president mohamed morsi and several others by the egyptian court today. you understand that his attorney intends to appeal the sentence. the u.s. has concerns about the sentencing of political figures in egypt. we are concerned that proceedings have been conducted in a way that is not only contrary to universal values, but also damaging to the stability that all egyptians deserve. amy: in a report on egypt quietly submitted to congress last month, the obama administration found quote "the overall trajectory for rights and democracy has been negative." but the report concludes that despite a series of abuses and the undermining of a free society, egypt is too important to u.s. interests for any cuts to annual military aid. a un panel has recommended sweeping changes to the world body's peacekeeping operations worldwide. the report comes amid revelations of sexual abuses and

exploitation by un forces in countries including haiti, liberia, and the central african republic. panel chair, jose ramos-horta, said there must be zero tolerance for such crimes. jose ramos-horta: this is what has to be very clear. if you commit barbera see, you have no protection. your subject to the law of the country where you're in. you cannot hide in the u.n. roof. amy: the u.s. senate has passed a measure that would prevent a repeat of the u.s. torture program seen under president george w. bush. the bipartisan amendment from senators john mccain and dianne feinstein would extend president obama's torture ban to future administrations, outlawing any tactics not expressly included in the u.s. army field manual. the measure passed by a vote of 78 to 21. the food and drug administration has announced a ban on all

artificial trans fats. food companies will have three years to phase out the use of partially hydrogenated oils, which have been linked to heart disease and thousands of deaths. advocacy groups have welcomed the move, but say the deadline should be earlier than three years. the real estate mogul and reality television personality donald trump has announced his bid for the republican presidential nomination. in a rambling kickoff speech, trump branded mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists. donald trump: these people are not sending their best. they are not sending you. they are sending people that have lots of problems and they are bringing their problems to us. they are bringing drugs crime the are rapists. some, i assume, are good people. amy: in 1990, donald trump was

sued for hiring at least 200 undocumented polish workers to demolish a building to make way for trump tower, the massive skyscraper where he delivered his speech. in his comments, trump also vowed to build a wall to stop mexican immigration, as well as isil. donald trump: i was build a great wall and no one builds walls better than me. i will build a great, great wall on our southern border and i will have mexico pay for that wall. mark my words. nobody would be tougher on isis then donald trump. amy: if current polling numbers hold, trump will likely make the cut for the first republican presidential debate in august. debate sponsor fox news says it will take the top ten candidates from the national polls. for his kickoff theme song, trump chose neil young's "rockin' in the free world," a song in fact

-- written as a partial critique of reagan-era economics. in a statement, young said trump was not authorized to use the song and said he supports bernie sanders for president. the whistleblower who exposed rampant security flaws on the submarines carrying britain's nuclear warheads has been dishonorably discharged from the british royal navy. able seaman william mcneilly detailed the lapses in an 18-page report for wikileaks, writing that it's quote "harder to get into most nightclubs" than into sensitive areas of the nuclear base in scotland. mcneilly turned himself in to police last month. in a new report posted online, mcneilly says all of the charges against him have been dropped, but he has been dishonorably discharged quote "on the claim that my sole aim was to discredit the navy's public image." quote "it is shocking that some people in a military force can be more concerned about public image than public safety," he

wrote. to see our discussion with julian assange, you can go to6 democracynow.org. this is democracy now democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. host: we turn now to the growing national debate over racial identity sparked by the story of rachel dolezal. dolezal is the washington state civil rights advocate and educator who resigned her post as president of the spokane chapter of the naacp on monday amid reports she falsely identified as an black. the controversy began when dolezal's parents told reporters their daughter is white and shared photographs of her as a child. on tuesday, she broke her silence. during an appearance on the today show, dolezal told host matt lauer she has identified as black since a young age. rachel dolezal: it goes back to

a very early age with my self identification with the black experience. matt: when did it start? rachel dolezal: i would say about five years old. amy: she then went on to say how she came to identify as black. rachel dolezal: it is more complex than identifying as black or white. i was identified as transracial. the next newspaper article identified me as a biracial woman. i never corrected -- matt: why not? you knew it was

not true. rachel dolezal: cities more complex than being true or false in that particular instance. juan: host matt lauer also asked rachel dolezal about why she sued howard university. she accuse them of discriminating against her because she was white. rachel dolezal: i have a huge issue with blackface. this is not some black ofckface -- some birth of the nation mockery. amy: we now go to another clip of rachel dolezal answering matt lauer. rachel dolezal: the reasons for

it where that other people needed opportunities. i thought that was -- amy: today we host a roundtable discussion on the issues around race and identity sparked by this story. we are joined by three guests here in new york. stacey patton is a senior enterprise reporter for the chronicle of higher education. last night, she received the vernon jarrett medal for journalistic excellence for her reporting on the african-american experience in america. lacey schwartz is the producer, writer and director of the documentary film, little white lie, which tells her story of growing up in a white jewish household in woodstock, ny only to discover at 18 that her biological father was african-american. also with us is linda martin alcoff, professor of philosophy at the city university of new york. she's the author of

several books including "visible identities: race, gender and the self." her forthcoming book is titled, "the future of whiteness" which will be out in september. and with us from hartford, connecticut, jelani cobb is associate professor of history and director of the africana studies institute at the university of connecticut. he is also a contributor to the new yorker. his latest piece is headlined "black like her." i want to start today with stacey. despite the fact that you are getting this big award last night, you spent the day interviewing professors about their feelings. you talk to the professors at eastern washington, where rachel dolezal also taught. stacey patton: i had a chance to speak to the director of the program there and i was

interested in trying to get a sense of what the impact that this media surge surrounding rachel dolezal was having on the department itself and students and faculty there. he indicated that her deception came as a huge shock to him and other faculty members because she has presented an african-american man to them as her father and indicated she had a white mom. their understanding of her was that she was biracial. he also indicated she was fired up about race issues, the african-american experience. to them, she thought that she had the same kind of lineage and generational experience with his termination as them. amy: and she was supposed to be

the graduation speaker for and ultimately said she would pull out. stacey patton: she was scheduled to do the keynote. he was not clear about what she would speak about and she called and said perhaps i should not show up because this will be a distraction. ultimately it was, there were reporters, they held them for 15 minutes, grilling him about the situation. students were spawned by reporters. -- were swarmed by reporters. juan: lacey, you dealt with the issue of denial when it comes to racial identity. do you see any parallels is weaned experience you went

through and what you experienced in the film and what is going on with rachel dolezal. lacey schwartz: yes and no. i don't think the collective denial is the same in my family. it is apparent that she actually live, she created an image, she physically changed her appearance who she said her family was and what her association was. with my family, it is a story for to explain why i was my parents child why they felt i was white. even my mother, the person to first lose that denial, she believed it for a while. i was not adopted. my mother had an affair with a black man. amy: how did you learn about it? lacey schwartz: i learned when i

was 18 years old. i knew i was different, i grew up in a white liberal town and we did not talk about race. i did not understand what that difference was connected to and where to place it. so many of us can live our lives without a race while so many of us have a strong racialized experience. when i went to college, i questioned why my parents broke up and why i looked the way i did. i did not check boxes at that point. i admitted -- i did not do identify -- i did not identify as black but i was identified as black because of how i looked. who you think you are, your parents are, you find out the truth.

how can we have those conversations? in this story, there is a lot of struggle. her parents going to the media her creating these lies, there is conflict in that situation. juan: you have her parents essentially outing her. lacey schwartz: it is a particular family dynamic. it shows how much big social issues like race can be connected to the family dynamic. amy: let's turn to her parents confirming last week that there is strange was white and pretending to be black. her mother spoke of her identification as black. >> it has been for over 20 years. her choice to represent herself

visually as an african-american or to be involved in their causes, and now to be deceptive about what her ethnicity is those are two different things and that is what has changed most recently. amy: when they were asked why it was important for them to set the record straight on rachel's life, this was their response. ruthanne: it is important was that the truth is known and that is why we are speaking rid we cannot participate by our silence in the lie. larry: we did not take the initiative. we were contacted by news media. we had three choices, to lie, to tell the truth, or to say no comment and hang up. amy: that is rachel dolezal's

parents. we are joined by jelani cobb. what is your response to this whole controversy? jelani cobb: well, first, i have been surprised at the degree of interest this story generated. for me, it was fairly clear-cut. this person is not black. there was a lot of handwringing about how to say that. we're talking about a category that does not exist biologically. it is difficult to say this person does not belong on the basis of something that is

actually real. however, the experience, the historical experience that creates what we know as the african-american experience now, the entire section of experience goes with that. that is very real and she is not part of that lineage and tradition. she took the extra step of inventing apparent that was out for her belonging to this community. the other thing that is cynical about this, the element i found most disturbing -- i taught in moscow on a full rights about five years ago. one of the questions that people had was how is it that someone who -- that some people who have

a whole range of elections are all counted as black -- complexions are all counted as black and fit in the same category? i would talk about the ugly truth, the amount of institutionalized race that happened in slavery. with african-americans, we don't typically check id at the door. people can look a variety of different ways and still be considered part of the community. for someone who has spent as much time around black people as ms rachel dolezal has, she knows there is a painful history around this and why people do not raise questions. in my own family, there are people who are nearly white and people who are very dark. we all come from the same parentage. that happens in black families. for her to take advantage of

that and use that as a means by which people would not second guess her identity, i thought that was particularly pernicious and cynical. juan: you mentioned your surprise over the firestorm this has created. isn't there a lot of commentary about how the way our society deals with issues of race? it is almost an individual spectacle and said of the institutional manifestations. in a sticker case, there is such a fixation. there are reports today that she is involved with negotiations to have a reality show as a result of the huge attention the media has focused on her. jelani cobb: there is a man bites dog element of this and that is about the level of significance that this case has.

this is not taking away from the work she has done or the her connections, familial connections to people who are black. those things are all fine. it is another step to say that you are part of this lineage when you are in fact not. we saw the same thing with donald sterling. all of these troubling issues around housing discrimination did not register the same way that a weird, at home rant about what he does and have significant he is. that is what we got higher about -- ire about. a spectacle in said of systemic, institutionalized dynamics that determine and influence the outcome and opportunities of people's lives. amy: you write about the history

of the naacp. she was chapter president of the naacp in spokane. wayne talk about the founding -- can you talk about the founding of the naacp? jelani cobb: when -- a critic of the naacp said that it is an organization full of -- there are a range of people who have different complexions. walter white had long hair and blue eyes and was able to investigate lynching by asking what happened and people would talk to him, thinking they were

talking to a white person. there is a dynamic that happened previously. that is kind of a thing that makes the story a little bit more complicated. there are people who look like her, who belong to this community. it becomes a point where you are almost splitting hairs. people can look like her, but they do not have an african ancestry or history. those things shaped them and granted them. to say that you're using the brown crayon and therefore block is insulting -- black is insulting. juan: your reaction to this latest controversy?

guest: it taps into a certain zeitgeist going on. it is socially constructed, what does that mean? there is a lot of confusion around that. when she says things like, it is complicated, people are not sure how to make sense of that. what it means to say socially constructed is that it is socially constructed, not individually constructed. it is based on social customs and history. we have decided together that a piece of paper is a dollar, everyone has to agree to that or it doesn't work. that is what social construction means. our racial practices have been constructed, who has dissipated and who has not been able to participate in that? for what and, for what purpose?

because identity is socially constructed, it can be construct did in different ways and contexts. in the united states, we have lineage which trumps all other considerations. one drop of lineage way back comes all other considerations. in latin america appearance trumps lineage. if you are light-skinned, you are blanco. the joke is, in the dr, they have a reverse one drop rule. contexts make a difference. in latin america there are

different criteria that can make race lineage, appearance and cultural assimilation. there are some indigenous groups that use cultural assimilation. if you accept their police systems, you can be a full member of that group. as is the kind of thing that rachel dolezal is making reference to. she is claiming cultural assimilation. we know that she was convincing herself and relying on the fact that people assumed it was lineage. she herself one to to use the definition of cultural assimilation. but she was counting on the fact that the united states people assume lineage. she had to know that. amy: to clarify, the black man she presented as her father, she

said that she met him in urban iowa and considered him her father. a complicated story. i guess she has her own african-american child and also adopted her foster brother as her child and another brother has been accused of sexually molesting an african-american child in colorado. it is very complicated. guest: she also talked about her hair looking natural. we have seen pictures that imply that is not the case. she really played upon these things and understood the culture really well and understood how to play into it to make people think certain things. for me, the whole thing on the

today show, it hit a chord in a negative way. she said i have to be this person to raise my black son. i think that was a diss to white moms who have raised children of color that you have to be a person of color to successfully raise people of color. i think that is really making a larger statement about society, not just her experience, that is not right. amy: melissa harris perry interviewed her and raise that same subject. we are going to come back to this discussion. our guest lacey schwartz jelani cobb: and stacey patton from washington.

she wrote a piece in the chronicle of higher education and one a major award in journalism last night. stay with us. ♪ ["is it because i'm black," by syl johnson] ♪

"is it because i'm black," by syl johnson and the video clip he played his from the film little white lie. it tells the story of her growing up in a typical of a class jewish household, but finding out at the age of 18 that her father was a black man her mother had an affair with. we also joined by stacey patton

is a senior enterprise reporter for the chronicle of higher education and the 2015 recipient of the vernon jarrett medal for journalistic excellence . linda martin alcoff is professor of philosophy at the city university of new york and jelani cobb. stacey, you spoke with professors across the country. can he talk about their response. your headline is rachel dolezal case leave some scholars disgusted. stacey patton: i wanted to talk to that she pretended to be, people she were announced. i talked to black women professors and white

professors. around the virtual table i was watching some of the stuff go down on social media, there was a consensus of shock and disgust and disrespect. from african-american and scholars, they are particularly disgusted by her manufacturing of self. he talked about -- they talked about their own personal experiences navigating academe. some talked about their girlhood experiences, going to graduate school, going on the job market and having to carry anxieties about their hair, their size the tone of their voice, how they present themselves to the hiring committee. it talked about what it is like being a black woman in a classroom where their intellect is challenged.

white students in particular treat them like nannies, alters for their emotional needs. they are disrespected, not called doctors. miss-so and so. their ideas on gender studies are under attack. they feel that what she has done is add another badlade to this. the consensus from white scholars she does not have to renounce her whiteness, she has to renounce white supremacy. they carry their burdens for doing this work as well. one professor talked about -- this is the criminal

justice professor i talked to-- -- she talked to about how people say to her, you want to sleep with -- white women professors i spoke to said, she is made a joke of us, and embarrassment and people are going to look at a sideways. what she has done is exacerbate trust issues between black and white female academics, which already has a history. there are others who say this is a distraction. this controversy happens at a moment where we are just talking about the abuse of women by police officers, killings of black women, the mckinney police officer who slammed a

bikini-clad teenager into the ground. rachel dolezal comes along and is a big distraction. there are others who say look, the controversy is not going to harm the serious scholarship being done by both black and white women academics. jelani cobb: we are dealing with the troubled person, individually. as you say, and the climate we are in right now the media has grabbed it up and turned it into a huge story. it does not necessarily have an impact on others who are struggling to get their scholarship and work recognized. owing to the degree that they accept that there is a problem. stacey patton: stacey patton: an important

thing that people make it too on campuses faculty are working hard to keep students of color safe. some of these academics talk about the professor who slammed into the street by a university police officer for jaywalking. they cited trawls wilson, held at gunpoint by campus police at yale -- charles wilson, held at gunpoint by campus police at yale. they talk about people of color who cannot protect themselves from unconscious bias, these officers who see their black bodies as threats. the fact that she is playing with blackness in this way is terrible to a lot of people. amy: i want to thank you all for being with us.

do you think this would be a flash in the pan, professor cobb? from your experience? or going to deeper issues, which is why there has been so much attention paid to this? jelani cobb: i think there's one other point about this that makes it more substantial. what happens with rachel dolezal whether she does a reality show or memoir, is not that consequential. but there is a longer history of appropriation, of the belief that anything that african-americans can do is culturally fair game and that white, who have advantages that blacks to not have, can take as they choose. that is part of this narrative as well. beyond this, one of the notable things it when you look at pulling on this and ask, what group of people is most his advantage -- most disadvantaged

there are people who say it is whites. it may be weird but there is something -- this will not be the last time that we will have this conversation. amy: thank you so much for being with us. we will link to your piece, " black like her. thank you to linda martin alcoff . thank you to lacey schwartz.

and thank you to stacey patton senior enterprise reporter for the chronicle of higher education. a special shout out to morgan states radio station in baltimore. that is it for this discussion. i'm sure it will carry on on facebook and twitter. next, we speak with edwidge danticat a haitian-american writer who will talk about what is happening to people in the dominican republic. stay with us. ♪

amy: here on democracy now! i am amy. juan: the dominican republic is set to begin what some are calling "ethnic purging" placing the fate of hundreds of thousands of dominicans of haitian descent into limbo. half a million legally stateless people could be sent to haiti this week, including those who have never stepped foot in haiti and don't speak the language. in 2013, a dominican constitutional

court ruling stripped the citizenship of children born to haitian immigrants in the dominican republic as far back as 1929, retroactively leaving tens of thousands without citizenship. this is dominican migration minister ruben dario paulino. ruben dario paulino: yes all the documented -- undocumented in this country will return to their country of origin. amy: today marks the deadline for undocumented workers to register their presence in the dominican republic or risk mass deportation. however, only 300 of the 250,000 dominican haitians applying for permits have reportedly received them. many have actively resisted registering as foreigners, saying they are dominican by birth and deserve full rights. dominican authorities have apparently organized a fleet of

buses and set-up processing centers on the border with haiti, creating widespread fears of mass roundups. this is tini rosier, an undocumented migrant risking deportation. tini rosier: if the deadline lapses, what they say is that we will have to go. there will be no fighting it and nothing that can be done. i will have to go because my mother and father brought me here when i was nine years old. juan: the dominican republic's decision to de-nationalize hundreds of thousands of people has sparked international outcry. haitian president michel martelly has denounced it as "civil genocide." the united nations protested the ruling and the u.s. state department voiced measured disapproval. meanwhile, dominican-american writers junot diaz and julia alvarez, haitian-american writer edwidge danticat, and american writer mark kurlansky have united to express their shared condemnation of the decision. they wrote in the new york times

, quote, "one of the important lessons of the holocaust is that the first step to genocide is to strip a people of their right to citizenship." amy: we're joined now by edwidge danticat, acclaimed haitian american novelist. her latest book is called "claire of the sea light". welcome to democracy now! talk about the significance of what is happening right now in the dominican republic. edwidge danticat: the have often been deportations from the dominican republic to haiti. it is the first time it is done with the law behind them. the court decided to strip citizenship. it has made life much harder for dominicans of haitian descent but also migrants who are on the island too.

it not only gives the dominican government the power to deport mass amounts of people, but also creates a civil environment that is really hard for people, because others might feel now that there has been an increase of violence against haitians and dominicans of haitian descent. it seems that the state sponsored open season on people who are not considered haitians by the way they look. juan: most people here in the united states are not aware of this long, troubled history between the dominican republic and haiti occupying the same island ultra nationalism conservatives among the dominican republic still hearken back to what they claim is the haitian occupation of the country. they see a line running through.

kenny phillips in on some of that history -- can you fill us in on some of that history? edwidge danticat: we share a history of colonialism and split from the french and spanish and after the haitian independence there was a shift where haiti the whole island was under one rule. then the dominican republic in 1822, there was a separation. there are historical scars. on the haitian side, we are ever the massacre of cane workers in 1937. and the turn-of-the-century both sides of the island were occupied.

and there was it another kind of occupation that goes back to the beginning of the 20th century. juan: and significance of the dominican republican choosing a date to trace the lineage of haitian nationals who have been dominican citizens for generations? edwidge danticat: there are so many things that seems so arbitrary about this decision. 1929 was the beginning of the depression here and maybe there was a company part of the sugar r plantation complex. haitian workers were always brought to that side and suddenly when the sugar industry pulls out, they are left

hanging. 1929 seems very bizarre in terms of deciding that people in transit since 1929, it boggles the mind that you have to be a transit of that country for 86 years. several generations of families have lived in the dominican republic and may their life there and risk being deported. amy: our people and the dominican republic speaking out -- our people in the dominican republic speaking out? edwidge danticat: there are organization speaking out. this issue is sometimes presented as a migration issue. but a large number of people affected our haitians with dominican descent. those voices are drowned out by the ultra nationalist voices who

use it as a scapegoat issue and a way to divide people and further their causes. juan: the great peruvian novelist is considered something of an adopted son -- mario vargas llosa, the peruvian nobel laureate, is considered something of an adopted son in the dominican republic. his novel "the feast of the goat" is about the assassination of he -- dominican dictator rafael trujillo. vargas llosa came under attack when he publicly denounced the ruling in the spanish newspaper el pais. he wrote that the sentence quote "is a juridical aberration and seems to be directly inspired by hitler's famous laws of the thirties handed down by german nazi judges to strip german citizenship from jews who had for many years -- many centuries -- been resident in that country and were a constitutive part of its society." dominican nationalists responded to vargas

llosa's comments with outrage. they burned copies of his book and more than sixty community organizations signed a formal petition to request that the government name the author persona non grata in the dominican republic. what is your response to this reaction? edwidge danticat: i think it is the immediate reaction to speaking out against injustice. i think it is important to note is that those of us who are speaking against this law we are speaking against injustice just as we would anywhere else in the world. the reality is a very large number of people can be affected by this and this is happening in our region and of course, i have a personal connection to it, but i think it is something that should concern everybody who cares about justice. it sets a very dangerous precedent in terms of moving

large numbers of people who happen to be migrant or citizens elsewhere in the region. juan: there has also been right here in new york state in the state legislature, there has been a battle raging because there have been some try to get a resolution to condemn the dominican republic. it is forcing a much-needed debate within the circle of the dominican republic as well. edwidge danticat: that always happens. there are always people very sympathetic to this cause. the dominican republic, it is important to stress that we are talking about dominicans of haitian descent, people separated. for some reason this issue is always presented as haitian migrants. there are issues of haitian

migrants, but this law will also affect dominicans of haitian descent who can be picked off because they have a haitian sounding name or because they location or black -- or because they look haitian or black. the haitian and dominican diaspora has been active in local and it continues to speak out and bring attention to this issue. amy: some have said the ruling was equivalent to if the u.s. suddenly said everyone of hispanic the center should be deported. and how will this affect the elections? edwidge danticat: people are so ill-informed about the situation, i think it is important for us to reach for the analogies that we have. it is as if the u.s. said everyone who has been here since 1930, you have to prove you are

a citizen and go back to -- or go back to the place you come from to get citizenship there. this is not the first time. there were some in the 1990's and they coincide with elections in the dominican republic. often as elections come up and parties who are in harlem to keep their power, you always have in the dominican republic's population you can use as a scapegoat. it is the first time that it has gone this far. as this action is happening, it seems to be cleaning out voter rolls. it is something that we have seen before, but never on this scale. amy: what are you calling for? you have joined together with of the to fiercely condemn what is happening. what do you think needs to happen now? edwidge danticat: first of all,

awareness. i thank you for covering it. the general u.s. media has been silent about it. for people to really inform themselves about what is happening , to write to your congress people. we are subsidizing the sugar industry in the dominican republic. a the largest ration of sugar subsidy to the u.s.. we are all implicated in this. make sure that your voice is heard, make sure you call your congress people. lives depend on it. amy: we want to thank you very much ambassador anibal de castro, edwidge danticat.

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