Interviews with Momentum 2009 Speakers from Democracy Now!


Jealous

NAACP President Ben Jealous on the Group’s 100th Anniversary, Reviving the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and Death Row Prisoner Troy Davis

Democracy Now! speaks with Ben Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP about Attorney General Eric Holder’s recent announcement that efforts are being made to reshape the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, the case of Georgia death row prisoner Troy Davis, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the NAACP and more.

Robinson

First Openly Gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson on the Divisions Within the Anglican Church, Coming Out and Leading the Invocation at Obama’s Inaugural Celebration

Bishop Gene Robinson is no stranger to controversy. His ordination by the Episcopalian Church in 2003 was greeted with both outrage and celebration in various parts of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Bishop Robinson came out over twenty years ago. In June of last year, he was legally joined to his longtime partner, Mark Andrew, in a civil ceremony in New Hampshire. This past January, Bishop Robinson was again in the news when he led the invocation for President Obama’s inauguration celebration and concert at the Lincoln Memorial.

Bales-book

“The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today”

Democracy Now! speaks with Kevin Bales, a leader in the abolition movement to end modern-day slavery and co-author of The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today. Bales estimates some 27 million people labor as slaves today—more than at anytime in history. Bales has also helped expose modern-day slavery in the United States, where he estimates between 14,000 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the country each year. He writes, “There has never been a single day in our America, from its discovery and birth right up to the moment you are reading this sentence, without slavery.”