The issue of solitary confinement

Back in December, Billy McCarthy came by to our studio to tell us a deeply personal story. A few years ago, his younger brother James ended up in solitary confinement in one of the infamous California prisons. James had schizophrenia and definitely "a mess" but according to Billy, "locking him up 23 hours a day only made his condition worse". In fact, "by the time he was 23, he looked 40..."

McCarthy is a singer and songwriter for the band We Are Augustines. The tragic life of his brother deeply affected him to this day. I put together this podcast for the ACLU's Prison Voices series.



Ten of thousands of inmates are held in solitary confinement in the U.S., and it is known that about two third of them suffer from mental illness - just like James.

What is it like to be the mother of a terrorist?

 Jose Padilla with his mother Estela Lebron.

Estela Lebron is one brave woman. Her name doesn't ring a bell for most of us but she is the mother of the famous Jose Padilla, also called the "dirty bomber". Padilla became one of the terrorist suspects after 9/11 and has been sentenced to 17 years in prison.

But unlike most terrorist detainees, Padilla is an American citizen from Puerto-Rican descent. He converted to Islam and eventually married an Egyptian woman. But for Estela Lebron, Jose is her son no matter what.

Estela Lebron.

For a while she stayed away from public coverage. But this determined woman has now decided to fight back for her son who evidence proves that he has been tortured while detained in U.S. prisons. I edited this video for the organization PEN-American Center. It was shown during a conference on torture in prisons.

Guantánamo, 10 years on and counting

Wednesday, January 11th 2012 it has been 10 years since the first prisoners were sent to Guantánamo, making it the longest-standing war prison in U.S. history. Almost 800 men have passed through Guantánamo’s cells. Among them is Lakhdar Boumediene, an Algerian citizen who is now 45.

In 2001, Boumediene was falsely accused of being an al Qaeda operative while working for a humanitarian aid organization in Bosnia. Even though Bosnia's highest court found no evidence against him, the U.S. government kidnapped Mr. Boumediene and sent him to Guantánamo, where he remained for 7 ½ years without charge or trial.

In 2009, the United States District Court in Washington heard the supposed evidence against Mr. Boumediene, found it utterly lacking and ordered him set free. That year, Mr. Boumediene was released from Guantánamo and today, he lives in Nice, France with his wife and three children.

In this interviewed by ACLU National Security Project Senior Staff Attorney Zachary Katznelson, Lakhdar Boumediene reflects on the years in Guantanamo, a bitter memory for him. I edited this podcast for the ACLU. It is 8:15 long.

Can you pronounce this?

I came across this fun test for English learners... and English native speakers. This is an exercise on English pronunciation. I challenge you to read this poem without stumbling.

Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.
Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it’s written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.

Read more there.

In Alabama, you still have to pay to vote

Republican legislatures in Alabama, Texas and South Carolina are trying to pass voter ID laws that make it mandatory for people to have a picture-ID to be able to vote. Before, utility bills were sufficient. Requiring a voter ID (typically a driver license) is problematic for large portions of the electorate like the elderly, the poor or minorities who don't necessarily have such thing.

I edited this interview of Rev. Scott Douglas from Birmingham, who bluntly says that these news laws (now effective in 8 states) are "just another way of installing the poll tax."

Growing up undocumented in Sesame Street

Carlo Alban came by to ACLU Studio the other day. His name may not sound familiar but he was a regular on Sesame Street TV show for five years. He was playing Carlo, a sweet teenage latino boy, friend with Big Bird. But all along, Carlo had what he describes as a terrible secret : he was illegal in the country. What is it like to live with the fear of being deported back to Ecuador at any moment when you are a 12 year-old on a world famous show? Listen to this podcast (3:35) that I helped produced and edited.




You can listen to the full length interview here.

Santas rehearse

How do you become a Santa? Do you start with the big belly? The "ho-ho-ho"? Which side of the head should the hat hang?

Every year, Volunteers of America takes the streets of New York City to raise money for the homeless. Their action? Dressed up as Santa Klaus. "We are Santa's helpers", one of the participants say. Some of them have never done this before. They had to attend a one-of-a-kind class: "How to be Santa Klaus?" I was there too.

© Cécile Gregoriades

Alabama's HB 56: "Harshest immigration law in the country"

Retired Judge, UW Clemon, Alabama's first African American Federal Judge, talks about the civil rights crisis caused by HB 56, Alabama's new anti-immigrant law. Clemon himself was deeply involved in the Civil Rights movement and in this interview for the ACLU, he explains how the new immigration law reminds him of what he fought against in the sixties.
I edited this video for the ACLU.

Rires

L'insouciance, sur la High Line de Manhattan un après-midi d'automne.

© Cecile Gregoriades

5 millions d'électeurs américains exclus des bureaux de vote

Novembre 2012, pour les Américains, c'est la prochaine échéance des élections présidentielles. Mais pour cinq millions d'entre eux, voter ne sera pas une option. Ils sont pourtant citoyens et ont la majorité requise. Mais ils sont passés par la case prison. Et pour ces détenus ou anciens détenus condamnés d'une felony (une catégorie désignant les crimes graves), la peine de prison se double d'une interdiction du droit de vote.

Pour certains Etats, cette seconde sentence n'est que temporaire, pour d'autres, elle est à vie. Une punition qui touche de façon disproportionnée les noirs américains, qui sont plus concernés par l'incarcération que les blancs, asiatiques ou hispaniques aux Etats-Unis. Sur 235 millions d'Américains en âge de voter, cela représente près de 3% des électeurs.

Voir reportage paru dans L'Humanité Dimanche sur le sujet.

Mississippi Takes a Step Back on Women's Rights

On November 8th, Mississippians will be voting on an initiative that will ban abortions, any form of contraception and IVF. It confers a fertilized egg the status of a person - any contraceptive pill would potentially be a tool for murder. Here is a video interview that I edited from a woman in Mississippi who opposes this measure, called Initiative 26. Angie Cruise, 45, suffered an ectopic pregnancy when she was younger. She now questions the impact initiative 26 would have had on her at the time.

Gowanus at Twilight

Some pictures that I recently took of my neighborhood in Brooklyn on a cold Fall evening. Click on the picture to view the next one (6 in total).

Income inequality in the U.S.

So we hear all this talk about the top 1% earning far more now than in the past. Turns out it is true. No need for numbers. Just watch the blue and red lines in this graph from the Economic Policy Institute with data from Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez.

La nouvelle ruée vers l'or au Dakota du Nord

L'esprit du grand Ouest n'a jamais vraiment quitté le Dakota du Nord. Ici, les vastes plaines sont toujours parsemées de bisons et les cowboys modernes chevauchent désormais leurs 4x4. Une nouvelle ruée vers l'or s'est emparée de cet Etat frontalier du Canada. L'or noir s'entend. 

-40° l'hiver, +40 l'été, le climat est rude dans ce coin du Midwest. Mais il y a du travail. Beaucoup de travail. A 3,5%, le taux de chômage est de très loin le plus bas du pays. Et ce grâce à la découverte d'un gisement de pétrole sous les roches sédimentaires d'une réserve indienne a attisé les convoitises, d'autant que la manne est abondante et facile d'accès.

Photo by Michael Melford

Samuel Hicks n'a pas hésité à lâcher son job d'agent d'entretien chez lui dans l'Iowa et à parcourir 1500 km pour se faire embaucher à laver des pompes de forage. Au début, c'était loin d'être facile : "les hôtels n'ont pas pu faire face à l'afflux de gens, les chambres se négociaient à 200 dollars la nuit à Williston", un petit patelin dont les dessous regorgent de pétrole. Ce grand gaillard de 31 ans a donc pris son mal en patience, et s'est mis à dormir à la belle étoile, sous une tente de fortune achetée au Walmart du coin. 

Steve Williams est un autre rescapé du système. Sa maison dans le Montana voisin est en saisie immobilière, il vit maintenant dans une caravane avec sa famille à Watford City, où il a trouvé un travail dans le bâtiment. L'homme de 59 ans a désormais une couverture médicale, ce qui ne lui était pas arrivé depuis plusieurs dizaines d'années "c'est l'Amérique comme elle devrait être", explique-t-il. 

Les premiers mois à Watford City, les Williams les ont passé sans eau courante dans leur caravane. "On recommence de zéro à 60 ans, et on s'adapte", explique l'homme aux traits tirés. Dans ce village, la population est passé de 1500 habitants en 2010 à plus de 5000 cette année. Dans le journal local, les petites annonces proposent des appartements pour 3000 dollars le mois. Du jamais vu.

La manne pétrolière est prometteuse. Le Dakota est déjà le 4ème Etat américain producteur de pétrole, et les enseignes "Help Wanted" se multiplient sur les devantures des magasins. Mais derrière l'euphorie, il y a l'amertume. "Leurs vie ont été détruites. Ils ont bien souvent perdu leur maison, leur boulot, ils ont du vendre leur voiture pour se payer le billet d'avion jusqu'ici", tempère Brent Sanford, le maire de Watford City, dans le Los Angeles Times. Le wild wild west version 2011.

Article publié dans le numéro de Marianne du 22 octobre 2011.

US birthrate in decline

During a recession, people have fewer kids. That's again the case with this recession, according to data compiled by the Pew Research Center. It is projected that there will be just 4 millions births in 2010, a sharp decline from 4,3 millions in 2007.

And if you think the difference is not that great, think twice. The U.S. population is keeps increasing. Between 2007 and 2011 it added 10 millions people. Therefore the number of births should follow. The only states that didn't experienced that trend were states where the recession didn't hit as hard, like in North Dakota. (see graph)

Vald Teichberg, the guru behind OWS media

"I don't think you can ever rely on mainstream media to broadcast your message. That's why we have created our own". 39-year old Vlad Teichberg, former trader on Wall Street, is now spearheading the online livestreaming of the various "Occupy" demonstrations around the world. He is headquartered in New York.

Vlad Teichberg is not alone in building the live stream channel. He has a small but dedicated team working with him, particularly Melissa Ulto, seen below with Vlad.

I wrote a profile story of Vlad in the French weekly paper Marianne.

© Cécile Grégoriades

New York a ses indignés

Depuis le 17 septembre, ceux que l'on appelle déjà "les indignés de Wall Street" occupent une place à deux pas de la bourse de New York. Ils manifestent deux fois par jour lors de l'ouverture et de la fermeture de la place financière.



Ils réclament notamment la fin de "la cupidité des financiers".

Jason Ahmadi est l'un des manifestants. Ce jeune homme de 25 ans a plutôt des revendications écologiques.



Manuel et Monica sont Espagnols. Ils ont tous deux participé au mouvement des indignés en Espagne et sont venus à New York pour soutenir leurs confrères. "New York est extrêmement symbolique dans notre lutte", expliquent-ils.

Joao est un touriste brésilien qui passe quelques jours à New York. "C'est un peu risible, il y a plus de police que de manifestants!" relève-t-il. Samedi 24 septembre, des heurts violents ont éclaté. 80 personnes ont été arrêtées.

Du vent, de la pluie, mais pas l'apocalypse

L'ouragan Irene qui a frappé New York dimanche 28 août n'a pas causé les dégâts escomptés. Les New-Yorkais étaient ultra-préparés grâce à l'omniprésence de Michael Bloomberg dans les médias qui leur promettait la fin du monde, ou presque. Mon reportage publié sur L'Express.

The Diamond District

New York is such an inspiring place for a photographer. I was walking around in the Diamond District the other day, and started shooting. The Diamond District is really just one block (47th street between 5th and 6th Ave) full of jewelry stores. A big business in New York City that pays well too if you are a skilled worker. According to an organization representing the district : diamond cutters and polishers are getting old and there is space in the business for newcomers. A good diamond cutter or polisher can make up to $300 000 annually. Not bad.

Here is a map of the Diamond District in New York and below some pictures of people there.


View Larger Map

© Cécile Grégoriades

DSK : the last days

"L'affaire DSK" has haunted French journalists in New York all summer, and it's now over. I can't help but have a bittersweet aftertaste after the outcome of the case. Here are the pictures that I took on Monday, when it became official that the charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn were going to be dropped.

Diallo's attorney Ken Thompson spoke to reporters after the conversation with the DA's team on Monday, August 22nd.

 A woman denounces the verdict on Monday at the Manhattan Court.

 Feminists groups spoke after the DA delivered the news he was not going to prosecute the case.

Noel Leader, who is part of an organization supporting Nafissatou Diallo, speaks to the swarms of journalists who came to get a glimpse of the drama.

© Cécile Grégoriades