In episode two* of season two of We Are All Americans, Hugo Claudin, an artist, curator and organizer originally from Guadalajara, Mexico who has lived in Grand Rapids, MI for the past 38 years, discusses his father’s idea of American liberty and justice in contrast with the reality of economic and racial disparities in housing issues, the defunding of public education and the arts, and the US’s interventions in Latin America.
We Are All Americans is a podcast series Inspired by the fact that my Russian great-grandfather gained his US citizenship after serving in the US Army and my Lithuanian (or Austrian, or Russian, or Latvian - depending on who is telling the story) great-grandmother entered the US on fake passport. Each episode is a different recorded conversations about how family stories are passed down from generation to generation and what it means to be American in the contexts of multiculturalism, immigration, military service, black lives matter, white privilege, and indigeneity.
* Recorded on December 30, 2018. via video chat in Los Angeles, CA & Grand Rapids, MI