What happens when the person who taught you right from wrong starts breaking the rules? In this radio segment, my NPR News colleague Jim Gates drives his father, Philip Gates, to a Los Angeles prison.
Jim's dad was arrested late last year for publicly protesting the School of the Americas, considered by many to be a sort of finishing school for torturers, death squad leaders, and human rights violators from corrupt foreign regimes (it's now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation).
Jim's story about his father appears in this episode of Minnesota Public Radio's "How's the Family? — "Direct Link to segment in RealAudio, and I'm happy to report that Jim picked his dad up from jail last Friday — pop's doing well.
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As an aside — I'll be spending the next few weeks in Guatemala, following up on stories I reported on earlier this year for NPR. There are many historic links between Guatemala's bloody, 30-year civil war, and the School of The Americas: Link.