Guest Post by Charlie Chambers
John Oliver (of the Daily Show) was in Philadelphia covering an Amnesty International event
I had been volunteering in an orange jumpsuit [ed. that said on the back, “Torture is UnAmerican, Unjust and Useless”] on Friday and Saturday. On those two days, I was able to speak on the record to NPR, AP, and Al Jazeera about my views on Gitmo detention, habeas corpus, and US torture policy. Then, on Sunday the kids and I went over so I could show them the cell and explain what I had been doing. The Daily Show was filming at the time, but we were allowed in the cell (in part, perhaps, because people there knew me). Surprisingly, the TV crew asked if I would allow the kids to be interviewed. They were excited about it so I signed the releases.
John Oliver is hilarious. He asked what they liked about the cell and how they would improve it. Lydia suggested a larger window and he called her a hippie. He asked if the tour of the cell was likely to keep them from becoming terrorists. All the adults around were cracking up. They also got footage of us walking in the cell, looking around and coming out.
At the earliest, it could be on tonight at 11pm EDT on Comedy Central. They didn’t actually say that they were even going to use any of the footage, however, so I’m keeping the kids’ expectations low.
