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African-American clergy, academics and activists will hold a march on Washington this week, protesting the grand jury decisions in Ferguson, Mo. and New York City and call on the federal government to intervene in the prosecutions of police officers accused of unjustified use of force.

I talked with Reverend Raphael Warnock and Eddie Glaude, Jr., two prominent African-American religious thinkers, about the role of black churches in the wake of major protests and demonstrations inspired by events in Ferguson and New York City. Warnock is the senior pastor at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga. — a pulpit once held by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. — and was in Washington to attend a conference hosted by the Black Church Center for Justice and Equality. Glaude is a professor of religion and chair of the Center for African American Studies at Princeton University. In 2010, he wrote an attention-grabbing essay called "The Black Church is Dead."

Interview Highlights

How did the black church form? Why is it significant that black churches stay involved right now?

Rev. Raphael Warnock: The black church, born fighting for freedom, is that church among the American churches that has seen justice-making as central to its Christian identity. Now, the black church, like most institutions has always been a mixed bag. And so even though I'm a leader and pastor in the black church and the church of Martin Luther King, Jr., there's a kind of radical trajectory that comes out of the black church that I do think is distinctive, and for obvious and good historic reasons. It literally is a church organized by slaves as they responded to that primary contradiction in their lives.

What is your response to the news that the NYPD officer who killed Eric Garner won't be indicted?

Prof. Eddie Glaude, Jr.: I'm stunned. You know, I keep thinking about my son. He's a freshman at Brown. A few weeks ago, I got a text from my son saying that he was stopped by the police in Providence. He was doing an assignment and they stopped him and told him that he needed to get out of that park and they had their hands on their guns. So here we are with video footage of Eric Garner saying "I can't breathe," and I just go back to how vulnerable my child was and I'm just rageful. I can't put it in any other way. I feel like its open season and I'm trying to find resources to think carefully and deliberately about this moment, but I'm just worried about my baby and I'm worried about our babies. And it's hard to put it in words.

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Rev. Raphael Warnock, senior pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, pictured at a gathering last week of African-American clergy, academics and activists outside Washington D.C. Charles Pulliam-Moore/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Charles Pulliam-Moore/NPR

Rev. Raphael Warnock, senior pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, pictured at a gathering last week of African-American clergy, academics and activists outside Washington D.C.

Charles Pulliam-Moore/NPR

Rev. Warnock: It's a painful moment and somehow we've got to recognize where we are and how we respond in this minute. I don't have any easy answers to this. I heard the president say the other day that he's going to dedicate millions of dollars for more video cameras, for more body cameras, and this is on video tape. It doesn't matter if you're in Ferguson or New York; doesn't matter whether its on video tape or not; doesn't matter if you're running away from the police — Michael Brown — or literally standing there trying to reason with the police — Eric Garner. The message from both is that the life of a black man is less valuable than a handful of cigarillos. This is a slap in the face, a kick in the stomach because we're not talking about a conviction, we're talking about an indictment. I'm not a lawyer, but I paid attention in civics class; they told me in ninth grade that a good lawyer could indict a ham sandwich. And so apparently a black man's life is worth less than a ham sandwich.

What role do black clergy play given this news?

Prof. Glaude: I think to role of black churches in this moment is varied. One has to do with tending to the souls of people. These are trying times. I'm thinking about that wonderful line in Toni Morrison's Beloved, and I'm going to paraphrase here: "How much are we supposed to take?" So it's in these moments that churches and ministers ought to find a way to comfort the spirit, not to get us adjusted to the injustice, but to understand that we are justified in our rage and anger. Black churches have always been and continue to be wonderful resource institutions where we can build capacity in order to speak back and respond to crises. They should open their doors in order to provide folks a safe space in order to engage in the deliberative process. How are we going to mobilize in response to what seems to be open season on our babies?

Rev. Warnock: My role is not unlike it is at any other time; it's just that it's extremely difficult right now. We pastors have a two-fold role: priestly and prophetic. On the priestly side, our jobs is comfort the afflicted. On the prophetic side, our job is to afflict the comfortable. And the question becomes how can one remain true to both in this moment.

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says one of his top priorities will be to make the Senate work the way it used to — which would include the use of filibusters to block presidential appointments. But would that improve the way the Senate works? Republicans will be debating that question behind closed doors Tuesday. Many were furious when Democrats eliminated the filibuster for nearly all confirmation votes last year — a change some called the "nuclear option." But now that the GOP will be in the majority, they're not all that eager to go back.

The drama over which party has the dirtier hands when it comes to blocking nominations has gone on for years as the majority party has changed. When Democratic Sen. Harry Reid decided to get rid of the filibuster on confirmation votes last year, it wasn't all that surprising, given how bad things had become.

So, why should anyone care about this moment now? Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine says it matters because it's about restoring integrity to the Senate.

"The Senate has always been known for its protection of minority rights, and I think it was wrong for the Democrats to break the rules of the Senate in order to change the rules of the Senate," Collins said.

So she wants to return to the old rules — when it took 60 votes to confirm rather than a simple majority. Because the Senate is supposed to be different from the more populist House — it's meant to be more deliberative.

But many Republicans ask, why bother changing things again? There's less drama with majority rule. Even those who would rather restore the filibuster — like Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona — understand that some people are tired of fighting.

"Because I think a lot of our colleagues realize we shouldn't politicize these nominees," Flake said.

Actually, there are very political reasons for Republicans not to resurrect the filibuster. Especially if a Republican gets elected president in 2016.

"If you get a Republican president, then he's not going to have nearly the troubles that we've always had with Democrats in getting judges through," said Senate Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah.

And Hatch says even if his party brought back the filibuster for tradition's sake, it could be short-lived.

"I used to be in this camp, who think we need to get back to the old rule. But the Democrats will break that rule anytime they want to, if they get back in the majority," Hatch said.

Besides, even without the filibuster, there are many ways Republicans can easily block nominations.

"The whole filibuster debate is a bit of a red herring. It's not unimportant, but it certainly doesn't explain anywhere close to all of the reasons that a president's confirmation rate is not going to be 100 percent," said Russ Wheeler of the Brookings Institution.

As the party in control, Republicans can refuse to schedule committee hearings for nominees. Or the new majority leader can simply refuse to hold floor votes.

But law professor Carl Tobias at the University of Richmond says Republicans may well restrain themselves.

"They are coming into power and want to show that they can actually do something. Sen. McConnell is talking about making the Senate functional again. I think they want to start off on a positive note," Tobias said.

If you look at the past three two-term presidents, each was able to get at least some of his nominations through in his last two years — all with a Senate controlled by the opposing party. So maybe McConnell will be satisfied with returning to those examples of Senate tradition.

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The State Department launched a program this month that creates a safe passage to the United States from Central America. It would give some U.S.-based Latino parents the chance to bring over children they left in their home countries.

More than 57,000 child migrants made the trip across the U.S.-Mexican border this year. Many report being physically and sexually abused along the harrowing journey.

The new program could benefit immigrants like Wilfredo Daz, who left Honduras 16 years ago just before the birth of his third child. As they've grown, his kids have begged him to bring them to the United States to live with him in Brooklyn.

"I feel really bad, really bad, when they say to me, 'Dad, take us, take us,' " Daz says.

What makes it harder for Daz is that his son in particular has been targeted by gangs.

But Daz decided long ago that he wouldn't allow his children to cross the border.

"Some girls are used as prostitutes," Daz says. "I don't want that to happen to my two daughters."

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Wilfredo Daz left Honduras 16 years ago before his third child was born, and he hopes to bring his children to the U.S. under the State Department's new program. Alexandra Starr hide caption

itoggle caption Alexandra Starr

Wilfredo Daz left Honduras 16 years ago before his third child was born, and he hopes to bring his children to the U.S. under the State Department's new program.

Alexandra Starr

Now there may be a safer way for Daz's children to join him. Under the new State Department program, the mother or father has to be in the U.S. legally, and their kids must be living in Honduras, El Salvador or Guatemala.

The program will allow parents to request interviews for their children to see if they can qualify as refugees. Qualifying as a refugee puts you on a path to citizenship.

"The definition for refugee status is relatively narrow, and it's a high bar," says Catherine Wiesner, a deputy assistant secretary at the Department of State.

One of the major reasons child migrants have given for fleeing to the U.S. is to escape gang violence. That is often not sufficient to get refugee status.

But applicants who don't meet the refugee bar still may be able to come to the U.S. If they can show they face imminent danger, they might qualify for something called humanitarian parole.

Getting parole does not put you on a path to citizenship, but as Wiesner points out, it could provide a way to come to the U.S. safely.

"You know, one of the most important things about doing this program in country, to allow children to make these humanitarian claims in country, is that it avoids them taking this incredibly dangerous journey," she says.

The Obama Administration has unfurled this program quietly. Parents who want their children to interview to come to the U.S. will have to submit the requests through organizations like Catholic Charities.

Mario Russell, with Catholic Charities in New York, says he thinks this new program acknowledges how bad things are in some Central American countries.

"The old models, I think by which families were divided, that is to say that some children stayed in the home country were raised by a grandparent, just don't work anymore because the conditions have become really unsustainable, and that's why I think they're leaving in large measure," Russell says.

There are a lot of children in Central America who could show they are in danger. The fact that they need to have parents with legal status in the U.S. will cut down on applications.

The Two-Way

A Closer Look At Obama's Immigration Plan: What's In It, Who's Affected

In this sense, Daz is lucky. Sixteen years ago, he became eligible for something called Temporary Protected Status or TPS.

Politics

After Obama's Action, Immigration Agency Awaits 'A Real Challenge'

TPS is for immigrants who are already residing in the U.S. when a natural or humanitarian disaster hits their country. Hurricane Mitch devastated Honduras just a couple of months after Daz arrived, so he's been able to live and work in the U.S. legally ever since.

But he still wasn't allowed to bring his kids over. When he contemplates reuniting with them, he gets emotional.

"It would be an enormous happiness to have my children here," he says.

The State Department launched the program earlier this month. Daz says he will request asylum interviews for his kids before the end of the year.

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Immigration

Auric Goldfinger might have expected James Bond to die, but the FBI wanted nothing to do with 007. That's according to FBI records released today from the agency's vault.

At issue was a request from Harry Saltzman, who with Albert Broccoli produced the Bond films, seeking to use a military aircraft for Goldfinger, the film in which Bond thwarts the aforementioned villain from stealing the precious metal from Fort Knox. (It was 1960s, folks.)

The FBI, in the memo from Director J. Edgar Hoover's office to bureaus in Miami and Los Angeles, noted that Saltzman said the bureau, which has an integral role in Ian Fleming's book of the same name, would be cast in a positive light. But the FBI wasn't interested.

"The type of book written by Fleming is certainly not the type where we would want any mention of the FBI or a portrayal of FBI Agents, no matter how favorable they might look in the movie," the memo said. "Fleming's stories generally center around sex and bizarre situations and, certainly, are not the type with which we would want to be associated."

The memo instructs the FBI's Miami bureau to contact Saltzman and "bring forcefully to his attention" the fact the law prohibited the FBI's name from being used without its permission.

Despite the objections, the film was a blockbuster.

(h/t The Guardian)

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