Racism

Critical Race Theory: Scopes Trial Redux?
In the Scopes Trial of 1925, William Jennings Bryan spoke against teaching evolution, saying “I have all the information I need to live and die by.” Today’s intense fight against teaching Critical Race Theory is more of the same. To

The Left Can Win a Moral Revival
The corporate powers in the late sixties were seriously freaked out by the powerful momentum of the left. So along came the 1971 Powell Memo, which was a battle plan to retake power. And it worked. On this show, economist

Racism Built Into America’s Medical System
In his new book The Bodies Keep Coming, author Dr. Brian Williams offers Dispatches from a Black Trauma Surgeon on Racism, Violence, and How We Heal. As doctors know, treating the underlying causes of disease require addressing the whole body’s

What Is Racial Capitalism?
They used to be prosperous Black neighborhoods: less than 2 percent unemployment. But through connected processes over the last 75 years, government and banks worked together to create gentrification. Black people were intentionally left out of the capitalist system, frozen

Get Back to America’s Founding Ideals? No; Leave the Standard Story Behind
This book changed my view of US History. He posits that the standard story is not the truth: The surprising reality of America’s founding shows we were created for insider rule, a stable hierarchy but not justice. On this show

One Nation Indivisible: Oh Really?
It’s not just blue vs red, North vs South. There’s us here in Yankeedom, Then there’s New Netherlands, The Midlands, Tidewater, Greater Appalachia, The Deep South (of course), New France, The Far West, El Norte, The Left Coast, and First

What Can Be Done About Injustice in Our Justice System?
In our 300 year old system of an adversarial combative system of justice, there is no mechanism to prove and protect the innocent. In his newly published book, The Plea of Innocence, author Tim Bakken argues that prosecution really has

The Roots of Anti-Woke
It’s a puzzling mystery why so many working class people in the midwest go for Trumpism. Some answers are in Imagining the Heartland; White Supremacy and the American Midwest by anthropologist authors Britt Halvorson and Joshua Renoit. It examines the

Michigan Moves Forward, Arkansas Clamps Down on Rights
When Republicans win power, they use it. Obama tried bipartisanship. There was little, if any, perceptible change. In the following campaign in 2016, Trump said “I made a promise to the forgotten men and women of this country that I

The Power of Kids Drawing Deportation
Children have fewer filters: when they see and experience injustice they’re not scared to draw pictures of the truth. In her new book Drawing Deportation Art and Resistance among Immigrant Children author Silvia Rodriguez Vega tells of the human creativity

Only Refugees Who Look Like Us Are Welcomed.
All refugees lives are threatened equally, so why are Ukrainians handed the welcome mat as it is denied to most others? On this show, Columbia University Professor and co-author Helen Benedict shares what she’s found in the new book Map

The Cellphone Camera: The Power of Truth That Can’t Be Stopped
We all know there are powers determined to destroy democracy. The ubiquity of hand held video cameras has the unique power to disrupt the narrative of power. On this show author Phil Allen talks about his new book The Prophetic

White Supremacy And A Place You’ve Never Been
The new book is Imagining the Heartland; White Supremacy and the American Midwest and it’s about the powerful roots of today’s angry violence against The Others. On this show anthropologist authors Britt Halvorson and Joshua Reno look at the use

Being Gay, Brown, and Immigrant
Even in safe spaces for gay men, there is subtle racism and stratification if one is not white. On this show, Professor Anthony Ocampo talks about his new book Brown and Gay in LA, including pressures from Mexican and Filipino

Nuclear Power is Racist, Sexist, and Ageist: You Gotta Listen
The comfort of colonial powers relied on them not seeing the damage to exploited nations. So it is with mining and milling the uranium for nuclear power. Victims then as now are people without power, indigenous populations which are health

Suburban High Schools Race At the Top; Between White and Asian Kids
America’s suburbs came into being as a way to keep white school kids at the top. But what’s happening with Asian-Americans in upscale places like the sample “Woodcrest” High School? Asian American kids are catapulting to the top. Should teachers

The “Moms For Liberty” Nightmare for American Schools
Of course all parents want to protect their children from inappropriate material. But when “parental rights” mean teachers are forbidden from mentioning homosexuality or racism because that means teachers are “grooming” kids for pedophilia or Chinese communism, liberty is under

Sister Resisters
Rather than just keeping one’s head down and staying safe, addressing that which is uncomfortable can bring new insight and a more complete sense of being. The often rigid structure of colleges is not enough, mentoring: listening, respecting is a

Shortlisted for Supreme Court: Like Police Interrogation
One might think it was purely an honor, but it can be brutal. Especially for women. Sexism may generally be more subtle now, but not always. In this discussion of her new book, Shortlisted: Women in the Shadows of the

The State of Israel vs The Jews
In walling out Palestinians, the State of Israel has walled in themselves. Former Zionist Israeli Defense Forces paratrooper Sylvain Cypel speaks to us from Paris about his evolution. As a Jewish Frenchman, he says how that country’s experience with Algeria

Why Americans Buy So Much Stuff.
A consumers republic was born at the end of the second world war. And though it was genuinely intended to be a tide lifting all boats, it has increased economic inequality and created isolation where public space once was central.

What Was the Obama Presidency Really?
Everyone who supported him projected what they wanted to see on him in 2008. In his new book He Was Our Man In Washington, A History of the Obama Years, author Owen Symes reveals such little known facts as Obama’s

Making the World Safe for Plutocracy: The History of American Policing
It was called the Gilded Age. In the late 19th and early 20th century, there was extreme wealth and everybody else (remind you of another time?). Wall Street bankers back then were getting robbed, someone had to protect them. In

For Inspiration Today: Fannie Lou Hamer In the Early 60s
When she came onto the civil rights stage, the men assumed she’d sing, not speak. But Fannie Lou Hamer was a force. As author Kate Clifford Larson tells the amazing story in her new book Walk With Me, she stood

The Intent of the Drug War: Repress Black People
Remember Nixon’s “law and order?” It was a clever way to get whites to buy into racist repression. On this show author historian Alfred McCoy (who revealed government heroin distribution to GIs in Vietnam) says the continuing “war on drugs”

Fourth of July 2021: Are We Keeping a Republic?
While there are major challenges, there is much to celebrate. We are the only country with the same form of government since our founding in 1787. But in light of Trumpism, religious nationalists, and January 6th, how strong is our

Split Among Right Wing Evangelicals
There are signs of serious splits emerging in the very conservative Southern Baptist Convention, which is the largest Protestant denomination in America. Fifteen thousand of them just completed their annual gathering to elect a new president. The least hard liner

Manchin: Ego Rules Over Patriotism
Michael Winship writes: “Despite Joe Biden and Kamala Harris being in the White House, we remain in existential peril.” A big step toward tyranny is Senator Joe Manchin who announced he will not support an end to the filibuster which

The Power of Resentment and The Threat to Democracy
Is it the revenge of the “deplorables?” We’ve seen how a culture of resentment affected Germany in the early 30s, and it has brought us dangerous Trumpism today. On this show, professor of history emeritus Walter Moss looks at the

People Refusing to be Erased
The world sees the “flare up” but not the ongoing banal policies that are at cause. The State of Israel is copying the successful “settling” of the American west, so what options for resistance are open to Palestinians being evicted,