Safe comfortable myth is so soothing, but art, by its nature, is often about challenging the viewer. You may have heard of the controversy about large Depression-era murals on the walls of San Francisco’s George Washington High School. After 80

President Reagan’s former solicitor general and Harvard law professor Charles Fried calls it a “Day of Sorrow for American Democracy:” the day the US Supreme Court issued its 5 to 4 decision abandoning protection of one person one vote. In

What do the new anti-choice laws and the old Fugitive Slave Laws have in common? They both strengthen the power of the state and white male rule over people deemed less-than. In the 1850s, northerners who thought slavery was not

Leaving jugs of water in the desert for desperate migrants can be a crime.  The Border Patrol regularly hunts for them to stab and drain. Thousands of people have already died in the vast desert trying to escape violence in

Many reject science and embrace myth instead. But just as technological advance depends on knowledge gained through science, so the future of America relies on knowledge of our history. Until recently it has been tough times for History departments. While

Racism was certainly more honest and open a hundred years ago. Today’s voter suppression is far more subtle than blatant Jim Crow laws. But in terms of attitudes on immigration, surprisingly little has changed. On this show Author Arnold Skip

The middle fiddled and the right has risen. With the European Union elections fast approaching (May 23-26) the ascendancy of the racist right and the demise of the traditional mainstream left will be tested. On this show, Foreign Policy In

Under Trump, only white Christian people should be considered citizens. Karen J. Greenberg, Director of National Security at Fordham Law School, argues in this discussion that expanding the definition of enemies moves us toward unraveling society. By taking away citizenship

As it did in the 1920s with the Scopes Trial, the American right hates science. It presents them with truths they need to deny. Clearly on climate change but also when it comes to enabling the social change needed to

If you thought something was fishy about what we’re being told about Venezuela you were right. The scene of blocked humanitarian aid at the bridge? Well the bridge has never opened. Our guest Alliance for Global Justice’s Chuck Kaufman goes

It’s African and Catholic. Caribbean and European. Our guest Jason Berry’s new book is called City of a Million Dreams: A History of New Orleans at Year 300. And talk about colorful. For cultural identity, Allen Toussaint clashes with Robert

Liberal-initiated efforts to eliminate poverty have been top down for about 50 years. But to be successful, development can’t be done to them from on high; it has to be done by the people most affected. We shouldn’t have low

After nearly 50 years, she’s back in the news, and she keeps on pushing.  Angela Davis gained fame/notoriety as the Afro-coiffed California professor/activist speciously charged with helping Jonathan Jackson trying to free his brother George, author of Soledad Brother, from

A wall isn’t going to work. What will work is addressing the reasons desperate Central Americans walk a thousand miles. Foreign Affairs columnist Patrick Lawrence suggests ways to alleviate the conditions causing the caravan. And on part two, why did

At its birth, American populism was about economic fairness: The average citizen demanding power over his or her own life against the un-American economic royalist political influence of the rich and powerful. But that was then. Populism today is cultural:

In an unprecedented power grab, Republicans in Wisconsin are doing all they can while they still have the power to shut out democracy itself. On part one, The Progressive’s Ruth Conniff in Wisconsin describes the brazen moves by the lame

When myths inform legislation, harm often results. So much of today’s welfare reform, based on myth, works to keep people in poverty. It’s been created from a top-down, men-dominant model and it brings not dignity but despair. In her new

America was not created as one nation. There were, and still are, eleven distinct nations in North America. The recent midterm elections show that we remain more and more like a set of different nations divided by geography. To gain

It may not be as blatant as cross-burning but redlining is racism. Federal lending rules encourage banks to discriminate against mortgages for black people moving into white neighborhoods. While it was technically made against the law with the Fair Housing

Who is in the caravan and why don’t they stay in Central America and try to make it better? Because those who do often end up dead. Journalist Peter Tinti reports that in Honduras “Corruption is the operating system and

It’s been said that “the tools that built the master’s house will never dismantle the master’s house.” Philanthropy today reaffirms the culture of colonialism: white saviors, white experts. Recipients are at-effect rather than at-cause of the well-meaning aid. In his

Ask today and everyone will tell you the American Dream is individuals becoming super rich. But the more traditional definition was one of equal opportunity and justice for all. Americans shared a belief in the social contract and a sense

No matter how hard the Trump Administration tries to keep America ruled by moneyed white men, new Americans are successfully invigorating the democratic process. Often more dedicated to America’s principles than those of us who were born here and take

Remember your not-so-great high school days? Remember wanting to be respected while being consistently treated as less-than? According to author Eric David Dawson, “the system is set up to be destructive of everybody.” His new book, Putting Peace First: Seven

Nearly every inch of Africa used to be owned and controlled by the colonial powers: British, French, German, Portuguese, Belgian, Spain. Mussolini’s Italy finally went after its share with a one sided assault on Ethiopia in 1936. Is the long

Blood in the streets. Chaos at the convention. The establishment Democrats won and then they lost. From the vantage point of 50 years later, it may surprise some how less has changed and been learned than we might have thought.

America’s prisons are where we warehouse and punish bad people. But how much injustice behind the walls and razor wire is acceptable? Is using inmates as slaves OK? Is it a good idea to maintain a system that reinforces people’s

Much like the toxic combination of angry racist populism with the power of the financial elite here in America, the European Union has been a brake on this dangerous combination in England. Today the British Right’s push for the UK

America is shocked at the sight of 2500 migrant kids in cages. But behind high walls are over 50,000 American kids.This is invisible for a reason. According to Professor Cara Drinan, expert on juvenile sentencing and criminal justice reform, if

It may be out in the open now, and it is disconcerting to see and feel the blatant racism and hatred across America now. But maybe the ugly spirit of white supremacy may have been hidden from white people before