Episodes
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In this program, Robin D. G. Kelley, Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA, examines how police in the neoliberal era–in tandem with other state and corporate entities—have become engines of capital accumulation, government revenue, gentrification, the municipal bond market, the tech and private security industry—in a phrase, the profits of death. Kelley argues the police don’t just take lives; they make life and living less viable for the communities they occupy. The growth of police power has also fundamentally weakened democracy and strengthened “thanatocracy”—rule by death– especially with respect to Black communities.
Kelley says these same communities have produced a new abolition democracy, organizing to advance a different future, without oppression and exploitation, war, poverty, prisons, police, borders, the constraints of imposed gender, sexual, and ableist norms, and an economic system that destroys the planet while generating obscene inequality. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 39780] -
As a New York Times columnist known for his fearless brand of political and social commentary, Charles Blow has become a familiar face on TV and a frequent target for conservative critics. His column typically features charts, but it's mainly his words, written and spoken, that continue to spark conversation and debate about social and political issues of the day. As a speaker, Blow fearlessly tackles contentious issues, such as racism, childhood obesity, life in large cities, acceptance of gays in society, and the current administration. Blow has recently spoken on topics such as: income inequality, xenophobia, teen pregnancy, education and the relationship between journalism and justice. In this program, Blow talks with Lorie Hearn, CEO of iNewsource, about the issues facing America. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 39287]
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Sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities across the country have been subjected to increased hate incidents, including verbal harassment, civil rights violations, and physical assaults. Since its founding in March 2020, thousands of incidents have been reported to the Stop AAPI Hate coalition. Manjusha Kulkarni will discuss how Stop AAPI Hate is addressing anti-Asian hate through civil rights enforcement, education equity, community-based safety, and building a movement against systemic racism. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 39081]
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Asian/Pacific Islander American communities have a long history of activism in the United States, particularly in response to anti-Asian racism and exclusion. In their struggle for equality and liberation from oppression, AAPI activists have developed social and political movements for immigrant rights, labor rights, educational equity, affordable housing, religious freedom, environmental justice, and more. This panel features several AAPI activists who will discuss how they became activists, their work on the leading edges of activism, and how more people can get involved. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 39080]
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How can colleges and universities ensure faculty and students reflect the diversity of the U.S. as courts and legislatures dismantle affirmation action? In this program, Stella M. Flores, Ph.D., a professor of Higher Education and Public Policy at the University of Texas, Austin, discusses her research on the effects of state and federal policies on college access and completion outcomes for low-income and underrepresented populations, including immigrant and English learner students. Dr. Flores has also published widely on demographic changes in U.S. schools, affirmative action in higher education, and Minority Serving Institutions. In 2003 her coauthored work was cited in the U.S. Supreme Court Gratz v. Bollinger decision (dissenting opinion) and in various amicus briefs submitted to the Supreme Court on affirmative action. [Public Affairs] [Education] [Show ID: 38738]
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“I’m not a racist, but…” In their new book, Racial Resentment in the Political Mind (University of Chicago Press), Goldman School Dean David C. Wilson and Notre Dame Professor of Political Science Darren Davis explore the concept of racial resentment. They argue that while prejudice and racism are fundamentally rooted in American politics, so are non-racial motivations, such as a belief in a “just” world, where people get what they deserve and deserve what they get. This instinct to make judgments about “deservingness” in politics often animates those who believe they are “not racist,” but tend to oppose policies and ideas that advance racial justice, and blame racial-ethnic minorities for their social, political, and economic positions. Join Dean Wilson and Professor Davis in conversation with Assistant Vice Chancellor Dan Mogulof about their research findings and why a nuanced conversation about race is critical to democracy. Series: "The Goldman School - Berkeley Public Policy" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 37781]
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María Marquine, PhD, shares research on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adults age 50+, noting the differential impact by race/ethnicity in the US. Lauren Brown, PhD, discusses the unique stress experience of black older adults. Series: "Stein Institute for Research on Aging" [Public Affairs] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 37595]
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The UCSF Repair Project recognizes that long-standing racial inequities in health, health care institutions and scholarship are a result of structural violence and systemic racism. The project seeks to open conversation and promote efforts to rectify and eliminate these problems. Aimee Medeiros, PhD shares the history that informs the project and current research. Series: "Osher WISE: Well-being and Integrative Science for Everyone" [Public Affairs] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 37572]
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The race equity movement has left us with greater awareness of the urgent need for changes in the way we interact and run our businesses and institutions. This discussion features a frank discussion on what one psychiatry department has done to address interpersonal and systemic racism, as well as insight from an expert on a compassion-based approach for insightfully seeing and discussing race, and being actively antiracist. Panelists: Rhonda Magee, JD, Professor of Law, University of San Francisco; Michelle Porche, EdD, Associate Adjunct Professor, UCSF Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences; Matthew State, MD, PhD, Oberndorf Family Distinguished Professor and Chair, UCSF Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Moderated by Elissa Epel, PhD, Vice Chair for Adult Psychology, UCSF. Series: "Emotional Well-Being in Times of Crisis" [Public Affairs] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 37477]
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Reflecting on the devastating, disparate impacts of the COVID pandemic on communities of color, this panel examines the role of structural racism in health outcomes and the systemic changes necessary to ensure health equity. Series: "Osher WISE: Well-being and Integrative Science for Everyone" [Public Affairs] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 36860]
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Economist Hilary Hoynes explores her research on the COVID-19 crisis. She discusses the effects on low wage workers and the tripling of food insecurity in children. She also looks at the consequences of the delays and lack of inclusion in relief packages. Hoynes is a Professor of Public Policy and Economics and Haas Distinguished Chair in Economic Disparities at the UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy. Series: "Public Policy and Society" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36540]
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Today’s lecture takes a look ahead at the leading challenges and opportunities facing American democracy in this moment. We begin with a discussion of Trump’s refusal to admit defeat in the presidential election and the conspiracy theories and rising white male violence that are emerging out of the realignment of the defeated white power wing of the Republican party. Here we are confronted with the role played by conspiracy theories in the politics of the right and the threat to multiracial democracy posed by Trump’s defeated authoritarianism. This discussion is followed by a focus on the Black women who won Georgia for the Democrats. We consider how they achieved this remarkable goal through organizing and what this model of direct voter engagement portends for the future of democracy in America. Series: "Public Policy and Society" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36293]
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Ian Haney López is is the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He specializes on race and racism in the law. His focus for the last decade has been on the use of racism in electoral politics, and how to respond. Ian develops and promotes a race-class praxis which argues that powerful elites exploit social divisions for private gain, so no matter what our race, color, or ethnicity, our best future requires building cross-racial solidarity. Ian is the author of three books, White By Law: The Legal Construction of Race (2006), Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism & Wrecked the Middle Class (2014), and most recently, Merge Left: Fusing Race and Class, Winning Elections and Saving America (2019) Series: "Public Policy and Society" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36290]
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This lecture begins with a discussion of California’s ballot measure Prop 16 which seeks to overturn Prop 209, the 1996 ban on affirmative action in the state. This discussion considers both the history of California ballot measures and looks closely at how ballot measures have remade racial liberalism in postwar California. From there we turn to our primary topic which is that of political messaging and political strategy. We begin with the ideas promoted by Ian Haney Lopez and several other prominent Democratic party strategists for how to confront challenging questions of race and class in building electoral majorities and social movements. Remember the words of Stuart Hall: “Race is a modality in which class is lived.”
Series: "Public Policy and Society" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36289] -
Chrissie Castro, Diné and Chicana, is the Chairperson of the Los Angeles City County Native American Indian Commission, and co-led the change to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day in the City and County of Los Angeles. She was a co-founder of Indigenous Women Rise, which organized the Indigenous women’s contingent of 1,000 Indigenous Women at the Women’s March in DC. She is the Network Weaver of the Native Voice Network, a national network of 35+ Native-led organizations that mobilize through indigenous cultural values; and recently launched two projects to build community and political power of Native communities – locally, the California Native Vote Project and nationally, Advance Native Political Leadership. Series: "Public Policy and Society" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36286]
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This lecture looks at social movements and culture in history through three theoretical models of social, political and historical change: Karl Marx’s theory of historical materialism as expressed in the “base-superstructure” model, Antonio Gramsci’s theories of intellectuals and of consent and coercion in the shaping of hegemony, and Black feminism as expressed by Combahee River Collective. Marx’s theory influenced the formation of the movements of the19th century; the labor movement, the women’s suffrage movement and the abolitionist movement. Gramsci’s context of Italian fascism is discussed as is the question of historical fascism as a backlash against the gains made by the social movements that preceded it. Through the Combahee River Collective we come to see how Black feminism represents a revolutionary force not only against the systems of state and economic oppression, but against the narrowly constructed identities that shaped the previous history of social movements. Series: "Public Policy and Society" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 36285]
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This lecture opens with the breaking news of Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis and the super spreader event that broke out in the White House last week. From there we turn to a detailed discussion of social movements, organizing and democracy. Professor Jayaraman discusses the question of power, the elements and goals of organizing, the dynamics of social movements, and the cycles of contention through which social movements grow. She argues that the more people engage in contentious action over a sustained period of time, the more transformative change becomes possible. The discussion concludes with an analysis of how social movements can map power relations and best run campaigns to change public policy. Series: "Public Policy and Society" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36283]
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This lecture features Rashad Robinson, the President of Color Of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. The organization helps people respond effectively to injustice in the world around us. As a national online force driven by 1.7 million members, they move decision-makers in corporations and government to create a more human and less hostile world for Black people in America. Color Of Change uses an innovative combination of technology, research, media savvy and local community engagement to build powerful movements and change the industries that affect Black people’s lives: in Silicon Valley, Hollywood, Wall Street, Washington, prosecutor offices, capitol hills and city halls around the country.
This lecture ends with a brief discussion of the September 29 presidential “debate” between Trump and Biden, considering what was revealed in this event and how it will impact the ongoing campaigns.
Series: "Public Policy and Society" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36282] -
Today we take up the question of racial classification and the 2020 census with professor Michael Omi. Professor Omi is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, Asians American and Asian Diaspora Studies at UC Berkeley. He is the author, along with Howard Winant, of the ground breaking work Racial Formations in the United States, now in its third edition. At Berkeley, Professor Omi serves as the Associate Director of the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society, and is an affiliated faculty member of Sociology and Gender & Women’s Studies. In today’s talk, Professor Omi uses racial formations theory to discuss his research into the United States census and its evolving system of classifying and categorizing race. Series: "Public Policy and Society" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36278]
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