We've Got Issues

May 24, 2014 Show

We have a theme for this week's show -- a lineup inspired by Ta-Nehisi Coates' eloquent case for reparations for slavery and Jim Crow.

First up, we have Dalton Conley, a sociologist at NYU and author of Being Black, Living in the Red: Race, Wealth and Social Policy in America. Conley has studied how the black-white wealth gap -- the lasting legacy of institutional racism in the past -- limits the opportunities of African-Americans being born today.

Then we'll speak with William Darity, Jr., a professor of African-American studies and economic at Rutgers who has long argued for reparations.

Finally, we'll be joined by Rachel Black, a senior research fellow at the New America Foundations asset-building program to talk about, well, asset-building.

Also, classic Blues!

Playlist:
Willie Dixon: "Spoonful"
Roy Brown: "Hard Luck Blues"
Sam Lightnin' Hopkins: "Cotton"
Albert Collins: "If Trouble Was Money"

May 10, 2014 Show

This week, Kaili Joy Gray joins us to vent some spleen over the re-emergence of BENGHAZI!!, now that Obamacare has hit eight million sign-ups.

Then we'll cover a couple of labor stories -- one of which involving NFL cheerleaders -- with Salon's Josh Eidelson.

Finally we'll speak to Amy Dean about how teachers' unions are fighting the corporatization of America's classrooms.

Playlist:
Ramones: "Do You Wanna Dance"
Southern Culture on the Skids: "Wheels"
Kiddus I: "Graduation in Zion"
The Wedding Band: "Bridal Dancing Queen"

May 3, 2014 Show

This week, we'll speak with Layli Shirani, a San Francisco-based human rights attorney, about the case of Hamid Hayat, a young man swept up in George Bush's War on Terror. Hayat has spent nearly a decade behind bars for waging war against the US, but Shirani and her colleagues say that he was railroaded at trial, and that they have definitive proof of his innocence.

Then we'll be joined by Joe Soss, a sociologist at the University of Minnesota and author of Disciplining the Poor: Neoliberal Paternalism and the Persistent Power of Race. Soss and his colleagues conducted a 10-year study of America's welafre system follwing the 1996 "reforms," and found it rife with racial bias.

Playlist:
Radiohead: "Karma Police"
Eric Clapton: "After Midnight"
Mambo All-Stars: "Accidental Mambo"

April 26, 2014 Show

This week, we'll be joined by Oliver Willis of Media Matters and The Daily Banter to dicuss Cliven Bundy, the deadbeat Nevada rancher who became a hero to the right before spewing a bunch of racist nonsense.

The RJ Eskow, host of The Zero Hour, will speak with us about Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century, and the stir it's created.

Finally, Melanie Sloan, Executive Director of CREW, will tell us about a new report that shows how big companies don't necessarily disclose the political spending that they promise to.

Playlist:
Salt-N-Pepa: "Shake Your Thang"
Cracker: "Loser"
Smashmouth: "Home"
Elvis Presley: "Always On My Mind"