News In Context

In this episode, we explore the importance of strong neighborhood and community relationships to the health of nations… and discuss how many neighborhoods in the U.S. don’t have strong local ties and need structural and systemic help. My guest is Seth Kaplan - Author of Fragile Neighborhoods Repairing American Society One Zip Code at a Time. Seth is also an international relations expert whose job is to help fragile states around the world. He consults with organizations such as the World Bank and U.S. State Department, and he teaches international relations at Johns Hopkins University. This is Civity Week on News in Context. Civity is a culture of deliberately engaging in relationships of respect and empathy with others who are different moving from Us vs. Them to We All Belong.

In this episode, we explore the persistent challenge of how to ensure that everyone has adequate housing. We discuss why the U.S. faces these issues, and what can – and can’t – be done at various levels of government. We also explore how we might re-frame the way we discuss housing and homelessness, to help us re-think solutions.   My guest is Tony Sparks, Associate Professor of Urban Studies & Planning Program in the Public Affairs & Civic Engagement (PACE) program at San Francisco State University.

In this episode, we explore how much of the information we get is mediated - edited - and we all get different edits based on what the algorithm thinks we want. This means we see and understand things differently, and that has contributed to polarization and othering. My Guest is Riaz Patel, executive producer and director focusing on reality shows with positive transformations. His show The Connect Effect seeks to counter the edits we all see by bringing people face-to-face, so they can build relationships without labels that define us in the media. This can help reduce polarization and increase connection.

In this episode, we discuss press freedom in the U.S. in the wake of a police raid of the local paper in Marion, Kansas. In that raid, officers confiscated most of the paper’s computers and other equipment, leaving its journalists scrambling to be able to publish.Press freedom advocates have criticized Marion’s police chief for using tactics generally seen in authoritarian countries. But there are concerns over other incidents across the country designed to intimidate and silence journalists.My guests are:Kirstin McCudden, Vice President of Editorial at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, and managing editor of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker-AND-Seth Stern, Director of Advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation.Find resources and guides to protect your privacy and security at Freedom.Press - and see the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker at PressFreedomTracker.US   Image Courtesy U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, led by the Freedom of the Press Foundation and the Committee to Protect Journalists, in collaboration with leading press freedom groups.

In Part Two of my conversation with Chesa Boudin, we explore how his experiences as a child have informed his approach to criminal justice, and his efforts to seek reforms to how we engage with both the accused and the victims of crime. We also discuss the importance of communicating – both providing data and sharing stories – to help people understand context and demand policies that keep us all safer. And we touch on the challenges of actually implementing change in the face of the status quo. Chesa Boudin is former San Francisco DA and now founding executive director of the newly created Criminal Law & Justice Center at UC Berkeley School of Law.

Welcome to News in Context – I’m Gina Baleria. In this episode, we talk with former San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin, founding executive director of the newly created Criminal Law & Justice Center at UC Berkeley School of Law. We discuss Boudin’s new role at UC Berkeley, and his plans for advancing victim's rights, true justice for all, and criminal justice reform by seeking evidence-based solutions and researching what can work. We also explore how we could truly reform the U.S. criminal justice system to make it work for everyone - and how to navigate resistance to reform efforts. This is Part 1 of my interview with Chesa Boudin. You can hear Part 2 next week.

In this episode, we explore how economic issues are often talked about in ways that minimize the needs of those who may not have the means to withstand recessions, contractions, or other economic downturns. This issue takes on greater urgency in an era of trying to control inflation… and deal with recent regional bank failures. My guest is Lynn Parramore, writer and researcher with the Institute for New Economic Thinking.

In this episode, we explore how othering has led to increased marginalization and vilification of people who are un-housed, and how civity can help counter this trend by helping people who are housed see the humanity of those without housing. My guest is Eric Tars, Legal Director of National Homelessness Law Center, who reminds us that housing is a human right. Tars hopes that helping people see each other’s humanity can bring this back into focus.

In this episode, we explore how engaging across our racial and class divides can help bring us together to care for and nurture our democracy. My guest is Ian Haney López, professor at UC Berkeley School of Law, and author of several books, including Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism & Wrecked the Middle Class, and Merge Left: Fusing Race & Class, Winning Elections, and Saving America. López says strategic racism is a deeply corrosive force, and he’s is exploring how to counter its effects by encouraging people to come together across racial divides, so we can focus on our commonalities… develop shared understandings of what we want from democracy and our elected officials, and work together to improve society. López developed the Race-Class Narrative Project and the Race-Class Academy to counter dog-whistle politics and build cross-racial and cross-class solidarity. This is Part Two of our interview. Hear Part One at NewsInContext.net.

In this episode, we explore the strategic use of racism in electoral politics to divide citizens across racial and other differences in an effort to retain power and wealth. My guest is Ian Haney López, professor at UC Berkeley School of Law, and author of several books, including Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism & Wrecked the Middle Class, and Merge Left: Fusing Race & Class, Winning Elections, and Saving America. López says strategic racism is a deeply corrosive force, and he’s is exploring how to counter its effects by encouraging people to come together across racial divides, so we can focus on our commonalities… develop shared understandings of what we want from democracy and our elected officials… and work together to improve society. López developed the Race-Class Narrative Project and the Race-Class Academy to counter dog-whistle politics and build cross-racial and cross-class solidarity. This is Part ONE of my interview with Ian Haney López. You can hear Part TWO next week.