Equal Time with Mary C. Curtis

Climate change — a major concern of this week’s United Nations General Assembly — affects people across the globe through immigration, food production and the economy, to name a few. But as Ashley K. Shelton tells Mary C. Curtis, climate change is also spurring voter suppression. Shelton, who leads the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice and is a founding member of the Black Southern Women’s Collective, is turning her attention to policies that need to be in place to ensure that Americans disproportionately affected by devastating weather events can fully participate in democracy.

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President Biden has made clear from his first day in office that social justice issues are at the top of his agenda. A sweeping infrastructure bill sits with Congress now that would increase funding for climate, education, the environment and the social safety net.

But to get this passed, Democrats have embraced the reconciliation process. Mary C. Curtis speaks first to Norman Ornstein, emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, to unpack the reconciliation process. But there is also friction within the party about doing too much and not enough. Mary C. Curtis turns to DNC Chair Jaime Harrison to talk about what's at stake for the Democratic Party.

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Martin Luther King III joins Equal Time to talk with Mary C. Curtis about his father’s “I have a dream" speech, voting rights today and personal memories of his father. Fifty-eight years after his father's iconic words, MLK III joins John Lewis' family and others to galvanize the nation to, once again, ensure voting rights for all Americans

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Voter nullification, authoritarianism, and the end of democracy, that’s what Rep. James E. Clyburn says are the very real consequences of not passing legislation to protect voting rights. The South Carolina Democrat emphasized that voter suppression is not just an issue of access to the ballot box, it includes who gets to overturn elections. 

“I want you to call it what it is, use the word. Nullification.” said Clyburn, “It is voter nullification.”

There are currently two bills, the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, in front of Congress. Senate Democrats are meeting to hash out a revised bill that could be released next week. 

Mary C. Curtis sits down with the House Majority Whip to discuss voting rights, and to understand what are the very high stakes and what can be done with dwindling time on the clock.

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Six years ago, Malcolm Graham lost his big sister, Cynthia Graham Hurd, in the Charleston shooting that took nine Black churchgoers' lives. Now a city councilman in Charlotte, N.C., Graham reflects on the work he did to remove the Confederate flag from its prominent place on the South Carolina statehouse grounds, the future of racial matters in our country and his sister's legacy. 

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Slavery, Jim Crow laws and COVID-19 all have contributed to a yawning gap between white public school students and students of color. While the 1950s Supreme Court decision known as Brown v. Board of Education was supposed to correct "separate but equal," there is still a long way to go before public schools can talk about equity. Mary C. Curtis talks with Terra Wallin of the Education Trust to understand how we arrived at this moment and how the nation's public schools can do better.

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The country’s history of redlining, racially restrictive covenants, zoning regulations and more has embedded racism in its housing policies. Simply put, Black communities have been devalued through these policies. Untangling that legacy has proven difficult, especially when some politicians have resisted progress. Mary C. Curtis sits down with Andre M. Perry, author of “Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America's Black Cities," to discuss how we got here, what the Biden administration is trying to change and what can be done to dismantle housing discrimination.

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Even as the U.S. will likely have a federal holiday to mark June 19th or Juneteenth — an important date not a part of many history books — battles over teaching race continue. After the murder of George Floyd, many sought to learn lessons that were absent in the traditional white-washed version of American history taught for generations.

But educating students about race — what some call critical race theory — has become another flashpoint in the culture wars pitting red against blue. Mary C. Curtis talks with education policy expert Jazmyne Owens of New America about why some states are trying to ban the teaching of systemic racism and what it will mean if they succeed.

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The United States has the highest -- yes the highest -- maternal mortality rates in the developed world. Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related issues than white women. That is in keeping with other sobering statistics of racial health inequities revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Mary C. Curtis sits down with Marcella Nunez Smith, President Biden's pick to lead the task force on health equity. They discuss why Black people suffer disproportionately and what is being done to change the equation.

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Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack sits down with Mary C. Curtis to discuss Black farmers and the USDA plan to provide debt relief to socially disadvantaged borrowers through the March COVID-19 relief law.

That means Black farmers who have lost 90 percent of their land in the last century, in large part because of USDA policies, may receive compensation. The administration says equity is overdue and this is just the beginning. But many white farmers and banks have objections. 

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