KQED's Forum

As our nation nears its 250th anniversary, we reflect on what was going on in the Bay Area at the time. In 1776 California was newly part of the Spanish colony that would later become Mexico. The summer of 1776 was also pivotal in San Francisco’s history: construction started on the Presidio and Mission Dolores was founded five days before the Declaration of Independence was signed. Most of the local population consisted of indigenous people and some Mexican settlers. The people, ecosystems and coastline were dramatically different. We look back on the Bay Area in 1776.

Guests:

Steven Hackel, professor of history, UC Riverside; author, "Junipero Serra: California's Founding Father"

Laura Feinstein, resilient landscapes program director, San Francisco Estuary Institute

Vincent Medina, East Bay Ohlone cultural leader; co-founder, Cafe Ohlone in Berkeley; founder, mak-warép Ohlone Land Conservancy

Michael Wilcox, senior lecturer, Native American Studies and Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, Stanford University

Gabriel Duncan, founder, Alameda Native History Project

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The United States celebrates its 250th anniversary on July 4th. Past presidents have marked similar milestones by reflecting on our complex history, but for President Trump, the commemoration will mark just how great America’s history has always been. Many historians argue that the Trump Administration is whitewashing the nation’s violent past, and for the New Yorker’s Jelani Cobb, it’s just the latest example of Trump weaponizing racial politics. Cobb joins us to talk about America at 250, and why our historical scars matter.

Guests:

Jelani Cobb, staff writer, The New Yorker; professor of journalism at Columbia University; author, "Three or More Is a Riot: Notes on How We Got Here: 2012-2025"

Jennifer Schuessler, culture reporter, The New York Times

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During a San Francisco Giants home game this month dedicated to the LGBTQ+ community, four pitchers drew attention for their protest of the team’s themed rainbow uniform. One player opted out of wearing the uniform entirely, while three others doctored their hats with a bible verse that has been used by some Christian groups to “reclaim” the rainbow. Major League Baseball issued a warning to those players that writing of any kind on uniforms goes against league rules. That, in turn, led to the Department of Justice opening a civil rights investigation into whether the MLB is discriminating against the players’ religious rights. Amidst it all, many San Francisco Giants fans have felt betrayed by a team that has long stood by its hometown LGBTQ community. We’ll talk about the controversy, its fallout and how you’re responding.

Guests:

Ann Killion, sports columnist, San Francisco Chronicle

Alex Simon, sports editor, SFGate

Bradford William Davis, reporter and cultural critic, sports newsletter [eyeblack]

Andrea Fernandes, vice president of marketing, Golden State Valkyries

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Visitors to Yosemite National Park are reporting huge summer crowds and nearly impossible parking, which are the result of federal staffing cuts and the elimination of the park’s entry reservation system. We’ll dig into the cause and impact of the changes at Yosemite and discuss where else in California you can find peak outdoor experiences.

Guests:

Sarah Wright, outdoors engagement reporter, KQED

Peter Ostroskie, staff park and recreation specialist, Bay Area District, California State Parks

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As part of negotiations over terms of the ceasefire memorandum between Iran and the U.S., the Trump Administration on Monday temporarily lifted all oil sanctions on Iran, a significant reversal of longstanding American policy. Critics in the president’s own party have sharply criticized the deal which includes a $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran, a ceasefire and reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Over the weekend, fighting in Lebanon and threats from Trump to “hit Iran very hard again” threatened the fragile detente. Will the peace hold? We’ll talk to experts about the deal with Iran and its implications.

Guests:

David Sanger, White House and National Security Correspondent, The New York Times; his most recent book is "New Cold Wars: China’s Rise, Russia’s Invasion and America’s Struggle to Defend the West"

Jonathan Lemire, staff writer, The Atlantic; Lemire serves as the co-host of the MSNOW show "Morning Joe"

Alan Eyre, distinguished diplomatic fellow, Middle East Institute; Eyre was a senior diplomat and Iran expert for the U.S. government, and served as a key member of the U.S. negotiating team for the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement

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We rely on the Global Positioning System for so much — mapping our commutes, tracking our runs, hailing ride shares, matching with dates and more — that it can be hard to remember life before it. The U.S. military sent the first GPS satellite to space in 1978, and journalist Katherine Dunn says remembering those military roots can help us understand of how enemy actors today are distorting, blocking and threatening GPS around the world. Dunn says it’s time we address our global dependency and rethink how we’ve phased out many GPS alternatives. We’ll talk with Dunn about how GPS works, the types of attacks we’re seeing and what can be done about them. Do you remember a time before GPS?

Guests:

Katherine Dunn, author, “Little Blue Dot: How GPS Shaped the Modern World"; journalist who specializes in covering the intersection between climate change, the energy transition, and business

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Communities across the Bay Area, including Gilroy, Oakley and Pittsburg, are pushing back on new data centers in their cities. Data centers, which house the computing equipment and servers that power the internet, have been around for decades, but opposition to them has exploded as tech companies pour hundreds of billions of dollars into building thousands of new centers nationwide. Residents worry the facilities will suck up scarce water and electricity and pollute the environment to power the riches of AI investors. We’ll talk about the data center boom and how it’s playing out in the Bay Area.

Guests:

Molly Taft, senior climate reporter, WIRED

Jonathan Koomey, researcher and scientist, Koomey Analytics; author, "Cold Cash, Cool Climate: Science-Based Advice for Ecological Entrepreneurs"

Hema Sivanandam, East Contra Costa reporter, Bay Area News Group

Britt Smith, Gilroy resident; activist and co-founder, Stop Gilroy Data Center

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Historian Ibram X. Kendi says that in order to understand the rise of authoritarianism, we need to understand great replacement theory. It’s the racist idea that “powerful elites are enabling peoples of color to steal the lives, livelihoods, cultures and electoral power and freedoms of white people,” Kendi writes in his new book, “Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age.” We talk to the National Book Award-winning author about how politicians are using great replacement theory to justify authoritarian power and how it has moved from the fringes to the mainstream.

Guests:

Ibram X. Kendi, professor of history, Howard University and founding director of the Howard University Institute for Advanced Study; author, "Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age"; his previous books include "How to Be an Antiracist" and "Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America."

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New Yorker magazine poetry editor Kevin Young has called poetry "the most efficient mode of time travel." In his new volume of poems "Night Watch,” Young, a literary hyphenate who edits, writes and teaches, takes readers on a journey of loss and re-emergence. From his cycle of poems about a conjoined pair of twins born into slavery and kidnapped to a carnival freak show to his meditations on grief set to the phases of the moon, Young’s spare and incisive language provides the reader passage through history and memory. On this Juneteenth holiday we listen back on our conversation with Young about his collection and what it means to be a poet today.

Guests:

Kevin Young, poet and author; Young's latest poetry collection is "Night Watch"; Young has been the poetry editor for the New Yorker since 2017 and from 2021 to 2025 served as the director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture

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Ultra-endurance athlete Catherine Breed has accomplished many physical feats — including a record-breaking swim across Lake Tahoe—but her latest challenge may be her most audacious. Beginning in July, she’ll spend several months swimming the entire coastline of California. The 900-mile journey will begin at the top of California, and Breed will swim to the California-Mexico border. She joins us to talk about how she’s preparing to avoid sharks and fatigue to conquer the currents of the Pacific Ocean.

Guests:

Catherine Breed, ultra-endurance athlete and swimmer; president and founder, Sea Dreamers

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