KQED's Forum

Author and Emory University professor Dorothy Brown says she became a tax lawyer to avoid dealing with race. “I learned early on that people might look at me and see black, but as far as tax law was concerned, the only color that mattered was green,” she writes in her book “The Whiteness of Wealth”. But it soon became clear to her that America’s tax system was worsening the country’s racial wealth gap, which it also helped create. As we approach tax day, we’ll talk with Brown about her new book and how the tax code is stacked against Black Americans.

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Tax Day is coming up. If you’re a procrastinator, instead of compiling your receipts and looking for your W-2 form, you may have gone down a rabbit hole online— and there is no deeper rabbit hole than the one provided by Wikipedia. From the Streisand Effect to fart lightning to the lost state of Westsylvania, the social media account Depths of Wikipedia is dedicated to chronicling the weird and wonderful facts and articles on the internet’s free encyclopedia. We’ll explore some of the strangest topics, passages and photos on the site, and hear some of your favorite entries.

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California living has inspired songwriters across generations and genres – from Otis Redding “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” to pop star Katy Perry saluting “California Gurls” to hip hop artists Dr. Dre and Tupac proclaiming “California Love.” The Golden State has also inspired many a playlist, including the “California Playlist” currently being crowd-sourced by The New York Times California Today newsletter. We’ll talk about and play some of the songs that make up the soundtrack of California and hear what songs capture the essence of California for you.

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Owner and manager of KGUA in Gualala, California, Peggy Berryhill has been described as “The First Lady of Native Radio.” As the host of KGUA’s flagship program “Peggy’s Place,” Berryhill spotlights community members: its artists, librarians and lighthouse operator. Part of the Muscogee Nation, Berryhill has worked over her more than four decades-long career to push back on Native stereotypes in mainstream coverage and has collected and preserved hundreds of hours of interviews with Native community members. She joins us on this episode of Forum to discuss the importance of community radio and of hearing Native voices.

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On April 1st 1950, about 144,000 census takers fanned out across the United States to count the population. Each conversation they had was reduced to a handwritten entry on a census form. Now, 72 years later, the National Archives has released those manuscripts. You can find Marilyn Monroe, Jerry Garcia, Jimi Hendrix, and maybe a long-forgotten relative in these pages. But the census represents more than an exercise in genealogical spelunking; it is an American political tool that has been in force since 1790. We’ll talk to census historians about what they hope to find in the 1950 census, and why this information is so meaningful.

Related link(s):

• 1950 Census

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After acquiring a nine percent stake in Twitter through a series of stock purchases this year, multi-billionaire libertarian entrepreneur Elon Musk is now the social media giant's largest shareholder. That's raising questions about how the controversial Tesla and SpaceX founder and self-described "free speech absolutist" could shape the platform. We'll take up the issues.

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Apple and Google last year drew praise from consumer privacy advocates when they took steps to stop advertisers and other third party companies from tracking users’ online activities. Apple introduced new privacy settings for its mobile devices, and Google announced a plan to block digital tracking cookies from its Chrome browser by the end of 2023. But another form of digital tracking, known as “first party” tracking, is now on the rise by Google, Pinterest, Tik-Tok and other sites that gather users' searches, location data and other information. We'll get the latest.

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Jazzercise. The Thighmaster. Jane Fonda’s Workout. These are but a few of the exercise fads that author Danielle Friedman recounts in her new book “Let’s Get Physical,” a history of women and personal fitness. For much of the 20th century, “sweating was considered unladylike and women tried to hide their muscles under sleeves,” writes Friedman. The rise of personal fitness, however, offered women a chance to be strong. Yet, along with its message of strength and individual empowerment, women’s fitness is also caught up in the burdens posed by beauty standards. We’ll talk to Friedman about these contradictions and how the industry can change to “harness exercise in ways that truly liberate all women.”

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Earlier this month, workers at an Amazon warehouse in New York City voted to form the first union in company history. Organized mostly by current and former workers, the successful union drive did not rely on professional organizers and was financed not by union dues, but by GoFundMe donations. The win is energizing to many self-organizing union drives that are gaining momentum elsewhere, like Starbucks and Apple stores. So could Amazon Labor Union’s success as an independent union contribute to a new playbook for labor organizing? We’ll take a closer look at the possible ripple effects and we’ll also learn about the often untold history of various labor organizers who similarly carved their own paths in the U.S. labor movement.

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Millions of genetically-modified, non-biting mosquitoes may soon be set loose in California after federal regulators gave the green light to a study aimed at preventing transmission of diseases like Zika and dengue. British biotech firm Oxitech says its technology alters male mosquitos to only produce viable male offspring, leading to population declines as females die off. While it may sound like the plot of a horror movie, the company says the new process is safe and necessary to address the growing global threat of mosquito-borne diseases. But some scientists and other critics say it could create even more virulent mosquitos, among other health and environmental risks. We’ll discuss the plan, which still requires state approval.

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