Midday

Black conservationists and avian enthusiasts are challenging the widely-held racist stereotype that Black folks and people of color are more suited to urban landscapes than to the fields and forests of the natural world.

Tom's guests are Dr. J Drew Lanham, an Alumni Distinguished Professor of Wildlife Ecology at Clemson University.

And, Corina Newsome, a field biologist who is pursuing a graduate degree in avian ecology at Georgia Southern University, and a co-founder of 'Black Birder Week'.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

One of the key elements in reopening plans, across counties or states, is to increase contact tracing to determine if people infected with COVID-19 may have exposed others to the virus. Maryland employs about 1,400 contact tracers so far, and last week, Mayor Jack Young announced that the new Baltimore Health Corps will hire nearly 300 contact tracers. If you are interested in applying for one of those jobs, go to https://www.baltimorecorps.org/baltimore-health-corps for more information.

To tell us more about that program and other aspects of COVID-19 in the city, Dr. Letitia Dzirasa joins Tom. She is the health commissioner of Baltimore City.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

We begin our show today with a focus on foreign policy, and America’s role in the world. Tom's first guest is Dr. Richard Haass, a veteran diplomat and policymaker who entered US government service in the 1970s. He served as senior Middle East adviser to President George H. W. Bush and as director of the Policy Planning Staff under Secretary of State Colin Powell. He is a recipient of the Presidential Citizens Medal, the State Department's Distinguished Honor Award, and the Tipperary International Peace Award.

Dr. Haass has been the president of the Council on Foreign Relations since 2003. He is the author or editor of more than a dozen books, the latest of which serves as a compact and compelling primer on foreign policy, a handbook for global literacy, and a clarion call for engagement with the global community to help maintain a fragile and fraying liberal world order. The new book is called The World: A Brief Introduction.

Richard Haass joins us on the line from his home in upstate New York.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Tom’s next guest is Dr. Larycia Hawkins. She’s a political scientist and social activist who is currently the Abd el-Kader Visiting Faculty Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture and a lecturer at the University of Virginia. Before taking her current position, Dr. Hawkins was an associate professor and founder and director of the Peace & Conflict Studies Certificate Program at Wheaton College in Illinois, a Christian liberal arts college near Chicago known in some cirlces as the “Harvard of Evangelical Colleges.”

In 2015, Dr. Hawkins, who is a Christian, was fired from her tenured position by the college after she posted on Facebook a picture of herself wearing a hijab, along with a statement expressing her “embodied solidarity” with Muslim women and her belief that Christians and Muslims "worship the same God."

Her actions put her in the middle of a firestorm of controversy over academic freedom and religious tolerance. Filmmaker Linda Midgett's new documentary, Same God, chronicles Hawkins' experience. The film is available online for streaming.

This afternoon from 4:00-5:00pm, Dr. Hawkins will take part in a virtual dialogue with Heather Miller Rubens, the executive director of the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies here in Baltimore. Follow this link to register for the free public event.

Dr. Larycia Hawkins joins Tom on the phone from her home in Charlottsville, Virginia.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

As the nationwide protests continue over the police killing last month in Minneapolis of George Floyd, there have been renewed calls for defunding police departments, and at the very least, reforming use-of-force policies employed by police across the country. Protests have focused attention on the fact that people of color have been subjected to unconstitutional police tactics for generations. Baltimore City is under a federal consent decree for that very reason. The Speaker of the Maryland House, Adrienne Jones, has convened a bipartisan work group to study ways to reform law enforcement. In Washington, the House and Senate will be considering federal legislation as well...


Last Monday, in a call with US governors, Defense Secretary Mark Esper encouraged state leaders to “dominate the battlespace” when suppressing the violence that occurred during some of the early protests. Hours later, federal police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse a peaceful crowd across the street from the White House. Former Defense Secretary James Mattis and other military leaders have denounced Esper and President Trump. Senator Ben Cardin has called for the resignation of Attorney General William Barr, who is said to have ordered the violent response to the peaceful protest....


We begin today with a conversation about police reform. Yesterday in Minneapolis, nine members of the city Council, a veto-proof majority, vowed to completely overhaul the Minneapolis Police Department. City Council President Lisa Bender, told an audience, “Our commitment is to do what is necessary to keep every single member of our community safe. And to tell the truth: that the Minneapolis Police are not doing that. Our commitment is to end the city’s toxic relationship with the Minneapolis Police Department, and to recreate systems of public safety that actually keep us safe.”

In an essay in the New York Times about a week ago, co-writer Thenjiwe McHarris of the Movement for Black Lives proposed reducing the powers of the police as the only way to assure the safety of African Americans and other people of color. Are there people other than armed officers who can respond to traffic accidents, non-violent crimes (like passing counterfeit bills), missing children or even mental health emergencies?

And for situations that do require a police response, what can be done to reduce the chance that police will abuse their power?

We had hoped to speak today with Sam Sinyangwe, a social policy analyst and data scientist, and a co-founder with DeRay Mckesson of Campaign Zero, a national movement aimed at ending police violence and promoting new approaches to law enforcement. Mr. Sinyangwe was unable to join us.

Campaign Zero's "8cantwait" project is one of many proposals being advanced for reforming police practices. But more radical activists doubt if such proposals can ever gain a foothold in a policing culture they argue is resistant to change.

We welcome your questions and comments on the topic.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Today, we follow up on the continuing crisis in America’s prisons caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. The Marshall Project, an award-winning non-profit reporting effort that examines problems in the criminal justice system, has found in its coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic that more than 40,000 prisoners have tested positive for the coronavirus. More than 8,400 correctional staff have been infected. More than 500 people have died in prison facilities across the country. Tom Meagher (pronounced "mare") is the managing editor of Digital and Data Journalism with the Marshall Project. He joins Tom via Skype from his home in New Jersey.

Of course, prisons, like nursing homes, meat packing plants and other highly congregate facilities have been COVID-19 hot zones from the beginning of the outbreak. Joining Tom next to discuss the daunting public health challenges of controlling COVID-19 in a prison facility is Dr. Carolyn Sufrin. She’s a board-certified OB/GYN with the Center for Medical Humanities and Social Medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She’s also with the Department of Health, Behavior and Society at the Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She studies health care and reproductive health issues in correctional settings.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Dr. Leana Wen is an emergency physician and the former Health Commissioner of Baltimore City. She’s also a visiting professor of health policy and management at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University, a distinguished fellow at the Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity and a contributing columnist for The Washington Post.

Yesterday, Dr. Wen testified before the Congressional Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis about the continuing problem of racial and ethnic disparities when it comes to illness and fatalities due to Covid-19. Today, she’s kind enough to join us on Midday.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Tom's guest is Dr. Gary Vikan. He was the director of the Walters Art Museum for nearly 20 years before retiring in 2013. He’s been writing books since then. His latest is about one of the most famous religious artifacts the world has ever known. The Shroud of Turin came to prominence during another pandemic, this one in the 14th century. Claimed for centuries to be the linen death shroud that covered the body of Jesus Christ after his crucifixion, it’s considered a holy relic by millions of believers. Vikan traces its origins and gives the context for how it came to be so widely revered. The book is called The Holy Shroud: A Brilliant Hoax in the Time of the Black Death…

Gary Vikan and Tom Hall continue their conversation this evening at a virtual book launch. It starts at 7:00pm. To register for the free Zoom-based event, click here.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

It's another edition of Midday at the Movies, our monthly look at films and filmmaking. Today, we preview some of the hundreds of new documentary, feature and short films being showcased at the upcoming 2020 Virtual Maryland Film Festival, which will run completely online from June 12-21. Tom is joined again by two of our favorite film aficionados -- Washington Post film critic Ann Hornaday and Maryland Film Festival founder Jed Dietz, to spotlight some of the standouts in the festival's huge lineup.

For more information on the 2020 Virtual Maryland Film Festival, and to register for a free Friday night preview, click here.

Ann and Jed also recommend some of best of the new studio films that are, or soon will be, available on streaming platforms, and comment on the uncertain prospects for the public's return to movie theaters this summer, a topic Ann explored in this recent piece.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

The Maryland State Board of Elections is in Day Two of its efforts to determine winners in the primaries for city-wide and city council offices in Baltimore City. Given the reports of problems with both in-person and mail-in voting, the Governor made it clear in his remarks yesterday that he would like to see State Elections Administrator Linda Lamone removed from her job. Other senior officials have made even more direct calls for her resignation.

As for potential winners, Former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon maintains a lead in the race for Mayor, although she has not declared herself the victor in her race for her old job. Marvin James, the campaign manager for City Council President Brandon Scott, who is in second place at this juncture, issued a statement yesterday afternoon that said “We believe Brandon Scott will be the winner after all of the missing votes have been accurately accounted for and counted.”

Joining Tom on the line to discuss these and other election developments is WYPR’s City Hall reporter Emily Sullivan.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.