Public Affairs (Audio)

Transformational leaders believe in equal opportunity -- access to education, healthcare, housing, earning with dignity and alleviating poverty at every level. Bold, innovative, and inclusive strategies can move us towards a better future but how do we start? In this engaging panel, Naila Chowdhury, director of Social Impact & Innovation, UC San Diego, Emanuel C. Perlman, MSW, CSW, DMus, founder of Destination Peace, Twyla Garret, GC, IA, CHS IV, president and CEO of Growth Management Services Inc., Rev. Dr. Alvin. C. Hathaway, Sr., Senior Pastor at Union Baptist Church, Roland R. Selby, Jr., Vice President Strategic Partnerships at NPower, and Geoff Thompson Founder and Chair, Youth Charter share their perspectives. Series: "Time to Rise" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 36233]

Human rights violations and social injustice continues at an alarming rate. Conscientious citizens are looking for answers. The pathway to moral empowerment is not easy but Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights organization continues to shine - guiding us in the right direction. Hear from Naila Chowdhury, director of Social Impact & Innovation, UC San Diego, Morgan Appel Assistant Dean, Education & Community Outreach, UC San Diego Extension, Adnan Karim, Managing Director of Human Rights Education, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Karen Robinson, Program Director, Speak Truth to Power, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights as they discuss their work to prioritize human rights education. Series: "Time to Rise" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 36234]

Today we explore the life and legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the consequences her death may have for election 2020. The sudden death of the 87 year old jurist and feminist icon has not only disrupted the already unprecedented election season, but it has raised the stakes for the Presidency, the Senate and the future of the Supreme Court going forward. In this discussion we try to illuminate the partisan politics behind seeking her replacement, the constituencies most committed to replacing Ginsberg as well as those most threatened by this right wing shift in the Court, while holding up the possibility of future resistance and the need to mobilize in the defense of democracy. Join us as we attempt to displace despair with hope and replace anxiety with analysis in this moment of crisis. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36279]

Today we take up the question of racial classification and the 2020 census with professor Michael Omi. Professor Omi is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, Asians American and Asian Diaspora Studies at UC Berkeley. He is the author, along with Howard Winant, of the ground breaking work Racial Formations in the United States, now in its third edition. At Berkeley, Professor Omi serves as the Associate Director of the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society, and is an affiliated faculty member of Sociology and Gender & Women’s Studies. In today’s talk, Professor Omi uses racial formations theory to discuss his research into the United States census and its evolving system of classifying and categorizing race. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36278]

The principle question for this presentation is what is “race” and how does it shape our politics? We begin with an introduction looking at the ongoing western wildfires, its differential impact upon white versus communities of color and the prison workers who get paid pennies a day to fight wildfires in California. From there we turn to a consideration of race and racism as defined by sociologists Michael Omi and Howard Winant. Together, they define race as “a concept which signifies and symbolizes social conflicts and interests by referring to different types of human bodies.” Using this definition, we consider a range of examples of how racial categories and racial formations are “created, inhabited, transformed and destroyed.” We begin with the 1790 Naturalization act which reserved the rights of citizenship to “free white persons.” Then move on to consider how racial categories have both fixed our identities and shifted our history from Columbus to the 2020 Census.

Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36277]

“We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.” As look at the history of American democracy, we begin with the nation’s founding contradiction: the dispossession of Natives, the enslavement of Africans and the exclusion of women in a new nation dedicated to the radical concept of universal human equality. Through a reading of the founding documents of the United States, ranging from the Declaration of Independence to the speeches of Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass and Barack Obama, we consider how race, colonialism and slavery shaped the nation's founding, and how this legacy, this “original sin” of the American founding, continues to shape and distort our democracy. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 36276]

Heather Hochrein is founder and CEO of EVmatch, a nationwide network for sharing and renting private EV charging stations. The goal is to increase the adoption of electric vehicles, thereby decreasing carbon emissions from the transportation sector. She is well versed in clean technology and previously spent five years in leadership roles at Rising Sun Energy Center. She holds a BS from UC Berkeley and a master's in Energy and Climate from UC Santa Barbara. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Public Affairs] [Business] [Show ID: 36308]

This conversation with leading scholars and bestselling authors Robin DiAngelo ("White Fragility") and Ibram X. Kendi ("How to Be An Anti-Racist") is facilitated by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Wesley Lowery. Together they address the question: How do we talk about race in a way that unites and strengthens us as a community? [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36150]

Aimee Allison is founder and president of She the People, a national network elevating the voice and power of women of color. She brings together voters, organizers, and elected leaders in a movement grounded in values of love, justice, belonging, and democracy. In 2018, Ms. Allison was one of the primary architects of the "year of women of color in politics." She is building a political home for a million women of color, nationally and in battleground states.

In April 2019, she convened the first presidential forum for women of color, reaching a quarter of the American population. A democratic innovator and visionary, Ms. Allison leads national efforts to build inclusive, multiracial coalitions led by women of color. She leverages media, research and analysis to increase voter engagement and advocate for racial, economic and gender justice. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 36275]

In our opening public lecture, we will take up the immediate context of the 2020 election to consider what is at stake in COVID-19 and the recent uprisings around Black Lives Matter and racial injustice for the United States? We will draw upon Arundhati Roy’s concept of the “pandemic as portal,” in which she writes: “Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.” As we approach these unprecedented, overlapping crises of public health, racism, economic decline and environmental breakdown, we must ask fundamental questions of what we need to leave behind in order to build what must come next.

Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36274]