Transcript

“The nation is confronting this kind of social distancing and quarantine for the first time in the modern era, and it isn't clear to me that the laws in place are going to be sufficient. We haven't had enough protections. We don't have paid sick leave, a lot of companies are not giving time off to low wage workers in a way that makes them feel secure...And so this is a problem because not all communities are equally protected right now.” – Vanita Gupta

In today’s episode, co-hosts Dr. Celine Gounder and Ron Klain talk with Vanita Gupta, one of the nation's leading civil rights lawyers. Gupta is the President and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and is on lists to be a future Supreme Court appointee. Previously, she was the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General and head of the Civil Right Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as Deputy Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union. Gupta discusses the responsibility the media has in reinforcing anti-Chinese xenophobia, as well as the lack of sick leave and other protections that need to be in place for American workers. Finally, our hosts answer listener questions- including the role of wearing a home-made mask.

They also speak with Michael Macagnone, a policy reporter with Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, who has been covering the 2020 census. They discuss the huge challenge that coronavirus poses to the census, and how it may exacerbate the undercount of minorities, young children, people in rural areas, and Native Americans on reservations.

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