Zócalo Public Square

Eh braddah, howzit? Did you hear that a pidgin word—hammajang—made the Oxford English Dictionary? Wait, you missed it? No worry, beef curry. Pidgin remains one of the strongest and most distinctive elements of culture in Hawai‘i, used in everyday conversation and local advertising. What does the popularity of pidgin say about the history, culture, and class structure of Hawai‘i? How has contemporary immigration changed the ways in which it’s used? And what explains its persistence in a nation and a world where so many other local dialects have died? Former Hawai‘i Governor John D. Waiheʻe III, co-director of the University of Hawai'i Sato Center for Pidgin, Creole, and Dialect Studies Katie Drager, comedian Andy Bumatai, and California-based sociolinguist and scholar of American pidgins Sarah Roberts visited Zócalo to examine pidgin’s past and present—and how long it will survive. Moderated by Noe Tanigawa, arts & culture reporter for Hawai‘i Public Radio, this Zócalo/Daniel K. Inouye Institute "Talk Story" Event took place at Artistry Honolulu in Honolulu, Hawai‘i.

When it comes to picking the country’s presidents, the richest and most populous state hasn’t much mattered. Because their primaries are held earlier and they are swing states in the general election, smaller and colder places—like New Hampshire, Iowa, and Ohio—have an outsized influence on who occupies the White House. But could 2020 be different? California has moved its presidential primary to an earlier spot on the calendar, and American politics is changing in ways that make California’s technology, celebrity, and money even more important. Could that help California candidates or even fuel a Republican challenger to Trump? And if California does have a central role in the 2020 presidential drama, how might the Golden State shape the agenda of the next president? Dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs Gary Segura, vice president of the American Association of Political Consultants Rose Kapolczynski, and Latino Decisions co-founder and UCLA political scientist Matt Barreto visited Zócalo to discuss whether Californians will pick the next president, and what kind of president we might pick. Moderated by Zócalo’s California & innovation editor Joe Mathews, the Zócalo/UCLA Downtown event took place at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in downtown Los Angeles.

How Did the American Conquest of the Southwest Shape New Mexico’s Future? by Zócalo Public Square

Stanley Crouch, “Blues for Black America”

History often blames genocide solely on murderous demagogues and military campaigns. But more often than not, the forces that unleash ethnic cleansing arise slowly and during peacetime, and stem from seemingly everyday interactions in places that are home to diverse peoples. What sorts of exchanges and social conditions unleash genocidal behavior? How do people who long lived together as neighbors come to turn on—and kill—each other? And can we teach ourselves to spot the early steps towards genocide so that we might prevent it in other countries or even our own? Brown University Distinguished Professor of European History Omer Bartov, winner of the ninth annual Zócalo Book Prize for Anatomy of a Genocide: The Life and Death of a Town Called Buczacz, visited Zócalo to share lessons from his mother’s hometown about how easily communities can slide into mass killing. The event took place at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in downtown Los Angeles

“Economists have predicted nine out of the last five recessions,” Nobel-winning economist Paul Samuelson famously joked. But recessions do eventually arrive, and when the next one hits, the United States may not be well-positioned to fight back. Instead of building up surpluses that could stimulate the economy in a downturn, the federal government has cut taxes and run up trillion-dollar annual deficits and a $21 trillion national debt. The Federal Reserve is still unwinding the actions it took to battle the Great Recession. And most Americans are unprepared for bad times, with only half saying they could come up with $400 in an emergency. How would Americans, their companies, and their many levels of government respond to a new economic downturn? Are U.S. social safety net programs up to the challenges of another recession? Could Americans overcome widening inequality and bitter political stalemates to take decisive action if the economy goes south again? UCLA Anderson Forecast director Jerry Nickelsburg, UC Riverside economist Gloria Gonzalez-Rivera, and UCLA Anderson economist and statistician Ed Leamer visited Zócalo to gauge the country’s readiness for recession. The Zócalo/UCLA Anderson School of Management Event, moderated by Los Angeles Business Journal managing editor Erica E. Phillips, took place at The RedZone at Gensler.

“Economists have predicted nine out of the last five recessions,” Nobel-winning economist Paul Samuelson famously joked. But recessions do eventually arrive, and when the next one hits, the United States may not be well-positioned to fight back. Instead of building up surpluses that could stimulate the economy in a downturn, the federal government has cut taxes and run up trillion-dollar annual deficits and a $21 trillion national debt. The Federal Reserve is still unwinding the actions it took to battle the Great Recession. And most Americans are unprepared for bad times, with only half saying they could come up with $400 in an emergency. How would Americans, their companies, and their many levels of government respond to a new economic downturn? Are U.S. social safety net programs up to the challenges of another recession? Could Americans overcome widening inequality and bitter political stalemates to take decisive action if the economy goes south again? UCLA Anderson Forecast director Jerry Nickelsburg, UC Riverside economist Gloria Gonzalez-Rivera, and UCLA Anderson economist and statistician Ed Leamer visited Zócalo to gauge the country’s readiness for recession. The Zócalo/UCLA Anderson School of Management Event, moderated by Los Angeles Business Journal managing editor Erica E. Phillips, took place at The RedZone at Gensler.

Today, Americans wring their hands about the systematic lying in politics, and media claim to be fighting to uphold the principles of truth and the existence of verifiable facts against unprecedented challenges. But the very idea that 'fake news' is a new problem is itself 'fake news.' Way back in 1710, Gulliver’s Travels author Jonathan Swift wrote, “Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it.” And lies, slander, and libel were central features of politics, public discourse, and other human enterprises long before Swift. How did previous generations deal with the prevalence and power of falsehoods? How has art, by embodying a different kind of truth, served as both a party to and a shield against lies? And does misinformation pose a bigger problem now because of the speed at which it can spread digitally? New York Times film critic A.O. Scott, Boston University philosopher and author of Post-Truth Lee McIntyre, and Jennifer Kavanagh, RAND Corporation political scientist and co-author of Truth Decay, visited Zócalo to explore humanity’s longstanding devotion to lies and whether we’ll ever develop a healthier respect for the truth. The Zócalo/Getty event, moderated by former Los Angeles Times columnist Sandy Banks, took place at The Getty Center.

Today, Americans wring their hands about the systematic lying in politics, and media claim to be fighting to uphold the principles of truth and the existence of verifiable facts against unprecedented challenges. But the very idea that 'fake news' is a new problem is itself 'fake news.' Way back in 1710, Gulliver’s Travels author Jonathan Swift wrote, “Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it.” And lies, slander, and libel were central features of politics, public discourse, and other human enterprises long before Swift. How did previous generations deal with the prevalence and power of falsehoods? How has art, by embodying a different kind of truth, served as both a party to and a shield against lies? And does misinformation pose a bigger problem now because of the speed at which it can spread digitally? New York Times film critic A.O. Scott, Boston University philosopher and author of Post-Truth Lee McIntyre, and Jennifer Kavanagh, RAND Corporation political scientist and co-author of Truth Decay, visited Zócalo to explore humanity’s longstanding devotion to lies and whether we’ll ever develop a healthier respect for the truth. The Zócalo/Getty event, moderated by former Los Angeles Times columnist Sandy Banks, took place at The Getty Center.

The Mueller Report promises to clarify what happened in the 2016 election and its aftermath. But that document may only add to the confusion over a broader question: What does it take to fire an American president? In recent months, critics of Donald Trump have discussed removing the president by impeachment, indictment, and the 25th Amendment. But no president has ever been impeached and convicted by the Senate, and the Department of Justice may preclude a president from being indicted. If impeachment is impossible, what methods exist, legally, for removing a president? Why do we have special prosecutors if they can’t prosecute? Is the American president, for all practical purposes, above the law? UCLA constitutional law scholar Jon D. Michaels, Wake Forest political scientist and author of The Special Prosecutor in American Politics, Katy Harriger, and Joel D. Aberbach, political scientist and former director of the UCLA Center for American Politics and Public Policy, visited Zócalo to examine the historical, customary and legal precedents that protect our presidents. The event, moderated by Madeleine Brand, host of KCRW’s “Press Play,” took place at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy.