Today on AirTalk, we sit down with DNC Chair Tom Perez to discuss the where the Democratic party is headed as well as what to look for in California’s Primary and House races next year. We also pay tribute to Nobel laureate Toni Morrison; examine the challenges of #MeToo in a highschool setting; and more.
In Wake Of Weekend Shootings, Some Call For Realignment Of National Security Priorities
The U.S. has spent a couple decades employing resources against Islamic terrorists, following the terrorist attacks on 9/11. In the wake of two mass shootings, one in Texas and one in Ohio, some experts say the country needs to employ resources against domestic terrorism, including white supremacy, which is a growing threat.
The mass shooting in El Paso, Texas over the weekend is the largest domestic terrorist attack against Hispanics in modern history. According to a 2019 report released by the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, hate crimes rose in 21 of 30 major U.S. cities.
There are challenges with reprioritizing national security because federal officials have more power when it comes to foreign terrorism, and the First Amendment, which protects free speech, makes it difficult to stop terrorist attacks carried out by Americans before they happen.
With guest host Libby Denkmann.
Guests:
Brian Levin, professor of criminal justice and director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino; he tweets
William Braniff, Director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) at the University of Maryland; he previously served as the Director of Practitioner Education and an Instructor at West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center (CTC); he tweets
DNC Chair Tom Perez On The State And Future Of The Democratic Party
With 2020 inching closer, Dems need all the help they can get to unify and convince their base they’re ready to defeat President Donald Trump next year.
Enter the Democratic National Committee Chair: Tom Perez.
The DNC Chair is the party’s key fundraiser, spokesperson and unifier — when successful. And an already crowded stage of 24 remaining presidential candidates, each trying to brand themselves as the new face of the party, doesn’t make the job a walk in the park.
But Perez is no stranger to Washington’s strains. He’s held posts as U.S. Secretary of Labor, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and was even speculated to be a running mate pick for Hillary Clinton back in 2016. Perez then made his way to the DNC seat in February of 2017 following acting chair, Donna Brazile, and the ouster of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Perez joins AirTalk to talk about where he feels the Dems are headed, what to look for in California’s Primary and House races next year and more.
Call us with your questions at 866-893-5722 or comment below.
With guest host Libby Denkmann.
Guest:
Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee and former U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Obama (2013-2017); he was also the U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights from 2009-2013 and tweets
The Work Of Toni Morrison And Its Impact On You
Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, a pioneer and reigning giant of modern literature whose imaginative power in "Beloved," ''Song of Solomon" and other works transformed American letters by dramatizing the pursuit of freedom within the boundaries of race, has died at age 88.
Few authors rose in such rapid, spectacular style. She was nearly 40 when her first novel, "The Bluest Eye," was published. By her early 60s, after just six novels, she had become the first black woman to receive the Nobel literature prize, praised in 1993 by the Swedish academy for her "visionary force" and for her delving into "language itself, a language she wants to liberate" from categories of black and white. In 2019, she was featured in an acclaimed documentary, "Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am."
Morrison helped raise American multiculturalism to the world stage and helped uncensor her country's past, unearthing the lives of the unknown and the unwanted, those she would call "the unfree at the heart of the democratic experiment." In her novels, history - black history - was a trove of poetry, tragedy, love, adventure and good old gossip, whether in small-town Ohio in "Sula" or big-city Harlem in "Jazz." She regarded race as a social construct and through language founded the better world her characters suffered to attain. Morrison wove everything from African literature and slave folklore to the Bible and Gabriel Garcia Marquez into the most diverse, yet harmonious, of literary communities.
With files from the Associated Press
With guest host Libby Denkmann
A statement from documentary filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Sanders who directed “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am,” released last June:
"I’ve been privileged to know Toni Morrison for nearly 40 years. During that time, she won many awards and accolades — the Nobel, a Pulitzer, the Presidential Medal of Freedom…But for me, Toni has been a treasured collaborator, a monumental inspiration and, most importantly, a cherished friend. We will all miss her, but the gifts she left us — her written works that have transformed so many lives around the world — live on...to educate, empower and nourish us. For this and all she shared with us, I say thank you Toni"
Guests:
Dana A. Williams, professor of African American Literature and chair of the Department of English at Howard University; she is also the president of the Toni Morrison Society
Maia Butler, assistant professor of African American Literature at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington
Autumn Womack, assistant professor of African American Studies and English at Princeton; she has taught a single author course on Toni Morrison
A Look At The Challenges Of #MeToo In The High School Setting
#MeToo took the world by storm nearly two years ago, giving people who’ve experienced sexual assault or harassment the platform the share their personal stories. Those stories have been shared in a number of settings, including Hollywood, the workplace and schools. Writer Sarah Fuss Kessler followed the story of a teacher at Golden Valley High School, who detailed her #MeToo experience and how it the allegations were handled. The piece, “The Teacher. The Basketball Coach. The Dead Rat In the Mail. Inside the #MeToo crisis and cover up sparked at Golden Valley High,” quickly goes beyond the teacher’s experience and sheds light on a number of other experiences from employees and students.
Guest host Libby Denkmann sits down with the writer and other experts to look at #MeToo in the high school setting.
With guest host Libby Denkmann.
Guests:
Sarah Fuss Kessler, a freelance writer and editor; her latest piece, for Medium's new political publication, GEN, is about a high school #MeToo uprising in Merced; she tweets @SarahFussKesslr
Sue Bendavid, lawyer at Encino-based law firm Lewitt Hackman, who represents companies and management in sexual harassment allegations; she also counsels private schools in best practices for handling allegations; she tweets
Scott Lewis, a partner with TNG, a think tank in Pennsylvania that consults with schools, colleges and workplaces to reduce violence and misconduct; he's also the co-founder of the Association for Title IX Administrators;