We get the latest from reporters inside and out of the police commission meeting deliberating on officers involved in the Ezell Ford case. Also, the Supreme Court is expected to issue decisions on the Affordable Care Act and same-sex marriage. Then, Morning Edition co-host Steve Inskeep explores the political battle of the 1830 Indian Removal Act.
Ezell Ford: LA Police Commission rules on officer-involved shooting death
We get the latest from reporters inside and out of the police commission meeting about what prompted the stop of Ezell Ford by police, what the relationship is like between the police commission and Chief Charlie Beck, and reaction from the crowds outside.
NPR's Michel Martin will be at The Los Angeles Theatre Center on June 24th for "Streets and Beats," a discussion on policing and the community. More information can be found here.
Read the full coverage here.
Guest:
Sharon McNary, KPCC reporter outside the police commission
Texans react to McKinney policing of pool party
Officials in Texas are poring over details surrounding a pool party bust Friday night in McKinney, Texas after viral video showed a police officer drawing his gun and pinning down a teenage girl.
McKinney Police Corporal Eric Casebolt has been placed on administrative leave and some are calling for him to be fired. Use-of-force experts say Casebolt failed to de-escalate the situation, should not have drawn his weapon, and used excessive force on the young woman. Area residents told local news outlets that the teens were antagonizing the police. McKinney is an affluent, primarily white community.
The police department said many of the black youths did not have guest access to the pool. The ACLU of Texas released a statement saying "[I]n too many cities, there are two kinds of policing and we saw both in this incident: one serving and protecting the white community and one criminalizing and controlling communities of color." If you've watched the seven-minute video on YouTube, what's your takeaway?
ADVISORY: This video contains profanity and violence.
Guests:
Robert Taylor, Professor of Criminology and use-of-force expert, University of Texas at Dallas; Taylor has worked with the McKinney police department
Satinder Singh, Staff Attorney, ACLU of Texas
Why public attitudes shift before major Supreme Court rulings
The Supreme Court is expected to issue decisions on two major issues this month, and while their rulings may be groundbreaking, the big topics at hand (same sex marriage and healthcare) are issues that the nine justices have gone over time and time again.
Unfortunately, despite the High Court’s experience dealing with both issues, there’s still a good bit of skepticism about the Supreme Court’s ability to handle these two landmark decisions.
According to a new CNN/ORC poll, a majority of Americans, 52 percent, approve of the way the Supreme Court is handling its job, while 41 percent disapprove. But when asked about their confidence in the Supreme Court’s ability to handle specific issues, only 50 percent said they have at least a moderate amount of trust on healthcare, and 49 percent on same-sex marriage.
How confident are you in the Supreme Court’s ability to do its job? To handle specific issues like same-sex marriage and healthcare? Why do public attitudes shift like this before major Supreme Court rulings?
Guests:
David Savage, Supreme Court reporter for the L.A. Times’ Washington Bureau
Adam Liptak, Supreme Court reporter for The New York Times
As Corinthians close and feds forgive student debt, exploring future of for-profit colleges
In the wake of allegations of fraud, one of the nation’s largest for-profit universities is closing its doors to tens of thousands of students, and fortunately for them, the U.S. Department of Education says it’s going to forgive those students’ federal loans and the loans of any student who has been defrauded by his or her college.
While former Corinthian students may be celebrating, the cost to taxpayers of the government forgiving these loans could be huge. The Department of Education that the cost could be $3.5 billion if all 350,000 Corinthian students over the last five years apply for and get the debt relief.
Is Corinthian just the first domino to fall? Have we seen patterns of fraud or high tuition/low academic standards in other for-profit colleges and universities? What other for-profit schools have been investigated?
Here’s more info on what Corinthian Colleges students need to know about debt relief, from the U.S. Department of Education.
Guest:
Osamudia James, professor of law at the University of Miami where she writes and teaches about education, race, and the law. She recently wrote an op-ed in the New York Times, titled “When For-Profit Colleges Close, Student Debt Should Be Forgiven.”
NPR’s Steve Inskeep on battle for land between Pres. Jackson and Cherokee chief John Ross
Tens of thousands of Native Americans were removed from their homelands following the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The episode is often referred to as the “Trail of Tears.”
In his new book “Jacksonland: President Andrew Jackson, Chief John Ross, and a Great American Land Grab” Morning Edition co-host Steve Inskeep explores the political battle by focusing on its two principals: President Andrew Jackson and Cherokee chief John Ross.
Inskeep details the two men’s struggle over the land of the Five Civilized Tribes and how later as president, Jackson seized tens of millions of acres known as “Jacksonland” located today in the America’s Deep South. It also gives readers a glimpse into the less reported on John Ross who was a politician and diplomat who used the United States’ legal system to oppose Jackson.
Inskeep joins us to discuss the story behind “Jacksonland” and how early Native-American relations in the U.S. set the tone for events like the Civil War as well as modern-day politics.
Guest:
Steve Inskeep, co-host of NPR’s Morning Edition and author of the book, “Jacksonland: President Andrew Jackson, Chief John Ross, and a Great American Land Grab” (Penguin Press, 2015)
Is PC-ness destroying comedy? Comedian Alonzo Bodden, NYT film critic A.O. Scott weigh in
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld said in a recent radio interview that political correctness is hurting stand-up comedy.
He said that comedians he knows have told him that they stay away from playing at college campuses because students are too "PC."
"I don't play colleges, but I hear a lot of people tell me, 'Don't go near colleges. They're so PC,'" Seinfeld told ESPN's Colin Cowherd.
Seinfeld's comments reopen the age-old debate on whether comedians should be given carte blanche to do what they do best: be funny. And it's a question that feels more relevant than ever. On the one hand, American comedy is experiencing a Golden Age of sorts. On the other, we’ve become more aware and sensitive over issues like gender inequity, the wealth gap, the disenfranchisement of ethnic minorities.
Where's the line? Does stand-up comedy have an ethical responsibility to not offend?
Guests:
Alonzo Bodden, comedian and winner of the third season of the reality television series, Last Comic Standing. He'll performing at the Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank on June 26 and 27
A.O. Scott, chief film critic for the New York Times. His think piece on the state of American comedy, titled “Adjusting to a World That Won’t Laugh With You” was published in Friday’s paper
Daniel Dominguez, TV writer for Nickelodeon and comedian
Maz Jobrani, comedian, his new book is “I’m Not a Terrorist, But I’ve Played One on TV: Memoirs of a Middle Eastern Funny Man” (Simon & Schuster, 2015)