California Energy Commissioner talks wind energy and CA, Daryl Davis and his conversations with the KKK, is a real or fake Christmas tree better for the environment?
The man with the Klan: Daryl Davis' unorthodox approach to racial reconciliation
How can you hate me if you don't even know me? That question has been a driving force in Daryl Davis' life.
Davis is a musician, he's black, and he spends much of his free time befriending members of the Ku Klux Klan. He even collects their ceremonial robes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7fh5J_mo5E
His story is told in the new documentary, "Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America."
Director Matthew Ornstein and Daryl Davis himself spoke recently with Take Two's Alex Cohen.
Highlights
Daryl, this is an unconventional tactic, to say the least, and something you've done now for years and years. When did this idea come to mind for you?
You know, I think the embryo for this strategy has always been with me because I grew up as the child of U.S. diplomats, so it was my father's job to be overseas in foreign countries bettering relationships with foreign governments. I simply have now applied it in my own country to people who may not necessarily have good relationships between the races.
You've done this for a while now, so you're kind of used to it. You seem comfortable and confident when you meet with members of the KKK. But what about at the very beginning. Were you scared or nervous at all? This could have worked out in an entirely different way.
No, I was not fearful of them at all. It wasn't so much courage as it was curiosity. I had already read — literally — every book written on the Klan. I have a vast library of those books. So I had a vast knowledge of the subject and so I went in there armed with my knowledge. Believe it or not, the best way to put somebody at ease or bring them to a level of trust is to know as much if not more about them than they know about themselves or the organization to which they belong.
Matt, this is going to come off like a bad joke, but what's a nice Jewish boy doing coming along and filming all of this? Daryl talks about coming in having done all of his homework, but the KKK, they don't really care for Jewish people either. Were you nervous at all?
I think there's a long and glorious history of Jewish and black people making questionable alliances in the name of advancing civil rights, so it's the least I can do, I suppose.
But not sitting down with the KKK. Did you have any trepidations?
Everyone's very media savvy now, and I think know they will ultimately be judged by history. It's important to remember that these people believe that history will judge them correctly, just as much as we feel that making this movie will ultimately show us to be the correct side. They feel like everyone else will probably look foolish when they watch this movie in 50 years.
Daryl, if you were to give at least one piece of advice to listeners hearing this now who think, "I want to sit across the table and have my own Daryl Davis kind of conversation," what advice would you give?
When two enemies are talking, they are not fighting. They may be yelling and screaming at each other and disagreeing and pounding their fists on the table to make a point, but at least they're talking. It's when the talking ceases that the ground becomes fertile for violence, so always keep the conversation going.
"Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America" is playing in LA at the Los Feliz Theatre.
Press the blue play button above to hear the full conversation.
South Korea's parliament votes to impeach President Park. What happens next?
South Korea's parliament voted earlier today to impeach President Park Geun-hye.
She's been mired in a corruption scandal that tied her to the daughter of a religious cult leader, and it's alleged that that person was able to wield a remarkable sway within the administration.
When that connection was discovered, millions of people gathered on the streets for weeks to call for President Park's resignation.
The impeachment vote sends the president's fate to the country's Constitutional Court, where six of the nine judges would have up to six months to decide whether she should be officially removed from office.
David Kang, director of the Korean Studies Institute at USC, joins Take Two to walk us through the next step and who might step into the power vacuum should President Park be ousted.
To hear the full segment, click the blue play button above.
Philip Browning reflects on his tenure as head of DCFS
This week Philip Browning, the director of Los Angeles County's Department of Children and Family Services, announced that he'd soon be retiring.
DCFS serves roughly 36 thousand kids a year. The agency handles all sorts of things including arranging for adoptions, organizing foster care, and investigating allegations of child abuse.
Browning first came on board with the agency as an interim director in the summer of 2011, and this Wednesday announced that he'd be retiring in early 2017.
He spoke with Take Two's Alex Cohen about his decision to retire and about the successes and failures he oversaw as head of L.A. County's child protective services agency.
Interview highlights:
On what initially drew him to the field and why he's retiring now
"I've been doing this for about 45 years, in other states and the District of Columbia, and most recently in California. And I think it's so important to have people who will stay committed, because we have thousands of social workers every day who make a difference in the life of a child, they rescue children from unsafe environments. And so I think, over my career, I've been able to mentor workers and to help manage programs...and so this is sort of the culmination of a career. I do think there has been a lot of progress and improvement made in this department... we do have thousands of children every day for whom we have direct responsibility and it's a daunting task for anyone.
On the extent to which he holds himself responsible for the agency's failings, including the death of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez in 2012
"As the director of the agency, I am responsible, and so I take all of these sorts of things personally. And that was a tragic, tragic situation. And I do think that was a watershed moment for this county. Based on that incident, there was a blue-ribbon commission created, there were changes proposed. Now frankly, a lot of those changes were already in the works, and one of the things that was so critical was to hire additional social workers. Because social workers go every day into dangerous situation where they don't know who's on the other side of the door that they'r knocking on. And they have to make a decision in just a few moments. And so I think over the last few years, we've hired an additional two thousand social workers... which has reduced the case load. We have a brand new training program that allows workers to practice before they actually get out to into the home of an individual. But in the case you just mentioned, we did find that there were errors made and we did take disciplinary action. I do think that there have been many many changes... but I do have responsibility for what goes on in this department."
On the way he makes peace with the responsibility he and DCFS bear for cases in which children have died, including the death of 11-year-old Yonatan Daniel Aguilar who was starved, drugged, and hidden in a locked closet
"I think we have to take things day by day, and there are some things that get magnified where the department really couldn't have done anything different and the young boy in the closet, I've looked at all of those records and reports and feel pretty confident that the department did everything we could in that situation. Now, the Gabriel Fernandez case was not that way, and we did bear more responsibility, and we've taken action. But that still doesn't negate the fact that there are adverse consequences that happened for that child and for the family and for the community. And I think one of the things that's so important is for the community to recognize that even though we have a lot of workers and social workers, it's a community issue. And we need to have support from the community, they need to tell us when there's something going on. We get about 200,000 calls a year that we need to investigate, and we need an additional thousand social workers to really have our case load where we need it to be so that we can provide the service that's so essential."
On what he sees as the successes and high points of his tenure
"So we detain about 10,000 children a year. We take them out of unsafe environments and put them with a relative or a foster parent. And one of the things that's so gratifying is to see where a child is being adopted by an individual, a loving family. So we have adoption day, which is so important. We've been able to automate things which in other jurisdictions haven't been automated that allow us to place children with relatives. So the national average of children being placed with relatives is about 29 percent. In L.A. County, over 50 percent of the children that we have to take away from their biological parents are placed with relatives. And that's a gratifying thing for me to know that we're trying to maintain those relationships."
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue media player above.
Study reveals unexpected causes of mosquito population growth
Mosquito populations in the U.S. have grown significantly over the last few decades, in some places by as much as ten times previous numbers. The increase in mosquitoes raises concern that diseases like the Zika virus could spread further into northern regions.
A new study published in Nature Communications examined mosquito populations in California, New York and New Jersey. While climate change does play a part, researchers determined that urbanization and the decline of the now banned insecticide, DDT played the most influential roles, contrary to prior thought. It turns out that some kinds of mosquitoes, including the ones that commonly spread disease, have become experts at adapting to human created habitat.
Take Two's A Martinez spoke with one the study's coauthors, Marm Kilpatrick. He's an associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
To hear the full interview, click on the Blue Arrow above.
Oh (real) Christmas tree, oh (fake) Christmas tree — Which is better for the environment?
With only two weekends left until Christmas, chances are that a lot of folks will be decorating trees this weekend.
But what kind of tree?
Real trees offer that great smell, the fun of picking out your very own one, while artificial trees mean less vacuuming of fallen needles and you can save money because you only have to buy one... ever.
So which to choose?
Char Miller is Professor of Environmental Studies at Pomona College and author of "Not So Golden State: Sustainability versus The California Dream." He spoke to Alex Cohen about why real trees are better for the environment.
"So the argument goes like this: Fake trees despite their presumed low cost...are made out of plastic. They're made out of some pretty dangerous chemicals," explained Miller, "Not for us to handle necessarily but the effluent of which either then goes pumped into the ocean or into the air..."
Miller continued explaining his argument against artificial trees:
"Then you start to think about the transportation cost of those artificial trees, 80 percent of which Americans buy are coming from China and so you've got the long haul across the Pacific to our shopping centers and to Wal-Mart and elsewhere. So, from my vantage point, that's a deal breaker, which is not to say that the real trees themselves are less costly in terms of carbon footprint, although I think they are."
Miller also spoke about the real tree nostalgia factor and how the drought plays a role in this whole Christmas tree business.
To hear the full segment, click the blue play button above.
Santa visits get a techy makeover at SoCal malls
As a kid, visiting Santa at the mall seemed so simple. Tell him what you want for Christmas, hope he doesn’t remember that fight with your sister and smile for the camera.
But things have changed. Shopping centers across the country are finding ways to create an entire Santa experience, equipped with selfies, smartphone apps and augmented reality--think Pokemon Go, but with a holiday spin.
Annette Norwood, senior marketing manager at Lakewood Center mall took me through its HGTV sponsored Santa Headquarters. The attraction is also popping up at malls in Cerritos and Thousand Oaks.
Surrounded by fake snow, Christmas Trees, colorful lights and holiday music, seeing Santa HQ is like stepping into Santa’s workshop-- on steroids.
We stop at a station to take an “elfie selfie.” That’s a program that takes a snapshot of your face and puts it on an animated elf who’s taking a dance break with some colleagues after assembling toys. Norwood explains its additional features.
NORWOOD: And you’re also able to download the app as well so you could do it at home.
In the next room, Jakob Hatch, who works at the attraction, is holding a tablet to demonstrate “Elf-Ray Vision,” an augmented reality game.
Throughout the workshop are triggers for the game. On a table next to Santa’s cookies, I spot a blueprint of a toy. We look through the tablet to reveal an AR image of the finished product--a wooden elf doll dressed in blue.
But AR and selfies aren’t the only extras being offered at Santa’s workshop these days. Over the past five years, shopping centers throughout Southern California have offered pet adoption events with St. Nick. Yes, you can bring your cat or dog to take a picture with the big guy, and even take home another furry friend. Other malls like the Long Beach Towne Center offer food, crafts and musical performances along with Santa photos.
But what really keeps kids coming back year after year? Shawnie Taylor, who brought her 3-year-old daughter to the Lakewood Center, still loves to see her child's face light up when she sees the big guy.
TAYLOR: My favorite part was seeing Santa Claus. To see the excitement on her face and the happiness and the joy.
So what’s the point of bringing in all this technology, pet selfies and entertainment when kids are still most excited about one-on-one time with Santa Claus?
Marshal Cohen is the chief industry analyst for the financial research firm, NPD Group.
He says seeing Santa isn’t just about bringing more traffic into the mall anymore, it’s about making the process more efficient and easy to promote.
COHEN: By bringing technology into the equation, what it does is it allows more and more people to share the experience, to plan the experience and to participate in the experience.
And creating that experience also means thinking outside the box for families with different needs.
The Santa Cares events began in local shopping centers about five years ago. It gives special needs kids a chance to see Santa without the wait or all the stimulation like lights and noise. Chelsea Hartnett is the PR director for Citadel Outlets in Commerce which hosted a recent event.
HARTNETT: Families don’t always have the chance to meet with Santa. So it’s really really amazing to see them come in and have their first, sometimes first Santa experience here with us.
Dayana Garcia’s 7-year-old son, Joseph, has autism. She’s taking him to visit Santa for the first time. Dayana says she’s seen an increase in programs like Santa Cares, but events like this are still few and far between.
GARCIA: This is the last event of the season that they’ll have for kids with autism or any special needs, so I made sure that I would come.
Due to the demand, the Citadel is thinking about adding another Santa Cares event this year, and plans to bring the program back next year.
Dayana walks up to “Santa’s House” with Joseph. It doesn’t have screens or lights, but there’s the same magical feeling. Santa sits in his chair, and lets Joseph take the lead. Whether they get a good picture isn’t the point. It’s about being a kid and believing in something that can’t be explained.
And having someone larger than life tell you that you’re good, even if you mess up once in awhile.
LA's new nature center aims to get more urban kids outdoors
If you're stuck in L.A. and yearn for the great outdoors, never fear: there's a new way to take a break from the city.
It's called Gateway to Nature.
The new spot is located near the city's historic center of Olvera Street and opens this weekend. The market, classroom and cultural site is designed to give urban dwellers a taste for the outdoors and learn more about our surrounding mountains, forests and rivers.
"The mission of this center was really to get Angelenos to go out," said Jilly Canizares, Los Angeles Operations Manager with the Western National Parks Center, Los Angeles, during a tour of the Center. "We really wanted to replicate the experience of being out in nature."
The project is spearheaded by the Western National Parks Association in partnership with the National Park Service, the USDA Forest Service, and the City of Los Angeles.
There's a large map of the city's nature spots on one wall, with distance and commute times, and crafts from local Native American artists. It's especially designed to get more urban youth excited about getting out into nature, with craft tables for children and bird calls playing through speakers in the background.
"We need to put wheels under the forest and the park and bring it to the city, bring it to the people," said Jeff Vail, forest supervisor with the Angeles National Forest. "To remind folks that these public lands, these open spaces, these natural experiences are available and within easy reach."
What: Gateway To Nature Center
Where: 130 Paseo de La Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90012
When: Opening to the public on Friday, December 9, 2016.
More info: Regular Hours: 9:30am-6pm. Free admission.