Melania Trump's RNC speech and Michelle Obama's 2008 DNC speech, transracial households discuss race and policing, the upcoming summer Games.
Young CA delegate reflects on RNC, Melania Trump speech
On Monday, Take Two checked in with California Trump delegate Claire Chiara, a senior at UC Berkeley and one of the youngest delegates representing the Golden State in Cleveland.
Claire joined the show again Tuesday morning to share her reflections and reaction to the Melania Trump plagiarism accusations.
Press the blue play button above to hear the interview.
How exactly will Donald Trump 'make America work again?'
It was Make America Work Again night at the "Q" in Cleveland Tuesday.
Delegates there heard from a variety of voices, including Ben Carson, Donald Trump Junior, and the House Majority Leader, California Congressman Kevin McCarthy, who delivered a scathing assessment of the economy under President Obama.
https://youtu.be/VQ-tWguepdI?t=1m55s
Noticeably absent from the remarks yesterday: concrete details on what Donald Trump would do to create jobs and stimulate the economy.
For a look at how California would fare under a Trump administration, Take Two spoke to two guests:
- Bill Whalen, research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution
- Louis DeSipio, professor of political science and Chicano studies at UC Irvine
Highlights
Donald Trump has repeatedly stated that he will grow jobs as president. On his website under the tab titled "the economy" he offers this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97iL5er3Mkc
He references his tax plan. What is the Trump tax plan?
Whalen: He wants to lower rates, and he wants to reduce regulatory effects on the economy. It's very similar to Reaganomics of the 1980s in that regard.
Louis, Donald Trump Jr. referred to Hispanics in his remarks yesterday:
"[Democrats] gave us the worst immigration system in the world, one that imports immobility, one that drives down employment and wages for Hispanic Americans, for African Americans, and for everyone..." - Donald Trump Jr.
How would you describe Latino employment during the Obama presidency?
DeSipio: It's grown dramatically, as it has for all groups in US society. President Obama entered at the depths of the Great Recession and has seen a slow growth out of the Great Recession. Latino unemployment has dropped by over half in the Obama years.
Trump Jr. seems to be making the case that undocumented immigrants are making it harder for other minorities to grow economically. What does data tell us about the impact that undocumented workers have on the California economy?
DeSipio: The way that I would sum it up is to suggest that unauthorized labor compliments rather than substitutes for native-born labor, so it adds to the strength of the economy. Certainly, immigrants and unauthorized immigrants specifically have kept certain industries alive here in California. They create jobs and contribute to the state economy, and pay quite a bit in taxes... I'd also challenge Donald Trump Jr. in that unauthorized immigration has been the result of both Democratic and Republican administrations, in fact, the biggest growth was under President Bush.
If there's an undecided voter walking into this convention, do you think they'll walk away with a more positive outlook on the party under Donald Trump?
Whalen: We have to see what Trump does tomorrow night. If Trump gives a very good speech, if Trump makes sense on some policy issues, if Trump does not go off course and starts deviating into judges and ridiculous other side trips that he tends to take, he maybe gets a small boost. But I think we have to diminish the results of this convention in this regard.
This is an election that I think will be decided by two things: Number one: How these two do against each other in debates come October. They're going to go head to head 2, 3 times in October in debates. Let's see how they do. But the other thing I think that's going to drive this election is providence — I'm not referring to the small town in Rhode Island, but providence in terms of events beyond these candidates' control. Look at what shootings have done to the national debate in the last couple of week. Coups in Turkey and things like that.
Press the blue play button above to hear more.
Recapping day one of the Republican National Convention
"Make America Safe Again" was the theme on day one of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
Convention attendees heard from a myriad of voices Monday, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke. The speech that garnered the most media attention, however, was that of Donald Trump's wife, Melania Trump.
Many have noted some (rather jarring) similarities between Melania Trump's speech and one given by Michelle Obama at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
For more on day one of the 2016 Republican National Convention, Take Two spoke to Katie Orr, Sacramento politics and government reporter for KQED.
Press the blue play button above to hear the full interview.
One of California's youngest delegates arrives at the Republican National Convention
It's day one of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio.
Delegates from the Golden State put their dedication to democracy on display early when, after lengthy flights, they were made to stay 60 miles outside of Cleveland in the town of Sandusky. GOP devotees were bussed to the Quicken Loans Arena.
On board one of those buses was 22-year-old Donald Trump delegate Claire Chiara, a senior at UC Berkeley. Chiara said that, initially, the sheltering arrangement left some delegates upset.
"I think that the initial reaction was a little bit of frustration, but when the delegation found out that we, as the largest delegation from the convention... were gonna be staying in an indoor water park... I think that people really warmed up to the idea."
Just moments off the bus, Chiara described the scene as "absolutely electric," with fellow delegates snapping photos nearby. "You can tell that everyone is feeling very patriotic and proud to be able to be a part of this," she said.
Chiara may be one of the state's youngest delegates, but she's no stranger to Republican politics. At Berkeley, she double majors in economics and political science. She's finance director for the California Young Republican Federation, and a candidate for State Assembly, District 15.
Chiara says Donald Trump wasn't her first choice at this time last year, but he was in the running.
"When you have a field with almost 20 different Republican candidates running about a year out, obviously when you get to June, your top choice is probably not going to be the top person on the ballot," Chiara said.
Chiara's shortlist included Scott Walker, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich.
"Early on, I decided that I wasn't gonna pick an early favorite, but I had four candidates that I was willing to support; one of them was Donald Trump. When he became our — essential — presumptive nominee in May, I decided I was already in favor of him, and now I'm going to stand behind him, and I do," she said.
Chiara says it was Trump's stance on gay rights that sealed the deal for her.
"Donald Trump has been cited by quite a few journalists now as being the most pro-LGBTQ Republican presidential nominee in history, and I think that's a great characterization of him. He is very moderate on those issues," she said.
When asked about running mate Mike Pence's past opposition to LGBTQ equality, Chiara was unperturbed.
"I don't think Donald Trump's gonna go back on 20 years of supporting the gay community because of his vice presidential pick."
Press the blue play button above to hear the full interview.
How white parents talk with their black and biracial sons about race
Last week on The Brood, parents of color discussed how they have "the talk" with their children about interacting with police. This week, we hear from white parents on how they approach "the talk" and the role of race with their black and biracial sons.
Discussing recent events and the topic of race is a daunting task for any parent but it may be especially tough for parents who are a different race than their children.
Three white parents who are raising black and biracial children talked with Take Two’s Alex Cohen about how their mixed race families are talking about current events and the role of race.
Guests:
- Angie Sanders – mother of a biracial son, age 6
- Allison Moore – mother of one African American son, age 6
- Michael Fitzgerald – father of two biracial sons, ages 14 and 16
Interview highlights
On the role of race in preparing to be a parent
Angie Sanders
My son is biracial. My son presents White. That gives us an extra element. Out in the world, especially in the black community where people of black decent know and notice it, people of white decent don’t really. There’s so much to consider as a parent. And now with what’s going on in the news it’s; what do we say, what do we not say, how do we say it? We did actually have a big discussion about it. That’s actually a fortunate thing in adoption, you get to discuss what you’re open to, what to have in your home, and to open your minds and hearts as a family. In adoption, there’s these little boxes you have to mark, so we were open to any ethnicity. We knew we had to educate ourselves to be prepared for it but then when it happens you’re still never prepared for it out in the world.
Allison Moore
It was three days after we adopted Matthew, we adopted Matthew at three weeks, my late husband and I, he’s passed away, were out at a restaurant in San Antonio, Texas. Matthew is very clearly African-American and I am very clearly White, and someone said to me, ‘where’d you steal that baby from?’ So, from the very get go, I knew we are a very conspicuous family and that’s been one of the very great things about moving to Los Angeles for us. We were living in Minneapolis when we adopted Matthew. Since we moved to Los Angeles, it’s not like people don’t stop and comment or that’s not to say that racism doesn’t happen in L.A., it certainly does, and I’ve experienced it. We are so much less conspicuous here. There are so many more biracial families, integrated families, adoptive families. We don’t even get noticed half the time which is a relief.
Michael Fitzgerald
We are believers that people are generally going to be good people and that while we talked about some of the things my wife [who is African-American] went through growing up, I also grew up in a community that was diverse, that had its share of racial tension but also a lot of interracial harmony. We talked about our respective experiences growing up in the Midwest and the North East and what we were hoping for our children. By and large we had faith that people in our society were moving towards a place that would be better for our children. There was some concern expressed particularly by my father; ‘you got to think about where you’re going to live, you’re not going to just be able to move wherever you want because there are going to be places in this country that are not going to be friendly towards you.’ So that was probably the most blunt conversation that took place before we were married or very early on in our marriage.
On talking to kids about race and policing in light of recent events
Allison Moore
We started talking about race probably when Matthew was fourteen months old. You could see by things that he would do or words that he was using that he noticed that we were different. One of the first things kids, even just visually, is contrast. One of the benefits of being an adoptive parent is that you are given some resources ahead of time to say, you’re going to have to learn to give your child a vocabulary to talk about this stuff. You can’t wait for them to bring it up, you’re going to have to be the one who brings it up to give them permission to talk about it, to give them permission to ask questions, and race was no different for us. So I would say that by the time Matthew was 4 we probably had a thousand 30 second conversations about race because that’s how long most of your conversations with your children are when they are 2 or 3 or 4.
On resources for mixed race parents
Angie Sanders
When we were waiting to get matched for an adoption, my husband and I started an adoptive parents and family support group just to get extra support. Now, we have over two hundred and thirty families that are members. We meet once a month and the kids play together so these are children who are being raised together, have grown up together, all different ages, all different colors and that’s a positive thing for them.
One of the resources that is so easy for us to use as parents, whether you’re a white parent, a mixed race family, or a black parent, is children’s books. There are so many wonderful children’s books out there. One is called “The Skin I Live In.” There is also “All the Children of the World,” it’s almost a little science book with real pictures and images that just tell what melanin is and how we actually get our skin.
On talking to your child about interacting with law enforcement as a white parent
Michael Fitzgerald
My younger son is actually 6’ 3” so he’s a very large black male or others will perceive him as that. I don’t think he thinks of himself as one thing or another. We don’t talk a lot about what they’re going to run into with police. I don’t want my kids to be paranoid. I think parent of kids of any race need to be concerned a, especially their male sons, and their interactions with authority figures like police because if your default is confrontation, if your default is challenging, particularly in a time when there is a great deal of uncertainty about who might be literally gunning for you if you are wearing a blue uniform, you’re going to be a little more stressed than most of us. What I try to do with my kids when we talk about this, is to just say, do not add stress to this person’s life even if they are challenging you in a way that seems aggressive or confrontational, please try not to respond like that. Understand that this is not about you and just be aware of the bigger picture and not just your interaction with this individual.
Responses have been edited for clarity.
To hear the full interview, click the blue player above.
With 18 days to go, is Rio ready for the 2016 Olympics?
Despite being one of the prettiest places in the world, recent news out of Brazil has not painted a pretty picture for the start of the summer Olympic Games.
The president has been ousted. There are threats of labor strikes. Waterways are polluted. Human body parts are washing up on beaches. And of course, there's Zika.
With just three weeks away, how are things shaping up for Rio 2016? We find out from
, correspondent in Brazil for the BBC.
The fate of former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca
On Monday a federal judge has rejected a plea deal for former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca.
The deal would have called for the retired sheriff to serve anywhere from zero to six months in prison for lying to investigators in connection with an FBI probe into the county jail system. So what is Baca's next step? What are his legal options?
We'll talk about it with Stanley Goldman, professor at Loyola Law School.
Could a mysterious case of Zika point to a new mode of transmission?
Yesterday health officials announced what appears to be a bit of a medical mystery.
A person who cared for a Zika-infected relative in Utah also contracted the virus, but it's unclear how that happened.
The original patient contracted the disease overseas, but the caregiver didn't travel to a Zika affected area and had no sexual contact with a Zika-infected person, so how did they contract the virus?
Dr. Claire Panosian Dunavan, professor of medicine and infectious diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, joined Take Two to talk through some of the possibilities.
Up until now what's been the consensus on the various ways in which Zika could be transmitted?
Mosquitos are the primary mode of transmission, but body fluids (semen and blood) would also be capable of transmitting the virus. That means sexual transmission, possibly blood transfusions. But then there have been these emerging facts that the virus can also be present in urine and saliva. It's not assumed that that would be a very common way for transmission to occur.
What are the chances that a mosquito with Zika might have been buzzing around this part of Utah?
It's my understanding that Aedes mosquitos are not found in northern Utah, but this shines a light on the fact that we have not been doing extremely detailed surveillance for mosquitos in this country, so at this time somebody is taking a look and doing trapping and finding out if they might have been wrong. Having said that, it does not seem to be a climate where it would support a lot of mosquito-borne transmission of Zika.
What we do know about this case in Utah is that the original patient was an elderly man who became the first Zika-infected person to die in the continental U.S. He seems to have picked up Zika while traveling abroad. It's unclear if that man died because of his age or because of another health condition he suffered from, but what does this tell us when we then find out that his relative who cared for him then also got Zika?
Well, you've already highlighted some of the intriguing unanswered questions. It's also my understanding that this man had some chronic illnesses and that it was determined that he had a very high level of virus in his blood, which means he would be what we would call a "super spreader" in other viral diseases such as SARS or MERS, so presumably his body fluids had more virus. Now, the next mystery is how his family member, possibly his son, who seems to have been a caregiver, could have been exposed if he were not bitten by a mosquito. No sexual transmission is assumed in this case. But, if you picture a complex medical scenario, say he was on dialysis, there would be an opportunity for blood borne transmission just because of the complexity of the care. What the CDC has said is that sneezing, kissing, coughing, shared utensils, etc. are likely to transmit Zika. So this one case may just be a very odd outlier for reasons that we still don't yet know because he haven't been given many details.
There's been some speculation that this man who traveled abroad could have brought a Zika-infected mosquito back to the U.S. in his luggage or clothing. How likely is that scenario, do you think?
I find that kind of totally implausible. But, you know, I've been wrong. Everybody's been wrong with this virus. There have been many twists and turns since we started paying attention to it months ago.
How do you think this caregiver contracted the virus?
I had to guess, it would be that the elderly man who eventually died had a lot of viral particles in his body fluids and that somehow his caregiver was exposed. It could have been a needle stick, it could have been something really quirky. I sure would like to have more details from CDC, and I'm sure they will eventually give them, but this is their usual m.o. They kind of slowly release the facts that help to illuminate the science.
How concerned should people be about the possibility of a new mode of transmission for the Zika virus? What do they need to know?
I'm frankly more concerned about getting the most important messages to the public, as opposed to worrying about a new form of transmission from a man who had a very high amount of virus in his blood. I'm still not sure how many people who have traveled to Zika endemic areas realize that they may be completely well and yet a man would need to use a condom and practice protected sex for 8 weeks after returning. I'm not sure how many people who've traveled to an endemic area know that they should be using mosquito repellent for 3 weeks after they've returned back.
These most-important messages are pretty difficult to present to the public because it's not intuitive. At the time, sure, if it were an airborne virus, that would lead to a whole other level of messages but I just don't see that happening. I do not think that this is a virus that will be easily spread by sneezing, kissing, coughing, etc. So it's all about priorities right now.
Questions and responses have been edited for clarity.
New music from Jay-Z, Dam Funk, Schoolboy Q and ZULUZULUU
If you don't have the time to keep up with the latest in new music, we've got the perfect solution for you: Tuesday Reviewsday. Every week our music experts come in to talk about the best new tunes in one short segment. This week,
and music supervisor
join A Martinez with their top picks.
Oliver Wang
Artist: Jay-Z
Song: Spiritual
Artist: Schoolboy Q
Album: Blank Face LP
Song: That Part (Black Hippy Remix)
Artist: Betty Davis
Album: The Columbia Years, 1968-69
Song: Politician Man
Morgan Rhodes
Artist: Blood Orange
Song: Sandra's Smile
Artist: NITE - FUNK
Album: NITE - FUNK EP
Song: Don't Play Games
Artist: ZULUZULUU
Album: What's The Price
Song: Fades