The death of Samuel DuBose reignites debate about the power of campus police officers, what to do this weekend, and Jason Segel on playing David Foster Wallace
When is campus policing harmful to the community?
Samuel Dubose was pulled over for not having a front license plate early last week. Ray Tensing, the officer who stopped him, wasn’t a municipal officer, however. He was a campus cop for the University of Cincinnati.
When Dubose failed to produce a driver license, Tensing asked him to step out of the car. Seconds later, Dubose was dead.
The university police department later released video of the shooting, captured on the officer’s body camera.
Warning: This video is graphic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0cdejrSjyc
The shooting now raises questions about the power of campus departments, and if they should be armed.
Gloria Browne-Marshall teaches constitutional law at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York. She tells Take Two little is known about how the nation’s nearly 800 campus departments operate. Most aren’t even required to release incident details. “We don’t know how they’re trained,” she says. “[We] don’t know the racial impact, the racial sensitivity regarding race, or what the racial disparity might be around arrests and detainments … We have no information aside from what they may reveal at any given time.”
Many departments regularly review data to improve policing. The Cincinnati Police Department introduced reforms after an officer shot a 19-year-old black man in 2001.
Browne-Marshall says there’s a reason campuses choose to withhold this kind of information: it’s bad for business. “Education is a business, and you don’t want to scare off the customers. You don’t want to scare parents, because the parents, of course, are making the final money decision when it comes to where their children are going to be educated,” she explains.
In the age of campus shootings, many colleges opt to arm their police departments. Browne-Marshall thinks this is a bad idea. “It’s like giving deadly force to the local security person at the Rite Aid, CVS, Walmart, or wherever you might go. [That] person has the ability to take a life when we don’t know what kind of [judgement] they’re using.”
Press the play button above to hear more about the challenges with regulating college campus police departments.
Why we trust videos in police-involved altercations
The video of Samuel Dubose's death has spurred anger nationwide.
So have countless other videos showing police officers involved in altercations or fatal shootings. These moving images have the power to galvanize people to press for change. But there's a problem. What we see might not always reflect the whole truth.
A video can only show us one perspective and that's assuming it's completely raw and unedited. Rita Kirk, a professor of communication at Southern Methodist University joins the show for more.
Playing David Foster Wallace in 'The End of the Tour' made Jason Segel reflect on the nature of celebrity
Two writers named David. They're the subject of a film, in theaters now, called "The End of the Tour."
Who are those Davids? The late, and very famous author, David Foster Wallace, and the not so nearly famous novelist and journalist, David Lipsky. About 20 years ago, Lipsky was assigned to do a profile of Wallace for Rolling Stone magazine. So he traveled to Wallace's home in Illinois, shortly after the publication of "Infinete Jest," the author's wildly popular novel. The two spent several days together as Wallace embarked on a book tour.
In "The End of the Tour," Jesse Eisenberg plays David Lipsky and actor Jason Segel takes on the part of David Foster Wallace.
Alex Cohen recently spoke with Segel about the role, the friend he found in Jessie Eisenberg and how playing David Foster Wallace made him reflect on the nature of celebrity.
Alex Cohen: Fame and success play a big role in this film and David Foster Wallace obviously enjoyed it to an extent, but was uncomfortable with it as well. Can I ask you about your relationship with fame and celebrity and where you kind of stand on that spectrum?
Jason Segel: I've been thinking about this a fair amount recently. Where is the line where one becomes a celebrity? I don't feel like a celebrity, except when somebody recognizes me. And then I have that encounter and then I go back to buying the eggs that I need cause I forgot them on the last trip to the grocery store. And we needed them and my girlfriend is annoyed because she's trying to make something and I don't have the eggs... you see what I'm saying?
It's just not something that's in my conscious awareness... there are certainly benefits to it. There are drawbacks. But what I try really hard to do is not ever think of myself like a celebrity. And I think David Foster Wallace felt a similar way.
To hear the entire conversation, click on the audio embedded above.
Need a vicarious summer vacation? Let this map be your guide
Summertime means vacation time. But for those who can't get away this year — there's a map for that.
Richard Kreitner, freelance writer and staffer for The Nation, has taken the best road trip novels in all of American literature, and created a map of them. He joined the show to explain more.
To hear this segment, click on the audio above.
Oregon state agencies ordered to cut water use amid drought
The drought isn't just a California problem.
Washington and Oregon— known the world over for their rain— are parched this year.
In Oregon, 23 of the state's 36 counties are in a state of drought emergency. This week, Oregon Governor Kate Brown ordered state agencies to cut their water use by 15 percent over the next five years.
State water policy analyst Diana Enright and hydrologist Scott Oviatt, snow survey supervisor for the Natural Resource Conservation Service in Oregon, joined Take Two to discuss the Oregon drought.
To hear the full interview, click the link above.
Aftershocks: Kamasi Washington and the music of the Watts Riots
On Tuesday August 11, Take Two will host a live broadcast from the South L.A. neighborhood of Watts, 50 years after the riots.
But Los Angeles has been remembering the events of 1965 — dubbed the worst race riots in America — in many ways, including through music and the arts
Grand Performances staged a series of special concerts called 'Aftershocks' - and Take Two provided the pre-show conversation.
On Saturday July 25, Alex Cohen sat down with jazz musician Kamasi Washington before his set "65 to 92: The Rhythm Changes But the Struggle Remains." He was joined by Shana Redmond, author of "Anthem: Social Movements and the Sounds of Solidarity in the African Diaspora" and Povi-Tamu Bryant, coordinator with #blacklivesmatter, Los Angeles.
Click on the blue bar above to hear an excerpt of the conversation. Listen to the rest of the "downSTAGE with Take Two" Aftershocks series below.
Wattstax Revisted: Memories of the Wattstax musical festival with Tim Watkins and Lucien "Fiyeh" Smith.
Watts 50: Exploring social movements through hip hop and archive form the Watts riots with hip hop duo, Dead Prez and Mark Torres from the Pacifica Radio Archives.
The Last Jimmy: An examination of African American men and mass incarceration with Karl "Dice Raw" Jenkins and Phillip Brown, creators of the hip hop musical "The Last Jimmy."
Weekend on the cheap: Beer, bacon and books
Looking for something to do this weekend?
KPCC's social media producer Kristen Lepore joins us every Friday with fun and almost-free things to do. This weekend's rundown includes beer-flavored ice cream, pop-up sound baths at the Integratron near Joshua Tree and the Big Bite Bacon Fest.
To hear more, listen to the audio above. For more details on these events, click here.