Highlights from former FBI director James Comey testimony, your latest roundup of things to do in Los Angeles this weekend, the big colorful fashion of PRIDE.
State of Affairs: Sen. Harris stands out in Comey hearing, Gov. Brown's new climate legacy
Today on State of Affairs:
It was the testimony seen around the world: former FBI director James Comey appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
California's Kamala Harris had some pointed words:
https://youtu.be/PIiLz6x6X2E?t=25s
Also:
- California Governor Jerry Brown talked climate in China earlier this week — and ended up walking away with a deal of his own.
- Knock-knock. Who's there? Conservatives. They're going door to door to counter Democratic campaigners.
Guests:
- Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, professor of public policy at USC
- Carla Marinucci, senior editor for Politico's California Playbook
Press the blue play button above to hear the full interview.
Why black boys struggle with reading and what we can do about it
In California's public schools, boys perform lower than girls in almost every subject. That much has been known for some time. But here's another troubling trend: broken down by race, black boys struggle the most, especially in the area of reading.
Data crunched by Cal Matters from the Department of Education revealed that 75 percent failed to meet state reading standards — 17 percent below average for boys.
So why is that? And what can be done to help close the gap?
Take Two put that question to Tyrone Howard, director of UCLA's Black Male Institute. (Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.)
Why are black boys performing so low in reading?
It's a perplexing issue, and there's really not one single explanation to explain it. I think it's layered on multiple levels. It comes down to an intersection of two or perhaps three real core issues: racial gaps that exist, economic gaps that exist and gender gaps that exist.
What are some of the factors that could limit them in reading?
We know that black boys are more likely to be suspended and/or expelled than any other group of students in school. That's lost instructional time. You start to talk about less instructional time in the primary grades; you're talking about missing out on key areas of the academic development, of which reading is a big part.
A second factor is that there are all kinds of research that show teachers often have lower expectations for black boys. Not just white teachers, but black teachers, Asian teachers, Latino teachers. And so we have to figure out — what is it that leads to teachers in general to have this set of lower expectations?
We know that young black boys are not given the same opportunities to participate, often are assumed to know less, often are assumed to be more troublesome and disruptive. Until we begin to unpack [implicit] bias and unconscious bias and how people don't understand how they may respond to students based on a racialized lens, I think you're going to continue to see these kinds of challenges in schools.
How do we begin to close that gap? And whose job is it?
This is where we need all hands on deck. I'm not one who subscribes to pointing the finger at this person, that entity. I think we start at home. I think first we've got to get parents and caregivers onboard, with helping them to understand the role that they can play and need to play as it pertains to early literacy. Things that can be happening in the home: exposure to reading, exposure to letters, and different kinds of print-rich environments that parents and caregivers can take to have their young sons and grandsons and nephews come to school already prepared to learn.
We also have to realize that schools play a role. So we have to have teachers who are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge not to let low expectations of black boys drive the way they look at them.
We also have to have school leaders who are willing to have courageous conversations. To dig deeper into this data and say, "We have to be better."
We have to find partnership, collaboration, and really put aside the blame game where you have teachers blaming parents, parents blaming teachers — that's a counterproductive argument where children don't win at all.
How do you develop a program for boys and not exclude girls?
I think we expose boys to the full range of different experiences. We know when boys see themselves reflected in a curriculum — if they see the experiences that the characters have been in line with theirs, when they see boys with similar family arrangements to theirs, when they see boys with different kinds of interests as theirs in their reading — it's going to pique their interest.
I think cultural, social and personal relevance are all important here if we want to help these young boys.
Press the blue play button above to hear the full interview.
8 things to do this weekend in SoCal
The Styled Side: Pride month is here, and so is Pride merch
L.A. Pride is this weekend, and if you're looking to outfit yourself in rainbow clothes, jewelry, accessories and more, you should have NO problem.
Many major retailers are going above and beyond to create Pride-themed displays.
Paul Smith, for example, temporarily painted over its big, pink wall outside the L.A. store.
"For Pride Month, it's been transformed into rainbow stripes in a collaboration with — fittingly — Instagram," says Michelle Dalton Tyree of Fashion Trends Daily.
There's a big retail advantage in showcasing love for LGBT people, and the opposite is true, too.
"We saw this year that there's a huge economic cost to NOT openly supporting the LGBT community," says Tyree.
North Carolina, for example, lost an estimated $3.7 billion to its economy last year from boycotts to its so-called bathroom bill. Consumers, brands and performers all withdrew investments and appearances from the state because of the policy.
"But social activism from retailers and brands supporting the LGBT community have been building steam considerably over the past decade," she says.
Target began selling Pride merchandise five years ago, and this year they're carrying items in more than 150 stores across the country and on Target.com.
" The Target West Hollywood store has had several tables of Pride-inspired merchandise this year," says Tyree. "Salespeople at the store told me that they've been restocking daily because it's been selling so well."
Rainbow-themed products from Converse and Adidas have been selling out, too, as have unicorn Pride figurines from the L.A. brand Tokidoki.
And in L.A., there's little blowback from customers who don't tolerate LGBT people.
Tech luggage brand Raden, which just launched 14 months ago, set up a colorful rainbow-hued pop-up shop at The Grove and its founder Joshua Udashkin says he hasn't had a problem.
"Even if we alienate some people because this isn't their thing, that's okay," he says. "Whether that brings a sales bump or turns some people off, that's our prerogative at the end of the day."