Osamudia James talks about how being black is based on more than how you look, an update on the Transpacific Trade deal, the 'Limited Partnership' love story.
Furor over NAACP head sparks widespread debate on racial identity
The embattled leader of the Spokane chapter of NAACP resigned from her post on Monday, after news of how she portrayed her racial background and identity sparked heated controversy.
In a post on the Facebook page for NAACP-Spokane, Rachel Dolezal wrote that she will step aside and allow the chapters vice president, Naima Quarles-Burnley, to take over.
She also added:
"Please know I will never stop fighting for human rights and will do everything in my power to help and assist, whether it means stepping up or stepping down, because this is not about me. It's about justice. This is not me quitting; this is a continuum."
She did not offer an apology or explanation for her actions. Last week, her parents, who say they are both white, provided a birth certificate to media and questioned her claims to being African American.
"I think people are still going to want more from her," said Yesha Callahan, staff writer and editor with TheRoot.com. "They're going to want to know why she went through all this effort when she could have just been a white woman doing this work."
Osamudia James, a law professor at the University of Miami School of Law, wrote about her personal reaction in the Washington Post and said it sparks debate on some key issues in the country today.
"How does this shape our conversation about race, identity, belonging in the United States?" James said. "The black experience is a spectrum and there are a lot of different ways to understand yourself as being black, but it's not one particular hair, it's not one particular style of dress, it's not one particular way of speaking."
Set back for Pacific trade deal a blow to Obama White House
The international trade deal that the White House has been strongly pushing for with 11 other countries has hit a major snag after lawmakers from both parties dealt the plan a blow last week.
The House rejected a proposal to fast-track approval of the trade deal, called the Transpacific Partnership, that includes nations from Asia to Australia.
Many Democrats opposing the proposal cited concerns over the environment and keeping jobs in the US. The issue has also led to an unusual alliance between President Obama and some prominent Republican leaders.
For more, we're joined by Paul Kane, congressional reporter with the Washington Post.
Where country singer Sam Outlaw got his name
There are certain hubs in this country known for country music. Nashville, Tennessee, Austin, Texas. Los Angeles, California? Not so much. But that doesn't mean we don't have some great country musicians. We're thinking of local guy Sam Outlaw.
His debut album was just released and it's called "Angeleno."
Outlaw recently came into Take Two studios to sit down for a chat with Alex Cohen. To find out how Sam Outlaw got his name and to hear the entire conversation between the two, click on the audio embedded above.
#ISeeChange at the Salton Sea: Dropping levels, growing salt, and drought worries
An Inland Empire man on Sunday set an obscure record: Randy Brown walked 116 miles around the shoreline of the Salton Sea, the first person to do so.
The Salton Sea is not actually a sea. It's a salty lake few Californians know about, in a sunken part of the Colorado Desert that has cycled between dry and wet times over millions of years.
Brown is part of a community of people at the southern end of the Coachella Valley who have been observing up close the sea’s receding shores. About two dozen of those locals gathered at the Vista del Mar Clubhouse, also known as The Dome, to greet Brown halfway through his journey last Friday.
Buffeted by a gentle breeze, basking in 100-degree heat, Brown’s supporters grilled burgers and hot dogs, sipped soda and joked as the ice in their drinks instantly melted.
What they don’t find funny is the dropping lake elevation. “I put a stake out there seven years ago when I first came out here. And it’s probably 200 to 300 feet below where I put the stake,” said Skeeter Malcolm, the clubhouse caretaker and chief burger flipper. “So I seen it for myself.”
This lake was created over a century ago, accidentally. Agricultural runoff is the Salton Sea’s major source. A complicated agreement among water agencies, San Diego and the state of California took more water away from the sea in 2003 – essentially putting the sea on life support. This agreement’s imminent expiration, and the state’s slow steps towards a promised recovery, have Brown and his friends feeling protective of their incomplete, inhospitable and desolate landscape.
He sees plenty walking along the shore. “The first thing I noticed was how much it changed from the time I was there camping here as a kid versus now. In 30 years, the water has dropped hundreds of yards, a quarter of a mile in some places,” Brown says. “I’ve noticed the place basically kind of dying. So everything from abandoned buildings and dried marines. It makes me sad, all around.”
The lake is now twice as salty as the Pacific. Swimming in the Salton Sea can leave a fine coat of brine shrimp on your skin. Dead fish rot in the heat. So instead on Friday, Brown and his friends cooled off in the clubhouse pool.
Brown hit his share of speed bumps along the way. Unexpected rain on the first day created unexpected mud. He spent another day pressing forward around canals and rivers, and part of the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge.
Throughout his trip, he carried spare socks, shoes and 25 pounds of water.
“I gotta stay dry on the outside and hydrated on the inside,” he said.
The most tortuous stretch of his six-day walk came near the end, in an area he calls Death Beach.
“Part of the reason is because the shoreline is so covered with dead barnacle shells. It’s like a foot deep, so it’s like you step into them and it goes up to your ankles. it’s like going up a StairMaster for miles,” he said. “Then sometimes you get unlucky, and your foot drops through that dead barnacles into wet stinky water.”
He says it’s almost too hot to think out there, which is the part of the challenge. “I like to say that nobody wants to see the daredevil jump his motorcycle over just one bus; they want to see him jump it over 20 busses.”
Randy’s dare started out personal. Six years ago he began walking more, for his health. This walk became his “dream-adventure.” Today, he calls the Salton Sea hot, humid, smelly, dirty and lonely.
“But I also notice the beauty,” he says. “The clouds and the sunsets. I don’t think I’ve seen a more beautiful sunset than from the east side of Salton Sea.”
The drought wasn’t why he walked – but Brown says it makes his cause more urgent. The quantification settlement agreement governing water among the Imperial Irrigation District and San Diego County is up in two years. After that, the fate of the sea is unclear.
“Yeah, You think about water. and that’s now a problem cause we need that water. We need it! Well, what about Salton Sea, what are we going to do?” he said.
What Randy Brown wants is for people to pay attention to the Salton Sea the way he does.
#ISeeChange is a national effort to track how climate change is affecting our daily lives.
Notice any bugs in your backyard lately? Wondering why you're seeing coyotes where you don't expect? Seen changes in your favorite tide pool? Snap a picture and tag it @KPCC and #ISeeChange on Twitter or Instagram, let us know through our Public Insight Network, or post your questions on www.iSeeChange.org. Then see what others have found and observed in their environment.
'Limited Partnership' tells couple's story of same-sex marriage, immigration
Before the end of June, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to resolve the nation's debate over same sex marriage once and for all.
The decision will mark another step in a decades-long fight for one couple.
Filipino-American Richard Adams and his Australian husband Tony Sullivan met in the 1970s. Through luck, they were able to marry in Colorado.
The couple's story of love, immigration and their role in the gay rights movement is the focus of a documentary called, "Limited Partnership," which premieres Monday night on PBS.
Tony Sullivan and the film's director, Thomas Miller, tell more about the couple's story.
Warning: This interview contains some language that some listeners may find uncomfortable.
On the Lot: It's Jurassic's world, we just live in it
Just a week ago, Hollywood insiders were bemoaning what had been a lackluster start to the important summer box office season.
Ticket sales were barely keeping up with last summer, which was one of the worst in recent memory.
Then came the dinosaurs, and Chris Pratt.
The latest in the series of Jurassic films opened in more than 4200 theaters and set a domestic box office record for its debut weekend, generating an estimated $209 million in ticket sales.
Worldwide, another record – the first film to earn half a billion dollars in its opening weekend.
Critics were lukewarm, at best, but movie goers didn't care. The film had a very strong Sunday, even with competition from the NBA finals and the season finale of HBO's popular Game of Thrones.
Almost half of all sales came from premium priced showings of the film in 3D and Imax. And the movie courted a wide demographic. Kids who weren't born when the first Jurassic film debuted flocked to the theaters, along with parents introducing their kids to T-Rex.
All in all, a very good weekend for the studio that released the film, Universal, and for its lead actor, Chris Pratt, who is now an undisputed star.
LA Times TV critic on what shows get wrong (and right) about rape
Rape used to be uncharted territory for scripted TV.
Today, shows like "Mad Men," "The Americans," "Downton Abbey" and "Game of Thrones" have all used rape as a purported plot point, leading some to decry a so-called "rape glut" on TV.
Los Angeles Times television critic Mary McNamara writes that while certain depictions of rape on TV are problematic, the fact that rape is being portrayed more often on TV isn't a bad thing.
To hear the full interview with Mary McNamara, click the link above.
What's for dinner? Whatever just got delivered in this box
Forget shopping for groceries. Sometimes, after a looooong day, the thought of making dinner becomes the worst thing ever.
But there are options these days where the cooking is laid out for you complete with a recipe and perfectly measured out ingredients. All you do is chop and heat.
They're boxed meals, but not in the vein of Hungry-Man. These boxes are delivered directly to your home containing meats, produce, spices and more, sometimes drawn from local farmers.
Some people might scoff and say, grocery shopping is not that hard. However, several start-up companies such as Blue Apron and HelloFresh are angling to be part of this growing market that food industry consultants say could grow to $5 billion in the next decade.
Also, these may not be all that different from grabbing a box of Betty Crocker to make a cake (because, really, mixing your own flour, sugar and more isn't that difficult, either).
But Elizabeth Segran from Fast Company magazine says these meal-kits solve a unique problem: millennials who love to eat gourmet meals but never picked up the skills to cook, themselves.