“Is The Voting Rights Act Relevant In 2013?”

“Is The Voting Rights Act Relevant In 2013?”

That was the question presented recent by the NPR Program Talk of the Nation (30 minutes).

This issue was also explored by an all-star round table including Akhil Amar (Yale Law School), Judith Browne-Dianis (Advancement Project), Linda greenhouse (Yale Law School), Dale Ho ( NAACP Lead Defense Fund), and Debo Adegbile (special counsel to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund), who argued before the Supreme Court in this case (Shelby County v. Holder).  Video of this discussion, which is explicitly one-sided in favor of the Voting Rights Act, is available here (approximately eight minutes) and here (approximately four and a half minutes) and here (approximately five minutes).

Finally, the Shields and Brooks podcast discussed this topic as well as the sequester.  Discussion of the voting rights act begins about eight and a half minutes into this twelve minute clip.

This American Life: Where Guns and Gangs Come From

This American Life: Where Guns and Gangs Come From

Part II of This American Life‘s look at Harper High School.

This story has six acts.

  • Act One: “The Eyewitnesses” (discusses the psychological toll of witnesses gun violence first hand, 10 mins)
  • Act Two: “Your Name Written On Me” (explores the origin of a Chicago gang, 15 mins)
  • Act Three: “Get Your Gun” (teenagers explain where the get their guns, 6 mins)
  • Act Four: “Devonte, Part Two” (aftermath of 14 year old who accidentally shoots his brother, 8 mins)
  • Act Five: “Reverse Turnaround Backflip” (principal discusses balancing budget cuts in inner-city school, 7 mins)
  • Act Six: “We Are Harper High School” (chronicles how schools in other cities struggle with gun violence, 3 mins)

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/488/harper-high-school-part-two (63 mins total)

http://slacearchive.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/this-american-life-everything-you-know-about-gangs-is-wrong-part-i/ (Part I)