Aidan Beatty: Sexual Antisemitism

This episode deals with sexual topics and abuse, all trigger warnings apply. Aidan Beatty discusses his article, “The Pornography of Fools: Tracing the History of Sexual Antisemitism.” Professor Beatty looks into historical sexual depictions, emotions and desires developed in the middle ages that continue to work in contemporary far-right antisemitic rhetoric. Aidan Beatty is a Lecturer and Senior Academic Advisor in the Department of History at Carnegie Mellon University.

Alexia Rauen: When Immigrants Call the Police

Alexia Rauen discusses the article she co-authored, "Experiences of immigrant survivors of violence with law enforcement." She explains how immigrant victims of domestic violence viewed their interactions with responding police officers. Based on interviews with survivors, she found that experiences with police varied widely based on factors such as immigration status, English proficiency, and gender. Alexia Rauen is the Co-Executive Director at Advocates for Immigrant Survivors…

Alison Skinner-Dorkenoo: The Water We Swim In: An Examination of Systemic Influences on Our Attitudes

This talk will make the case that systemic forms of oppression are maintained and reinforced through subtle patterns of thought and behavior, and present some paths through which those systems can be challenged. Dr. Skinner-Dorkenoo has been an assistant professor at the University of Georgia since the fall of 2019.

Allison Skinner-Dorkenoo: Microaggressions

Dr. Skinner-Dorkenoo is an assistant professor at the University of Georgia. Dr. Allison Skinner-Dorkenoo discusses her article, "How Microaggressions Reinforce and Perpetuate Systemic Racism in the United States." She defines what microaggressions are and how they support White superiority. Through subtle and slight processes microaggressions protect and reinforce the "othering" of people of color with environmental exclusions, treating people of color as second class, and…

Amanda Moore: Alt-Right, Nazis, and Trump Staffing

Amanda Moore is a freelance journalist covering the far right. We discuss her year undercover in the Alt-Right and her continued work exposing Nazis. Moore's work has centered on far-right influencer Nick Fuentes's misogyny and neo-Nazi rhetoric. Most recently, she's monitoring the J6 insurrectionists and the continued appeal of those who's convictions were commuted and not pardoned. The fans of Fuentes and other far-right groups influence is beginning to be felt as they…

Andra Watkins: Christo-Fascist Code in Project 2025

Andra Watkins discusses her substack, "For Such a Time as This: A Guide to Decode the Country America Has Chosen To Be." Ms. Watkins' life growing up in a Christian Nationalist Southern church indoctrinated her into a worldview and understanding of a coded language based on Christian Biblical Literalism. Since leaving the church, she has used her understanding of this Christian Nationalist code to explain Project 2025, the new Trump Administration's goals, as well as the…

Andrea Ford: Pregnancy, Birth, and Doulas

Andrea Ford discusses her book, Near Birth: Contested Values and the work of Doulas, in which she discusses how pregnancy, birthing, and infant care offer a microcosm of cultural debates. Ford examines how people's birthing decisions and experiences relate to and construct the American ideal of the individual and family in various ways and forms. Andrea Ford is a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow in Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh.

Andrew McKevitt: Gun Rights and Consumerism

Professor Andrew McKevitt talks about his book, “Gun Country: Gun Capitalism, Culture, and Control in Cold War America.” America’s gun culture was not an inevitable outcome of the Second Amendment and Professor McKevitt explains why. Framing America’s obsession with guns as essentially a consumerist market, not unlike another other collectible or commodity, Prof. McKevitt uncovers one potential origin – post-War European military surplus. Professor Andrew McKevitt is the John D. Winters Endowed…

Anne Quaranto: Dog Whistles and Coded Speech

Anne Quaranto discusses her article, "Dog Whistles, Covertly Coded Speech, and the Practices that Enable Them." Dog whistles are words or phrases that seem ordinary but send hidden, often derogatory messages. These forms of coded speech are often used by pundits, politicians, and public figures. Why do they use them and what do they mean? On the one hand, it seems possible to dog whistle unintentionally, merely by uttering certain expressions. On the other hand, the intention of the…

Annie Menzel: White Innocence and Black Infant Mortality

Annie Menzel discusses her book, Fatal Denial Racism and the Political Life of Black Infant Mortality. Drawing on her own experience as a midwife as inspiration, Prof. Menzel lays out the history of white innocence, flawed racial science, and the cult of true babyhood all contribute to real violence to black maternal outcomes. As overt racist practices gave way to more systemic biases, they seamlessly perpetuated black infanticide by blaming Black mothers and communities themselves. While the…

Caitlin O'Loughlin: Banned Books and Gay Erasure

For Banned Books week, join Caitlin O’Loughlin as she discusses her article, “It’s Just Filth: Banned Books and the Project of Gay Erasure.” She explains how proposed bans seek to erase queer peoples, how these bans impact teachers, and what teacher preparation programs can do to counter these acts of censorship.

Cedric Merlin Powell: Post-Racial Deception of the Roberts Court

Cedric Powell is the Wyatt, discusses his article, “The Post-Racial Deception of the Roberts Court” in which he argues that the supposed colorblind rhetoric masks an agenda to strip precedent, history and reality away from Supreme Court decisions. By looking at the Civil Rights and Civil War Amendment cases, Powell shows how the Roberts Court applies a standard of neutrality to vacate diversity and equality while removing race from its Constitutional consideration. This deception seeks to…

César García Hernández : Immigration Detention

César García Hernández talks about his book, Migrating to Prison America’s Obsession with Locking Up Immigrants. Professor Hernandez lays out the history of immigration imprisonment and detention through the lens of politics and law. Additionally, noting the way in which the way immigration changed during the 1970 and 80s during the Cuban and Haitian influx. As detention and deportation roar back into the headlines, this history takes on a renewed relevance. César García Hernández is the…

Daniel Harawa: Race and The Roberts Courts' Criminal Cases

Daniel Harawa discusses his article, “Lemonade: A Racial Justice Reframing of The Roberts Court’s Criminal Jurisprudence. Professor Harawa points out how the Court has recently issued a series of decisions addressing racism in the criminal legal system: Peña-Rodriguez v. Colorado and Flowers v. Mississippi. Both teach that race history matters, those who discriminate must be held to account, and institutional practices can no longer perpetuate racism. While not perfect, these cases offer…

Daniel Rachel: Rock 'n' Roll and the Swastika

Daniel Rachel, author and musician, talks about his book, This Ain't Rock'n'Roll: Pop Music, The Swastika, and the Third Reich. What do John Lennon, the Animals, the Rolling Stones, the Clash, Lady Gaga, Blondie, & Pink Floyd have in common? They all flirted with the imagery and theater of the Third Reich. From Keith Moon and Vivian Stanshall running around London in Nazi uniforms to Siouxsie Sioux and Sid Vicious brandishing swastikas in the pomp of punk, generations of…

Dorothy A. Brown: A Reparations Roadmap

Dorothy A. Brown discusses her book, Getting to Reparations: How Building A Different America Requires a Reckoning With Our Past, in it she demonstrates a clear precedent for paying reparations. She cites other times in American history reparations were paid - whether it was Italian immigrants, interned Japanese Americans, or slave owners in Washington DC. Professor Brown ends by offering a compelling and detailed legal and political strategy that could realistically achieve this…

Emily Dufton: Methadone, Suboxone, and the War on Drugs

Emily Dufton discusses her book Addiction, Inc.: Medication-Assisted Treatment and America’s Forgotten War on Drugs. It’s the history of the federal development and subsequent commercialization of the opioid addiction medication industry. Beginning with the Johnson Administration, the reasons the Federal response to and creation of drug policy moved from harm reduction to carceral solutions are explored. Emily Dufton, drug historian and writer, her writing has appeared in the Washington…

Emily J. M. Knox: Why Ban Books? Understanding the Discourse of Censorship and Its Effects

Many attempts to ban books in schools and libraries have made headlines over the past few months. Almost all of these attempts have failed and yet the attempts continue. Why do people ban books? What are they trying to accomplish? What are the effects and how should we respond? Emily Knox is an associate professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her book, Book Banning in 21st Century America (Rowman & Littlefield) is the first monograph…

Emily Widra: Police Contact and Disparity

Emily Widra discusses her article, "Despite fewer people experiencing police contact, racial disparities in arrests, police misconduct, and police use of force continue." By looking at the newly released Bureau of Justice Statistics report that collects data of police contact in 2022, she finds that even while fewer people interacted with police than in prior years troubling police behavior remains consistent. Emily Widra is a Senior Research Analyst at the Prison Policy…

Erin Thompson: Smashing Monuments

Erin L. Thompson is a professor of art crime at the City University of New York. Professor Erin Thompson discusses her book, "Smashing Statues: The Rise and Fall of America's Public Monuments." Prof. Thompson explains the role of Confederate monuments, what they symbolize, and to whom their message is aimed. The design of the "parade stance" figure's rise to monument dominance provides insight into the submissive posture of white defender was intentional. Thompson…

Fran Shor: Weaponized Whiteness and Gun Violence

Why does the United States have so much gun violence and why is it so difficult to overcome? Obviously, there are numerous contributing factors to the persistence of gun violence from the legacy of a frontier past to the proliferation of guns to toxic masculinity. However, one significant aspect, often overlooked, is the role of systemic racism. This power point presentation will explore the long history of racist currents in American gun violence. Francis Shor is a Professor Emeritus of History…

Fran Shor: White Identity Politics

Francis Shor is an Emeritus Professor of History at Wayne State University. Professor Fran Shor talks about his book, Weaponized Whiteness [https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/...] which interrogates the meanings and implications of white supremacy and, more specifically, white identity politics from historical and sociological perspectives. Prof. Shor looks at the history of immigration, slavery, and moments of resistance against White Supremacy. Examining how white people participated in the…

Gabriel Schwartz: Evictions and Health Risks

Gabriel L. Schwartz discusses his work on “Eviction as a Community Health Exposure.” and “Moving due to unaffordable housing and disrupted social safety net access among children.” He talks about how moving and evictions lead to sometimes catastrophic health outcomes based on losing access to social safety net programs. Evictions upend people’s lives and the effect on children is great. Gabriel L. Schwartz, Assistant Professor Health Management & Policy, Drexel FIRST Program at Drexel…

Grace E. Howard: Eugenics, Drugs, and Fetal Personhood

Grace Howard discusses her book, The Pregnancy Police: Conceiving Crime, Arresting Personhood . Professor Howard illustrates how our society has regulated and criminalized pregnancy, through the history of eugenic race science, the war on drugs, fetal personhood laws. Slowly, medical professionals fell in line with prosecutors and police to enforce fetal assault laws with increasing risks to women, families, and ultimately, society. Grace Howard is an Associate Professor of Justice Studies…

Heather Ann Thompson: the Bernie Goetz Shootings and the Rebirth of White Rage

Heather Ann Thompson talks her new book, Fear and Fury: The Reagan Eighties, the Bernie Goetz Shootings, and the Rebirth of White Rage. In it she explores a pivotal moment in American history when new conservative media landscape is emerging, the Reagan Revolution is recoding racism, and the social fabric of the New deal is unraveling, all which helps contextualize a vigilante shooting on a NYC subway train on Dec 22 1984. Heather Ann Thompson is a historian at the University of Michigan and…

Inga Trauthig: Artificial Intelligence and World Elections

Inga Trauthig discusses her co-authored study for the International Panel on the Information Environment, “The Role Of Generative AI Use in the 2024 Elections Worldwide.” What are the implications of GenAI for election administration and voter participation around the world? This assessment delivers the first global, data-driven analysis of its kind, designed to inform policy recommendations Inga Trauthig is a research professor at the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy at Florida…

Jacob Glick: Violent Extremists of Jan. 6th

Jacob Glick was counsel to Representative Jamie Raskin on the House Oversight Committee, Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, managing its years-long investigation into violent white supremacy. He also served on the legal team for the House Managers during the second impeachment trial of former President Donald J. Trump. Jacob Glick, Policy Counsel at the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown University Law Center, served as Investigative Counsel, Select…

Jane Borden: Doomsday Cults and America

Jane Borden discusses her book, Cults Like Us: Why Doomsday Thinking Drives America. She explains why the doomsday beliefs of our Puritan founders still drive American culture. Tracing threads of our latent Puritan indoctrination through eugenic cults, prosperity gospel, and the current rise in far-right extremism, she proposes that the United States might just be largest cult of all. Jane Borden is an author, culture journalist, and editor. She contributes regularly to Vanity Fair, and has…

Jim Wallis: White Christian Nationalism and the Church

Jim Wallis, the founding Director of the Georgetown University Center on Faith and Justice, discusses his book, The False White Gospel: Rejecting Christian Nationalism, Reclaiming True Faith, and Refounding Democracy. He argues that the civic promotion of fear, hate, and violence as the trajectory of our politics under a banner of Christian Nationalism, should be faced to contend with a greater response of a civic faith of love, healing, and hope to defeat it. Jim Wallis is the Chair in Faith…

Joanna Wuest: LGBTQ+ Rights

Joanna Wuest is an assistant professor of politics at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. Joanna Wuest discusses her book, Born This Way: Science, Citizenship, and Inequality in the American LGBTQ+ Movement. How did LGBTQ+ civil rights leaders address moral, medical, and legal obstacles to change the way American society views them and their communities? While society has come a long way in accepting and understanding Queer people, there is a renewed backlash that threatens these hard-won…