KQED's Forum

“The past has its own terrible inevitability. But it is never too late to change the future.” That’s according to historian Heather Cox Richardson, who observes that the political, racial and economic divisions in the country evoke the crises faced by the nation on the brink of the Civil War. And now as we prepare for a transition of power to President-elect Joe Biden and the nation’s first female vice-president, Kamala Harris, what can history tell us about the tumultuous moment we are living in?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Throughout the presidency of Donald Trump, many media outlets across the United States were reluctant to label him a liar or a racist, even when his actions merited those terms, or to cover White supremacy as more than a fringe movement. Now, in the wake of the deadly pro-Trump insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, news organizations are grappling with the consequences of their whitewashed political coverage and failure to call out the president’s lies more aggressively. We’ll talk about how journalists are reckoning with how they shape and deliver the news, and what should change moving forward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Preparations and security measures continue in Washington, D.C., for Wednesday’s inauguration, and the investigation into the insurrection at the Capitol continues. And as the nation looks to a transition in leadership, on Thursday, President elect Biden introduced an almost $2 trillion economic relief package. We'll discuss the latest political developments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our news this month is flooded with images of white supremacists storming the U.S. Capitol and of a confederate flag being hoisted through its halls. This after months of reporting on police killings of people of color, and the racial disparities in COVID deaths. And adults are not the only ones seeing these images and hearing these stories; they're seeping through to our kids too. Should we be shielding them from stories of racial violence? How much should we protect them? How much should we expose them? We know we should be having hard conversations with our kids. But how? On this Martin Luther King Day we'll discuss how to talk to kids about race. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." But what would he say about this particular bend – four years of President Trump culminating in a violent insurrection? Emory University professor Audra Gillespie, who has written about the legacy of the civil rights movement in American politics, joins us to reflect on how Dr. King might respond to the current political moment and the pandemic, which have exposed glaring inequities in our society. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Faced with one of the slowest vaccination rollouts in the nation, California Governor Newsom announced Wednesday that Covid-19 vaccines would be available to seniors 65 years and older. While many welcomed news of an expanded eligibility group, local governments and health officials struggled to keep up with demand, and across the state, Californians are asking why it is so hard to get information about how to get vaccinated. Meanwhile, as the Bay Area remains in lockdown, hopeful signs of a turnaround emerged on Wednesday as Sacramento and its surrounding counties entered the purple tier with outdoor dining, hair salons and hotels reopening. Will the next few months of the pandemic be as bumpy as the first few weeks of 2021 have been? When can people expect to be vaccinated? We’ll talk about what lies ahead as California pushes to accelerate immunizations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Several Capitol police officers have been suspended, and at least a dozen are under investigation for possible complicity in the deadly siege of the U.S. Capitol last week. The actions of the officers -- including one who posed for a selfie with insurrectionists and another who appeared to direct the mob around the building -- have exposed anew the force's troubled history of discrimination against Black officers, who've lodged hundreds civil rights lawsuits against the force in the last two decades. We'll talk about the role of racism in igniting, and sustaining, the insurrection. And we'll also get an update on how state and federal authorities are responding to threats of extremist violence ahead of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration next week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rancor and division were on full display Wednesday as the U.S. House of Representatives debated and then voted to impeach President Trump for inciting his supporters to storm the nation’s Capitol last week. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has excluded the possibility of an impeachment trial before the inauguration. We get the latest on the historic impeachment and what happens next. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A majority in the House impeached President Trump on Wednesday for inciting the deadly insurrection at the Capitol last week, while many Republican lawmakers continued to say they oppose impeachment in the name of "unity." And on Monday, President-elect Joe Biden's team announced that the theme for Inauguration Day will be "America United," echoing his campaign and post-election messaging calling for unity and healing. What does the idea of “unity” mean, though, amid such long-standing, deep divisions and continued threats of more insurrections? We’ll take a critical look at these calls for unity and hear from listeners about what you think is necessary, at this point, to unify the country. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The day before last week’s assault on the U.S. Capitol by violent insurrectionists, an angry, pro-Trump, anti-mask crowd threatened violence at a Shasta County Board of Supervisors meeting. West Coast states voted solidly for Joe Biden, but California, Oregon and Washington have plenty of extremist groups promoting anti government rhetoric and ideas. We'll examine the history and ideology of those groups and the role they played in last week’s deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices