UC Berkeley (Video)

David Beckmann reviews what we've learned from the Poverty, God & Politics series, talks about the students in his UC Berkeley class, and thanks the people—about 3,000 a week—who have watched webcasts and read the companion blog posts. He stresses the importance of advocacy with Congress this year and active participation in next year's elections. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36998]

Eugene Cho, president of Bread for the World, explains how this nationwide Christian citizens' movement repeatedly wins large-scale change for people struggling with hunger in this country and around the world. He concludes with Bread's current campaign to strengthen U.S. support for progress against child malnutrition worldwide.  Eugene is introduced by David Beckmann, who served as president until a year ago. These two leaders are different in many ways and Eugene is leading Bread for the World in new directions. But they are clearly united in faith and in deep appreciation for the people and congregations across the country who persistently urge their members of Congress to help hungry people. Eugene spoke to David's class in March 2021, an intense period of anti-Asian hate crimes. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36997]

John Carr provides a witty and incisive assessment of the liabilities and strengths of the Catholic community and its role in the politics of poverty. Its strengths include the leadership of Pope Francis and the rich tradition of Catholic social teaching. Carr is director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Teaching and Public Life at Georgetown University. Their educational programs are influential among Catholics in the United States and extend to thousands of people around the world. John previously served for more than two decades as director of the department that works on issues of peace, justice, and international development for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. John and David Beckmann have worked together for many years and are close friends. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36996]

Tom Hart, acting CEO and North American Executive Director of the ONE Campaign, explains how a strong advocacy community, including people of faith and faith-based organizations, have helped to reduce poverty, hunger, and disease around the world over the last generation. David Beckmann and Tom Hart open and close with lively discussions of two advocacy campaigns—debt relief for poor countries in the year 2000 and global child nutrition right now. Tom concludes with ambitious proposals to address the still-raging COVID pandemic and its consequences in low-income countries. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36995]

Many faith bodies and faith-related groups organize legislative advocacy. Amy Reumann, director of Witness and Society for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), explains how the ELCA's legislative advocacy is rooted in faith and theology, collective study of policy concerns, and ELCA ministries at the local, national, and international levels. The ELCA, its churches, and people are active in advocacy with state governments, the United Nations, and corporations as well as with the federal government. Whenever possible, they bring powerful decision-makers into conversations with the people and organizations that the ELCA and its people know through their on-the-ground ministries—homeless people, for example, or local churches in Central America. ELCA congregations bring people from all across the political spectrum together in worship, fellowship, and study. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36994]

Anna Eng, a senior organizer for the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), explains from experience how faith-based community organizing works. David Beckmann argues that the faith-based community organizing movement has contributed to increasing political participation among low-income Americans. He also talks about the Poor People's Campaign and the positive impact of social media. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36993]

Galen Carey, Vice President for Government Relations for the National Association of Evangelicals, explains the Evangelical movement, its ministries to people in poverty, and its relationship to politics. Then David Beckmann probes how it's possible that most White Christians, including a large majority of White Evangelicals, voted repeatedly for Donald Trump. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36992]

Eric Sapp, a pioneer in the use of digital communications for good purposes, explains uses of digital technology to repair the divide between the Democratic Party and many faith-based voters, to communicate with vaccine-hesitant people, and to counter Russian digital propaganda. He stresses the importance of really listening to people. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36991]

Henry Brady, Dean of Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy, draws a data-based picture of how religious attendance affects politics. Churchgoers tend to be more charitable and engaged in civic organizations than other Americans. But they tend to prefer elections and negotiations to conflict and protests -- even though conflict is important in overcoming the country's deep racial and economic divisions. In general, churchgoers are much more inclined than other Americans to be pro-life and anti-gay and, since the 1980s, increasingly inclined to vote Republican. Brady talks briefly about his own religious and philosophical development. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36990]

Rev. Gabriel Salguero, Founder and President of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition (NALEC), explains the religious and political diversity among Latinos. Although Latinos are an important source of support for immigration reform, it is not a top priority political issue for most Latinos. Salguero explains how NALEC has amplified the voice of Latino evangelicals on immigration and other poverty-related issues. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36989]

Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner and U.S. Representative Barbara Lee speak from the heart about how the Black Church has helped to build African American electoral power. It’s a powerful story with practical lessons for present times. Dr. Williams-Skinner is head of the Skinner Institute and Co-convener of the African American Clergy Network. Rep. Lee represents Berkeley, California. She is a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and now Chair of the House of Representatives’ foreign affairs appropriations subcommittee. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36988]

Hear remarks by Joshua Dickson to Berkeley's graduate seminar "Poverty and Communities of Faith in the Politics of 2021," taught by David Beckmann. Josh was the National Faith Engagement Director of the Biden-Harris campaign and is now Deputy Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Josh discusses the importance of persuading, mobilizing, and listening to faith voters; presents data on voting patterns across faith groups; and explains the Biden-Harris campaign's commitment and strategy to reach voters in diverse faith communities. He shows how an electoral campaign translated faith-grounded concerns into a dramatic shift in public policy to the benefit of people in poverty. He joins students in his unofficial, personal capacity, and not as a White House representative. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36987]

David Beckmann explains the purpose of his “Poverty, God, Politics” series—to highlight spiritual and political strategies that can move us from the current crisis in a way that puts us on track to end hunger and poverty. They are drawn from a joint seminar on poverty, communities of faith, and politics cosponsored by UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy and the Church Divinity School of the Pacific. David then discusses two foundational insights from his years as president of Bread for the World—that dramatic progress against poverty is possible, and that faith communities can help change the politics of poverty. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36986]

A panel of domestic experts in election security practices focus their discussion on how we can advance our own election security practices by using the knowledge we’ve gained from our experiences in 2020 as well looking at best practices in other countries to improve our system overall. Panelists: Wayne Williams, former Colorado Secretary of State; Jennifer Morrell, former local election official and Partner at The Elections Group; Kammi Foote, Clerk Recorder and Registrar of Voters for Inyo County, CA; Philip Stark, Professor of Statistics at the University of California, Berkeley. Moderator: Henry Brady, Dean, Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36936]

Elected officials in some of the key battleground states in the 2020 election discuss their experiences, lessons they learned, and how we can better prepare for 2024. Panelists: Jocelyn Benson, Secretary of State, Michigan; Katie Hobbs, Secretary of State, Arizona; Josh Shapiro, Attorney General, Pennsylvania; Matthew Masterson, Former Senior Cybersecurity Advisor at CISA, Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Moderator: Janet Napolitano, Professor of Public Policy, UC Berkeley Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36935]

A panel of experts looks at election security from an international comparative aspect focused on election security practices in Brazil, India, and Sierra Leone. What might the United States be able to learn from what’s being done in these three countries to protect against election interference and voter fraud? Panelists: Katherine Casey is an Associate Professor of Political Economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Thomas Fujiwara is an Associate Professor of Economics at Princeton University. Gianmarco León-Ciliottais an Associate Professor at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Aila M. Matanock is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Moderator: Susan Hyde, Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36934]

Following the police murder of George Floyd, there have been calls to “Abolish, Defund, and Reform” the police. Elected officials around the country have called for 50% reductions in the police budgets that account for much of local government spending. At the same time, there is little agreement on the meaning of what could or should be defunded or what can be reformed; in many cases, the very language of this movement has impeded the necessary public debate about the appropriate role of police and policing in our society. This panel brings together experienced police, elected officials and faculty experts at UC Berkeley to address these critical, and timely, issues. Panelists: Nikki Fortunato Bas, Oakland City Council President; Jack Glaser, Professor at the Goldman School for Public Policy and expert on police bias and police reform; Danielle Outlaw, Chief of Police in Philadelphia. Moderator: Dan Lindheim, Goldman School of Public Policy Professor Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36879]

With Amazon's Alexa spying on her owners, a massive data breach masterminded by Cambridge Analytica, and evidence of election interference promulgated by Facebook, tech policy has never had more significant implications for our society and democracy. Roger McNamee—noted tech venture capitalist, early mentor to Mark Zuckerberg, and Facebook investor—talks with Henry Brady, Dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley, about how he came to realize the serious damage that Facebook and other social media giants are doing and how he has committed to try to stop them. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 36880]

Four former Secretaries of Homeland Security discuss current issues in homeland security, the overlap between security and politics, and how our country can move forward by embracing the challenges—and opportunities—the Biden-Harris administration will face in their first year. Panelists: Michael Chertoff (2005-2009), Jeh Johnson (2013-2017), Janet Napolitano (2009-2013), Tom Ridge (2003-2005). Moderator: Doug Wilson. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36811]

Ehren Tool is the ceramics studio manager in the Department of Art Practice at UC Berkeley. In his off-time, he makes clay cups that he hopes start conversations about war. Series: "UC Berkeley News" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 36762]

Launched in 2018, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe spacecraft, with instruments developed and built by UC Berkeley, has now traveled closer to the sun than any other mission in history, actually penetrating the sun’s atmosphere, to investigate highly charged magnetic field. Now, that data has allowed solar physicists to map the source of a major component of the solar wind that continually peppers Earth’s atmosphere, while revealing strange magnetic field reversals that could be accelerating these particles toward our planet. These accelerated particles interact with Earth’s magnetic field, generating the colorful northern and southern lights but also potentially damaging the electrical grid and telecommunications networks on the surface, threatening orbiting satellites and perhaps endangering astronauts in space. Series: "UC Berkeley News" [Science] [Show ID: 36760]

As a neurologist, Robert Knight has seen what happens when the brain crashes around violently inside the skull. And he’s aware of the often tragic consequences. Throughout his 40 years as an academic researcher and medical doctor, the University of California, Berkeley, professor of psychology and neuroscience has known students and friends whose lives and careers were derailed by head injuries from bicycle and car crashes. He’s held in his hands brains destroyed by accidental blows to the head. Not surprisingly, he cringes when he imagines his young grandchildren falling off a bike and hitting their heads. So, Knight invented a better helmet — one with more effective padding to dampen the effects of a direct hit, but more importantly, an innovative outer shell that rotates to absorb twisting forces that today’s helmets don’t protect against. Series: "UC Berkeley News" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 36761]

Marion Nestle, Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition at New York University, discusses the U.S. food industry being in a highly competitive environment where profits are paramount and public health is not a priority. Series: "Excerpts" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 36753]

Since 2017, California’s institutional prison population has hovered at about 115,000 inmates. Steven Raphael, Goldman School of Public Policy, looks at the last decade of prison reform including reducing overcrowding, the impacts of proposition 47 and the effects of racial disproportionality in criminal justice involvement. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36684]

General H.R. McMaster ranks among his generation's most distinguished scholar-soldiers. An acclaimed historian, his military service has spanned from West Point to Iraq and Afghanistan, to the Pentagon and the Oval Office. Now a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, General McMaster is the author of Battlegrounds (2020). In conversation with Lowell Bergman, he discusses challenges facing the Free World and the case for responsible US leadership in world affairs. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36567]

This interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the leading experts on the American response to COVID-19, explores what the country is doing to control the disease’s spread. Dr. Fauci is the Director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and a current member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Dr. Fauci will discuss how the coronavirus could affect the ability of colleges to re-open safely and the broader impact of the virus on our country. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 36623]

Robert Reich reflects on the recent election; the presidential contest and initiative results. He also discusses UBI, income inequality and what he'd like to see in a Biden administration. Recih is a former Labor Secretary and currently Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36611]

Economist Hilary Hoynes explores her research on the COVID-19 crisis. She discusses the effects on low wage workers and the tripling of food insecurity in children. She also looks at the consequences of the delays and lack of inclusion in relief packages. Hoynes is a Professor of Public Policy and Economics and Haas Distinguished Chair in Economic Disparities at the UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36540]

For the final session of the semester, we offer a discussion of very local politics in the most famous (infamous?) small city in America. Everyone knows of Berkeley, and everyone seems to have strong feelings about it, especially if they don’t actually live here. So we talk with a former UC Berkeley student who is now a member of the Berkeley City Council and think about our small town and what it is like to serve in public office. Berkeley City Councilmember Rigel Robinson was elected to represent District 7 on November 6th, 2018. Elected at 22, Robinson is the youngest person to ever serve on the Berkeley City Council. Prior to his election, Robinson was a leader in student efforts to support development of more affordable housing and student housing, divest the University of California from the Dakota Access Pipeline, oust a UC Regent accused of sexual harassment, and secure additional state funding for the UC and the first tuition decrease in 20 years. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36296]

Today’s lecture takes a look ahead at the leading challenges and opportunities facing American democracy in this moment. We begin with a discussion of Trump’s refusal to admit defeat in the presidential election and the conspiracy theories and rising white male violence that are emerging out of the realignment of the defeated white power wing of the Republican party. Here we are confronted with the role played by conspiracy theories in the politics of the right and the threat to multiracial democracy posed by Trump’s defeated authoritarianism. This discussion is followed by a focus on the Black women who won Georgia for the Democrats. We consider how they achieved this remarkable goal through organizing and what this model of direct voter engagement portends for the future of democracy in America. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36293]

To help us break down this weekend’s victory of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the 2020 presidential race, we are honored to have local hero and Black feminist activist Alicia Garza. Alicia Garza is an organizer and political strategist based in Oakland, California, where she is the principle at the Black Futures Lab and the Black to the Future Action Fund. She is, along with Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors, the co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter and the Black Lives Matter Global Network. She is also director of strategy for the National Domestic Workers Alliance and host of the podcast Lady Don’t Take No. Most recently, she is the author of The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36295]

What just happened? What happens next? As Americans wake up to a still uncertain presidential race, we take on these critical questions as we both look back to the election and its outcome, while beginning to plan for what is to come from the immediate needs for political mobilizations to long term visions of what kinds of politics are needed. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36292]

What should we expect on election day? What should we look for in the early results and how long will it take before we know who won the Presidential race, the US Senate and all of California’s ballot measures? What should we do – besides vote – to help ensure that every vote is counted and that the democratic process works as it should? How has the election impacted immigrant populations and the process of naturalization? What is happening in Arizona right now? These questions and more are taken up today in our Pre-Election Day preview. The election ends on November 2nd, but the fight to determine who governs and how is about to begin. So start rolling that 10-sided dice, stay hydrated, make yourself a plan for election day, and get prepared to defend our democracy. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36291]

This panel features leaders and experts addressing these unprecedented times and all the challenges confronting Election 2020. What can we do to make voters' voices heard during an unprecedented pandemic and a historic civil rights uprising? Panelists: Aimee Allison, She the People; Betrall Ross, Berkeley Law; James Schwab, Chief Deputy Secretary of State, California; Dr. John Swartzberg, UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health. Moderator: Dan Lindheim, Center on Civility and Democratic Engagement at the Goldman School of Public Policy. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36509]

Ian Haney López is is the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He specializes on race and racism in the law. His focus for the last decade has been on the use of racism in electoral politics, and how to respond. Ian develops and promotes a race-class praxis which argues that powerful elites exploit social divisions for private gain, so no matter what our race, color, or ethnicity, our best future requires building cross-racial solidarity. Ian is the author of three books, White By Law: The Legal Construction of Race (2006), Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism & Wrecked the Middle Class (2014), and most recently, Merge Left: Fusing Race and Class, Winning Elections and Saving America (2019) Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36290]

This lecture begins with a discussion of California’s ballot measure Prop 16 which seeks to overturn Prop 209, the 1996 ban on affirmative action in the state. This discussion considers both the history of California ballot measures and looks closely at how ballot measures have remade racial liberalism in postwar California. From there we turn to our primary topic which is that of political messaging and political strategy. We begin with the ideas promoted by Ian Haney Lopez and several other prominent Democratic party strategists for how to confront challenging questions of race and class in building electoral majorities and social movements. Remember the words of Stuart Hall: “Race is a modality in which class is lived.” Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36289]

Matt Nelson is Executive Director of Presente.org, the nation’s largest online Latinx organizing group dedicated to advancing social justice with technology, media, and culture. Born in Colombia and raised in the Midwest, Matt was the Organizing Director at ColorOfChange.org and co-founded several worker-owned cooperatives in multiple midwestern cities. He is a seasoned campaign strategist who has won dozens of local and national campaigns and a community organizer who has trained thousands of activists. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36288]

This lecture kicks off with Professor Jayaraman’s discussion of “astroturf” social movements and the growing battle around California’s Ballot Propositions 15 and 22. These propositions represent two attempts of billionaires to privatize the public-school system in California and to re-write the state’s labor laws to impose “independent contractor” status upon millions of gig workers. From there Professor Cohen takes up the main topic of voting rights and the long history of voter suppression in the United States with particular emphasis upon the Trump administration’s efforts to suppress voter turnout and challenge the election results after November 3. Remember, if your vote didn’t matter, they wouldn’t try so hard to suppress it. So if you have not already, go and vote early, especially in those down ballot races that really matter. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36513]

Zachary Norris is the Executive Director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, author of We Keep Us Safe: Building Secure, Just, and Inclusive Communities, and co-founder of Restore Oakland, a community advocacy and training center that will empower Bay Area community members to transform local economic and justice systems and make a safe and secure future possible for themselves and for their families. Zach is also a co-founder of Justice for Families, a national alliance of family-driven organizations working to end our nation's youth incarceration epidemic. Zach helped build California's first statewide network for families of incarcerated youth which led the effort to close five youth prisons in the state, passed legislation to enable families to stay in contact with their loved ones, and defeated Prop 6a destructive and ineffective criminal justice ballot measure. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36287]

Many observers believe we need to grapple with challenges arising from the many well-established laws, regulations and policies which have been ignored or violated over the past four years. Goldman School of Public Policy faculty and former UC President and former Secretary for Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, with Leon Panetta, L. Song Richardson and Eric Swalwell explore the norms, assumptions, and governmental practices that have changed during the Trump presidency and the ensuing impact on American society and democracy. Can we make our democracy stronger and better? What would a practical, yet ambitious, roadmap for reform look like? Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36471]

Chrissie Castro, Diné and Chicana, is the Chairperson of the Los Angeles City County Native American Indian Commission, and co-led the change to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day in the City and County of Los Angeles. She was a co-founder of Indigenous Women Rise, which organized the Indigenous women’s contingent of 1,000 Indigenous Women at the Women’s March in DC. She is the Network Weaver of the Native Voice Network, a national network of 35+ Native-led organizations that mobilize through indigenous cultural values; and recently launched two projects to build community and political power of Native communities – locally, the California Native Vote Project and nationally, Advance Native Political Leadership. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36286]

This lecture looks at social movements and culture in history through three theoretical models of social, political and historical change: Karl Marx’s theory of historical materialism as expressed in the “base-superstructure” model, Antonio Gramsci’s theories of intellectuals and of consent and coercion in the shaping of hegemony, and Black feminism as expressed by Combahee River Collective. Marx’s theory influenced the formation of the movements of the19th century; the labor movement, the women’s suffrage movement and the abolitionist movement. Gramsci’s context of Italian fascism is discussed as is the question of historical fascism as a backlash against the gains made by the social movements that preceded it. Through the Combahee River Collective we come to see how Black feminism represents a revolutionary force not only against the systems of state and economic oppression, but against the narrowly constructed identities that shaped the previous history of social movements. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 36285]

This lecture opens with the breaking news of Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis and the super spreader event that broke out in the White House last week. From there we turn to a detailed discussion of social movements, organizing and democracy. Professor Jayaraman discusses the question of power, the elements and goals of organizing, the dynamics of social movements, and the cycles of contention through which social movements grow. She argues that the more people engage in contentious action over a sustained period of time, the more transformative change becomes possible. The discussion concludes with an analysis of how social movements can map power relations and best run campaigns to change public policy. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36283]

This lecture features Rashad Robinson, the President of Color Of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. The organization helps people respond effectively to injustice in the world around us. As a national online force driven by 1.7 million members, they move decision-makers in corporations and government to create a more human and less hostile world for Black people in America. Color Of Change uses an innovative combination of technology, research, media savvy and local community engagement to build powerful movements and change the industries that affect Black people’s lives: in Silicon Valley, Hollywood, Wall Street, Washington, prosecutor offices, capitol hills and city halls around the country. This lecture ends with a brief discussion of the September 29 presidential “debate” between Trump and Biden, considering what was revealed in this event and how it will impact the ongoing campaigns.   Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36282]

This lecture takes on the question of why we have only two political parties in the United States and how the two party system shapes our politics. Most significantly, this lecture looks at the ways in which the politics of race - Black civil rights in particular - during the Civil War, Reconstruction, the modern Civil Rights Movement and the election of Barack Obama served to shift the two political parties into new realignments. This lecture traces the transformation of the two parties over 150 years, marking the shift of the Democrats from the party of the Confederacy to the party of the New Deal and Civil Rights, and the transformation of the Republicans from the party of Lincoln and Radical Reconstruction to the White Mans Party of Trump. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 36281]

Today we explore the life and legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the consequences her death may have for election 2020. The sudden death of the 87 year old jurist and feminist icon has not only disrupted the already unprecedented election season, but it has raised the stakes for the Presidency, the Senate and the future of the Supreme Court going forward. In this discussion we try to illuminate the partisan politics behind seeking her replacement, the constituencies most committed to replacing Ginsberg as well as those most threatened by this right wing shift in the Court, while holding up the possibility of future resistance and the need to mobilize in the defense of democracy. Join us as we attempt to displace despair with hope and replace anxiety with analysis in this moment of crisis. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36279]

Today we take up the question of racial classification and the 2020 census with professor Michael Omi. Professor Omi is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, Asians American and Asian Diaspora Studies at UC Berkeley. He is the author, along with Howard Winant, of the ground breaking work Racial Formations in the United States, now in its third edition. At Berkeley, Professor Omi serves as the Associate Director of the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society, and is an affiliated faculty member of Sociology and Gender & Women’s Studies. In today’s talk, Professor Omi uses racial formations theory to discuss his research into the United States census and its evolving system of classifying and categorizing race. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36278]

The principle question for this presentation is what is “race” and how does it shape our politics? We begin with an introduction looking at the ongoing western wildfires, its differential impact upon white versus communities of color and the prison workers who get paid pennies a day to fight wildfires in California. From there we turn to a consideration of race and racism as defined by sociologists Michael Omi and Howard Winant. Together, they define race as “a concept which signifies and symbolizes social conflicts and interests by referring to different types of human bodies.” Using this definition, we consider a range of examples of how racial categories and racial formations are “created, inhabited, transformed and destroyed.” We begin with the 1790 Naturalization act which reserved the rights of citizenship to “free white persons.” Then move on to consider how racial categories have both fixed our identities and shifted our history from Columbus to the 2020 Census. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36277]

“We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.” As look at the history of American democracy, we begin with the nation’s founding contradiction: the dispossession of Natives, the enslavement of Africans and the exclusion of women in a new nation dedicated to the radical concept of universal human equality. Through a reading of the founding documents of the United States, ranging from the Declaration of Independence to the speeches of Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass and Barack Obama, we consider how race, colonialism and slavery shaped the nation's founding, and how this legacy, this “original sin” of the American founding, continues to shape and distort our democracy. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 36276]

Aimee Allison is founder and president of She the People, a national network elevating the voice and power of women of color. She brings together voters, organizers, and elected leaders in a movement grounded in values of love, justice, belonging, and democracy. In 2018, Ms. Allison was one of the primary architects of the "year of women of color in politics." She is building a political home for a million women of color, nationally and in battleground states. In April 2019, she convened the first presidential forum for women of color, reaching a quarter of the American population. A democratic innovator and visionary, Ms. Allison leads national efforts to build inclusive, multiracial coalitions led by women of color. She leverages media, research and analysis to increase voter engagement and advocate for racial, economic and gender justice. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36275]

In our opening public lecture, we will take up the immediate context of the 2020 election to consider what is at stake in COVID-19 and the recent uprisings around Black Lives Matter and racial injustice for the United States? We will draw upon Arundhati Roy’s concept of the “pandemic as portal,” in which she writes: “Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.” As we approach these unprecedented, overlapping crises of public health, racism, economic decline and environmental breakdown, we must ask fundamental questions of what we need to leave behind in order to build what must come next. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36274]