KQED's Forum

It's been almost a year since Mayor London Breed has been on Forum. But what a year it's been. She and San Francisco's public health leadership were credited with implementing a shutdown that slowed the progress of the pandemic here. But eventually the virus caught up with us, and measures to control it have decimated small businesses especially downtown, the tourism and restaurant industries, and the city's budget. We'll talk to Mayor Breed about crime, homelessness, and other challenges facing the city. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reports continue to surface this week of vaccine line-jumpers -- people who, knowingly or not, take advantage of loopholes that enable them to get a coveted COVID shot ahead of those who need one more urgently. In the Bay Area and in Los Angeles, vaccine access codes meant for vulnerable communities of color circulated by text message to some ineligible Californians, who used them at mass vaccination sites. Separately, “vaccine chasers” are gathering at some pharmacies and clinics in hopes of receiving a dose that would otherwise be thrown away. It’s all raising questions about the ethics and effectiveness of current state and national vaccine distribution systems. We’ll talk about what more can be done to promote equitable vaccine allocation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, a poet, writer, publisher and founder of City Lights Books, died on Monday at the age of 101. "I really believe that art is capable of the total transformation of the world, and of life itself,” Ferlinghetti once said, and his multifaceted career bore that out. As a poet, Ferlinghetti offered what one critic called, a “plain-spoken, often wry critique of American culture.” As a publisher, Ferlinghetti nurtured the Beat movement, publishing writers like Allen Ginsberg, whose poem “Howl,” defined a generation. And as the founder of City Lights Books, he created a haven for the literary minded. His North Beach bookstore remains a well-loved and revered San Francisco institution. We’ll talk about Ferlinghetti’s life and legacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the installation of a new police chief: Leronne Armstrong, the city of Oakland is hoping to end the musical chairs game at the top of the police department. Armstrong is an insider, a 22-year veteran of the department, born and bred in West Oakland, and a proud alumnus of McClymonds High School. The city is facing a spike in homicide rates, a rash of crime against seniors and businesses in Chinatown, and court-ordered department reforms overseen by a federal consent decree that's been in place for 18 years. We’ll ask him how he plans to build trust in the city’s diverse neighborhoods, the role of mental health crisis teams, and looming budget cuts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Youth who age out of the foster care system often lose access to housing and services and are at increased risk of homelessness, food insecurity and incarceration. The pandemic has caused even greater instability, with 55% of transitioning foster youth citing food insecurity as a result of COVID-19 in a national study. A new bill in the California legislature aims to establish a safety net to youth leaving foster care by providing them with direct cash assistance on a monthly basis for three years after they leave the system. We’ll hear about the bill and the challenges youth face in transitioning out of foster care. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo spoke earlier this week at a state senate hearing in support of reforming the California Environmental Quality Act. He says changing these regulations will lead to more affordable housing, transit and jobs. We'll talk with Liccardo about CEQA reforms, San Jose's housing goals, the urgency of reopening schools, and removing regulatory barriers in order to create jobs. And we want to hear from you: which specific need of San Jose's should the Mayor prioritize? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Tuesday, Senate confirmation hearings for the Health and Human Services Secretary nominee, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, begin in Washington. Accused of being "famously partisan" by Mitch McConnell, Becerra faces intense Republican opposition for his stances on abortion and Medicare for All. Democrats remain largely in favor of his appointment, citing his long legislative tenure and experience crafting progressive health policy, including the Affordable Care Act. We’ll talk about the state of Becerra's nomination and what his confirmation could mean for California and the nation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the last two years, David Anderson has served as the top federal prosecutor in the Bay Area. During his tenure, he’s seen a side of the Bay Area that few people see. He’s led major criminal investigations into drug trafficking, pandemic-related fraud, and a wide-ranging corruption scandal involving San Francisco’s Department of Public Works. Anderson announced his resignation last month. We’ll talk to him about his time in office and the work that lies ahead for the Department of Justice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Facebook cannot keep itself out of the headlines. On Monday, the social media company reached a deal to restore the news content it had banned from its Australian domain last week. This removal was in response to a proposed Australian law which would require social media sites and search engines to pay publishers for their content. And back in the U.S., in an ongoing 2018 class action lawsuit that alleges Facebook misrepresented its advertising data, documents were unsealed last week that plaintiffs claim demonstrate internal knowledge of this alleged misrepresentation. We’ll review all this news and analyze what’s ahead for Facebook as Mark Zuckerberg prepares to testify next month before Congress — his fourth appearance since last July. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The California Department of Public Health on Friday released updated guidelines for organized youth and adult sports. Outdoor high and moderate contact sports such as football and water polo may resume in counties with low coronavirus infection rates, which includes the entire Bay Area. In this hour, Scott Shafer talks to Dr. Nirav Pandya and Joe Bates about the updated guidelines and what safety measures will be taken Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over six years after a state audit found that college campuses in California lacked transparency in how they handled cases of sexual assault, big gaps in services and support persist. The audit largely targeted San Diego State University, UCLA, UC Berkeley and Chico State University and recommended yearly training of university employees. Rachael Myrow talks to KPCC reporter Adolfo Guzman-Lopez about what campuses are doing better and where they are still falling short when it comes to addressing sexual violence. We'll also hear how COVID-19 is impacting students who may experience sexual violence and their ability to seek support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Singing can lift our spirits, and according to medical experts, because of the way COVID is spread, singing can also kill you. Its a dire, and unexpected, dichotomy and one that singers have grappled with during the pandemic. Rachael Myrow talks to KQED's Chloe Veltman and some Bay Area singers who are finding safe ways to bring live singing to audiences, big and small. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More than 30 California legislators sent a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom this week, urging him to allow museums to reopen indoors in the state. Nationwide more than 70% of museums are open in some capacity, according to the American Alliance of Museums, but, except for a short period starting in October, museums in California have remained closed throughout the pandemic. We'el talk with a panel of Bay Area museum directors about how they are surviving and adapting in the covid era. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Atmospheric warming, catastrophic sea level rise and mass extinction are just some of the monumental harms humans have inflicted on the planet. Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Elizabeth Kolbert points out that while it might be prudent to scale back our polluting activities, we've become so numerous, and the damage so extensive, that we may need to do more. In her new book, “Under a White Sky,” Kolbert looks at some of the interventions -- such as geoengineering and gene editing -- that scientists say can reverse the environmental harms we've caused. We'll talk to Kolbert about what she learned during her reporting and whether the answer to the problem of our control of nature is, in fact, more control. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many see Silicon Valley Congressman Ro Khanna as a rising star in the Democratic party. He co-chaired Bernie Sanders’ national campaign, and is a big advocate for progressive causes like raising the minimum wage and Medicare for All. Congressman Khanna joins KQED's Scott Schafer to discuss the recent turmoil in Washington, including the impeachment trial of Donald Trump, and what’s ahead for 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amidst mounting pressure from parents, health experts and politicians in the Bay Area to reopen schools for in-person learning, the Berkeley Unified School District this week announced a plan to vaccinate all teachers and start getting most students back into class in mid April. On Wednesday, San Francisco's superintendent of schools said the district is gearing up to reopen but didn't offer specifics. We'll get the latest on the status of school openings across the region. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the 1950s and 60s, when some towns faced integrating their “whites only” public pools, they drained the pools instead so nobody could use them. Economic and social policy expert Heather McGhee says this zero-sum thinking has impacted the U.S. economy and the public for the worse--and racism is at the root of it. For her new book, "The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Us and How We Can Prosper Together," McGhee journeyed across the country, including to California, documenting the stories of Americans who struggle with meeting their basic needs as a consequence of the “drained-pool politics” that keeps the country divided and vastly unequal. We'll talk to McGhee about what she uncovered in writing the book and her proposed plans for charting a more equitable path forward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California agencies serving the homeless do not keep track of where billions of dollars are going, fail to follow federal guidelines and are so fragmented that they lose opportunities to people into stable housing. That’s according to a report by the state auditor’s office earlier this month on how state and regional housing agencies are handling the homelessness crisis. We’ll hear about the report and how the state could do a lot better in serving its 150,000 unhoused residents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Katherine Seligman's debut novel, "At the Edge of the Haight" tells the story of Maddy, a young homeless woman living in San Francisco who is caught up in a murder mystery. As a journalist and a long-time resident of Haight-Ashbury, Seligman has witnessed the dehumanizing effects of homelessness up close. Her book, which is the winner of the PEN/Bellwether prize, has been praised as a work that "makes alive and visible the lives of people we often walk past, sometimes as quickly as we can." Seligman joins us to talk about her new novel, her transition from reporter to fiction writer, and what it takes to tell the stories of people who often feel invisible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Latinos in California have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic with a disproportionately high number of infections and deaths -- a situation that state officials have been well aware of since last year. As the state rolls out the COVID-19 vaccine, Latino advocates, leaders and healthcare providers say officials have not made Latinos -- the state’s largest demographic group -- enough of a priority. One of the biggest problems with doling out the vaccine is simply limited supplies, but critics also point to how and where vaccines are distributed. We look at the challenges Latinos and other vulnerable Californians face in accessing vaccines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a recent column, Mission Local reporter Joe Eskenazi uses a job listing to explore what's not working at San Francisco's Department of Building Inspection. The managerial job was only posted for a week at first, and required only a high school diploma or "equivalent work experience" -- code for an internal hire. He describes nepotism and corruption running rampant, with city workers marking up plans by hand, because the department operates as if computers didn't exist. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In most of the country, tipped workers, such as restaurant servers and bartenders, earn a minimum wage of less than $5 an hour -- in 17 states they earn just $2.13. Advocates with One Fair Wage, a campaign to raise the federal minimum wage for tipped workers, say the over-reliance on tips to meet the most basic needs makes workers more vulnerable to sexual harassment and abuse. We’ll talk with One Fair Wage’s president and with the director of the documentary, “Waging Change”, which tells the stories of tip workers, the movement to raise their pay and the industry forces that fight higher wages. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Communities in the Bay Area are reeling from a recent spate of violent attacks against elderly Asian Americans that left one 84-year old San Francisco resident dead and several others injured. The attacks are part of growing number of hate incidents targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders statewide, according Stop AAPI Hate, which recorded more than 1200 self-reported instances of assault and harassment in California between March and December of last year. We’ll talk about how anti-Asian violence is affecting individuals and communities and what can be done to stop it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week Santa Clara and Alameda counties became the first in the state to record the coronavirus variant found in South Africa. The news came as the region begins opening mass vaccination sites to speed immunizations before further mutations make the virus harder to manage. In this hour, we hear about the latest research on new variants and vaccine efficacy against them, and we get an update on coronavirus numbers as the region continues to see a slowing of cases and deaths. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anna Malaika Tubbs's new book, "The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation," has been described as "a literary declaration that Black women know best how to survive in this broken world while actively mending it for everyone." Tubbs weaves a historical tapestry of the stories of Alberta King, Louise Little, and Berdis Baldwin, and argues that by understanding the full extent of their lives throughout the Jim Crow era, we gain a fuller picture of American history and the pivotal role of black women in shaping it. We speak to Tubbs about her latest book and the key, but often marginalized, role of black women in history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Michael Krasny took over as Forum host in 1993 he assured listeners that he would preserve the program’s commitment to news and politics but promised to open up “new vistas in the arts …and the life of the mind." Since then, he’s become a beloved Bay Area institution, covering the biggest stories of the past three decades and interviewing everyone from world leaders to Hollywood stars to community activists. For his last show, Michael will share memories and reflections on his distinguished career with NPR's Ron Elving, and he especially wants to hear from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist James Fallows says the Biden Administration is facing harder decisions than most new administrations because, he writes, “In addition to looking forward, to all the problems they are now supposed to solve, they must look backward, to reckoning with what Donald Trump and his enablers have done.” On the first day of President Trump’s impeachment trial, we’ll talk with The Atlantic writer about how Biden should triage the multiple crises on his hands. And we’ll get his assessment of the administration’s early policy moves and impeachment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Seize it. Migrate. Move.” This is the crux of journalist and New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow’s newest book, “The Devil you Know: A Black Power Manifesto.” He argues that the Great Migration of Blacks from the rural South to Northern urban centers did not deliver on improved social and economic conditions, and that the fastest way to fight systemic anti-Black racism is for Blacks to migrate to the South, where they can more easily consolidate their political power. Blow has taken his advice to heart and moved from New York to Atlanta. We’ll hear from Blow about his book and learn how a reverse migration could move progressive policies, like reparations and criminal justice reform, forward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A year into the coronavirus pandemic, the once novel idea of working from home has begun to feel permanent -- at least for some workers. Some experts predict the old 9-to-5 paradigm is over as workers and employers devise more flexible arrangements. While there are many perks, more remote work can mean less social interaction and collapsed boundaries between work and home life. It can also threaten the vitality of urban centers. We talk about how working from home has already begun to reshape communities, family dynamics and how employees relate to their jobs and each other. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Food journalist and author Mark Bittman explores the history of humankind’s relationship to food in his latest book, "Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal,” and argues that the development of agriculture has shaped today's public health, climate change and social justice crises. Bittman believes that agriculture requires a cultural and political reckoning with how it has "driven exploitation and injustice, slavery and war” to tackle the damage it’s caused. Bittman joins us now to talk about his latest book and how to transform our agricultural systems to reclaim a healthy, just future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bay Area based journalist and author Isabel Allende’s books--translated into 42 languages-- have resonated across cultures and countries around the world. Her forthcoming book, “The Soul of a Woman,” is a memoir of her feminism, which she embraced at a very early age as she witnessed her single mother struggle to look after three children. Isabel first appeared on Forum in 1995 and she joins Michael Krasny now, as he heads into retirement, to speak about her newest work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many of us have spent a lot of time with our televisions during the pandemic. So when the Golden Globe nominations were announced this week with notable snubs (I May Destroy You) and surprises (Emily in Paris), they're before a public that is probably more informed than ever about the shows and streaming movies theyre judging. . Well talk with critics about their recommendations and we want to hear from you. What have you been watching? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian Michael Beschloss argues that the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6 was a terrorist attack that must be treated with the same gravity as Sept. 11. The event, “put our leaders and our democracy in danger. We had a close call and must never forget,” he wrote on Twitter. Beschloss, the author of “Presidents of War'' and nine other books, is a commentator for the PBS NewsHour and the NBC News presidential historian. We speak to him about the upcoming impeachment trial of former President Trump, and President Joe Biden’s first 100 days. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shirley Weber made history when she was sworn in as California's first Black Secretary of State last week. One of her priorities is to bolster voter registration by making vote-by-mail permanent. She previously spent eight years in the California Assembly representing a district that includes part of San Diego and surrounding communities. While in Sacramento, she pushed progressive policy including an effort to reverse California’s ban on affirmative action and restrict the use of lethal force by police. Weber joins us to speak about her new role as Secretary of State. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from Bakersfield, on Wednesday condemned the comments of an extremist Georgia congresswoman, but declined to take any action against her. Democrats have called for removing Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from House committees for claiming the Parkland, Fl. school shooting was staged, spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and encouraging violence against Democratic officials. On Thursday, the House of Representatives is set to take a full-floor vote on whether to strip her of her committees. We’ll look at what was behind McCarthy’s refusal to sanction Greene and what it means for the identity and future of the Republican party. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last month, former California governor Jerry Brown co-signed a letter urging President Biden to prioritize holding nuclear disarmament talks with Russia. Brown joins us to discuss his post retirement work on nuclear weapons and climate change and his hopes for renewed action on these issues during the Biden presidency. The state’s longest-serving governor will also weigh in on Governor Newsom’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the state’s wildfire problem and how California has changed during his decades in government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Performer and teacher Rhodessa Jones has said that she’s not interested in art for art’s sake. “It has to be about social change,” she said, “It has to be able to save lives.” Now in her 70’s Jones has been bringing a passion for social justice to her work for decades. She created the Medea Project: Theater for Incarcerated Women more than 30 years ago and has continued to work in prisons and on reentry projects and, recently, she performed in a play that took on climate change. We talk to Jones about her ever evolving artistic career and activism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Coronavirus pandemic continues to shake up the housing market in California. While thousands of renters have been able to stay in their homes thanks to statewide eviction moratoriums, many are accumulating crushing debt. And, despite the moratorium, landlords continue to evict tenants. Meanwhile, apartment rents fell in many cities as home sales boomed in 2020. The part of the market catering to more affluent renters and buyers remains strong, but low-income workers continue to struggle to afford or find housing. We talk about the forces shaping the housing market and how to help those hit hardest by the pandemic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas teach a popular class at Stanford Business School entitled, “Humor: Serious Business”. Their mission, they say, is to make sure that the next generation of leaders don’t launch into the world “without a healthy dose of humanity, humility and intellectual perspective that only humor can bring.” They argue we need more human connection in the workplace, not just “professionalism”, especially in a time when in-person meetings have been replaced by Zoom. Aaker and Bagdonas join us to talk about how to bring more laughs to work and life, and their new book, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life (And How Anyone Can Harness It. Even You.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Early on in the pandemic, Southern California drew praise for its aggressive social distancing policies that helped contain the spread of the coronavirus. But now the region is the American epicenter for COVID-19 and what Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano calls a cautionary tale for the dangers of lifting restrictions too quickly. He says the reasons for the backslide are in large part structural: the disease is "tailor-made" for Latino and other tight-knit communities who tend to work on the front lines and live in multigenerational households. But Arellano also blames those he calls "pandejos" -- who, like "covidiots," willfully ignore public health advice. We'll talk to Arellano about his recent story for The Atlantic, called "The Pandejo Movement Destroyed California’s Pandemic Progress." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Republican-led effort to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom is gaining traction as some members of Newsom's base are starting to question his leadership. Newsom was the first governor to issue a statewide stay-at-home order at the start of the pandemic, but the progress from that head start was lost following the state's summer reopening, which many say happened too fast. Now as California's vaccine distribution lags -- 5.8% of Californians have received the first dose of a vaccine compared to 6.8% nationally -- the spotlight on Newsom is intensifying. We'll discuss the latest developments in the effort to recall Gov. Newsom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The pandemic has been tough on Oakland. Just one month into the new year the city has seen 13 homicides and a recent spate of car-jackings and robberies. The city has also made deep budget cuts to offset a $62 million shortfall from declines in tax revenue and police overtime pay. We'll talk with Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf about housing, homelessness, the economy, and what the city can do to help its citizens in these hard times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The California Department of Public Health announced an updated COVID-19 vaccine delivery plan this week as the state faces growing criticism over a slow coronavirus vaccine rollout. But the plan, which prioritizes age over risk of infection, is receiving backlash from people with disabilities who may be immunocompromised and don’t yet meet the current age requirement. Currently, those 65 and older are eligible to be vaccinated, in addition to select groups of essential workers. Even eligible seniors, though, report long waits in the cold and trouble navigating appointment systems. Meanwhile, another coronavirus variant, different from the one originating in the U.K., is spreading across California. We'll talk about the latest coronavirus news impacting Californians. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a report released Thursday, the California state auditor finds the Employment Development Department (EDD) has failed to fix a fraud problem that the agency itself admitted could reach $30 billion. And another audit earlier this week found that inefficiency at the EDD continues to result in delays to benefits, and that the department has failed to correct the ongoing issues. We talk with EDD spokesperson Loree Levy about the agency’s fraud problem and its delays and missteps in processing legitimate claims. And we’ll take your unemployment benefits questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After the deadly insurrection of January 6, Twitter and other social media companies permanently banned Donald Trump from their platforms for inciting the violent mob that overran the U.S. Capitol. Facebook indefinitely suspended the ex-President’s account, and its oversight board is considering whether to make that suspension permanent. But the bans raise complicated questions about whether powerful tech companies should have the unchecked ability to remove people from their platforms, and under what circumstances. We’ll talk about the law and politics of deplatforming. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Songwriter Michael Koppy says we’ve all been happily singing along to abysmal lyrics without noticing. In his book “Words and Music Into the Future” -- which he calls a treatise and a manifesto -- he excoriates the lyrics of even our most beloved songwriters, like Bob Dylan and John Lennon. How much attention do you pay to the lyrics of your favorite songs? We want to hear from you. What are the worst -- and the best -- song lyrics in popular music? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Wednesday, a Californian died from COVID-19 every two minutes. The level of loss is taking a toll on families and larger communities collectively grieving the more than 38,000 deaths -- many of which were preventable. The numbers don’t tell the whole story, however, of families waiting weeks to bury or cremate loved ones. Or households in which multiple family members died from COVID-19. Or communities afraid of losing their culture when elders pass away. We talk about how some are coping with the grief and trauma of losing loved ones to the coronavirus pandemic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Joe Biden on Wednesday is set to sign a group of executive actions to fight climate change, on issues ranging from fracking to green jobs. But will they go far enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? California Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Jared Blumenfeld and Natural Resources Agency Secretary Wade Crowfoot join us to share their reaction to Biden’s plan. They’ll also discuss how California--as it struggles with wildfire, drought and other challenges-- can serve as a model for national action on climate change. And we’ll hear what California itself is doing to meet clean energy targets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens to a society that tells generation after generation of white men that they deserve power? That's the question author Ijeoma Oluo poses in her new book, "Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America." A follow-up to her bestselling book "So You Want to Talk About Race," Oluo continues her examination of race in America with a wide-ranging cultural history of white male identity and power that she argues has devastating consequences on women, people of color and white men themselves. We talk to Oluo about the book and what’s needed to dismantle the constructs that perpetuate white male supremacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Governor Newsom easing lockdown orders Monday, many parents and students are hoping that school reopenings may soon follow. Last month, Newsom offered $2 billion in grants to schools that begin to open to in- person instruction by mid-February, but some school districts say the plan doesn’t give them the support and guidance they need to safely open. And teacher’s unions say they want to see lower COVID rates before going back to the classroom. Meanwhile, many private schools and public schools in wealthy districts have been operating in person for months, continuing to widen disparities exacerbated by the pandemic. Forum talks about how and when Bay Area public schools could reopen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices