360. Juliet Hooker with Megan Ming Francis: The Politics of Loss
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
Release Date: 07/16/2024
388. Derek Thompson with Clayton Aldern: Abundance
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
From bestselling authors and journalists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, Abundance is a call to renew a politics of plenty, face the failures of liberal governance, and abandon the chosen scarcities that have deformed American life. To trace the history of the twenty-first century so far is to trace a history of unaffordability and shortage. After years of refusing to build sufficient housing, America has a national housing crisis. After years of limiting immigration, we don’t have enough workers. Despite decades of being warned about the consequences of climate change, we haven’t built...
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387. Queering Talks: Out in Front—Radical Leadership in Queer Liberation
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
In Part Two of our , we will center the voices of those who have always led the way in liberation movements, claiming the spotlight for those who have consistently been “out in front” of struggles for justice, love, and equity, demonstrating that the margins have always been the source of radical change. Queering leadership is not just about reclaiming lost stories; it’s about futurism — imagining and building new realities. Leaders who live at the intersections of power systems have long envisioned new possibilities and turned them into reality. They’ve led us beyond the...
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386. Elie Mystal with Jay Willis - How Overturning Laws Could Help America
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
Is there a current law on the books that you disagree with? How about ten? In Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America, New York Times bestselling author and legal analyst Elie Mystal argues not only that ten pieces of legislation are making life worse for millions of Americans but that they should be repealed completely. On topics ranging from immigration to gun rights to abortion and religious freedom, Mystal asserts that these are the worst of our ordinances and that the laws by which our nation is governed do not always reflect the will of the people. Dissecting...
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385. Lessons from Ending Apartheid: How to Resolve Deep Conflict
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
Around the world and throughout history, bitter political adversaries have put aside their differences and worked together to create peace. In a conversation moderated by Jillian Youngblood, Executive Director of Civic Genius, hear two extraordinary leaders tell how they helped transform South Africa into a multiracial democracy, and what their experiences can teach us. Roelf Meyer is renowned for his pivotal role as the South African government’s chief representative in the negotiations to end Apartheid. Mohammed Bhabha was on the African National Congress team at the Convention for a...
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384. Yoni Appelbaum: Priced out of the American Dream
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
Seattle home prices are notoriously sky-high, making this city a difficult place to afford and move to. How did Seattle and other U.S. cities become that way? Or, as historian and journalist Yoni Appelbaum puts it, how did the U.S. cease to be the land of opportunity? Pulling from his book, Stuck, Appelbaum explores how housing affects the very fabric of our society. For 200 years, people in the U.S. moved to new places for economic and social opportunity. But, Appelbaum argues that not only is this American Dream becoming more inaccessible, it hasn’t been available to many for a long...
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383. Ron Wyden with Liz Berry: It Takes Chutzpah
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
“If you want to make change, you’ve got to make noise.” A call to action in the political sense conveys boldness and focus. It’s about drawing attention and speaking loudly about one’s convictions, with a sense of urgency and persistence. To longtime outspoken advocate and US Senator Ron Wyden, that’s what you’d call chutzpah – and his upcoming book sets out to inspire that same quality of action-driven audacity in Americans of all ages. It Takes Chutzpah: How to Fight Fearlessly for Progressive Change acts as a reflection of Wyden’s decades of public service and as a...
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382. Chris Hayes with Luke Burbank: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
You’ve probably been there: doomscrolling or otherwise distracted by devices. Many of us have lost focus before as our addictive phones consume our time or interfere with social situations. People bump into one another on the street, look down at their phones at restaurants, or check their mobile devices while spending time with the kids as continuous pings sound off in their pockets and purses. New York Times bestselling author, political commentator, and MSNBC news anchor Chris Hayes posits that these phenomena are part of a larger issue of attention capitalism, and show how...
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381. Queering Talks: In Between
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
Step into the in-between. This segment dives into the rich, transformative power of liminal spaces—those borders and boundaries where identities and experiences defy tidy categories. Our speakers will share deeply personal stories of hybridity, multiplicity, and fluidity, offering insights from lives lived beyond the binary. These talks challenge conventional thinking and celebrate the voices of those who have always thrived in the margins. Don’t miss this bold exploration of the spaces where possibility begins. About Queering Talks From the beginning, Town Hall has been a space for...
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380. Jesse Hagopian with Dr. Ayva Thomas and Wayne Au: Teach Truth — Unbanning Books in Public Schools
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
Did you know that the Seattle Public Library offers any U.S. resident, ages 13-26, a free “Books Unbanned Card,” which allows you to check out any e-books or e-audiobooks from the Library’s digital collection, no matter where you live? This is just one example of how people are resisting new restrictions on information and education across the country. In his new book, Teach Truth, Seattle educator and author Jesse Hagopian discusses these restrictions and offers advice on how to defend antiracist education. Hagopian outlines how numerous states and school districts in recent...
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379. Juan Williams with Enrique Cerna: The Rise of America’s Second Civil Rights Movement
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
After the U.S. elected Barack Obama its first Black president in 2008, some assumed that this signaled a post-racial America. However, subsequent and serious incidents suggested this was not the case, inciting what some came to know as a second civil rights movement. Political correspondent, journalist, and historian Juan Williams explores this phenomenon in his latest release New Prize for These Eyes: The Rise of America’s Second Civil Rights Movement. Who are the heroes of this movement? Where is it headed? What distinguishes it from its predecessor? Williams aims to answer...
info_outlineDelve into the complex tapestry of American politics with Juliet Hooker, the Royce Family Professor of Teaching Excellence in Political Science at Brown University. Hooker, known for her expertise in racial justice, democracy theories, and Black political thought, will unpack the themes of her latest book, Black Grief / White Grievance and offer a critical examination of white supremacy’s impact on the political landscape.
In her book, Hooker argues that white supremacy creates an environment in which a white majority grows accustomed to civic and political wins, while black citizens are expected to act as lone political martyrs on a long path to justice. For Hooker, the two most important forces driving racial politics in the United States today are Black grief and white grievance. Black grief is exemplified in current protests against police violence — the latest in a tradition of violent death and subsequent public mourning, spurring activism, meanwhile the politics of white grievance imagines the United States as a white country under siege.
Hooker will be joined by Megan Ming Francis, an Associate Professor of Political Science and Associate Professor of Law, Societies, and Justice at the University of Washington. She specializes in the study of American politics, expanding into the realm of criminal punishment, Black political activism, and philanthropy. She is the author of the award-winning book, Civil Rights and the Making of the Modern American State.
Join Juliet Hooker with Megan Ming Francis for a conversation surrounding the expansion of the Black and white political imaginations. Hooker argues that both must learn to sit with loss, for different reasons, and to different ends.
Juliet Hooker is the Royce Family Professor of Teaching Excellence in Political Science at Brown University, where she teaches courses on racial justice, black political thought, Latin American political thought, democratic theory, and contemporary political theory.
Megan Ming Francis is the G. Alan and Barbara Delsman Associate Professor of Political Science and an Associate Professor of Law, Societies, and Justice at the University of Washington. Francis specializes in the study of American politics, with broad interests in constitutional law, Black political activism, critical philanthropy, and the post-Civil War South.
