403. We Hold These Truths: A Live Broadcast of the 1941 Bill of Rights Radio Special
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
Release Date: 03/22/2026
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
A decade after the Panama Papers exposed the hidden world of offshore finance, the investigation’s consequences continue to unfold. Governments have recovered at least $1.4 billion, transparency laws have changed, and investigative journalism has been transformed. But financial secrecy has evolved alongside these reforms. Join Gerard Ryle, executive director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, for a conversation with financial crime expert Jas Randhawa about the investigation that reshaped public understanding of offshore finance and sparked arrests, legislation...
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They were perhaps an unlikely trio: the professor Leah Stokes, the policy wonk Sonia Aggarwal in the White House, and the DC insider Adrian Deveny in the Senate, but together, they crafted the boldest climate legislation of our time. In her newest book, The Carbon Wave, Leah Stokes chronicles the turbulent path of their climate bill as it veered between breakthrough and collapse — from the hopeful beginnings of the Green New Deal in 2018, to the bill’s near-certain defeat by Senator Joe Manchin in the winter of 2021, to the surprise passage of the landmark legislation in August 2022....
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Why do some fights for justice hit a wall while others succeed? What does it take to win social change, especially now? According to author and social change strategist Rashad Robinson, it all comes down to understanding one thing: the difference between presence and power. Robinson has watched many movements unfold in his more than twenty years at the highest levels of leadership in two of the most significant social movements of our time: the fight for LGBTQ rights and the fight for racial justice. He’s taken on tech giants and the criminal justice system, politicians in Washington and...
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Ben Wikler, hailed as the “preeminent state party chair” by Nancy Pelosi, led Wisconsin Democrats through a series of hold-your-breath fights against right-wing extremists that resulted, against the odds, in the unrigging of the political system of the most divided — and, until recently, most gerrymandered — state in the nation. His new book, This Is The Plan: How to End America’s Meltdown and Save Democracy, draws on decades of experience in everything from school-board races to presidential elections to bring readers inside the hidden web of power that shapes our lives....
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Finding and forging one’s identity and purpose can be challenging enough. Doing that while also being a member of a marginalized identity living in a conservative milieu can add more complexity to this experience. For former state Senator Cole LeFavour, that was very much a reality. LeFavour chronicles their life in a new book, In the Arms of Mountains: A Memoir of Land, Love, and Queer Resistance in Red America. As Idaho’s first out LGBTQ+ lawmaker, LeFavour explores a journey through gender, power, and rebellion against a reactionary system. When LeFavour was 11 years old,...
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New York Times bestselling author and former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade offers an exposé on what she frames as an escalating threat of far-right politics to both national security and American democracy. In The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government, McQuade draws on her decades of legal experience to argue how systems of organized crime and political opportunism exploit the levers of power — using corruption, cruelty, and chaos as tools to dominate institutions and eliminate accountability. McQuade exposes government tactics like information...
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As the Gaza war stretches into its third year, journalism professor and MSNBC analyst Peter Beinart claims that, as a Jew, he must reckon with the intense moral and theological tensions that not only he holds, but what he sees as challenges for Judaism as a whole. Because of these tensions, Beinart believes the Jewish community must build a new answer to the question: What does it mean to be a Jew? From his book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning, MSNBC analyst Peter Beinart imagines a world where Israeli Jews have the right to equality, not supremacy, and in...
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By way of structured academia or outspoken social commentary, the work of Kimberlé Crenshaw can be found woven throughout the fabric of modern American sociopolitical discourse. Through establishing the concepts of intersectionality and critical race theory, Crenshaw helped lay a foundation for decades of discussion and activism around race and gender across the world. In her upcoming memoir Backtalker, Crenshaw recounts the personal journeys that shaped her as someone who champions taking notice and speaking up. With intimate and compelling storytelling, Crenshaw takes readers...
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Do you bike in Seattle — or want to? Join Cascade Bike Club for Town Hall Seattle’s 2nd annual Bike Month Bash. Seattle’s bike network and transit connections are expanding as the city prepares for the FIFA World Cup and a flood of visitors this summer. But gaps remain, and more work is needed to make people of all abilities feel safe biking in our city. There are also many opportunities to support better biking in Seattle, such as the Pedaling Relief Project that rescues and delivers food on behalf of multiple food banks. Bring your enthusiasm and questions for our panel of...
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a month-long spree of red arts, red theory, and red politics based in Seattle, Washington, gathers each spring to discuss a world beyond capitalism. For this year’s event at Town Hall Seattle, Red May brings together a panel to discuss policing in the age of ICE. “Counterinsurgency has come home. Since the end of the Vietnam War, innovations in militarized policing have come one after another. No knock raids. AI surveillance. Clear and hold neighborhoods. Each new tactic or strategy has been rubber-stamped in Congress by both Democrats and Republicans under the guise of a...
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Celebrate the 234th anniversary of the Bill of Rights and the historic December 15, 1941, radio broadcast of We Hold These Truths with a live performance and radio event at Town Hall Seattle.
Known as the poet laureate of American radio, Norman Corwin wrote We Hold These Truths months before its original airing. But after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, the program—created to honor the Bill of Rights on its 150th anniversary—took on new emotional depth and national significance.
This production commemorates both the Bill of Rights and Corwin’s landmark broadcast, featuring a cast of prominent local broadcasters and public figures.
Feliks Banel is an award-winning broadcaster and historian based in Seattle.
Presented by Town Hall Seattle, SPACE 101.1 FM, and Cascade of History.