KQED's Forum

Vice President Kamala Harris’s racial and ethnic identity is either an asset or a liability on the campaign trail — it depends on whom you ask. Many voters say they’re ready to elect the nation’s first Black and Asian female president, while some worry that racist backlash will impede her chances. Still others claim she’s “not Black enough.” But, as the United States becomes more diverse and more people identify as multiracial, the Harris campaign is already shifting national discourse about identity politics. We’ll talk about what Harris’s candidacy – and voters’ reactions to it – say about America’s understanding of mixed race identity.Guests:Celeste Headlee , award-winning journalist formerly with National Public Radio, professional speaker and author of "We Need To Talk: How To Have Conversations That Matter"Sonja Diaz , civil rights attorney, policy expert and co-founder, Latina Futures 2050 Lab - an organization focused on promoting access to leadership roles for Latinas. Diaz is also the founding director emeritus, UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute.Karthick Ramakrishnan, executive director and founder, AAPI Data - a national research and policy organization focused on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. He is also a researcher at the Asian American Research Center, University of California, Berkeley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sean Wang’s semi-autobiographical new film “Dìdi (弟弟)” follows a 13-year-old skater in 2008 Fremont, California, the summer before he starts high school. Called “Dìdi” by his family, “WangWang” by his Fremont friends and crush, and “Chris” by the skaters he wants to befriend, the protagonist blunders through an adolescence set among real-life Fremont skate spots and Sean Wang’s own childhood bedroom. As Dìdi learns how to navigate friendships and crushes via MySpace and AIM, he also learns how to see his immigrant mother, played by Joan Chen, as her own person. Sean Wang, who is 30, was nominated for an Academy Award last year for his documentary short “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó,” about his paternal and maternal grandmothers, both immigrants from Taiwan. “Dìdi,” Wang’s feature-length debut, received a standing ovation at Sundance, along with the Audience Award and a prize for its ensemble cast. We’ll talk with Wang and Chen about depicting the Bay Area of 2008 and their own reflections on coming of age.Guests:Joan Chen, actor-producer, Dìdi (弟弟)Sean Wang , director, Dìdi (弟弟) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In keeping with his vow to reform the Supreme Court, President Joe Biden issued a plan calling for term limits for justices, a constitutional amendment to limit presidential immunity, and a “binding code of conduct” to replace the voluntary ethics guidelines established last year by the court. Biden assailed recent Supreme Court decisions and ethics scandals in a recent opinion piece in the Washington Post: “What is happening now is not normal, and it undermines the public’s confidence in the court’s decisions, including those impacting personal freedoms,” he wrote. We’ll talk about Biden’s proposed reforms and which ones – if any – could be enacted before he leaves office.Guests:Olatunde C. Johnson, Ruth Bader Ginsburg '59 Professor of Law, Columbia Law School - She served on President Biden's Presidential Commission on the Supreme CourtPhilip Bump, national columnist, Washington Post - Bump is the author of "The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America"Jennifer Ahearn, Senior counsel, Brennan Center - Ahearn previously served as Policy Director at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), where she led a team focused on government ethics and accountabilityAlex Padilla, U.S. Senator, Padilla sits on the Judiciary Committee Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most climate action today focuses on zeroing out carbon emissions, but Stanford climate scientist Rob Jackson wants us to take a hard look at methane. It’s a byproduct of animal agriculture and fossil fuel extraction, and pound for pound it’s a greenhouse gas 80 to 90 times more potent than carbon dioxide. That means the upside of reducing methane emissions is significant: Jackson says that no other greenhouse gas provides such an immediate opportunity to slow climate change. We learn more and hear why Jackson’s hopeful about curbing methane emissions in our lifetimes. His new book is “Into the Clear Blue Sky.”Guests:Rob Jackson, professor of earth system science; senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and the Precourt Institute for Energy; author, "Into the Clear Blue Sky: The Path to Restoring Our Atmosphere" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Biden’s decision to drop out of the presidential race put a spotlight on a vexing question: when is the right time to call it quits and retire? Whether or not you’re president of the United States, stepping away from a job you love – or just sort of like – can be a terrifying decision. The transition can be filled with unknowns and unexpected struggles including a lack of daily structure, a different social network, and adapting to new views of self-worth and purpose. We’ll talk about the reasons some delay retirement, how you can prepare to make the transition and how to find fulfillment in your next chapter.Guests:Charley Locke, freelance journalist focusing on kids and elders. Her latest story for the Atlantic is "Retirement Gets Harder the Longer You Wait."Ashwin Kotwal, assistant professor of medicine in the division of geriatrics, UCSF Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When we imagine an autocracy, writes Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Anne Applebaum, we tend to conjure a cartoon image: a malevolent dictator at the top who controls the police and army, evil collaborators and a few brave dissidents. But 21st century autocracies are not that. They’re run instead by “sophisticated networks relying on kleptocratic financial structures, a complex of security services… and technological experts who provide surveillance, propaganda and disinformation.” We talk to Applebaum about how modern autocracies work and how liberal democracies can disrupt them. Her new book is “Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World.”Guest:Anne Applebaum, author, "Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World"; staff writer, The Atlantic; Pulitzer-prize winning historian; senior fellow, John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and the SNF Agora Institute Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who gets to compete in women’s sports? Since the very conception of elite athletics, there has been controversy over who qualifies for the women’s category. Rose Eveleth is the host of “Tested,” a new podcast from NPR’s Embedded and CBC radio that explores the practice and history of sex testing in women’s sports. Eveleth follows the stories of a handful of world-class runners who have been told they can’t race as women because of natural variations in their biology. In their quest to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, these women face hard choices: take drugs to alter their naturally-occurring hormones, abandon the sport that they excel at, or fight the rules made by World Athletics. We speak with Eveleth about the 100-year history of sex testing, the evolution and flaws of modern biology, and try to understand how we arrived at this convoluted moment in women’s sports.Guest:Rose Eveleth, podcast host, Tested Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who do you think Vice President Kamala Harris should pick as her running mate? The VP has a strong bench to choose from, including Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, Kentucky governor Andy Beshear and Arizona senator Mark Kelly — all of whom are reportedly being vetted. Each potentially could bring strengths — or swing state voters — to Harris’ campaign. We’ll talk about the considerations at play for the Democratic presidential candidate who knows well what the role requires.Guests:Shira Stein Zoom, Washington correspondent, San Francisco ChronicleAmanda Becker, Washington correspondent, The 19thKen Thomas, White House reporter, The Wall Street Journal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In an executive order Governor Gavin Newsom has ordered California officials to dismantle homeless encampments across the state today. It will be the biggest action nationwide, expected to affect tens of thousands of people, since the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Grants Pass v. Johnson case has made it easier for cities to clear out homeless encampments without first offering shelter options. Homeless advocates say the court’s decision will usher in more policing and criminalization of unhoused people and shift away resources from moving people into permanent housing. We’ll talk about Newsom’s action and Bay Area cities’ plans for responding to homeless encampments in the wake of the Grants Pass ruling.Guests:Kevin Fagan, reporter, San Francisco ChronicleHarold Duffey, interim city administrator, city of Oakland. Duffey is also Oakland's acting homeless administrator.Andrew Sullivan, president, San Francisco Board Sailing AssociationNisha Kashyap, program director, racial justice division, Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Vaillant’s book “Fire Weather” chronicles a devastating wildfire that struck Fort McMurray, Alberta in May 2016. It forced more than 85,000 people to flee their homes, inflicted billions of dollars in damage to the Canadian oil industry and continues to serve as a warning in our increasingly flammable world. Vaillant lays out the linked histories of North America’s fossil fuel industry and its rapidly changing climate – with sidebars that explain the science behind petroleum products, recap two centuries of industrial development and explore the economic and environmental tensions in modern oil boom towns. We’ll speak with Vaillant about the lessons that fire-prone regions, including California, can learn from the devastation of Fort McMurray. And we’ll hear from you: Has your sense of fire awareness changed over time? How so?Guests:John Vaillant, journalist; author, "Fire Weather: A True Story From a Hotter World," which was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist. His other books include "The Tiger" and "The Golden Spruce." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices