This is Democracy

In episode 109 of This is Democracy, Jeremi brings on Michele Deitch to discuss criminal justice and prison reform in light of BLM protests and COVID-19. To set the scene, Zachary shares his poem entitled, "The Difference Between the One and the Other." Michele Deitch is an attorney with more than 30 years of experience working on criminal justice and juvenile justice policy issues with state and local government officials, corrections administrators, judges and advocates. An award-winning teacher and Soros Senior Justice Fellow, she holds a joint appointment as a senior lecturer at the LBJ School and the School of Law at The University of Texas at Austin. Her areas of specialty include independent oversight of correctional institutions, prison conditions, the management of youths in custody, and juveniles in the adult criminal justice system. She co-chairs the American Bar Association’s Subcommittee on Correctional Oversight and helped draft the ABA’s Standards on the Treatment of Prisoners. She has written numerous articles about correctional oversight, including a 50-state inventory of prison oversight models, as well as many reports on juvenile justice that have received national attention. Her TEDx talk “Why are we trying kids as adults?” was named a TEDx Editor’s Pick in January 2015. Prior to entering academia, she served as a federal court-appointed monitor of conditions in the Texas prison system, as the policy director of Texas’ sentencing commission, as general counsel to the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee, and as an independent consultant to justice system agencies across the country.

In this episode of This is Democracy, Jeremi and Zachary talk with professor in law Stephen Vladeck about federalism and the recent focus on protests and law enforcement in Portland. Zachary sets the scene with his poem, entitled "Still." Stephen I. Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) is the A. Dalton Cross Professor in Law at the University of Texas School of Law and a nationally recognized expert on the federal courts, constitutional law, national security law, and military justice. Professor Vladeck has argued multiple cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and the lower federal courts; has served as an expert witness both in U.S. and foreign tribunals; and has been repeatedly recognized for his influential and widely-cited legal scholarship, his prolific popular writing, his teaching, and his service to the legal profession. Vladeck is the co-host, together with Professor Bobby Chesney, of the popular and award-winning “National Security Law Podcast.” He is CNN’s Supreme Court analyst and a co-author of Aspen Publishers’ leading national security law and counterterrorism law casebooks. And he is co-Editor-in-Chief of the Just Security blog and a senior editor of the Lawfare blog. Vladeck published an important article in the Washington Post on July 25 about the contemporary constitutional issues surrounding the use of federal force in American cities: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/07/25/are-trump-administrations-actions-portland-legal-are-they-constitutional/

On episode 107 of This is Democracy, Jeremi brings on Dr. Julian Zelizer to discuss the divisive partisanship in politics and the some of the roots of today's radical conservative movement. To set the scene, Zachary reads his poem entitled, "The Sour Grapes." Julian E. Zelizer is one of the leading experts on modern American political history. He is the Malcolm Stevenson Forbes, Class of 1941 Professor of History and Public Affairs at Princeton University. Professor Zelizer is the author and editor of 19 books on American political history, including: Taxing America: Wilbur D. Mills, Congress, and the State, 1945-1975; The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the Battle for the Great Society; and Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974, co-authored with Kevin Kruse. Most recently, Zelizer published Burning Down the House: Newt Gingrich, The Fall of a Speaker, and the Rise of the New Republican Party.

In this episode of This is Democracy, Jeremi and Zachary talk with Ilan Stavans about our Southern border and how our society, language, and culture are formed at the divide of the United States and Mexico. Zachary sets the scene with his poem, entitled "Where the River Once Unfurled." Ilan Stavans is one of today’s preeminent essayists, cultural critics, and translators. He is Lewis-Sebring Professor in Latin American and Latino Culture and Five College-Fortieth Anniversary Professor at Amherst College. A native from Mexico, Dr. Stavans received his Doctorate in Latin American Literature from Columbia University. Stavans’ books include The Hispanic Condition (HarperCollins, 1995), On Borrowed Words (Viking, 2001), Spanglish (HarperCollins, 2003), Dictionary Days (Graywolf, 2005), The Disappearance (TriQuarterly, 2006), Love and Language (Yale, 2007), Resurrecting Hebrew (Nextbook, 2008), Mr. Spic Goes to Washington (Soft Skull, 2008), and Gabriel García Márquez: The Early Years (Palgrave, 2010). Most recently, Dr. Stavans published a book-long poem The Wall, which won the Massachusetts Book Award and other prizes. He has also published: Latino USA: A Cartoon History.

Today, Jeremi talks with Professor Michelle Nickerson about the historical and ideological roots of Sunbelt politics in the United States. Zachary sets the scene with his poem, entitled "Sonnet for the Sunbelt." Michelle Nickerson is associate professor of history at Loyola University of Chicago.  She teaches the history of American politics, women and gender, cities, and religion.  Nickerson is NOT from the Sunbelt.  She was born and raised in New Jersey, where she got her undergraduate degree at Rutgers University.  She moved to the Sunbelt after she received her Ph.D. at Yale in American Studies, first to do research in Los Angeles, and then in Dallas, where she taught at the University of Texas at Dallas.  Nickerson’s first book was a volume of essays she co-edited, Sunbelt Rising:  The Politics of Space, Place, and Region.  This project grew out of her research and highly regarded book on women and right-wing politics: Mothers of Conservatism:  Women and the Rise of the Postwar Right.  That book examines how activist women in Los Angeles shaped American conservatism.  

Today, Jeremi talks with author James K. Boyce about climate change, carbon emissions, and the ways in which our society addresses these issues. Zachary sets the scene with his poem, "Chasing Windmills." James K. Boyce is an author and senior fellow at the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His most recent books are The Case for Carbon Dividends (published by Polity Press in 2019) and Economics for People and the Planet: Inequality in the Era of Climate Change (published by Anthem Press, also in 2019).

Today, Jeremi talks with Professor Richard Reddick about the lasting legacy of the Civil War, diving into the implications of Confederate statues and monuments that are being torn down around the country today. Zachary sets the scene with his poem, "Today the Pedestals are Empty." Professor Richard J. Reddick is the inaugural associate dean for equity, community engagement, and outreach for the College of Education at The University of Texas at Austin. He is also a professor in the Program in Higher Education Leadership in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy (ELP) at The University of Texas at Austin, where he has served as a faculty member since 2007. Additionally, Dr. Reddick serves as the Assistant Director of the Plan II Honors Program in the College of Liberal Arts. Dr. Reddick is a faculty member by courtesy in the Department for African and African Diaspora Studies, the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, and a fellow at the Institute for Urban Policy Research and Analysis. Dr. Reddick co-chairs the Council for Racial and Ethnic Equity and Diversity (CREED), serves on the Signature Course Advisory Committee (SCAC), and was named to the inaugural cohort of the Provost's Distinguished Service Academy.

Today, Jeremi talks with John McWilliams about the history of race in our schools and institutions, and namely how we as citizens can push the conversation of racism forward to produce positive change in the world. Zachary sets the scene with his poem, “Soiled.” John McWilliams is the Head of School at Montgomery Academy, in Montgomery, Alabama. The Montgomery Academy is a K–12, co-ed, nonsectarian day school serving the River Region community since 1959. John graduated from Montgomery Academy in 1996 and he is the first alumnus to lead the school. He received his B.A. degree in history from Yale University, and he also holds a master’s degree in liberal studies from Dartmouth College. Upon his graduation from Yale, John returned to Montgomery Academy to teach in the history department and coach Speech & Debate before becoming Middle School Director in 2011. He has acted in various capacities since then, including Associate Head of School, Acting Interim Head of School, and Upper School Director.

Today, Jeremi talks with Paul Edgar about the complex and evolving relationship between the US Armed Forces and the citizens it aims to protect. Zachary sets the scene with his poem, “They Were Supposed to be Us, We Were Supposed to be Them.” Paul Edgar is the Associate Director of the William P. Clements, Jr. Center for National Security at the University of Texas-Austin. He holds a PhD in Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures from the University of Texas at Austin. Before entering academia, Paul served more than 22 years as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army. Among many other missions, Paul deployed to Iraq during the 2006-2007 surge, serving as an infantry battalion operations and executive officer, conducting counterinsurgency and combat operations in both Fallujah and South Babil Province. In 2008-2009, as an infantry brigade operations officer, he deployed to Afghanistan and conducted counterinsurgency operations in Paktika, Paktia, and Khost provinces. After returning from Afghanistan, Paul served as the executive assistant to the commander of the Kingdom of Jordan’s Special Operations Command. He then commanded the 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry in The Old Guard where he supported official ceremonies and provided security for the President of the United States and other senior civilian, military, and foreign officials. In his final assignment for the Army, Paul was the political advisor for Israeli affairs to the United States Security Coordinator in Jerusalem. Paul is fluent in Modern Israeli Hebrew and is trained to read and conduct research in Akkadian, Hittite, Middle Egyptian, Classical Hebrew, Ugaritic, Aramaic, Syriac, Sumerian, and German.

Jeremi and Zachary Suri celebrate 100 episodes of This is Democracy by revisiting its foundations in President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's speeches. Zachary opens with his poem, "The Better Angels."