Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast

The urgent needs of Black politics today have roots in the failures of the Reconstruction era. Today, a look at how that history led us to the present moment, and what the future could hold. On Today's Show:Adam Serwer, staff writer at The Atlantic talks about how to be anti-racist now and the past and future of Black politics.

Trump tried to rescind an Obama policy granting legal status for those who illegally immigrated as children. The Supreme Court said the reversal was "arbitrary and capricious." On Today's Show:Jami Floyd, WNYC's legal editor and host of All Things Considered, and Beth Fertig, senior reporter at WNYC covering immigration and courts, talks about the Supreme Court's decision.

On policing, what happens in communities on the ground often has to do with the tone set by the brass. So what happens when the President stokes his base by applauding rough policing? On Today's Show:Chuck Rosenberg, MSNBC contributor and host of "The Oath" podcast, former US attorney, senior FBI official and acting head of the DEA, talks about the new season of his podcast, a series of interviews with former government officials about what the oath of office meant to them, plus offers his take on national security news.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that LGBT people cannot be fired for simply being LGBT, a landmark ruling that has consequences for gender equality in its many forms. On Today's Show:Gabriel Arkles, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s LGBT and HIV Project (and part of the team on the Aimee Stephens case), talks about the landmark Supreme Court decision.

As we reckon with racism in our present, many point to today's injustices as a continuation of a history of racism. So what should be done with the historical symbols of that racism? On Today's Show:Lecia Brooks, outreach director at the Southern Poverty Law Center talks about what statues have gone down in the past few weeks, and what remains. Plus Gurminder Bhambra, professor of postcolonial studies at the University of Sussex on the parallel protests happening in Britain around symbols dedicated to the British Empire and colonialism.  

Around the country, states are starting to reopen, some faster than others. Given that, and the fact that cases are climbing in some areas, have we learned how to start up again, safely? On Today's Show:Alice Miranda Ollstein, health care reporter for POLITICO, discusses where states went wrong while reopening their economies.

The city of Camden, New Jersey disbanded and rebranded it's police department in 2013. As reform advocates around the country weigh the options, what can we learn from Camden? On Today's Show:Allison Steele, news reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, talks about the extent to which Camden, NJ's 2013 dissolution of its dysfunctional police department, and its replacement with a county force, can be a model for police reformers today.

Police on TV, from Law and Order detectives to the reality show Cops give an unrealistic sense of what it's like to be in law enforcement.And some of them are given easier access to city permits for their positive portrayals. On Today's Show:Alyssa Rosenberg, opinion writer covering culture at The Washington Post, argues that Hollywood should immediately (but not permanently) halt production on cop shows and movies and take the time to rethink the stories it tells about policing in America.

CNN International anchor Christiane Amanpour has seen a lot of unrest around the globe. She says we have to see the George Floyd protests for what they are. An uprising. On Today's Show: Christiane Amanpour, chief international anchor and host of CNN's Amanpour and of Amanpour & Company on PBS, talks about international reaction to George Floyd’s murder and what it is like covering it as a foreign correspondent.

Now that protesters have gotten politicians to commit to action on police reform, we explore just what form those reforms should take. On Today's Show: L. Joy Williams, president of the Brooklyn branch of the NAACP, political strategist, creator and host of the podcast "Sunday Civics" and chair of Higher Heights talks about the protests in Brooklyn, and the political change she and other advocates are pushing for.