Background Briefing: September 4, 2019 | Shirley Jahad sits in for Ian Masters
Why the Federal Election Commission Is Broken and What It Means for 2020
Today, Shirley Jahad sits in for Ian Masters who is on assignment in Europe and will be back on Sunday. First, at a time when questions of influence peddling and foreign interference in US elections abound in the public discourse, the agency charged with keeping tabs and keeping track has broken down. The Federal Election Commission is shuttered and on indefinite recess because it doesn’t have a quorum. There are too few members to hold meetings and vote on anything. Does this mean we are in for a wide open, anything goes election? We talk with a former FEC Chair Ann Ravel to find out the latest and what we can expect going forward.
Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Home Ownership
Then, more than ten years after the housing collapse and economic crisis that sent millions of families into foreclosure, rents are skyrocketing, the wealth gap swells and urban centers are increasingly segregated. A persistent narrative has been that poor people, people who couldn’t afford their home loans and couldn’t pay their mortgages, helped spark the downfall of the economy. Princeton scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor has a new book coming out that challenges that premise and gives a history of predatory practices in banking and real estate. It’s called Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Home Ownership.
The American Academy of Pediatrics Says Racism Is a Socially Transmitted Disease
Then finally we discuss racism as a public health issue. The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued a policy statement saying racism is a socially transmitted disease that has been passed down through generations. We talk with Dr. Jacqueline Douge, a co-author of that report which is titled “The Impact of Racism on Child and Adolescent Health.”