Building A New America With Jonathan Arias.

It's been a while since I've uploaded an episode, and that's because life has been hectic.  In December, I got the unique opportunity to take an extended trip.  I took the entire month to travel through South America and visited Peru, Bolivia, and Chile.  My original plan was to hike the ancient Inka city Machu Pichu - which I did - but then I spontaneously decided to explore Bolivia and Chile. To say the least, this was one of my best decisions, and it turned into one of the most enlightening moments in my life.  I'll be releasing an episode about that soon.  But for today, I'm going to take you behind the scenes to show you how we planned for season 3 - this is a planning session.  You'll get to meet our Executive Producer Anré Garrett and our Adviser Hazel Weiser.  What you should know is that we recorded this two weeks ago under calmer circumstances.  Two weeks ago, at this point, feel like two years ago.  Now that we're in this Coronavirus crisis, everything has changed

“We the People,” as the preamble to the Constitution begins, suggests that the new federal government would be run by its citizens and administered to serve their interests--justice, tranquility, and to secure the blessings of liberty.  The Founders, however, were skeptical of direct democracy.  For this reason, the Constitution established a representative form of government where citizens would elect officials to govern them.  A representative form of government certainly has its negatives.  Whose interests are really being served?  We see too many examples of politicians who lose touch with their constituents in favor of wealthy donors and special interests.  In these circumstances, democracy is violated.  A functioning government, therefore, needs a combination of representative and direct democracy.  In a direct democracy, the people who show up have the power.  So how do we combine the two?In this episode of BANA, I’ll be speaking with Obama Fellow and Co-Executive Directory of the Participatory Budgeti

Legal historians describe democracy as a substitute for war. Instead of shedding blood for power, democracy allows people to civilly decide how to self-govern. The ballot, it’s said, wins out over the bullet in a democracy.  Voting gives people a stake in their communities and is, therefore, one of the most sacred rights held by us individually and collectively.  We all have a responsibility to vote.  But as young people, we don’t take this responsibility seriously.  For example, the 18-29 demographic has the lowest voting rates.  And I understand why.  With things such as Gerrymandering, why should we care if our election process seems rigged?  Yet unless we do vote, the unique challenges that we face, such as climate change, won’t be addressed.  It’s up to us to voice our concerns about our future by electing candidates who speak for us or by running for office ourselves and taking over.In 2020 there’s a lot at stake and it’s not just the President’s seat. What’s also at stake is the composition of the Supr

Whistleblowers throughout history have revealed the secret and disturbing workings of governments throughout the world.  This task, though, comes at a great cost - the cost typically being death or imprisonment, especially in undemocratic nations.  Despite these costs, brave whistleblowers risk their lives to spark important debates.  Without these brave acts, critical information about our governments would remain hidden. Whistleblowers, therefore, perform an important democratic function.  The First Amendment's guarantee of a free press is effectively a check on the government.  As Supreme Court Justice Hugh Black wrote in the landmark Supreme Court case NY Times vs. The United States, "[t]he press was to serve the governed, not the governors."  A nation cannot be a democracy if its populace is blind to the dealings of its government. In 2013, former United States Army solider Chelsea Manning leaked thousands of classified and sensitive military and diplomatic records to Wikileaks, a nonprofi

According to a report published by UCLA's Civil Rights Project, New York has the most segregated schools in the United States.  This is is a shocking statistic considering that New York is one of the most liberal states and because 'separate but equal' was dismantled 65 years ago.  Why is this?In this episode, Baruch College History Professor Clarence Taylor describes the interesting history behind the City's feeble attempts to integrate after Brown vs. Board of Education.  To add to his explanation, professor Taylor discusses how the move to privatize schools and testing contribute to the problem.  Finally, host Jonathan Arias askes for the ingredients to quality education and how we can improve the teaching professions.  Professor Taylor is professor emeritus of history at Baruch College in New York City and the author of 7 books including Black Religious Intellectuals: the fight for Equality from Jim Crow to the 21st Century and Reds at the Blackboard: communism, civil rights, and the N

Back in late 2018, President Trump requested  $5.7B from Congress to build a massive wall along the United States Southern Border - the purpose of which is to stop the flow of refugees, coming through Mexico from countries such as  Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.  Congress refused to give him that much.  And as a consequence, Congress and the President could not come to a deal on government spending which ultimately led to the longest government shutdown of our history.  This shutdown affected thousands of American lives, including hundreds of thousands of federal government workers.  Recall the 2016 presidential campaign.  A central promise that he made was that Mexico would pay for the border wall.  But since becoming president, all of his efforts have focused on using U.S. taxpayer money to finance this project.To end the shutdown Congress compromised and approved $1.3B for the wall, which was still much less than the $5.7B Trump originally requested.  Trump reluctantly signed the Bill and then immed

The Constitution rests, in part, on the principles of both liberty and equality.  Liberty is the ability to live free from government interference.  It is the right to act independently within society.  Equality, by contrast, is the right to enjoy the same rights and opportunities as all others, and to be treated equally by the government.  These two principles—liberty and equality—are often in tension with each other.Unlimited liberty often infringes on the rights and opportunities of others.  Government imposed equality sometimes hampers the liberty of individuals for the sake of society as a whole.  This inherent tension between liberty and equality in our Democracy is part of the American story.  One defining feature of our Democracy is the peaceful transfer of power to the next generation.  Though labeled as peaceful, it's far from polite in practice.  The sheer size of the Baby Boomer generation and their seeming longevity aided by Social Security and Medicare, is taxing the capacity of the Gen X,

In recent years there has been a shift in how our Country views criminal justice. Partly, but strongly, influenced by the deaths of Sandra Bland, Philando Castille, Kalief Browder and a number of other individuals, large segments of our Country are questioning the legitimacy of our justice system.  Some statistics - to add further discontent - show that the United States, locks up more people, per capita, than any other nation.  As a result of this, large segments of the United States are demanding reform.   In response to these demands, progressive Criminal Justice reforms have emerged.  And along with these reforms have come a new breed of law enforcement official: the progressive prosecutor.   As an example, in St. Louis and Philadelphia, this movement has placed Wesley Bell (a former Public Defender) and Larry Krasner (a Civil Rights Lawyer), respectively, into the role of the head prosecutor.   One would not be unreasonable to say that civil opinion on Criminal Justice has drastically shifted.  In the 80

In our current climate of heated political and racial debate, calls have been made to censor, and even punish, what is called 'hate speech.'  The difficulty, however, is defining it.  The First Amendment to our Constitution guarantees the right to free speech, but it is not an absolute right.  Screaming 'FIRE!' in a crowded theatre, as the classic example goes, is not protected under the First Amendment.  Even though the First Amendment protects most speech, 'hate speech' has strained the barriers of the classic American right.  How should the law protect genuinely vulnerable individuals against hateful rhetoric from Neo Nazi's or other related groups?  How should college campuses treat speakers that oppose substantively the ideology of the student body? How have these 'hate speech' laws been weaponized against genuine movements for civil rights?  Why does a censored speaker become more popular after being banned?In this episode, we got the wonderful opportunity to

In this post podcast session, Howard Dean discusses the upcoming millennial generation, important democratic lessons and the importance of voting responsibility.  Make sure you subscribe to the BANA Podcast.  Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @BANAPodcastFollow host Jonathan Arias @JonArias1

In collaboration with Spark Microgrants, former DNC Chairman Howard Dean and host Jonathan Arias discuss the current state of American democracy.  Every four years when we elect a President, we evaluate the health of our democracy. But since 2016, we're doing a lot more frequently.  This episode gives essential insights on what we should do moving forward. In this episode we discuss:the unprecedented power of the millennial generation,the rise of the young, black women, and people of color on the left,how to handle misinformation or 'fake news,'capitalism vs. socialism,universal basic income,medicare for all,public vs. private campaign finance.Please subscribe to the podcast and share with a friend! #BANApodcast  

NYU Law's Vincent Southerland warns against the use of algorithms in the criminal justice system.  In 2013, a Wisconsin Judge partly used the COMPAS system, a crime prediction algorithm, to sentence Eric Loomis to six years in prison.  Algorithms are everywhere.  Algorithms are used in teacher evaluations, DNA analysis, the determination of Medicaid benefits, the determination insurance rates, and in practically every industry. In this episode, host Jonathan Arias and Vincent Southerland discuss the legal implications, dangers, and solutions to algorithmic decision making. 

Sasher Fisher and her organization Spark Microgrants help communities across Africa build communities from a grass-roots level.  Moving away from the common, but ineffective, prescriptive model of community development, Spark implements the community-driven model which leaves the decision making power to community members.  Helping communities only to organize, Spark provides a seed grant to initiate the community building process. In this episode, Jonathan and Sasha discuss grass-roots democracy and what lessons Americans can learn from abroad.  

Can a society function without police?  In this episode, Host Jonathan Arias sits down with professors Ann Cammett and Alex Vitale to discuss the historical origins of policing.  The discussion also addresses why police were formed and what parts of the Constitution address policing.  Has policing gone astray from its intended purpose?  Or is it working as intended?  Find out in this episode.