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January 15 - 19, 2007
Monday, Jan. 15
The Race Beat
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The stories and images of dogs and fire hoses set on protesters, lunch counter sit-ins, and Martin Luther King Jr. are ingrained into the minds of most Americans when thinking of the civil rights movement today. But early on, the indignities and injustices of racial segregation in the South were ignored by the national media and viewed as regional issues, and were later brought to national attention by dedicated reporters and newspeople who eventually propelled a nation to act. A new book about one of the most volatile periods in American history, The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation (Knopf), examines the changes and developments in the press coverage of the civil rights movement in the U.S.
- Hank Klibanoff, Co-Author, The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation (Knopf), and Managing Editor of News at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Reporters Notebook: Covering the Civil Rights Struggle
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Born and raised in the South, journalist Jack Nelson was an eye witness to the tumultuous scene around him during the civil rights movement. While covering local events in and around Atlanta, he won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting, and he later helped open and head the Southern bureau for the Los Angeles Times. He joins Patt to discuss his early days as a reporter covering some of the most significant domestic news events of the twentieth century.
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Jack Nelson, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for his coverage in Atlanta of the civil rights struggle. Also, former Washington Bureau Chief, Los Angeles Times.
Martin Luther King in Hollywood, 1965
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We end the show today with an excerpt from a sermon Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave on February 26, 1965 at Temple Israel of Hollywood.
Tuesday, Jan. 16
Medical Marijuana Moratorium
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Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton has called for a suspension of all activity at medical-marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles. He says they attract crime, and councilmember Dennis Zine says there is little to no regulation of any of these locations. We speak to our guests about what they plan to do with the proposed moratorium and how it will affect dispensaries within city limits.
- William Bratton, Chief, Los Angeles Police Department
- Councilmember Dennis Zine (District 3 - Woodland Hills, Tarzana, Reseda, West Hills, Winnetka and Canoga Park)
- Virgil Grant, owner of Holistic Caregivers, Nature's Holistic Caregivers and Crenshaw Holistic Caregivers
'Millennium Bomber' to be Resentenced
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A federal appeals court has thrown out the sentence of a man who was convicted of plotting to bomb LAX at the turn of the millennium. Ahmed Ressam was arrested near the U.S.-Canadian border in December 1999 after customs agents found 124 pounds of explosives in the trunk of his car. Ressam was sentenced to 22 years in prison after being convicted of all nine charges. The reversal on appeal is one of a handful of terror cases to be questioned by the courts, on a legal question which could reach the Supreme Court of the U.S.
Missile-fighting Jumbo Jets
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A cargo jet equipped with an anti-missile system designed to eventually protect passenger aircraft from a terrorist attack took off from Los Angeles International Airport today. The test is part of a trial ending in 2008.
- Jack Pledger, Director of Infrared Countermeasures Business Development at Northrop Grumman
Dancing in the Streets
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Are humans naturally inclined to partake in communal celebrations? How deeply rooted is our desire to simply let loose and party? From the "dancing grounds" of prehistoric civilizations to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy (Metropolitan Books), uses examples from the past to show that group festivities are a crucial and powerful part of our human culture and heritage.
Wednesday, Jan. 17
Deadline Today for Tribune Bids
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Today is the deadline for entering bids in the four-month-old auction of the Tribune Company, which has seen little or no action as potential buyers stay on the sidelines and the Chandler family remains unsure whether to enter an offer. If no one shows interest today, what is in the future for the Los Angeles Times?
Closing Arguments in Long Beach
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Attorneys will put the final touches on their arguments today in a divisive trial of ten teenagers accused of hate crimes in an attack that occurred on Halloween. Defense lawyers abruptly rested their case last Thursday, after putting just one of the accused minors on the stand. That move came after weeks of meandering testimony about what happened when a mob converged on several women that night, as the 10 accused teens spent Thanksgiving and Christmas behind bars. We'll look at the legal strategies winding down, how the judge may rule and concerns over community reaction.
Marriage: The New Minority
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Marrying later, living longer and staying divorced have all been offered as explanations for the growing number of women living without a spouse - 51 percent in the United States, according to a survey by the US Census Bureau. Experts say this is probably the first time single, widowed and divorced women have outnumbered their married friends, according to the New York Times. Patt speaks with guests about the impact this growing trend will have on the workplace, at home and when applying for benefit policies.
Thursday, Jan. 18
Gangs, Race and Violence
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Following the murder of 14-year-old Cheryl Green in Harbor Gateway, LAPD Chief William Bratton claimed that racially-motivated gang violence was on the rise in Los Angeles. But how often do gangs target their victims based on race across the city? We'll look at how racial tensions play out in organized crime.
Friday, Jan. 19
Turkish-Armenian Journalist Killed in Istanbul
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Today, Hrant Dink, a Turkish journalist of Armenian descent, was fatally gunned down in front of the newspaper offices where he worked in Istanbul. Dink had been a well-known critic of the mass killings of Armenians by the government in Turkey at the beginning of the 20th Century and had also been on trial several times for his paper's criticism of the government. In his last column on January 10, Dirk had written about the numerous threats he had received and the authorities' latency in protecting him. Though the gunman has not been caught, the killing highlights the long-standing tensions between the Turkish government and its Armenian community.
Tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. members of the Armenian American community in the greater Los Angeles area along with human rights activists will gather in front of the Los Angeles Consulate of the Republic of Turkey to condemn the murder of Hrant Dink.
Los Angeles Prepares to Submit Bid for the 2016 Olympics
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After San Francisco withdrew last fall, only two contenders have remained to vie for the U.S.'s official bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics. On January 22, groups in Chicago and Los Angeles will both turn in their proposals to the United States Olympic Committee detailing why each of the iconic American cities is most qualified to compete in the international community for the right to host the Olympic Games. But before either city is chosen to challenge other international contenders that have shown interest such as Madrid, New Delhi, Prague, Rio de Janeiro, Rome and Tokyo, they will have to prove to the USOC that they've got the goods to woo the International Olympic Committee.
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