Click to see preamble.

   

 
MAY 20, 2018

WE THE PEOPLE RADIO

WE THE PEOPLE RADIO
 

HOUR 1

"The Past and Future of Fair Housing" WE THE PEOPLE RADIO
  with Richard Sander  
HOUR 2 "When We Unite, We Have the Power" WE THE PEOPLE RADIO
  with Ammon Bundy  
 
"The Past and Future of Fair Housing"
with Richard Sander

About Richard Sander

Richard Sander is a nationally-acclaimed Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law, economist, and co-author of the new book, MOVING TOWARD INTEGRATION: The Past and Future of Fair Housing (with Yana A. Kucheva and Jonathan M. Zasloff). He’s a leading legal authority on matters of race, housing, and affirmative action, and a prominent social scientist on issues of inequality. Sander has appeared on major radio and television programs nationwide. The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Atlantic, and others have all written extensively about his work. His previous book, Mismatch, has shown the importance of studying the actual effects of affirmative action policies, and reshaped the national and legal debate on that issue.

 

Moving toward Integration

The Past and Future of Fair Housing

By Richard H. Sander, Yana A. Kucheva,

and Jonathan M. Zasloff

Washington, DC—The civil rights revolution of the 1960s brought some stunning advances for African-Americans: desegregated public accommodations, a surge in black voting and office-holding, and a broad opening of previously closed professions and occupations. Many of these gains have deepened and widened in the decades since. But other black/white gaps—in median income, standardized test scores, homicide rates, and two-parent families—have stubbornly persisted, or even widened. Why?

In MOVING TOWARD INTEGRATION: The Past and Future of Fair Housing (Harvard University Press, May 2018), nationally-acclaimed UCLA law professor and economist Richard H. Sander, sociologist Yana A. Kucheva and historian Jonathan M. Zasloff present a fundamentally new and data-driven account of race in America. They show that urban America actually has two parts: a larger, intensely segregated set of cities where average black outcomes stagnate or fall, and a smaller set of cities with moderate segregation where neighborhood integration is stable and where blacks are steadily catching up with their white neighbors. African-American progress is remarkable in these more integrated areas—in jobs, test scores, health, even life expectancy—and in almost every case a drop in metropolitan housing segregation started the cycle of progress.

MOVING TOWARD INTEGRATION shows concretely for the first time what the landmark Fair Housing Act of 1968 did and did not accomplish. It did have a dramatic effect upon black mobility. Hundreds of thousands of African-American households moved into white neighborhoods in the 1970s. But whether those moves produced lasting integration, or simply white-to-black resegregation, depended on crucial local factors, which can not only be understood, but replicated. In other words, broad housing desegregation is not only possible—but it works.

Despite all this good news, fair housing policy is mired in small battles and pessimism. Advocates on the left decry continued examples of discrimination—which of course do exist. Conservatives rightly point out that discrimination rates have fallen sharply, and suspect that liberal advocacy for integration simply means putting subsidized housing into middle-class neighborhoods. Meanwhile, important research advances by social scientists using better data have largely failed to reach a public audience, so the tired, old-school debates go on unchallenged.

MOVING TOWARD INTEGRATION is a major leap forward in this conversation. Sander, Kucheva, and Zasloff bring together into a clear and compelling story the research from many different fields. They show exactly how segregation evolves and follows different paths in different cities. And they show concretely how public policy can make use of micro-incentives and information networks to correct “market failures” using a light-touch in high segregation areas—not coercive social engineering. They show a path for improving opportunity and reducing racial division in the United States that both liberals and conservative should embrace.

MOVING TOWARD INTEGRATION also has answers on many highly topical issues:

How gentrification impacts cities, and how it can be a win-win for the middle class and the poor.
Why “Black Lives Matter” needs a bigger vision.
Why, on the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, we should celebrate its achievements but also reboot its focus.
How the financial crisis of 2007–2009 was felt most keenly in segregated areas, and how to prevent it from happening again.
To arrange an interview with Moving toward Integration co-author Richard Sander, please contact Stephen Manfredi at 202.222.8028 or smanfredi@ManfrediStrategyGroup.com
HOUR 2

"When We Unite, We Have the Power"

with our guest Ammon Bundy

WE THE PEOPLE RADIO

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ammonbundy/

Ammon speaks at the "Stand for Freedom" dinner, Yreka Northern California (soon to be the State of Jefferson)

Stunning victory for Bundy family as all charges dismissed in 2014 standoff case

Cliven Bundy and sons cleared in case of 2014 armed standoff, a major defeat for the federal government that critics fear will empower far-right militia groups

 in San Francisco @SamTLevin   Email

INDEX OF RADIO SHOWS

SEARCH
site search by freefind advanced
WE THE PEOPLE RADIO

 

A judge has dismissed conspiracy charges against rancher Cliven Bundy and his sons, marking an extraordinary failure by US prosecutors and a decisive victory for the Nevada family who ignited a land rights movement in the American west.

The Bundys, who led armed standoffs against the government in Nevada and Oregon, galvanizing far-right militia groups, saw all charges dismissed in Las Vegas on Monday. It was the second major court win for the ranchers in their decades-long battle to oppose federal land regulations.

 

Cliven Bundy, 71, and his sons Ammon and Ryan were accused of assault, threats against the government, firearms offenses and obstruction, stemming from the family’s refusal to pay grazing fees for their cattle in Nevada, which escalated into an armed conflict at their ranch in 2014. The judge declared a mistrial in December and ruled on Monday that prosecutors could not retry the case, arguing that the US attorney’s office had willfully withheld evidence and engaged in misconduct.

Angie Bundy, Ryan’s wife, said she hoped the ruling would boost states’ rights and encourage federal regulators to leave ranchers alone.

“The federal government is overstepping so many bounds. I’m hoping they will let states and counties do their jobs and stay out of our land,” she told the Guardian by phone from court. “I hear from ranchers all the time about the horrible abuses they are enduring. I’m hoping this will give some people relief.”

 

From left to right outside the courthouse: Ammon Bundy, Ryan Payne, Jeanette Finicum, widow of Robert ‘LaVoy’ Finicum, Ryan Bundy, Angela Bundy (wife of Ryan Bundy) and Jamie Bundy (daughter of Ryan

The stunning defeat for the government – which has also been accused of lying and deceptive tactics in their prosecution of the Bundys – outraged environmental groups that have advocated the punishment of ranchers who defy land-use laws and have supported tighter regulations to protect public lands.

“It’s just a horrific outcome,” said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. “This is going to empower both the militia and the politicians who want to steal America’s public lands. It’s an absolute disaster.”

The Bundys first made international headlines in 2014 when the government attempted to seize their cattle, but retreated in the face of hundreds of supporters at the family ranch in Bunkerville, some heavily armed. Emboldened by the victory, Ammon and Ryan helped lead a takeover of the Malheur national wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon in January 2016 to protest against the imprisonment of two local ranchers.

Rebel cowboys: how the Bundy family sparked a new battle for the American west


That standoff ended after police killed one of the leaders and arrested the Bundys and their followers. US prosecutors subsequently charged the family and dozens of other men with conspiracy and other charges for both the Nevada and Oregon cases.

 

A jury found the Bundys not guilty in Oregon in 2016, a surprise verdict that increased pressure on the federal government to secure a conviction in Nevada. But the case unraveled after defense attorneys argued that prosecutors failed to disclose evidence relating to government surveillance cameras and snipers at the ranch during the 2014 dispute. Last month, the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, directed a US justice department expert to assist in the case.

 

 

Rancher Cliven Bundy, who was released from jail on Monday, pictured near Bunkerville, Nevada. Photograph: John Locher/AP

Suckling pointed out that Bundy’s cattle continue to graze on federal lands in violation of the law and argued that the decision could encourage supporters to launch new conflicts to fight for unregulated grazing, mining and logging on public lands. “I’m really distraught and outraged at the prosecution and the FBI for their incompetence.”

Cliven Bundy, who became a hero to some rightwing activists in the west and has been in jail for nearly two years, emerged from court on Monday wearing a cowboy hat, telling reporters: “I’m feeling pretty good … I’m not used to being free. I’ve been a political prisoner.”

Angie said she was grateful to hear the judge Gloria Navarro reprimand prosecutors.

“Her words today gave me some hope in the justice system,” she said, adding, “We are so excited to get grandpa home and get our family back together.”