0:08 – The Summit of the Americas has kicked off in Los Angeles, with quite a bit of the Americas not participating. In the first time taking place in the US since its inaugural summit in 1994, the Biden administration chose to exclude Nicaragua, Cuba, and Venezuela, a slew of countries chose to not send their presidents, including Bolivia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Mexico. We’re joined by Manolo De Los Santos (@manolo_realengo), co-executive director of the People’s Summit and a member of the International People’s Assembly.
0:33 – A conversation with Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (@rdunbaro), Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment, about the roots of gun culture in America and the origin story of their rights. We discuss her book
1:08 The public meeting of the House Select Committee to investigate the January 6th attack on the US capitol will begin at 5pm Pacific time this evening. Joining us is Andrea Bernstein (@AndreaBNYC), co-host of the podcast Will Be Wild about the forces that led to the January 6th insurrection. She is also author of the book American Oligarchs: The Kushners, the Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power. KPFA will be airing the congressional hearings over the next weeks live as they occur.
1:34 – A new lawsuit over alleged discrimination over how the state has handed out rent relief. We’re joined by Lorraine Lopez, a senior attorney at the Western Center on Law and Poverty (@Western_Center), and co-counsel on the new lawsuit over emergency rental assistance discrimination.
1:44 – A look at local arts: Poet Janae Johnson joins us ahead of the Bay Area release event for her new book, Lessons on Being Tenderheaded. Johnson is a writer, performer, educator, and DJ, whose work touches on themes of Black queer masculinity, kinship, women’s basketball and connection to music as a means to understand joy. Her Bay Area launch is tonight, June 9th from 7-10pm at Gilman Brewing – 912 Gilman Street in Berkeley.