Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner and U.S. Representative Barbara Lee speak from the heart about how the Black Church has helped to build African American electoral power. It’s a powerful story with practical lessons for present times. Dr. Williams-Skinner is head of the Skinner Institute and Co-convener of the African American Clergy Network. Rep. Lee represents Berkeley, California. She is a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and now Chair of the House of Representatives’ foreign...

Hear remarks by Joshua Dickson to Berkeley's graduate seminar "Poverty and Communities of Faith in the Politics of 2021," taught by David Beckmann. Josh was the National Faith Engagement Director of the Biden-Harris campaign and is now Deputy Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Josh discusses the importance of persuading, mobilizing, and listening to faith voters; presents data on voting patterns across faith groups; and explains the Biden-Harris...

David Beckmann explains the purpose of his “Poverty, God, Politics” series—to highlight spiritual and political strategies that can move us from the current crisis in a way that puts us on track to end hunger and poverty. They are drawn from a joint seminar on poverty, communities of faith, and politics cosponsored by UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy and the Church Divinity School of the Pacific. David then discusses two foundational insights from his years as president of Bread...

A panel of domestic experts in election security practices focus their discussion on how we can advance our own election security practices by using the knowledge we’ve gained from our experiences in 2020 as well looking at best practices in other countries to improve our system overall. Panelists: Wayne Williams, former Colorado Secretary of State; Jennifer Morrell, former local election official and Partner at The Elections Group; Kammi Foote, Clerk Recorder and Registrar of Voters for...

Elected officials in some of the key battleground states in the 2020 election discuss their experiences, lessons they learned, and how we can better prepare for 2024. Panelists: Jocelyn Benson, Secretary of State, Michigan; Katie Hobbs, Secretary of State, Arizona; Josh Shapiro, Attorney General, Pennsylvania; Matthew Masterson, Former Senior Cybersecurity Advisor at CISA, Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Moderator: Janet Napolitano,...

A panel of experts looks at election security from an international comparative aspect focused on election security practices in Brazil, India, and Sierra Leone. What might the United States be able to learn from what’s being done in these three countries to protect against election interference and voter fraud? Panelists: Katherine Casey is an Associate Professor of Political Economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Thomas Fujiwara is an Associate Professor of Economics at...

Following the police murder of George Floyd, there have been calls to “Abolish, Defund, and Reform” the police. Elected officials around the country have called for 50% reductions in the police budgets that account for much of local government spending. At the same time, there is little agreement on the meaning of what could or should be defunded or what can be reformed; in many cases, the very language of this movement has impeded the necessary public debate about the appropriate role of...

With Amazon's Alexa spying on her owners, a massive data breach masterminded by Cambridge Analytica, and evidence of election interference promulgated by Facebook, tech policy has never had more significant implications for our society and democracy. Roger McNamee—noted tech venture capitalist, early mentor to Mark Zuckerberg, and Facebook investor—talks with Henry Brady, Dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley, about how he came to realize the serious damage that Facebook...

Four former Secretaries of Homeland Security discuss current issues in homeland security, the overlap between security and politics, and how our country can move forward by embracing the challenges—and opportunities—the Biden-Harris administration will face in their first year. Panelists: Michael Chertoff (2005-2009), Jeh Johnson (2013-2017), Janet Napolitano (2009-2013), Tom Ridge (2003-2005). Moderator: Doug Wilson. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36811]

Since 2017, California’s institutional prison population has hovered at about 115,000 inmates. Steven Raphael, Goldman School of Public Policy, looks at the last decade of prison reform including reducing overcrowding, the impacts of proposition 47 and the effects of racial disproportionality in criminal justice involvement. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36684]

General H.R. McMaster ranks among his generation's most distinguished scholar-soldiers. An acclaimed historian, his military service has spanned from West Point to Iraq and Afghanistan, to the Pentagon and the Oval Office. Now a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, General McMaster is the author of Battlegrounds (2020). In conversation with Lowell Bergman, he discusses challenges facing the Free World and the case for responsible US leadership in world affairs. Series: "UC Public Policy...

This interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the leading experts on the American response to COVID-19, explores what the country is doing to control the disease’s spread. Dr. Fauci is the Director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and a current member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Dr. Fauci will discuss how the coronavirus could affect the ability of colleges to re-open safely and the broader impact of the virus on our country. Series: "UC Public...

Robert Reich reflects on the recent election; the presidential contest and initiative results. He also discusses UBI, income inequality and what he'd like to see in a Biden administration. Recih is a former Labor Secretary and currently Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36611]

Economist Hilary Hoynes explores her research on the COVID-19 crisis. She discusses the effects on low wage workers and the tripling of food insecurity in children. She also looks at the consequences of the delays and lack of inclusion in relief packages. Hoynes is a Professor of Public Policy and Economics and Haas Distinguished Chair in Economic Disparities at the UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36540]

For the final session of the semester, we offer a discussion of very local politics in the most famous (infamous?) small city in America. Everyone knows of Berkeley, and everyone seems to have strong feelings about it, especially if they don’t actually live here. So we talk with a former UC Berkeley student who is now a member of the Berkeley City Council and think about our small town and what it is like to serve in public office. Berkeley City Councilmember Rigel Robinson was elected to...

Today’s lecture takes a look ahead at the leading challenges and opportunities facing American democracy in this moment. We begin with a discussion of Trump’s refusal to admit defeat in the presidential election and the conspiracy theories and rising white male violence that are emerging out of the realignment of the defeated white power wing of the Republican party. Here we are confronted with the role played by conspiracy theories in the politics of the right and the threat to multiracial...

More than one in ten children in the United States live in poverty. There are two main programs aimed at helping them and their families: the earned income tax credit, and food stamps. Hilary Hoynes studies these programs and other aspects of the social safety net at UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy. She has gone through decades of research to find that these programs act as an investment, improving the lives of the children who benefit from them for decades to come. Series: "UC...

To help us break down this weekend’s victory of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the 2020 presidential race, we are honored to have local hero and Black feminist activist Alicia Garza. Alicia Garza is an organizer and political strategist based in Oakland, California, where she is the principle at the Black Futures Lab and the Black to the Future Action Fund. She is, along with Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors, the co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter and the Black Lives Matter Global Network. She...

What just happened? What happens next? As Americans wake up to a still uncertain presidential race, we take on these critical questions as we both look back to the election and its outcome, while beginning to plan for what is to come from the immediate needs for political mobilizations to long term visions of what kinds of politics are needed. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36292]

What should we expect on election day? What should we look for in the early results and how long will it take before we know who won the Presidential race, the US Senate and all of California’s ballot measures? What should we do – besides vote – to help ensure that every vote is counted and that the democratic process works as it should? How has the election impacted immigrant populations and the process of naturalization? What is happening in Arizona right now? These questions and more are...

This panel features leaders and experts addressing these unprecedented times and all the challenges confronting Election 2020. What can we do to make voters' voices heard during an unprecedented pandemic and a historic civil rights uprising? Panelists: Aimee Allison, She the People; Betrall Ross, Berkeley Law; James Schwab, Chief Deputy Secretary of State, California; Dr. John Swartzberg, UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health. Moderator: Dan Lindheim, Center on Civility and Democratic...

Ian Haney López is is the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He specializes on race and racism in the law. His focus for the last decade has been on the use of racism in electoral politics, and how to respond. Ian develops and promotes a race-class praxis which argues that powerful elites exploit social divisions for private gain, so no matter what our race, color, or ethnicity, our best future requires building cross-racial...

This lecture begins with a discussion of California’s ballot measure Prop 16 which seeks to overturn Prop 209, the 1996 ban on affirmative action in the state. This discussion considers both the history of California ballot measures and looks closely at how ballot measures have remade racial liberalism in postwar California. From there we turn to our primary topic which is that of political messaging and political strategy. We begin with the ideas promoted by Ian Haney Lopez and several other...

Matt Nelson is Executive Director of Presente.org, the nation’s largest online Latinx organizing group dedicated to advancing social justice with technology, media, and culture. Born in Colombia and raised in the Midwest, Matt was the Organizing Director at ColorOfChange.org and co-founded several worker-owned cooperatives in multiple midwestern cities. He is a seasoned campaign strategist who has won dozens of local and national campaigns and a community organizer who has trained thousands...

This lecture kicks off with Professor Jayaraman’s discussion of “astroturf” social movements and the growing battle around California’s Ballot Propositions 15 and 22. These propositions represent two attempts of billionaires to privatize the public-school system in California and to re-write the state’s labor laws to impose “independent contractor” status upon millions of gig workers. From there Professor Cohen takes up the main topic of voting rights and the long history of voter suppression...