Leid Stories

Leid Stories – 11.12.15

Thousands Protest ‘Electoral Coup’ in Haiti; Detroit’s Schools Failing Miserably; The Season of Grassroots Action?

The results of the first round of Haiti’s Oct. 25 national elections, widely viewed as rigged to favor current President Michele Martelly’s candidates, have touched off a series of protests and deadly clashes between rival groups. Kim Ives, a co-founder and editor of the international weekly newspaper Haïti Liberté, reports.

Under state-imposed management, Detroit’s public schools are performing dismally, with 96 percent of eight-graders found not proficient in math and 93 percent not proficient in reading. Elena Herrada, a “member-in-exile” of the Detroit School Board and an activist with Detroiters Resisting Emergency Management, discusses the grassroots uphill battle for quality education for the city’s mostly poor children.

Two days after fast-food workers staged demonstrations across the nation calling a $15-an-hour minimum wage and union rights, students are taking to the streets today with a Million Student March demanding relief from student-loan debt, tuition-free colleges and a minimum wage for campus workers. Is this the season of grassroots political action? 

Leid Stories – 11.11.15

On Veterans Day, A Reminder of Our Shared Duty

On April 4, 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a keynote address at Riverside Church in New York City “to make a passionate plea to my beloved nation,” he said. Ending the Vietnam War was at front and center of that plea, as was a list of domestic social-justice issues that persisted because of it.

On this day, as the nation observes Veterans Day, Leid Stories recalls the admonitions of Dr. King about war and the consequence of war, and our shared duty to check through civic action the propensities of the government to recklessly engage in war.

Leid Stories – 11.10.15

At the University of Missouri, Truly A ‘Teachable Moment’ About Power

Ferguson, Missouri, Looks to Restore Trust with ‘Old-Style’ Policing

A weeklong hunger strike by University of Missouri graduate student Jonathan Butler  was the catalyst for broader action against an administration that repeatedly failed to address complaints of racism and discrimination at the flagship Columbia campus. The students’ demands were met yesterday with the resignations of President Tim Wolfe and Chancellor  R. Bowen Loftin. It’s a teachable moment, says Leid Stories.

Meanwhile, about 120 miles away, the City of Ferguson says it’s trying to bridge longstanding rifts between the community and police that exploded after 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot dead on Aug. 9 last year by Officer Darren Wilson. Interim Police Chief Andre Anderson began making the rounds to community groups last weekend with the good news of “old-style” policing.

Leid Stories – 11.09.15

Netanyahu’s Back. This Time He’s Looking to Bag $40 Billion in Free Money

He’d brazenly interfered in U.S. domestic affairs when he hijacked a joint session of Congress on March 3 to urge legislators to scuttle U.S. and international negotiations with Iran on its nuclear program. He and several of his senior advisers have spoken, and continue to speak, rather disparagingly of President Barack Obama and his administration. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s back in Washington today, and he’s looking for a $40-billion handout in military aid.

Leid Stories – 11.06.15

Make Room for New Stuff! Free Your Mind!

Listeners share information, opinions and ideas in a lively open forum that encourages analytical thinking.

Have something you’d like to contribute? Call in (888-874-4888) and free your mind!

Leid Stories – 11.05.15

Who’s In, Who’s Out?: Debating U.S. Immigration Policy and ‘Reform’

There is no unanimity of agreement on just what U.S. immigration policy should be. There absolutely is agreement, however, that the U.S. immigration system is broken and in dire need of repair.

Immigration has become a hot-button issue in the current political season—complete with blatantly xenophobic, racist undertones—but we are no closer to sane policy and much-demanded “reform.”

Leid Stories encourages a discussion among listeners on what immigration is/should be, its impact and special challenges, and what might work as improvements to current policies. 

Leid Stories – 11.04.15

Hemispheric History: The U.S., Haiti and the Dominican Republic

Dr. Gerald Horne, the John J. and Rebecca Moores chair of history and African American studies at the University of Houston and frequent analyst of world affairs on Leid Stories, discusses his latest book, Confronting Black Jacobins: The United States, the Haitian Revolution, and the Origins of the Dominican Republic.

Horne has written more than 30 books, and more than 100 scholarly papers and reviews, on struggles against imperialism, colonialism, fascism, racism and war. 

Leid Stories – 11.03.15

Caught Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Just where are we on the political map? How does our political thinking or philosophy square with our choices and actions?

Leid Stories focuses on these and related questions in addressing the broader issue of the readiness and effectiveness of opposition to a well organized, heavy-handed right-wing onslaught.

Leid Stories – 11.02.15

Widespread Uncertainty About Fairness of Elections in Haiti

A 42-Year War for Freedom the U.S. Would Rather Forget

Kim Ives, a co-founder and editor of the international weekly newspaper Haïti Liberté, and an award-winning filmmaker and documentarian, reports on two key stories we’ve been discussing on Leid Stories—Haiti’s Oct. 25 elections and the deportation of Haitians from the Dominican Republic under a controversial race-specific law.

One hundred and eighty years ago today, bands of First Nations warriors and Africans who had freed themselves from slavery engaged U.S. soldiers in Florida in defense of their land and their freedom. Lasting for seven years, from 1835 to 1842, it was the second time, between 1816 and 1858, that U.S. forces would meet combined military resistance.

Historian Jan Carew brings to light this neglected chapter of U.S. history, erroneously recorded as the Seminole Wars.