32 min listen
Strange Fruit #146: The Line Between Safety & Free Speech on University Campuses
FromStrange Fruit
ratings:
Length:
30 minutes
Released:
Nov 13, 2015
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
Since we spoke last week about University of Louisville President James Ramsey's poor treatment of Latino students on campus, racial tension has come to a head on other campuses across the country - most notably at the University of Missouri. And while we'd all like to think of college campuses as free from harassment and racism, banning certain speech outright brings up First Amendment Issues, and some say it can dampen the free exchange of ideas that should be a hallmark of educational environments. We talk about it this week with attorney A. Holland Houston, who joins us for an all-Juicy-Fruit episode. We also turn to her for perspective on Judge Olu Steven's recent dismissal of an all-white jury in the trial of a black defendant, and how the demographic makeup of a jury can affect the outcome of a trial. And she weighs in on the assault-by-twerking case out of DC, which sounds comical, but does bring up some serious issues of gender and sexual assault. Two women are being sought by police after forcibly dancing against (and groping) a man who was waiting in the check-out line. "What's good for the goose is good for the gander," she explains. We discuss whether people would like be more upset and less amused if the genders in the case were reversed. Or as Houston puts it, "What happens if women are the ones who are the aggressors, and if it crosses the line of, this is not the behavior that I want." Then WFPL's political reporter Ashley Lopez joins us to catch us up on a hot topic that's closer to home: the proposed methane plant in West Louisville. The story is complicated, and the players are familiar to most of us who live in Louisville. The ultimate question is, did West Louisville leaders sell out the health and needs of their neighbors in exchange for a payout? Or was the plant an inevitability anyway, so it was pragmatic to bring some money from the company back into the community, if possible?
Released:
Nov 13, 2015
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
Strange Fruit #40: Don Lemon Says Don't Litter!: While we spent the week celebrating Jai's birthday and recovering from [EOY](http://www.eoy.net/), CNN's Don Lemon was busy making people mad and [agreeing with Bill O'Reilly](http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2013/07/27/nr-lemon-no-talking-points.cnn.html). In our Juicy Fruit segment this week, we deconstruct his list of advice for black folks. The video is worth a watch, but if you're pressed for time, it boils down to pulling up your pants and not having babies out of wedlock. It was a disappointing reminder that just because someone's family doesn't make them immune to the lure of respectability politics. But as Doc said, he's certainly no [Boykin](http://keithboykin.com/) (and we did agree with him that littering is gross). Also this week we bring you part two of our chat with Louisville activist Carla Wallace, and author Chris Crass. Chris was in town recently to celebrate the release of his book, [Towards Collective by Strange Fruit