New York City's Stop and Frisk has been ruled unconstitutional by a judge and so that's why everyone everywhere is talking about it, including Stephen. Apparently it targets minorities at a much higher rate than whites. People who have been stopped and frisked for no reason feel like they have been targeted. Mayor Bloomberg will appeal. He feels like the law has been targeted for no reason.
The TSA is stepping up their "inspections" of people to include more modes of transportation and even such things as sporting events and rodeos. That presents a real problem because horses wear horseshoes which are metal and could set off the metal detectors. Stephen suggested Crocs for the horses.
This is all very disturbing to Stephen. On the show to calm Stephen down was Steven Pinker. He told Stephen that things are not as bad as they seem. Yes, if you watch the news, scary things happen. But that's what the news is all about. News is about the extraordinary events of the day or week. It's not about the mundane. So, calm down. And maybe go out and buy his book. The book is "The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined." It is kind of a big book, but it looks interesting, and I have confidence that any of you reading this would be able to read such a big book.
The guest tonight was Representative John Lewis. Stephen wore himself out just telling the audience a little bit about the accomplishments of John Lewis. The two men talked about the August 28, 1963 March on Washington. Both men were there in Washington, although Stephen was not much more than a blip in his mother's belly. John Lewis was one of the speakers at the March, in fact he is the last surviving speaker from that historic event. Stephen was proud to display his souvenir from when he attended and you can see a facsimile here.
John Lewis also has a book out now. It is a graphic novel which to some means a comic book, but finally comic books are really being valued for their literary contributions, so still a good reason to also consider buying this book. It's called "March: Book One"
I never actually take a stop watch to see how long each interview is on the show, but this one did seem to be a little bit longer. Stephen and John Lewis talked about lots of things. If you did not live through the years of Jim Crow and the Civil Rights struggles, it can be hard to comprehend what happened. Now we see Voting Rights again being threatened. It used to be that some people had to take a test to prove that they were "capable" of voting. Questions even included such things as "How many bubbles are on a bar of soap?" That tells you that the question was pretty much designed to disqualify a person from voting. The struggle continues.
Okay, lots of stuff tonight and you're feeling overwhelmed perhaps. Well, did you to look at Steven Pinker's website? Do it now, here. You don't even have to read anything. Just take a minute or ten minutes and watch the slide show of wonderful photographs. There's birds, butterflies, scenery, people, architecture and just ordinary everyday life. It is very calming and you deserve a little bit of relaxation. So cute... so lovely... so picturesque.....
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