Shows / KQED's Forum
KQED's Forum
Forum tells remarkable and true stories about who we are and where we live. In the first hour, Alexis Madrigal convenes the diverse voices of the Bay Area, before turning to Mina Kim for the second hour to chronicle and center Californians’ experience. In an increasingly divided world, Mina and Alexis host conversations that inform, challenge and unify listeners with big ideas and different viewpoints. Want to call/submit your comments during our live Forum program Mon-Fri, 9am-11am? We'd love…
Episodes
KQED's Forum“Hella Town” Traces the History of Oakland Through Its Built Environment
Oakland is one of the most diverse cities in the country. It’s also one of the most unequal. Architectural and Urban Historian Mitchell Schwarzer dives into…
- KQED's Forum
In Wake of Dixie Fire, California Confronts How to Tackle and Afford Catastrophic Wildfires
PG&E announced this week that it's the subject of a federal investigation for its possible role in causing the Dixie Fire, the second largest in California…
- KQED's Forum
San Francisco-based American Indian Film Festival Centers Native Stories and Creators
For 46 years, the San Francisco-based American Indian Film Festival has showcased features, documentaries and animated works from Native filmmakers. This…
- KQED's Forum
Has the Pandemic Made Us Meaner?
In late September, writer Saeed Jones lamented the selfishness and cruelty he’d witnessed during the pandemic: “I’m angry and sad and bitter,” he tweeted…
- KQED's Forum
Gary Shteyngart Tackles the Pandemic Novel In "Our Country Friends"
In his latest book “Our Country Friends,” novelist Gary Shteyngart tackles the pandemic novel. In the book, the protagonist, Sasha Senderovsky, a writer whose…
- KQED's Forum
Justices Hear Challenges to Restrictive Texas Abortion Law
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of SB 8, the controversial Texas law that bans abortions after…
- KQED's Forum
The Evolving Nature of Dia de Los Muertos and Honoring the Dead
Día de los Muertos or Day of the Dead, is an ancient tradition that started with indigenous people in the Americas, morphed when Catholics arrived, and has…
KQED's ForumCalifornia Cities Apologize for Historical Wrongs Against Chinese Community
Across California, cities are reckoning with their historical legacies of racism towards the Chinese community. In May, Antioch became the first city to issue…
KQED's ForumCalifornia Delegation Heads to High Stakes UN Climate Summit
The 2021 UN Climate Change Conference, COP26, begins Sunday, collecting world leaders and activists to discuss and negotiate ambitious climate change policies…
- KQED's Forum
Historian Keisha Blain on ‘Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America’
Activist and former sharecropper Fannie Lou Hamer famously said “you are not free, whether you are Black or white, until I am free.” Hamer and her bold…
- KQED's Forum
What You Need to Know About COVID Vaccines for Kids
This week, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended a dosage for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for kids ages 5 and up and California…
- KQED's Forum
Zombies, Ghouls and Clowns: Horror Movies and Why We Love (or Hate) Them
In time for Halloween frights, horror podcast hosts share their picks for the best films of the genre. From zombie apocalypses to tales of the demon-possessed…
- KQED's Forum
McSweeney’s “Audio Issue” Experiments With Storytelling Across Mediums
McSweeney’s, the idiosyncratic San Francisco publishing company, releases a literary journal, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, with no fixed format. The…
- KQED's Forum
San Francisco's Museum of the African Diaspora Reopens, Spotlights Amoako Boafo and Billie Zangewa
For the first time since the start of the pandemic, San Francisco's Museum of the African Diaspora reopened its doors to the public last week. Featured in the…
- KQED's Forum
Fossil Fuel Executives Set to Testify on Climate Disinformation
Top oil and gas executives from Chevron, ExxonMobile, BP America and Shell will testify Thursday before a house committee examining the fossil fuel industry’s…
- KQED's Forum
Exploring the 'Great Immigrant Food City' of San Jose
San Jose’s food scene has long flown under the radar. It’s overshadowed by the established culinary reputations of its San Francisco and Oakland neighbors and…
- KQED's Forum
The Personal Toll of ‘Chronic Catastrophe’ Caused By Climate Change
Sonoma County has seen a 100-year flood, a historic drought and six major wildfires that have left death and destruction in their wake, and subjected residents…
- KQED's Forum
Judge LaDoris Cordell on How to Fix a Broken Legal System
"Judging is not for the faint of heart," writes Judge LaDoris Cordell in her new memoir "Her Honor." Over two decades, as the first Black female jurist to sit…
- KQED's Forum
Three San Francisco Board of Education Members Face Recall
After a flood of criticism from parents, three members of the San Francisco Board of Education are facing recall in a special election set for Feb. 15. Recall…
- KQED's Forum
How To Have Effective Conversations About Death
It's hard to talk about death. And the COVID-19 pandemic has made those conversations even harder, as families have grappled with the sudden illness of loved…
- KQED's Forum
The Internet Archive Turns 25
When he founded the Internet Archive 25 years ago, Brewster Kahle ambitiously set out to create a modern-day library that would “create a permanent memory for…
- KQED's Forum
Storms Pound Bay Area
The Bay Area was hit with historic levels of rain on Sunday, causing massive flooding in Marin and power outages for close to 150,000 households. We'll get an…
- KQED's Forum
Rethinking Postpartum Mental Health Care in the U.S.
Every year about 500,000 Americans who give birth experience anxiety, guilt and insomnia after their baby is born -- and some are even suicidal. The postpartum…
- KQED's Forum
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich Asks: Are American Workers on A General Strike?
Hundreds of thousands of workers in industries ranging from health care to coal mining are on strike, in a massive wave of labor actions being dubbed…
- KQED's Forum
California Pioneers Mandatory Testing for Hepatitis B and C
Earlier this month, Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation that makes California the first state in the nation to require health care facilities to offer…
- KQED's Forum
How Preserving Indigenous Languages Revitalizes California Culture, Identity and History
Last month, Marie Wilcox of Woodlake, Calif., the last known fluent speaker of the indigenous language, Wukchumni, passed away. Before she died, she dedicated…
- KQED's Forum
Memories and Lessons Learned from the 1991 Oakland Firestorm
It was a hot October weekend. Typical Bay Area fall weather, and the end of fire season. A small fire that had broken out in the hills above the Caldecott…
- KQED's Forum
California Reparations Task Force Held Latest Hearings on Discrimination in Housing, Education and More
California’s historic Reparations Task Force heard testimony last week on anti-Black racism in housing, education, banking and the environment as part of a…
- KQED's Forum
Stylish Seniors Show Fashion Doesn’t Have an Age Limit
Puffy jackets, colorful patterns and statement accessories aren’t just trendy wardrobe staples among young people. Senior citizens are showing off what…
- KQED's Forum
Nobel Prize Awarded to Berkeley Professor Who Upended Orthodoxy on Low-Wage Work, Inequality
When labor economist David Card began studying the minimum wage in the 1990’s, conventional wisdom, and economic theory, held that an increase in the minimum…
- KQED's Forum
Mayor Libby Schaaf Remembers the Oakland Hills Firestorm, Thirty Years Later
Thirty years ago, a small, mostly-extinguished grassfire was stoked by a hot, dry wind that ignited a firestorm in the Oakland and Berkeley hills killing 25…
KQED's ForumAdam Schiff Warns of Encroaching Authoritarianism in 'Midnight in Washington'
Donald Trump on Monday sued the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection to prevent it from accessing a broad swath of records…
KQED's ForumIn 'The Loneliest Americans,' Jay Caspian Kang Explores The Meaning of 'Asian American'
In his new book, "The Loneliest Americans," Jay Caspian Kang sets out to challenge the assumed solidarity of Asian Americans of different classes and waves of…
KQED's ForumColin Powell, First Black Secretary of State, Dies From COVID-19 Complications
Colin Powell, 84, died on Monday due to complications from COVID-19. Powell was one of the largest figures in American public, political and military life of…
KQED's ForumObjects Jabber, Complain and Enlighten In Ruth Ozeki's 'The Book of Form and Emptiness'
"Please... be quiet!" That's the desperate plea that becomes a constant refrain for 13-year-old Benny Oh, the protagonist of Ruth Ozeki's new novel, "The Book…
KQED's ForumAs Fire Victims Languish, Hedge Funds Cash out Billions in PG&E Stock
As fire survivors await compensation from PG&E for wildfires sparked by their equipment, hedge funds grossed at least $2 billion by getting rid of PG&E stock…
KQED's ForumCosts Rise (Again) for California High Speed Rail, And Will it Even Be High Speed?
The future of high-speed rail in California remains in jeopardy as funds dry up. Now, the Los Angeles Times reports that the High-Speed Rail Authority will…
KQED's ForumAuthors Joanna Ho and Lisa Moore Ramée Help Kids See Themselves in Stories
Authors Joanna Ho and Lisa Moore Ramée want young readers of all backgrounds to see themselves in stories. In her debut children’s book “Eyes that Kiss in the…
KQED's ForumREBROADCAST: ‘Loud’ Podcast Highlights the History of Reggaeton
This is an encore presentation of Forum: The story of reggaeton music is layered and complex, and, according to reggaeton pioneer Ivy Queen, “the real story of…
- KQED's Forum
Black-Jewish Solidarity for Prison Abolition, Expressed Through Aerial Dance
“I am freedom,” says Rahsaan Thomas in a recorded phone call from San Quentin State Prison, featured in a new performance by Flyaway Productions and Museum of…
- KQED's Forum
California Cities Struggle to Meet New Housing Planning Guidelines
Every eight years, the state goes through a process to determine how much and what kind of housing should be built in every California city. The allotment…
- KQED's Forum
Mail Delivery Slowdown Speaks to Bigger Problems for the U.S. Postal Service
Despite more and more Americans having stuff delivered during the pandemic, the USPS is in deep financial trouble. In order to save money, the USPS has made a…
- KQED's Forum
First Person: Berkeley's Matt Marostica on How to Make Progressive Change within a Conservative Church
As part of our First Person series, Forum invites Bay Area residents to share their lived experience leading remarkable and important lives within our…
- KQED's Forum
Millions of American Workers Call it Quits Amid ‘The Great Resignation’
The coronavirus pandemic led to not only high unemployment from business closures and layoffs, but it has also induced a record number of worker resignations…
- KQED's Forum
Stakes Remain High for Abortion Rights in Ongoing Fight Over Texas Law
The Department of Justice asked a federal appeals court on Monday to halt Texas's abortion law banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. This comes after…
- KQED's Forum
How to Make Streets Safer for Pedestrians as Fatalities Rise
Pedestrian deaths increased 46% nationwide in the past decade, while the number of all other traffic deaths rose by just 5%. Black pedestrians were killed at a…
KQED's ForumJosé Vadi Plumbs California’s Soul in ‘Inter State’
"I don't want to die anywhere else," writes José Vadi in "Inter State," his new essay collection about California. Vadi explores what he calls our "disjointed…
KQED's ForumHistorian Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor on the Structures of Racial Inequality and the Social Movements Fighting It
“In the United States, it’s very stark that the past is not yet past. Problems that we think of as historical in fact continue to impact our lives on a daily…
- KQED's Forum
Eric Garcia’s ‘We’re Not Broken’ Aims to Change the Conversation About Autism
For decades, organizations, doctors and parents focused on treating autism as a disease and steered millions of dollars in funding to find a “cure” instead of…
- KQED's Forum
Lunches That Got You Through The Pandemic
Has all the pandemic time in your home kitchen perfected your souffli? Or maybe you've realized it's possible to survive on just condiments. For a lot of us…
- KQED's Forum
California's Newly Minted Laws
Governor Gavin Newsom has until October 10th to sign or veto the bills on his desk. We'll talk with KQED's politics team's Katie Orr and Marisa Lagos about…
KQED's ForumIs Your Pandemic Gray Hair Here to Stay?
The pandemic forced many of us to rethink cultural norms — one being the expectation that people, especially women and younger folks, should color or hide…
KQED's ForumWhat Memes Say About Hispanic Heritage Month
Hispanic Heritage Month ends Oct. 15, and in a recent column for the Los Angeles Times, staff writer Daniel Hernandez explores the meaning behind the plethora…
KQED's ForumTwo Californians win Nobel Prize for Research on How We Sense Touch, Temperature and Pain
Two California scientists, David Julius from UCSF and Ardem Patapoutian from San Diego's Scripps Research, have won the 2021 Nobel Prize for medicine. In their…
KQED's ForumJournalist Ben Fong-Torres Subject of New Documentary About His Life and Work
Not many people get a backstage pass to history, but Ben Fong-Torres has. As a writer and music editor for Rolling Stone magazine, Fong-Torres stood at the…
KQED's ForumWhy the History of Chavez Ravine Still Haunts Dodger Stadium
During a recent Los Angeles Dodgers game, three people sprinted across the field waving banners with the names of former neighborhoods -- Bishop, La Loma and…
KQED's Forum'System Error’ Describes What’s Wrong with Big Tech
During the past decade, widespread optimism for what technology could accomplish turned into a backlash against Silicon Valley and what it has spawned. Social…
KQED's ForumAnita Hill on America's Ongoing Reckoning with Gender-Based Violence
It's been 30 years since Anita Hill testified before an all-male Senate Judiciary Committee during Clarence Thomas's Supreme Court confirmation hearing…
KQED's ForumClean-up Efforts Continue Following Orange County Oil Spill
A pipeline leak first reported on Saturday has spilled at least 126,000 gallons of crude oil into the Pacific, washing up on the shores of Huntington Beach and…
KQED's ForumHow Supply Chain Backups Threaten to Leave Store Shelves Bare
What do a bicycle, a living room sofa, spools of copper wire, and a six-pack of Cherry Vanilla Coke Zero have in common? All of them may soon be or currently…