Woman Killed At Synagogue Honored, Guns In Mexico, Financial Planning

Speaker 1: 00:00 The suspect in the Habbat of Poway shooting will be arraigned in court this afternoon facing murder charges with a special circumstance of hate crimes that comes a day after 60 year old Lori k was laid to rest. Hundreds of people came together to remember the wife and mother during her funeral service held at the same synagogue where she was gunned down Saturday that gunmen armed with an ar style assault rifle, killed Kay and injured three others. The other victims have all been released from the hospital and are recovering pre history. There was at yesterday service and joins us. Prio welcome. Thank you. So set the scene. Um, and, and tell me who was in attendance for this. So there are actually hundreds of people there. The synagogue actually ended up being at capacity and so several people weren't allowed to obviously attend the service inside the synagogue, but they decided to stay outside and watch what was happening. Speaker 1: 00:52 Um, on a big screen. People drove hours to be there in solidarity with this congregation. I spoke to several people of various faiths that just wanted the congregation of this synagogue to feel their love and support. There were also elected officials there, uh, members of city council, the mayor's of both San Diego and Poway Congress men and state senators. Um, there were also law enforcement officials like the sheriff, the San Diego police chief and the special agent in charge for the FBI. And now that we know the suspect is being charged of hate crimes. Was anyone there talking about antisemitism? There was actually a representative from the White House. He was the envoy for antiterrorism with a focus on antisemitism. Um, he was appointed by Secretary of State Palm Peo. And so he actually gave a pretty passionate speech at the very beginning of the service denouncing these types of acts. He referenced similar attacks that have happened around the world in recent months and he essentially said that this is evil, that, you know, we're seeing all these types of incidents happen all too often and we must stand together as a country and try to combat these kinds of incidents. Speaker 1: 02:01 And we're going to dive deeper into that. And talk more about antisemetic violence in southern California. Coming up in our next story, but let's turn now to Lori K as she was remembered. What can you tell us about who Lori K was? How was she being remembered by family and friends? So I think one of the most important things to remember here is her last moments, uh, here on earth. We've heard the rabbi speak very passionately about Lori k. They've been friends for several decades, and he said that in the moments leading up to her murder, she actually defended him. He was also injured in this attack and actually had to have one of his fingers amputated. But she apparently stood in between, uh, the suspect and the rabbi essentially trying to save his life. So that was sort of the theme of the entire service that her friends and her family members wanted her to be remembered as a hero. We did hear from her husband, and it was very interesting. He said in, we don't believe in coincidences. We believe that everything that happens is because of God Almighty. And that really, that theme was evident throughout his remarks. But let's take a listen to what he had to say about his wife. Speaker 2: 03:12 My wife was a person, is a person who did so much good in her life that no, sometimes people do good and things don't turn out. Whatever good she did always turned out and whatever I did that might not have been good. She repaired and made me look good. Speaker 1: 03:31 He's actually a doctor and he also described performing CPR on his wife and he said that, you know, there wasn't a lot of blood that she didn't suffer that, you know, she went straight up is the way that he described it. Um, we also heard from her sister and her daughter and her friend, they talked about how she wanted to be a newscaster. She was a news junkie. She was very social. She made friends with everyone. She loved music, dancing in the kitchen, singing in the car. Um, let's take a little listen to what her sister had to say about her Speaker 3: 04:03 being only 20 months apart. You and I shared a special closeness as a shy kid. I always marveled at how you could connect to people of all ages. Wherever you went, you met someone, you knew their life history. In 10 minutes you became fret, your teachers became your friends, whoever heard of that. Speaker 1: 04:26 So yeah, there you can see another example of, you know, her family members just describing what a social and sort of compassionate person she was. Yeah. And Kay's daughter Hannah, I gave an emotional speech during which she highlighted other recent acts of terrorism from around the world. Yeah. She wanted to give a moment of silence and remember some of the incidents that have happened recently. And let's take a listen to that. Speaker 4: 04:50 I would like to hold a moment and peaceful prayer for the victims of gun violence, religious violence, racism, and antisemitism all over the world. And I want just pay specific mentioned to two recent events, the tragedy in New Zealand and in Sri Lanka. Speaker 1: 05:05 And with all of that in mind, how do they plan to move forward and get past fear? That's an excellent question. You know, jade, I've covered unfortunately so many tragic incidents over my 10 years in journalism. And what I found remarkable about this specific situation is how passionate everyone was about wanting to speak out and wanting to move forward and wanting to denounce these kinds of incidents of antisemitism. So I have a feeling, I mean, even the fact that they decided to hold the services in this synagogue where the attack happened, that there a very strong community and they're going to come together and be resilient. I've been speaking with KPBS reporter, Priya, Sri there. Priya, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. Speaker 1: 00:00 The National Anti Defamation League is out with his annual survey of antisemitic incidents in the u s and as expected, the number of physical assaults against Jewish individuals in 2018 rose dramatically counting the tree of life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh. Physical violence against Jews increased last year by 105%. Another disturbing figure in the survey is the number of antisemitic incidents here in California even before the tragic. How about shooting in Poway? Last weekend, San Diego was among the areas with the most antisemetic activity in the country. Joining me by Skype is one of the authors of this Adl audit. Joanna Mendelssohn, she's senior investigative researcher for the Adl Center on extremism. And Joanna, welcome to the program. Thank you so much for having me. Now the ADL has tracked antisemitic incidents for the past four decades. Can you give us an overview of the amount of antisemitic incidents that were recorded last year across the u s and and the types of those incidents? Speaker 2: 01:05 So unfortunately, antisemitic incidents in 2018 we're a record high. Uh, the third largest year increase since we've been collecting this data since 1979 in fact, violent attacks against the Jewish community in the United States doubled last year. And we saw overall a tax that also included vandalism, harassment remaining at an all time high. Speaker 1: 01:32 What might come as a surprise to some people is the California led the nation in the number of antisemitic attacks in 2018 and apparently more than 100 of them were attributed to antisemitic Robo Speaker 2: 01:46 calls. What does that mean? What are these Robo calls? Well, just to back up, we saw a 27% increase here in California as compared to the previous year and the range of the types of attacks, uh, incidents, harassment, uh, ran the gamut. One of them included Robo calls by a group, by the name of the road to power Scott Rhodes to support a political candidate, Patrick Little in his run for a GOP position against Dianne Feinstein here in California. And Speaker 1: 02:23 can you tell us about the other people responsible for these antisemitic incidents? What kind of groups are we looking at here? Speaker 2: 02:31 We're actually looking at a range of individuals, movements, groups that are responsible for these incidents. Not every single incident across the country can actually be linked to those who hold a deeply seated white supremacist ideology. In fact, in some ways we see the majority of the incidents being perpetrated by your garden variety, uh, bigots by antisemites or seen leafleting. We're seeing propaganda distribution. California is the number one state in the country in that regard for white supremacist propaganda in the nation, uh, where we've seen banners, stickers, flyers targeting college campuses, as well as off campus incidents. To that end, we've actually seen a 500% increase in off campus incidents from 2017 to 2018. Speaker 1: 03:31 Now, as you know, our community here in San Diego has been shaken by the shooting at Habad in Poway. Based on this audit, how much concern should there be that the incidents of antisemitism in the u s are escalating from vandalism to violence? Speaker 2: 03:49 We are seeing an increase in violence across the board. And sadly, you look no further than the massacre, the shooting at a Habad, you look no further than the shooting of tree of life synagogue and you look internationally to Christ's church and to Brenton, Terrance, um, and that the attack at the mosque. So we see individuals emboldened by ideology and translating that ideology into violent action. You see extremists weaponizing hate using their ability to communicate on a global level, to share their ideology and even designing attacks to use the, uh, online, uh, platforms to share their views and ideology. But what we see growing across the country is this us versus them mentality, especially by white supremacists, the feeling that they are facing this existential threat, a threat that will lead to their genocide, and that will lead to a bleak future. And in some ways that is a call to action, a call to take arms and push back against the forces that they believe seek their destruction. And so sadly, we look at the attack of Poway this past weekend with all of those hallmarks of hates. Speaker 1: 05:17 Joanna, you mentioned the attack on the mosque and in Christchurch in New Zealand, California also had the highest number of anti Muslim incidents in the nation. What do you think makes California specifically southern California, seemingly such an active region for hate? Speaker 2: 05:35 California is one of the most multicultural and liberal states in the nation. And that diversity is precisely what white supremacists suppose and what animates their ideology and activity in it is also one of the most populous states including a diversity of extremist groups and hate incidents every year. So if you look back historically racist skinhead population that grew out of England actually landed here in southern California. And to date we have the largest racist skinhead population in the country centered predominantly in southern California. And so that certainly creates this backdrop of hate. Does the Adl audit give any policy advice on how to bring down these numbers of incidents? There is a lot that we can do as a community, as a, uh, country. And first we must reinforce shared values. It is imperative that we speak out at all levels, that we use our bully pulpits to speak at immediately, directly and vociferously to challenge heat, that it exists that exists dot just after an incident, but before an incident to send the message that it will not be tolerated. Speaker 2: 06:59 We need to look at reforms in terms of our cyber response and our technology. These extremists are using technology to communicate and to help carry out their acts, and we need to look at ways to tweak, and certainly we must invest in education because the antidote to hate is education. Hate is learned, and if hate is learned, hate can be unlearned. And finally, we must remain vigilance. We cannot be reticent to push back and to act. We must remain vigilant and continue our efforts in that regard. I've been speaking with Joanna Mendelson, senior investigative researcher for the Adl Center on extremism. Joanna, thank you very much. Thanks for highlighting this today. Speaker 1: 00:00 Mexico is seeing the highest level of homicides in its history. Experts say a vast majority of Mexico's killings are done with us. Guns smuggled south in part one of this two part series KPBS border reporter Gene Guerrero looks at the problem and who it's affecting. Speaker 2: 00:19 Who Do get that. Sanchez is a US permanent resident who lives in San Diego. She brought her son Fed Nando from Mexico when he was 15 and later. He was very hardworking. He like worked and he was very active. He finished school, then worked installing floors and carpets in Chula Vista, but eventually he began to struggle with addiction using crystal meth. Yeah, the hip was kept. I started getting skinny and I wonder what it could be and then he started saying things that didn't make sense. Rehab, it was too expensive in the u s for Sanchez, so she sent him back to Tijuana. We're rehab is more affordable. The day they were going to check him and she says, if a number was shot and killed in Tijuana, no bs. Okay. I don't want vengeance. I don't want vengeance. Yeah. I want more government control over these people. Speaker 2: 01:15 Selling guns to kids. Sanchez can be pretty sure the gun used to kill her son came from the u s t one is police chief medical [inaudible] says nearly all of the guns used to kill people in Mexico are smuggled in from the u s is [inaudible] in Mexico. It's very hard to buy a gun in Mexico. We have a very intensive process before you can buy one. If you guys had that, it would be really helpful. Mexico has only one gun shop. It's controlled by the military in Mexico City. The gun laws for civilians are extremely strict with six months background checks and a federal registry of every person who buys a gun, person to person. Firearm sales are prohibited, but both Mexico and Tijuana or seeing record levels of gun violence with homicides nationwide hitting an all time high of 33,000 last year, president Trump has painted a bleak picture of criminals and drugs pouring into the US from Mexico. But speaking at the National Rifle Association Forum this month, he didn't mention the u s guns pouring into Mexico. In fact, he announced that the US was withdrawing from an international arms agreement aimed at cracking down on illegal weapons trading Speaker 3: 02:34 every day. You stand up for our God given rights without exception, without fail and without apology. Speaker 2: 02:43 What we're seeing more of the polymer pistol [inaudible] yes, is a special agent with the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, firearms and explosives or Ati. He says there's been an increase in large caliber weapons being smuggled into Mexico from the US. Speaker 4: 02:59 Those weapons are being used by drug cartel 10 force their, their business, if you will, to go after law enforcement, Mexican authorities and innocent civilians. Speaker 2: 03:10 The SS. There's also been an increase in US gun parts going into Mexico and being assembled there about 70% of weapons seized at crime scenes in Mexico last year that were submitted to us. Authorities were traceable to the u s the s is ATF is trying to combat the situation by going after smugglers in the US. Many are US citizens. Speaker 4: 03:33 There are individuals associated with cartels that reside in the United States. Speaker 2: 03:38 Sanchez who believes your son died due to the lack of control over us guns. So she hopes something is done about the problem. Soon. Now, Matan Army, they kill my son, then they're going to kill another man and it's going to keep happening. They're young. This men are young. The gun fueled violence south of the border has contributed to the increasing number of people seeking asylum in the US. And experts believe that controlling the flow of guns into Mexico would decrease illegal immigration and asylum claims at the u s border. Gene Guerrero, KPBS news Speaker 5: 04:16 joining me is KPBS border reporter Gene Guerrero and Jeanne, welcome. Hey Maureen, let's start where you ended. What do you see as the connection between us guns in Mexico and the number of asylum seekers at the border? So we have actually been seeing an increase of asylum seekers from Mexican states of get it or and mutual icon, the these southern Mexican states. So, even though there's, there's been a lot of talk about the influx from Central America, a lot of the people that we're seeing are coming from southern Mexico and, and it's because of violence that they're seeing. They're largely in fact inflicted with us guns that are being smuggled into Mexico. So Mexico in general is seeing record levels of violence as or as a results of us guns. And you saw the Mexican police chief and various Mexican authorities saying that if the US would simply control it's guns better than a lot of the violence that we see in Mexico with stop and, and people, his reason for fleeing their homes and fleeing these criminal organizations that operate with these us guns would go away and they wouldn't have any reason to come to the United States. Speaker 5: 05:27 Have any of the U s border officials you've spoken with made that connection between us guns in Mexico and the number of asylum seekers? You know, they haven't. I asked us customs and border protection for seizure data to see how many guns they have captured going into Mexico. Cause you do occasionally see USCBP stopping people on their way to Mexico to, to review, um, if they have any, any kind of guidance, ammunitions or et Cetera. But the data that provided actually doesn't distinguish between guns going into the u s and guns going into Mexico. But the Mexican customs data is actually really revealing. Um, it actually showed that at u s Mexico ports of entry, there was a 92% increase last year in the amount of guns being seized going from the US into Mexico. And again, that's, that's illegal. Mexican law prohibits US guns from being smuggled into Mexico, but it's happening. Speaker 5: 06:24 They also see is more than 116,000 bullets. And again, this is, this is a major increase from what we've seen previously. The major way that these guns get into Mexico is by smuggling networks. Yeah. So there's, they use a lot of the same smuggling networks that are used to smuggle drugs into the United States. But you see it, a majority of guns going into Mexico through the ports of entry, just like you see a majority of drugs going into the United States through the ports of entry. It's easier though to get guns into Mexico than it is to get drugs into the United States because while you have these long wait times to get into the United States from Mexico, because of the very heavy customs inspections at the ports, when you're going into Mexico are you can drive into Mexico and most of the time you will not be stopped by anyone. Speaker 5: 07:15 No one will check your vehicle and no one will ask you any questions you can just head on into Mexico with whatever you have in your car. Um, so that is the main route for smuggling weapons into Mexico. And part of how that happens is through the use of Straw purchasers. So someone who doesn't have a criminal record will legally buy a gun in the United States and then they will sell it to someone else. These person to person, firearm sales are legal in states like Arizona, they're, they're not allowed in California, but often you'll see it happened in Arizona and then the s the guns are are brought into California and then smuggled through the San Ysidro port of entry right here. What kinds of weapons are we talking about? So in my interview with ATF, the the U s bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the special agent was saying that they've seen a big increase in large caliber weapons going into Mexico, that that actually represents the majority of the weapons that are going in. Speaker 5: 08:08 So achy 40 sevens, ar 15 they also seek glocks and other pistols. And one interesting thing over the past three years as they've actually seen an increase in gun parts going into Mexico and ATF thinks that's because it's become harder for smugglers to get all of the guns into Mexico because there has been a slight increase in inspections going southbound. So they will bring in, for example, unfinished lower receivers, various parts that they can use and then assemble in Mexico and also parts to maintain existing firearms that they have in Mexico and just keep them up to date. Is there an estimated amount of how much money you s gun dealers are making by selling these weapons that end up in Mexico? I don't have the exact number, but, and I, and I don't know if any studies have actually shown an exact number or percentage, but the University of San Diego did do a study recently that suggests that these gun retailers actually rely on the black market in Mexico for their profits. Speaker 5: 09:09 And that without the black market in Mexico, a lot of these gun stores would literally just shut down. They wouldn't be able to exist. So I spoke to David Shirk of, of justice in Mexico, and he says that, that that is why gun lobbyists often fight things like having a federal registry to keep track of US guns. Um, and, and various other steps that could monitor the tracking of these weapons because of the fact that these retailers depend on, on the black market in Mexico. This is the first in a two part report on us, guns and Mexico that you're doing gene, what will you be focusing on in part two? So I'm going to be looking specifically at steps that are being taken to confront this problem. And so one of the main things, um, the, the head of Mexican customs gave KPBS and exclusive interview talking about these major upgrades that they're going to be working on at ports of entry to install new surveillance technologies and, and really try to crackdown on this problem of smuggling US weapons into Mexico. And I've been speaking with KPBS border reporter, Gene Guerrero. Jean, thank you. Thank you. Speaker 1: 00:00 April has been financial literacy month and if you didn't get a chance to become flew into in your personal financial language, maybe this will help when your financial world is rolling along without much change. You could take your mind off the subject, but when there are big changes happening in your life, finances often take center stage. Joining me to talk about taking charge of the financial changes in your life is my guest Shaundra a doosey financial planner with veterans wealth partners LLC and volunteer with the Society for financial awareness and Shondra welcome to the program. Thank you for having me. So what life events are we talking about? What life events bring with them? Big financial changes, life events that bring about great financial changes are when you get married, have a baby, get divorced unfortunately, and then when you pass away. And so a death in the family, a death in the family. Speaker 1: 00:55 Yes. The losing a job, I would imagine. Absolutely. Now do you find that people don't take the financial aspects of something like a death in the family or marriage? They don't realize the financial implications of that move? Oh, definitely. Especially with a death in the family, you know, it's, it's very much something that we don't like to talk about and don't like to plan for because it's such a, an emotional time and unfortunately we have the idea including the people that, that their mortality is in question. They're the ones I don't like to think about it. Let's just start out with a happier event. For people considering getting married, perhaps in the near future, what financial considerations should they be thinking about? Definitely disclose any debt that you will be bringing into the marriage. So that's something that you don't want to keep a secret because it can definitely backfire and then also impact the spouse who doesn't have any debt. Speaker 1: 01:50 Their credit score, which could prevent you guys from, you know, buying your first home and other subsequent large purchases that are typical in a marriage. A lot of people getting married, I deal with the question of should they keep separate bank accounts or should they get a joint account? It's all about personal preference, you know, I agree with the thought of getting a joint account for joint household expenses. While maintaining your own account. One thing that you don't want to do is join debt. So if one spouse does have student debt while the other does not, assuming that debt does not help the marriage out, either you have some advice on a few fail safes couples should have in place just in case the marriage doesn't work out. That's correct. I am all for both parties being financially aware of what's going on, meaning you should know where the mortgage is being paid, you should know what type of accounts have been opened in, in both of your names. Speaker 1: 02:46 You should have access to those accounts and you should know what the balance is on a regular basis. If for whatever reason the marriage is not going as planned and it may be headed towards divorce, think about closing some of those joint accounts. Otherwise it, you know, it could get a little messy if the separation is not an amicable one. Any advice? Financial advice for our listeners who may be expecting a child while if you're expecting a child, congratulations. Um, you should definitely start planning for the expenses that you'll have for first year. Um, you should also look at setting up a college fund if that is in your child's future. College 18 years from now is going to be roughly $300,000 for a four year private institution and $180,000 for a public, a four year institution. And that is not including travel to and from the school should your child wants to go to school out of state. Speaker 1: 03:42 So definitely look at different financial vehicles that can help you save for the future. As soon as I found out I was pregnant, we started researching different products, services available to us, five to nine was definitely a contender and it still is. We, we support five to nine plans. Uh, we actually researched what state would be the best in terms of value and return on investment. So just for parents out there, if you are going to purchase or not purchase, but invest in a five to nine plan, look into other states. California may not be the best option for you. We also looked at investing outside of a five to nine plan. Just in case, you know, our child decided that she wanted to be a culinary chef instead of get her bachelor's degree in whatever field. So we also looked at other things. I'm like investing in the stock market and real estate to make sure that we had all our bases covered and we didn't put, again all our eggs in one basket. Speaker 1: 04:42 Now we hear a lot about the need to save for retirement. So that advice is, is pretty much out there. But what about people who receive a windfall from an inheritance? What should they do with that money? What are the tax implications when you receive a windfall first, take a step back and don't do anything right away. You know, large financial amounts that come to you. You need to be handled with care. And oftentimes we don't have a plan in place for that. I mean you can just see the example of when people win the lottery and then after they win that largesse of money, then you know, a year later they're bankrupt. So really if you don't know where to start with your planning for when you receive a windfall, talk to a financial planner that has your best interests at heart so that you can figure out what is the best thing for you and your family when you receive that one fall. Speaker 1: 05:32 And what about preparing for the financial impacts of a death in the family? As you mentioned, that is a tough topic for most families will tell us why though it's important. A plan in place relieves so much stress and oftentimes in a, in a partnership, the spouse is left with a burden of, of making sure that your homecoming and your sendoff is, is appropriately done. So why not have in place a plan or even a directive so that while they're dealing with the grief of your passing, everything is in place. For example, create a will or a trust to make sure that your estate, um, is passed down appropriately and with minimal taxation. You know, oftentimes if there is no plan in place, if we seen with the larger stories out there with artists like prince and Aretha Franklin, oftentimes the proceeds of that estate or are stuck in probate courts for years to come. Speaker 1: 06:28 Creating an additional financial burden for the family who are the beneficiaries of that estate now, what kind of financial advice can people get app the nonprofit society for Financial Awareness, the Society for financial awareness promotes financial literacy for the community. That being said, we come into different organizations, groups, churches. Anytime there is a group of 10 or more, we're more than happy to provide financial education at no cost to the employer at no cost to the leader of the group. It's simply free education in order to help people make the financial decisions that are best for their family and also to make them more aware of what's available to them. Terrific. I've been speaking with Shandra. I do see she is a volunteer at the Society for financial awareness as well as a financial planner at veteran wealth partners LLC. Shondra thank you so much. Thank you for having me. It's been great. Speaker 2: 07:35 Yeah. Speaker 1: 00:00 When you Google images of unprofessional hairstyles, you will see mostly pictures of black women with natural hairstyles. That kinky, coily, curly hair texture, unprocessed by chemicals, extreme heat or cut low has for years been viewed as unprofessional and workplaces in schools, California Senate bill one 88 which is expected to become law will change that professor Starla Lewis who lectures on diversity and African American studies had this to say, Speaker 2: 00:28 well you know, I'm really excited about it because I think as an African American with natural curly hair, uh, it's always been a challenge to get my hair accepted and acceptable. And um, and I think about the fact that this is how I was created and this is the hair that grows out of my head. Speaker 1: 00:48 Dan Eaton who has an employment law attorney and partner for Seltzer Caplan Mcmann Vitech joins us to talk about Senate bill one 88 also known as the Crown Act. Dan, welcome. Speaker 3: 00:59 Sure. Good to be with you Jane. So what inspired Senate bill one 88 and what does the legislation proposed to do? A bill? A one 88 is called the crowd belt, which is creating a respectful and open workplace for natural hair. The idea is to prevent discrimination based on hairstyles that are historically associated with race. And it overwhelmingly passed the state senate. What's next? Unanimously passed the state Senate as a matter of fact. And so it goes to the uh, state assembly for a further consideration. And it seems California is following the lead of New York as they recently pass similar legislation. What would it take for antidiscrimination laws extended to hair to become federal law? It would take a great deal of coming together. The fact is that even the federal law title seven, the Employment Discrimination Law has been extended to apply, uh, to Afros to prevent discrimination based on Afro. Speaker 3: 01:58 The thinking of the California legislature is it, that was just too narrow. And therefore, like in New York and other jurisdictions recently, they said it's time to expand that to other hairstyles that also are historically associated with race. And you know, as it stands now, could our current antidiscrimination laws already be extended to natural hairstyles? It could arguably, I mean, as I said, it probably already a extends to Afros for example, but the thinking is fed a grooming policies are, should be broader than that if that, uh, there are certain hairstyles beyond our fro, uh, that are historically associated with the African American race in particular, and that should be protected. Understand, uh, that part of this arises out of a case that came out earlier, uh, in around 2007 involving in African American employee at a San Diego Abercrombie and Fitch store. And the question was whether he could, uh, be, uh, fired or refuse to be hired because he was wearing corn rows, which didn't comport with. Speaker 3: 03:02 There are a fresh look policy. And so there was a claim that was brought before the State Department of Fair Employment and housing that was dismissed. Why? Because hairstyles are not immutable essentially. And there was no explicit discussion of that. But certainly the federal courts, when they were talking about hairstyles have focused on the immutability of the characteristics and hairstyles can be chained. The California legislature says, no, that doesn't really look at it the right way of what you really need to look at is whether a particular trait is intimately tied with racial identity. Now that includes hairstyle, but importantly of the measure under consideration does not limited to hairstyles. So would he hood includes such things as a racial, uh, patterns or manners of clothing that are historically associated with race. Speaker 1: 03:52 Does this legislation opened the door for more vast changes in what's perceived to be professional attire? Okay. Speaker 3: 03:58 No, I don't think it does. I mean they, they go out of their way to say the legislature goes out of its way to say that this is not enormous change in the law. But what's interesting about the legislation, when you look at it closely and you look at the report of the committee on the judiciary, they consider this, it says, well historically associated with race, but it doesn't have to be the race of the particular employee. In other words, this would protect the rights of white employees tov where our corn rows as well as African Americans. Speaker 1: 04:27 And is there a history of discrimination based on hair in this country? Speaker 3: 04:33 Well, that's hard to say because as I said, there was that one case, uh, out of, uh, San Diego involving Abercrombie and Fitch, but there are cases that have said, uh, where an employer has taken action against an employee for wearing a styles that are considered unconventional and that are more typically not better, not euro centric, uh, that, uh, that has been okay because you can always change her hairstyle. What the legislature pointed out is that, well, straightening your hair and doing certain things chemically and so forth, it can have serious health consequences, particularly for African American women. And that should not be allowed. Uh, more importantly, the legislature is saying it's important to allow people to express their racial identity through their hairstyle, even if a hairstyle could be changed. Speaker 1: 05:24 And, you know, I mean, there has been a long history of penalizing black people for the way they wear their hair. I mean, we can remember in the 60s, you walked through the door of an interview with an Afro and uh, suddenly the job is filled. Uh, in many cases. I mean, talk to me a bit about that. Speaker 3: 05:38 Well, of course this, uh, what you're talking about a jade is the root of a race discrimination. Generally race discrimination, uh, falls into a variety of different kinds of issues, including for example, your name. There are some names that are racially identifiable of this particular measure is designed to stamp out just one of many unfortunate a residual effects of racial discrimination in employment and other areas of life in this country. Do you think that this legislation makes way for more broader legislation in regards to antidiscrimination laws and employment? Yes. Each change in employment discrimination law inevitably gives way to further changes in employment discrimination law. Who knows what the next frontier will be, but it is very likely given the unanimous reception this measure God in the state Senate, that this measure anyway is going to become law later this year. Legal analyst, Dan Eaton, thank you so much for joining us. Sure. Thank you. Jay. Speaker 1: 00:00 This friday, the San Diego Natural History Museum and Digital Jim Cinema Partner for the third year in a row to present real science. Real by the way, is spelled r e l k PBS arts report about Doc Amando has this preview of the film series that parish Scifi movies with local scientists who contextualize the science presented on screen. Your original star Trek TV series inspired many people to boldly go into science. Speaker 2: 00:29 I mean the original star trek was so amazing at a social and science fiction level and I just think about that TV series all the time and the Wa how much fun they were and how much they kind of made me fantasize about the world. Speaker 1: 00:44 Michael Wallace, curator of entomology at the San Diego Natural History Museum, he says, popular media can be a gateway to science for the general populace because Hollywood is good at storytelling so it can engage the average person and maybe even inspire him or her to think about science in new ways. Eric Lee in artist is a phd candidate and cognitive science at UC SD. He says star trek still inspires him today. I watch it all the time still, especially because it not only deals with sort of like the consequences of science and technology, but also like a way broader political intergalactic politics sort of context and artists kicks off the real science film series this Friday at the digital Jim cinema with David Cronenberg's the fly. I was thinking about sort of the marketability of Jeff Gold blooms body and that makes the museum happy because part of the goal of the real science series is to reach new audiences, especially those in the 18 to 35 age range. And if it takes Jeff Goldbloom to bring them in, that's fine. In the film, Goldblum plays a scientist who experiments with teleportation or are we waiting for, let's do it. Told rotations totally fine. If you're comfortable with a slightly different, you coming out the other end and I found that to be really disturbing, but it reminded me of Star Trek actually the teleportation problem where they were like protesters in the Star Trek Universe saying that they won't tell a fork because they don't think it's the same damn coming out the other side. As it turns out, their concerns are legitimate. Speaker 3: 02:17 I'm trying to experiment. Speaker 1: 02:20 During the experiment, Goldblum scientist tries to teach the computer about the flesh, Speaker 3: 02:25 the flesh. Speaker 2: 02:27 It should make the computer. Uh, a crazy. I like those old ladies pinching babies, but it's nice and not, yeah, I haven't taught the computer to me, made crazy by the, uh, Speaker 3: 02:37 flesh. Speaker 1: 02:39 As a cognitive scientist, Leon artist is interested in the brain. The fly allows him to address a once popular notion that humans are just logical computers and the body doesn't really matter. But what we've learned in the past sort of 20 years ish is that the body matters. A watt and the mind can't really exist a body. That's kind of why I think I chose the fly and Cronenberg because body horror, it throws it in your face. It makes you deal with these issues of like core poor reality and materiality, which are important to me. What's important to Michael Wall are bugs. He closes out the real science series on May 24th with the post apocalyptic film, damnation, alley, Speaker 4: 03:24 armor plated cockroaches. Speaker 2: 03:26 I remember being horrified by one particular scene where these cockroaches start chewing on a guy. Speaker 4: 03:32 His whole town is infected with Kyla cockroaches Speaker 2: 03:39 and as an entomologist that was my entry point into this movie in particular is thinking about insects and what they will they will be like and how they will survive in sort of a post human morals. Speaker 1: 03:53 The film also opens the door for wall to discuss the insect apocalypse and the decline of insect diversity worldwide. That in turn allows him to highlight what the museum does as a research facility. Speaker 2: 04:05 So we've got over 8 million specimens and our in our collections and we're thinking about conservation oriented things quite a lot these days. The impact of climate change on biodiversity in our region. Really trying to use these collections to inform current conservation Speaker 1: 04:21 and to use a 70 PSI Phi B movie to unexpectedly open up a conversation about such issues. It's that kind of enlightening fund that real science delivers. Beth like Amando k PBS news and again that was k PBS is Daca. Mondo speaking with Michael Wall. Real science kicks off on Friday at digital. Jim Cinema with the fly. Yeah.