Friday, August 29 – Friday, September 5

Unlike many of his super-wealthy peers, billionaire entrepreneur Nick Hanauer has no illusions about the dangers of growing income inequality. In the July/August issue of Politico Magazine, Hanauer warns, “The Pitchforks Are Coming… For Us Plutocrats”. He joins us to discuss the essay.

While the nation’s high school graduation rate has reached its highest point ever at 80 percent, there are still nearly 800,000 young people who fail to graduate each year. These students are often labeled as unmotivated, lazy or even criminal. But a new report, “Don’t Call Them Dropouts”, paints a much more complex picture. Alma J. Powell, board chair of America’s Promise Alliance, which prepared the report, explains the findings.

Best-selling author Clifton Taulbert achieved critical acclaim for his memoir, “Once Upon A Time When We Were Colored”, and he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his second memoir, “The Last Train North.” Taulbert tells us about his latest memoir, “The Invitation,” which chronicles the transformative journey he took when he accepted an invitation to dinner at a former plantation house in South Carolina.

It should come as no surprise that a great talent like singer and guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd was inspired by the likes of B.B. King, Bo Diddley, Buddy Guy and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Shepherd joins us to discuss his latest album, “Goin’ Home”, which pays homage to his muses and mentors and other blues greats.

The Brown v. Board of Education decision, six decades old this year, brought hope of equal education for all. Today we explore whether that hope was justified. We’ve gathered four distinguished educators and scholars for this special discussion: Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers; Leticia Smith-Evans, interim director of the Education Project at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund; Gary Orfield, co-director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA; and Billy Easton, executive director of the Alliance for Quality Education, a coalition of parents and community groups fighting for high-quality education for all students in New York.