A Public Affair Douglas Haynes, Ali Muldrow, Carousel Bayrd, Allen Ruff, & Esty Dinur

From the first day in police academy to the last day on the force, police officers are told that they could be injured or killed at any moment. No traffic stop or neighborly dispute comes without the risk of violence. The day they let their guard home is the night they don’t go home to their families–or that’s what they believe. Through more than 100 interviews and 1,000 hours riding along on patrol, Michael Sierra-Arévalo outlines a culture that desensitizes violence and values officer safety above all.

Sierra-Arévalo joins host A Public Affair host Jade Iseri-Ramos to talk about The Danger Imperative: Violence, Death, and the Soul of Policing (Columbia University Press). The book is an on the ground report of modern policing. They discuss the training, networks of communication, and on the patrol experiences that further the use of violence by officers.  Sierra-Arévalo argues that in part, “violence is actually not unintentional in policing. That is that is the point of the institution.”



Michael Sierra-Arévalo is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin. His writing and research have been featured in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, GQ, Vox, NPR, and other outlets. From 2020 to 2023, he served on the City of Austin’s Public Safety Commission. He holds a PhD in sociology from Yale University.

Photo by AJ Colores on Unsplash

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It has been over a year since fighting broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces and its paramilitary rival the Rapid Support Forces. The war has caused millions to be displaced, with even more facing acute hunger and famine.

Dr. Khalid Mustafa Medani is the author of the recently published piece The Struggle for Sudan for the Middle East Research and Information Project. He joins host Esty Dinur to explain the the current state of the crisis in Sudan and the power clashing that caused it.



Dr. Khalid Mustafa Medani is Director of the Institute of Islamic Studies and Chair of the African Studies Program and  Associate Professor with Department of Political Science and the Islamic Studies Institute at McGill University. He is the author of the book Black Markets and Militants: Informal Networks in the Middle East and Africa.

Image used under Creative Common Licensing in the Public Domain via rawpixel.com

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In a recent piece for the American Friends Service Committee, Yousef Aljamal says that the population of Rafah has increased more than 5 times. With the Israel’s invasion on Rafah which began earlier this week, the Al-Mawasi Area has been designated safe for Palestinians. However, Aljaml writes, “Asking Palestinians to evacuate there will only increase their suffering and possibly lead to more deaths.”





Aljamal joins host Allen Ruff to explain what is happening in Rafah and what is at stake for the people who are living there.







Yousef Aljamal is the Gaza coordinator at the Palestine Activism Program at the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Aljamal is a refugee from Al-Nusierat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. He recently received his PhD at the Middle East Institute at Sakarya University in Turkey.



Image by hosny salah from Pixabay

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On May 1st, the Mount Horeb community experienced a district wide lockdown when a student came to the Middle School with what appeared to be a rifle–it was later determined to be a pellet gun. That student did not make it into the school and was killed by police.

Madison 365’s Robert Chappell was on the scene minutes after receiving a text from his son informing him of the threat of a shooter. He joins host Ali Muldrow to reflect on that day and how the community of Mount Horeb is picking up the pieces. We also speak with David Riedman, founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database, about what we have learned about the student’s intentions and how it fits with the national trends of school shootings.



Further coverage: News Producer Faye Parks talked with Mount Horeb’s Superintendent Steve Salerno about the district’s response and continuing support efforts.



Image by Corey Coyle, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

 

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At the peak of the movement, about 30% of Americans were evangelical Christians. About a fourth of all Americans where white evangelicals–a term we hear a lot these days when discussing Trump’s base. National Political Correspondent Sarah McCammon says that people often talk about this demographic as if it is a fringe movement rather than a huge swath of Americans.

Today, we’re talking about the growing number former evangelicals who have untangled–or deconstructed–their belief system and parted from the church as it has become politicized. Many have found solace in online communities and some call themselves “exvangelicals.” In McCammon’s new book The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church, she mixes journalism and memoir to tell a story about these adults who were once a part of the subculture, but left as they came of age in a far more interconnected world.

A Public Affair host Sara Gabler is one of these millennials who was raised with an evangelical belief system and has since deconstructed. McCammon joins Gabler to talk about The Exvangelicals. They discuss purity culture, conservative childhoods, and the vast experiences of deconstruction.



Sarah McCammon is a National Political Correspondent for NPR and co-host of the NPR Politics Podcast. Her work focuses on political, social and cultural divides in America, including abortion policy and the intersections of politics and religion. She’s also a frequent guest host for NPR news programs.

Photo by Edwin Andrade on Unsplash

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The 2025 City of Madison operating budget, which funds the city’s daily operations, is facing at $27 million dollar deficit. The city is facing some tough choices as it balances the budget. Alders and city staff are hosting a number of citywide budget engagement sessions to share information about the budget and hear from residents.

A Public Affair host Douglas Haynes is joined in studio by Mayor’s Chief of Staff Sam Munger, Finance Director David Schmiedicke, and Alder Yannette Figueroa-Cole to begin to understand the budget issues, the limits of city’s power, and how much of your tax dollars truly go to the city.

The remaining session dates are as follows:

Westside – Thursday, May 16, 6pm at Vel Phillips Memorial High School

Southside/Near Westside – May 29, 5:30pm at Goodman South Library

Central – Thursday, May 30, 6pm at Madison Municipal Building or online

Northside – Wednesday, June 5, 6pm at Black Hawk Middle School

Photo by Chali Pittman/ WORT News

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