Zócalo Public Squar‪e‬ Zócalo Public Square

Between 1975 and 2007, incarceration rates in the United States increased nearly fivefold. But over the last decade, California has slowly turned away from mass incarceration, reducing its prison population and changing criminal sentencing and other law enforcement practices to give more people more second chances. What has California done right in this transformation, and where has it fallen short? How are criminal justice system reforms changing our economy, our schools, our housing markets, our health systems, and our politics? And what would a truly just criminal justice system look like?

UC Berkeley public policy professor Steven Raphael visited Zócalo to examine criminal justice reform in California and how ending mass incarceration might change our communities. This Zócalo/California Wellness Foundation online event was moderated by Abbie VanSickle, California reporter at The Marshall Project.

Co-Presented with UC Center Sacramento.


Read more about our panelists here: https://zps.la/3cjL6OA

For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway: http://zps.la/3sta1Yd



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Surely, every debate about Abraham Lincoln has been had, and every story told—from his childhood splitting rails and his battle with depression to his cabinet of former rivals and his assassination. Yet over 150 years after Lincoln’s death, new details about Honest Abe still emerge to surprise us—and even stir up some contemporary controversy. A new exploration of a little-known 1864 episode shines a light on Lincoln's authoritarian side and his manipulative relationship with the press. With the Union mired in a bloody war with no end in sight, two New York newspapers published a presidential proclamation declaring an unpopular new draft. Lincoln declared it a forgery and shut down both outlets, threatening and imprisoning telegraph operators, editors, and reporters. But ultimately, there was more truth to the proclamation than Lincoln admitted, and the real culprits were never brought to justice. What lessons can this history teach us about the relationship between politics, media, and national security in today’s America? And to what extent should this story, and other more critical examinations of Lincoln’s behavior, change how our society understands—and honors—its 16th president?

Elizabeth Mitchell, author of "Lincoln’s Lie: A True Civil War Caper Through Fake News, Wall Street, and the White House" visited Zócalo with "Break It Up" author Richard Kreitner to discuss all things Lincoln in honor of Presidents Day 2021. This Zócalo discussion streamed live on Twitter on Wednesday, February 17, 2021.

For a full report of the program, check out the Takeaway: http://zps.la/3dkHSOK



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Zócalo and the University of Toronto present The World We Want, an event series exploring our current societal, political, and economic challenges and how we might emerge from the current moment. The series continued with “What Would a New Cold War Mean for the World?”

Civilization faces existential threats—pandemics, climate change, nuclear proliferation, runaway technologies—that seem to require international collaboration. Meanwhile, China and the United States are engaging in greater conflict with each other, and embracing unilateralism in matters of trade, technology, national security, and the sovereignty of their neighbors. To what extent will nations, businesses, NGOs, and individuals across the globe have to take sides if the U.S.-China contest becomes a new Cold War? What are the perils of the bitter competition between China and the West over 5G networks and artificial intelligence? And is it possible to create a collaborative and resilient international order to solve big problems, or are we headed toward a decoupling of East and West?

University of Toronto historian and author of “War: How Conflict Shaped Us” Margaret MacMillan, FSI Center fellow at Stanford University and American Enterprise Institute defense and foreign policy fellow Oriana Mastro, and UCLA Anderson distinguished professor Christopher S. Tang visited Zócalo to contemplate how the world, and our lives, would change during a new Cold War. This Zócalo/University of Toronto online event was moderated by New York Times associate managing editor Philip P. Pan, author of “Out of Mao’s Shadow.”

Zócalo and the University of Toronto thank the Consulate General of Canada in Los Angeles for supporting The World We Want.

Read more about our panelists here: https://zps.la/3cjL6OA

For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway: http://zps.la/3b4KaP0




Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.

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The inauguration of Kamala Harris was a moment of many firsts—the first woman, the first Black woman, the first woman of color, the first person of South Asian heritage, even the first California Democrat to become vice president. But this moment has been punctuated by an eruption of hatred and violence, and further evidence of America's bitter divisions, making it difficult to celebrate Harris's rise as evidence of national progress. How has the country shifted over the past four years—and over the course of Harris's career—to make her election possible? What does the elevation of a career prosecutor mean at a moment when many Americans want the criminal justice system to be less punitive? And how well is the vice president positioned to help change American attitudes about race, gender, diversity, and representation? The veteran California journalist Dan Morain, author of the new biography “Kamala’s Way,” and Kimberly Peeler-Allen, co-founder of Higher Heights, an organization building the collective political power of Black women, visited Zócalo to discuss how Harris got to the White House, what we might expect her to accomplish there, and what it can tell us about our nation and the current moment. This Zócalo discussion streamed live on Twitter on Thursday, February 4, 2021.

For a full report of the program, check out the Takeaway: http://zps.la/3jrk9NJ


Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.

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Social media polarizes us. Political propaganda deluges us. And misinformation and disinformation seem to spread as quickly as COVID-19. So where can we go to find stories, analysis, and messengers we can trust? Scholars say that high-quality, fact-based local news organizations—based in our own communities and staffed by diverse and responsible journalists who are also our neighbors—can inoculate us against the toxicity that inundates us via screen, airwave, and print. But such local media are dying; more than a quarter of the country’s newspapers have closed in this century, and thousands of communities no longer have their own news outlets. So how can local, community-based information messengers be made viable again—and how do we know that they are committed to being part of the solution rather than contributing to the problem? What strategies and institutions are already working to restore the trust in information, and in one another, that provides the foundation of a healthy civil society?

American Journalism Project chief executive Sarabeth Berman, Voice Media Ventures founder and “Black Voice News” publisher Paulette Brown-Hinds, and UC Berkeley law professor and former Federal Election Commission chair Ann Ravel visited Zócalo to explore how local media might help bring Americans together. This Zócalo/Center for Social Innovation online event was moderated by Joanne Griffith, managing editor of California Newsroom.

Read more about our panelists here: https://zps.la/3cjL6OA

For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway: https://zps.la/2Y58qL4



Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.

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Robotic trucks are beginning to roll out, carrying cargo and promises of revolutionizing freight hauling, reducing traffic, and lowering pollution. But previous waves of automation have eliminated millions of jobs in the United States. And a transformation in truck driving could come with big costs for the 3.5 million truckers who toil in one of America’s most enduring occupations and play an outsized role in our nation’s economy and road-heavy culture. Will driverless trucks become cramped and lonely “sweatshops on wheels” maintained by poorly paid attendants? What would it take to make this highly visible shift to automation serve society by creating good new jobs, making roads safer, and even helping the planet?

University of Pennsylvania sociologist and former truck driver Steve Viscelli, author of The Big Rig: Trucking and the Decline of the American Dream, and Issues in Science and Technology senior editor Lisa Margonelli rolled into Zócalo to consider how automated trucking might transform American life. This Zócalo/Issues in Science and Technology discussion streamed live on Twitter on Tuesday, January 19, 2021.

Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.

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