Ken Scott Baron Podcast

What if your skin is light, but your curls reveal your Blackness. It only takes one drop. Being half Black and half white means one cannot easily check off one box or another. The number of people identifying as multiracial in the United States has surged in recent years. And what if you are too Black to be white and too white to be Black. And often the term “mulatto,” is used. it is an offensive,...

If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product, as the refrain goes. Many social media sites and search engines that provide free services do so in exchange for your personal data. But with this, consumers give up data that enables companies to sometimes charge them more for products. I have done this in the past but try to avoid it. This is a practice in which a company sets a price fo...

Racism is not only morally wrong, but it also has massive detriments to our economy. In a recent study by Citigroup, “Closing the Racial Inequality Gaps,” economists state that in the last 20 years, racism has cost the U.S. economy $16 trillion. This is not insignificant as the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) is more than $21 trillion. These effects are stark in housing, education, and tax polic...

I am 79 and am lucky to be able to speak my mind, so as eight Democratic-aligned senators with an average age of about 70 voted with Republicans to end the 40-day shutdown without the health care concessions I ask how old is too old to fight Republicans? Let’s look at how this capitulation and the subsequent anger played out in the arguments. So many members of Congress who are at (and well beyond...

Some experts predict that AI will lead to significant job displacement, as machines will be able to perform many tasks that are currently done by humans. However, other experts argue that AI will create new jobs and opportunities, particularly in the fields of data analysis and machine learning. You might not know it, but an artificial intelligence algorithm used to screen applicants has decided t...

There is a fight between Democratic activists, who have called on Congressional leaders to fight Trump and his administration more, and the leaders themselves — who, until recently, were very publicly ambivalent about the demands of the mobilized left wing of the party. Senator Schumer publicly rebuked the “fight Trump” wing of the party back in March when he refused to shut down the government. D...

Joblessness for Black workers is rising again, two years after reaching a record low. It’s a troubling indicator: A rise in black unemployment is often considered an early warning sign for the overall economy, as Black workers are frequently the first to be laid off during economic downturns. The administration’s efforts to reshape the federal government have serious implications for federal worke...

Democrats and the Working Class Democrats are spending tens of millions of dollars to understand the working class that once defined their party. They face an identity crisis at the very moment they are trying to attract blue-collar voters who no longer think the political left sees them — or cares. Why did the working class switch sides? To find a way forward, Democrats might want to look back to...

The New Christianity A disclaimer, I am an atheist but do go to church (Unitarian Universalist). I don’t espouse, as Karl Marx did, that "Religion is the opium of the masses". I do think we have to be careful about extreme dogma. Religious conservatism now is more intentional and mission-driven and a post-secular formation. The Christian right’s bargain with the current administration could look l...

The administration’s attacks on the Smithsonian Museum for being too “woke” in its exhibits are part of a broader effort to control America’s story. But, for example, Bryan Stevenson, a lawyer and the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, has created institutions that confront the nation’s painful past to preserve an honest vision of history. Everyone has been trying to figure out what the Trum...

In March, Democrats shrank from confrontation under the threat of a government shutdown. Now voters’ growing disenchantment with the government and the unpopularity of the megabill gives Democrats a chance to fight and win as another funding deadline looms. By demanding action on popular policies, Democrats could execute a delicate maneuver where they avoid blame for a shutdown while benefiting fr...

The anxiety greatly increased in October 1957, when Americans learned of the Soviet Union’s successful launch of the world’s first satellite, Sputnik 1. The vivid evidence of the technological superiority in rocketry of our Cold War enemy provoked a remarkably rapid response. In 1958, by a bipartisan vote, Congress passed and President Dwight Eisenhower signed the National Defense Education Act, o...

It is increasingly clear that the world is no longer persuaded by America’s approach to economic policy. Other nations are not, for the most part, retaliating against the administration’s policies by imposing higher tariffs on American goods. But they also are not imposing higher tariffs on goods imported from countries other than the United States. The rest of the world is rejecting protectionism...

You can pay more for traditional Medicare, or opt for a plan offered by a private insurer and risk drawn-out fights over coverage. Patients are leery andI think it’s the back door into privatizing traditional Medicare. Private insurers often require a cumbersome review process that frequently results in the denial or delay of essential treatments that are readily covered by traditional Medicare. T...

Indiana, Missouri, Ohio and perhaps Florida — all Republican-controlled states — seem likely to join Texas and California in attempting to redraw their congressional maps, Republicans could carve out up to seven more House seats where they would be favored to win. Other states could join; a legal challenge to Utah’s map and a challenge to Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act also loom. Ultimately, t...

The idea that young people today have a damaging relationship with digital technology that leaves them insufficiently grounded in the real world and psychologically and socially undeveloped — is not just an old person’s lament. Young people also express those concerns. A 2023 survey found that 80 percent of Gen Z adults — that is, those born after 1997 — were worried that their generation was too...

Several sources indicate that tariffs disproportionately impact Blacks, the poor and low-income households, both in the United States and globally. Tariffs are a regressive tax: They apply to imported goods, and lower-income families tend to spend a larger portion of their income on these items, especially necessities like clothing, food, and home goods. Wealthier households can often afford to pu...

The current exhibition explores the deep impact of immigration policies while celebrating the resilience of Black and Brown immigrant communities. They are looking for art that confronts the pain of family separation and uplifts the everyday acts of love, memory, and solidarity that keep us moving forward. Color Compton s an arts and history organization grounded on theories and concepts of art ma...

A Dangerous Move President Trump’s decision to send at least 800 National Guard troops into the streets of Washington to fight crime is the latest example of how the president has used the military to advance domestic policy priorities. Though crime rates in the capital have been falling, Mr. Trump has said that they are “totally out of control” and has threatened a federal takeover. Already this...

Canada is living through an era of acute, sustained, profound and abiding rage. The source is President Trump; the object is the United States. More than two-thirds of Canadians say they plan to buy fewer American grocery products this year. Canadian travel to America continues its steep decline, although that may have less to do with political resistance than with the fact that the United States...

The administration is trying to impose a new portrait of America that is without flaws at the Liberty Bell, the giant redwoods of Muir Woods, and especially in the Smithsonian Institution. Last month a label that mentioned that President Trump had been impeached twice disappeared from an exhibit on the presidency while the impeachments of Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton are still included at the S...

Over the past five decades, the United States Supreme Court has developed an extensive and complex jurisprudence on redistricting. The court said that challengers bear the burden of demonstrating that race, rather than politics, was the predominant factor in the design of a redistricting map. The Court’s future orders could also strike down the Voting Rights Act’s safeguards against gerrymandering...

When Congress passed President Trump’s signature domestic policy bill last month, they voted to take health care coverage away from about 10 million people. In the past, And they openly boasted about part of it. About half of the 10 million will lose coverage because of a new requirement that people who enroll in Medicaid prove that they are working, looking for work or unable to work. Funds gener...

Inequality: Reading and Phones An insidious and enticing form of tech has taken hold: the internet, especially via smartphones. There is evidence that our ability to apply brain power is decreasing. The idea that technology is altering our capacity not just to concentrate but also to read and to reason is catching on and this may be creating yet another form of inequality. Long-form literacy is no...

ICE may go too far Militarized federal encroachments on public life provoke strong, even violent responses — even among those who agree with their aims. Trump and Stephen Miller set a goal of deporting 1 million undocumented immigrants each year —ICE will now become the largest law enforcement agency in the country. Is this a major victory? Maybe not because there's reason to believe it could back...