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The Soul of California

Let them share.....That's the goal. Let the leading thinkers, writers, academics, artists and activists talk about their work and the influence of California on that work. In these podcasts, I hope to bring out the myth and the ethos that is not only a leading administrative entity in the United States, but also the world. No commercials, just content. Feed your soul. Keep listening.
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Now displaying: February, 2017
Feb 17, 2017

In this 36-minute podcast, former Secretary of Transport Norman Mineta recounts his response to the 9/11 attacks. 

His day started innocuously enough in a meeting with the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and finished in a bunker, deep below an empty White House. It was there that he gave the orders to ground the more than 4,600 planes at that time in US airspace.    

Secretary Mineta continues with the policy changes after 9/11, particularly the role of the government in regulating security at US airports (previously in private hands) and also the role that the private sector made, whether it was GE in mass producing scanning equipment, Disney for dealing with long lines or Marriot for its hospitality. 

Upcoming podcasts include LA muralist Judy Baca, Clayborne Carson of Stanford's Martin Luther King Research and Education Institute and rocker Chuck Prophet, who just released his new album 'Bobby Fuller died for your sins'. 

Feed your soul. Keep listening. 

Feb 9, 2017

Norman Mineta has lived the 20th century. Born in San Jose, Mineta’s life was typical of a Japanese-American family, at least until World War II. For his being a “non-alien” of Japanese descent, Mineta and his family were interned first at Santa Anita racetrack and then in Wyoming. 

He brushed off the initial discrimination of his early years to become one of American’s most decorated public servants, with roles as San Jose’s Mayor (during the early days of the tech boom), as a Congressman representing Silicon Vally and later as Secretary of Commerce under Clinton and Secretary of Transport under George W. Bush.  

In this 52-minute episode, Secretary Mineta speaks directly about his early life experience, particularly  as an internee and as the object of intense discrimination, closing with a very poignant memory of then Captain Ronald Reagan, who oversaw the burial of a decorated American soldier of Japanese descent. It was President Reagan who finally put a line under history in 1988, apologising to those interned and compensating them. Put the kettle on and have a listen - it’s definitely worth it and frighteningly relevant today. 

Next time: Secretary Mineta recounts his role overseeing American air space on 9/11. 

Feed your soul. Keep listening.  

 

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