Producers: Governors State University

People with disabilities are one of the largest special interest groups in our society and yet one with the lowest visibility. Studio Guest: Robin Sweeney, Disabilities Coordinator for Governors State University and one of her advisees, Marion Kaes, a student at GSU. Video Inserts: Hiram Zayas; and Lenda Hunt.

Examine age issues from young to old and their social consequences. Studio Guest: Sally Furhmann, Director of the Rich Township Senior Center, Pat Klein, Youth Director for Richton Park’s Youth and Family Center; and Kenneth Kramer, President of the Park Forest Chapter of AARP. Video Inserts: Age Old Stereotypes; Adult Day Care Center.

The Republic of South Africa is one of the world’s newest democracies; it provides a unique mirror image of the U.S. at various in times in its history. Studio Guest: Machiel van Niekerk, Consul from the South African Consulate-General in Chicago Video Inserts: Wilmont James of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA) and Charles Villa-Vicencio who worked for the Truth in Reconciliation Committee (TRC); Coloreds in South Africa; and students at the Cecil B. Rhodes High School.

A review of many of the essential topics we have explored. Studio Guest: Dr. Robert D. Martin, Curator of Anthropology at the Field Museum in Chicago. Video Inserts: Jehovah’s Witnesses headquarters in New York; and Maurice Ashley, the first African American International Grand Chess Master in the world.

Discuss the current state of indigenous people in the U.S. Studio Guest: Joseph (Standing Bear) Schranz, an Ojibwa from the Midwest Soaring Foundation. Video Inserts: Pow Wow of the Ho Chunk Nation; Native American as well as Euro-American educators from Northern Arizona University; and Little Singer Community School (LSCS), a Charter School located on a Navajo Reservation in Arizona.

A profile of some of the many groups listed under the label of Latino(na’s) in the U.S. Studio Guest: Rey Flores, a community activist and columnist for Hoy Newspaper in Chicago. Video Inserts: Chuy Negrette, an ethno-historian from Chicago; Professor Carlos Munoz, Jr. at the University of California at Berkeley; Dr. Marcelo Suarez-Orozco, director of the Harvard Immigration Program; and Janet Castellanos, a Professor at the University of California at Riverside.

Studio Guest: Rey Flores, a community activist and columnist for Hoy Newspaper in Chicago and realtor/community activist Fred Medina. Video Inserts: The Ballet Folkloric filmed during a Mexican Independence Day celebration; a mini case study of Beardstown, a small river town in central Illinois with a rapidly growing Latino population; Janet Castellanos, a Professor at the University of California at Riverside, and a film clip from the movie Crash.

Examines the challenges facing this unique ethnic group and how its fate continues to evolve in the U.S. Studio Guest: Jesse Jackson Jr., Congressional Representative from the 2nd District of Illinois. Video Inserts: Birmingham Civil Rights Museum in Birmingham, Alabama; a film clip from Crash; Dr. Thomas Parham a Professor from the University of California at Irvine, and Dr. V.P. Franklin a Professor at the University of California at Riverside.

Studio Guest: Dr. Cathy Cohen, Director of the Black Youth Project and her graduate student Jamila Celestine-Michener from the University of Chicago. Video Inserts: Byron Hurt, Director of the film, Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes.

A discussion of some of the many cultures who fall under this label and live within the U.S. Studio Guest: Rey Flores, a community activist and columnist for Hoy Newspaper in Chicago. Video Inserts: Dr. Michael Omi, Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California at Berkeley; Dr. Gargi Roysircar-Sodowsky, Director of Diversity Issues at Antioch University New England along with Dr. Farah Ibrahim of Oregon State University, multicultural consultants, Asma Abdullah and Peter Shepherd; and the Korean American community in Chicago.