Subjects: General

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.

An introspective look at Middle-Eastern cultures in the U.S. as they appear in the media and are perceived by the American society. Studio Guest: Ahmed Rehab, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Chicago. Video Inserts: Dr. Jack Shaheen’s film Reel Bad Arabs.

Explore your peers’ and your own individual ethnic/racial, religious, and cultural backgrounds.

Discuss how to use the Social Interaction Model (SIM) as an analytical tool for understanding human behavior in social settings.

Explore some of the varieties of communication styles in the U.S. as well as in other cultures around the world. Studio Guests: Isabel Lamptey, Western Illinois University, and Michel Nguessan, Governors State University. Video Insert: Asma Abdullah and Peter Shepherd, an Islamic couple from Malaysia.

Profile the rapidly changing demographic trends affecting the U.S. and other countries around the world. Studio Guest: Michel Nguessan. Video Inserts: Plaza De Los Angeles; Professor Alexander Astin, UCLA; and Wave Theory.

Learn the history of Immigration laws and social policies in the U.S. Studio Guest: Fred Tsao, Policy Director at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. Video Inserts: Marian Smith of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS); White Racialist David Duke; and Marcelo Suarez, former director of Harvard University’s Immigration Study.

Explore one of our nation’s most complex and difficult problems, the concept of race. Video Inserts: Dr. Michael Omi, Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California at Berkeley.