Leid Stories – 10.13.15

Paying Their Way to Poverty: How Ferguson Is Forced Into Bankruptcy

Money Talks: Behind the Most Expensive Presidential Race in U.S. History

In the immediate aftermath of the Aug. 9 killing of Michael Brown by ex-cop Darryl Wilson last year, Ferguson, Missouri, became yet another symbol of legalized and enforced social, political and economic apartheid in America. It was the basis for nationwide mobilization; it was an open admission in a slew of official inquiries and reports.

Civil unrest has died down with the promise of administrative “reforms.” But the majority-Black city of 21,000 is still in the grip of economic apartheid and headed for Detroit-style, imposed bankruptcy.  

Dr. Walter Johnson, Winthrop professor of History and African and African American studies at Harvard University, discusses his in-depth study on economic apartheid in Ferguson.

Five Democratic presidential candidates will participate in a nationally televised Q&A session (host CNN insists it’s a “debate”) tonight in Las Vegas. The venue is the opulent, five-star Wynn Las Vegas resort and casino—an ironic twist for a political party that swears it’s about the working class. Yet, it is perfectly in line with where politics is right now.

Dave Levinthal, who leads the Center for Public Integrity’s reporting team on federal politics, discusses the 2016 presidential race, which by all indicators will be the most expensive in U.S. history.