Social Justice - A Conversation

Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a Kun V studios original program. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Charles Stanton 0:15
Good evening. My name is Charles Stanton. I'm on the faculty of the Boyd School of Law and the UNLV Honors College.

Kira Kramer 0:22
My name is Kira Kramer. I'm a fourth year honors college student, a public health major and a pre law student.

Charles Stanton 0:28
And this is social justice a conversation, a conversation.

Well, welcome back, everybody. Charles Stanton here with my co host, Kira Kramer, this is going to be our last program of this semester, and we want to, you know, make the most of it. It's been a great pleasure to have all of you folks who've listened to our program, and you know who tuned in week after week, and we wanted to, you know, as this is going to be our final program of this season, just talk about our country a little bit, maybe not getting into too many particular specific issues, but you know where the country is going, why we're in the situation that we're in. You know what, what sometimes seems to be lacking in our in our discourse between each other, and maybe what we can do as individual citizens to to make things better for everybody. Yeah,

Kira Kramer 1:46
ultimately, while this country started, it was kind of a miracle, but in many ways, we have been a country that has aimed for a high level of civic engagement that hasn't always been possible, and it's been flawed along the way, figuring out the best way to have representation has been a very difficult challenge, and early in our country's development, we saw The powers that be really struggle with giving autonomy to the voter base. We saw that they struggled between giving people the ability to vote while also knowing that people would easily be swayed by media, by media that was extremely oriented towards false statements, and just very, very like early in our country's development, we see so much of what we saw what we see today, and as our country has developed, we've kind of turned away from caring about the individual issues that day to day Americans experience throughout their lives. And so now we kind of have this population base that is extremely overworked, extremely tired. We see that people are barely able to make ends meet with one job and so many work multiple many struggle to have families and support those families economically, and struggle at jobs that don't even at times, maintain their safety and security. We struggle to afford health care and transportation and just things in daily life that add inordinate amounts of stress on top of people, and stress kills, as we know and so it's not surprising that as this administration creates a living situation that is pretty unprecedented for the people of this nation in particular, it's been happening across the globe since people existed, but in this nation, it's new, and we see that there is this lack of empathy and this general apathy that is plaguing our country at the moment. And to be honest with you, I'm not surprised. I think day to day, I experience those same feelings that the desire to escape from the reality of having to work as hard as we work in this country with very few benefits, which is just not what we see in more socialized countries, where mandatory once a year, you at least have a month vacation. You get full year of paid maternal leave and and paternal leave. And we see a lot more investment in the quality of life of of your everyday life, in the majority of individuals in those types of nations. Yeah, and now that we're seeing very much the crumbling of accountability and law in our country and a shift towards what we talked about last episode, competitive authoritarianism, people are exhausted. We're tired of this, and that's exactly what this administration wants. They want people to get so tired of what they're doing, that they don't participate anymore, that they don't keep tabs, that they don't look and also that they think that they're powerless if they become so exhausting, like if people get so exhausted that they feel that they're powerless against this administration, this administration, has achieved everything they've wanted to, because in all reality. It is perceived power. They do not have actual power. They have the amount of power that people allow them to have, that our Congress allow them to have. I was just revisiting, like a Schoolhouse Rock video of our Constitution, and like how each of the branches work, and a lot of what the Trump administration is doing is really power that's only delegated to Congress, and it's simply being allowed. And so this administration does not have the power that they think they have. They only have what we give them. And so ultimately, people are just really tired of what's happening, and you can't blame them, but we also can't stop

Charles Stanton 6:28
Yeah, I think that's I think that's very true. I think I was talking with a guy the other night who's a very brilliant guy. He's a psychoanalyst, and we were talking about politics. He originally comes from Europe, so he had the experience of living in France and living in Germany. But one of the things that we're seeing is the residual effect of the breakdown of our institutions. I think it used to be that people thought they could count on certain parts of our government and certain parts of our society to steer the ship in the right way. And I think the lack of those institutions performing as they should have, has led across the country to a great disenchantment with a lot of the institutions that people took solace in. In the verdict movie with Paul Newman, where he talks about that in his closing summation to the jury, is extremely relevant. People, the vast majority of people, feel that the deck is stacked against them. They feel that they don't have the opportunity that they need, they feel that nobody cares about what's going on in their lives. And there's a sense of hopelessness that has pervaded the country and almost a tacit acceptance that that's just the way that things are that tacit acceptance has led to, has led to a few things. It's led to people basically tuning out a lot of the things that they as citizens could constructively do to make the country better. There's a feeling of, well, the thing is just broken and it's not going to get fixed, and I am powerless, and there's nothing I can do about it. And we just have to, we just have to, we just have to accept it as it is. But the other problem that you have, the apathy problem is one problem, but the other problem is the empathy problem, the lack of empathy. And because our country is divided racially and by gender and by all these different elements, that has become a huge and enormous problem. The strength of America is diversity, but sometimes the weakness of America is diversity, also that we have this we have this division based on so many different things, race, gender, ethnicity, religion, what have you so that when things happen that ordinarily would be shocking and would be renounced by the vast majority of people, that statement of renouncement never. Comes because so much has happened before that was never that was never addressed. You know, it's very interesting when you know, when I teach cinema, I teach social justice through cinema, but when you see a lot of the movies, the biggest mistake you can make in teaching or just living or being is it didn't happen to a black person, it didn't happen to a Hispanic person, it didn't happen to a woman or a child or a transgender person. It happened to a human being just like you are, and all those other factors are extraneous to what actually should be the focus of the response of society. When that person is killed at a traffic stop, when a woman is abused, when a child is harmed, they are us. There's no divorcement from it like, oh, well, that was that was something that happened to somebody else. It has nothing to do with you. It has everything to do with you. It has everything to do with us, because we are part of that family, that human family, and a lot of that feeling in our country has gone when I think about when I think about the verdict movie, and when Paul Newman gave that, I think wonderful summation, that was 1982 we're talking 43 years ago. And I think that disengagement has accelerated, where people basically, you know, you know, they see and they hear all these terrible things and and maybe for a while, maybe that for a while they get, they get involved in it. I mean, you look at like, for example, like George Floyd or Eric Garner, or these cases that are so egregious, and you have, you have, you know, Black Lives Matter, and all, and all the rest of those movements. But we're in 2025 now. We're seeing the same kind of cases. We're seeing the same kind of response. And, you know, the the Fruitvale Station movie with, with, you know, with its message that this man was killed unnecessarily, and all the rest of those things, that stuff is still going on today. I mean, you look at the statistics, you look at the statistics with traffic stops that the vast majority of people who are harmed in the traffic stops, by far, over 90% are people of color. If you look at if you look at the abuse of women and how many cases are never even tried. If you look at one of the most shocking ones to me, I think we mentioned this on the broadcast one time, one of the most shocking things to me was where federal money had been allocated by the Congress to reopen cases where women were abused in a number of states. In many of the states, the money was returned because the investigations were never opened. And I'm saying to myself, well, if people of color can be murdered, if women can be assaulted, if children can be abused, and there doesn't seem to be any response, that's almost an encouragement to the abuser to do something. When, when, when, when they did the spotlight movie. I don't know if you we will remember that. It's not that many years old, though, and it had to do with child abuse, and it had to do with the fact that the church was involved in covering it up and all the rest of that stuff. The man says something very profound was representing all these children and their families. And you know, he says, you know, he says, It's been said that it it takes a village to raise a child. He said, it could also be said that it takes a village to abuse a child, and there's and there's that that and there's that indifference that we see in our society that's become so pervasive that I think a lot of people have given up from actually speaking out and really getting involved as a voice against these things. They just say, Well, you know the people are, they are and you know these things happen, but no, these things only happen because we allow them to happen. They only happen because we permit them to happen. They only happened because we remain silent. That's what's going on. I mean, at least, at least now we're seeing a protest movement. It was asleep for a long time. It was like rev Van Winkle, but now finally, we've waking up. But why did it take? Why did it take just this man and all the stuff? He's doing that's off the rails. Why did it take him now to wake everybody up when the conditions that were going on existed for decades?

Kira Kramer 15:09
I think part of it is that I don't want to make excuses here, because perhaps it's like not this at all, but I feel that so many people in this country are still stuck at the very low rungs of the Maslow's hierarchy of needs. And they are still so stuck at the basic I need food, I need shelter, I need water, I need a job, and if I have children, they need all of those things. And so like to ascend the ladder and get to these ideas, these like greater ideas of like, safety, security and affording that for everyone. Because when everyone has it, we all benefit. Like those ideas are just secondary. And so I think inherently, we have so many generate, like generations of people living in poverty, to the point where, like, who is going to teach anything greater than achieving your basic needs? If, like, for generations, the basic needs can barely get met?

Charles Stanton 16:12
Yeah. Well, I think that's true. I think that. I think that that's very true, because

Kira Kramer 16:19
there is always going to be vastly more poor in this country than there are wealthy, and unfortunately, education is a gift for the wealthy. Yeah,

Charles Stanton 16:29
yeah. I think also though that it not necessarily be that way. I think when Robert Kennedy said that some people see things as they are. And say, why I dream things that never were? And say, why not? I don't think it has to be that way. And coming up here today to teach my class, and also to have the pleasure of being with you on this program I saw one of the aqueducts or viaducts in the city, and I saw all these homeless people. And I'm saying to myself in this very prosperous city, what are those people doing there? And they're there because of greed and indifference. And if you want to call it socialism, or whatever you want to call it, there needs to be a redistribution of our wealth in this country, where people who are affluent need to pay their fair share of taxes. And there needs to be, there needs to be a obligation on the part of big business and industry, not just in the city but across the country, to become more social citizens and to be part of the solution of what those conditions that are going on, where they have their their entity now, in this in this city of Las Vegas, and I love Las Vegas, and I love being here, and I love all the wonderful people that I've had the privilege and good fortune To know there's much greatness here, but there's much indifference here. I mean, when you look at, and I've said this before, when you look at the the success of the companies that you know are entities in this city, you cannot convince me that there isn't something that could be done by private industry to work together with the government to to so help find housing for people, to find basic, decent, humane, habitable conditions. It cannot, it cannot be, it cannot be accepted that people live like this while you're you're having all these, you know, all these benefits, and people are and people are just ignoring it. And sometimes I think that our government, our government needs to be more aggressive. Our government really needs to, not just, you know, be, you know, laying, laying in the background, hoping that people will do something. Sometimes big business and industry have to be brought, kicking and screaming into doing stuff that's going to benefit society, that it cannot just be with big business and industry, that the only thing that counts is how much the CEO makes and what the stock price is, there has to be a more enlightened, socially conscious attempt to make big business answerable to everybody else.

Kira Kramer 19:51
Well, if the Supreme Court is going to say that they're people, that they can contribute to campaigns just as if they're people, then if they're people, then. Can pay their fair share exactly if they're people, then they can abide by the same rules that everybody else does.

Charles Stanton 20:07
Yeah. Well, I think, I think that's true. I think that what's happened in America, what's happened in America is the division of our people that has benefited the people at the top of the food chain. Well, that's

Kira Kramer 20:24
the only people that benefit from our division, and it's a lie that anyone else does. And unfortunately, people believe that lie. They believe they benefit when it is just not true.

Charles Stanton 20:35
Yeah. Well, I think, I think, I think we're, we're seeing that. We're seeing it. We're seeing it particularly now where you have people, where you have people who are making, you know, money that can't even be calculated, and there is so much that they could do to help other people. There's so much they could do to make the society better. There was so much that could be done just to give people a habitable place to live. But it cannot be the position of society, even even in even in a capitalist society, that it's okay. We're going to just have business and usual. There needs to be more activity on the part of political parties and individual political actors to reach out to big business and industry. And what we also need to do, we also need to do, is have a reevaluation of a Citizens United case where, basically, people can contribute as much money as they want, many times anonymously, which has totally corrupted our Congress. Kira has said on many occasions, and I co heartedly agree with this, it's a club. These are people who get into these offices and whatever ethical, you know, ties they had soon become lost in, you know, I'm a member of the club now. I'm not going to rock the boat and everything like that, but now that we've reached a certain stage in our country where, basically, our society, our way of life, our democracy, is in such a dire strait we need to get from these people in our Congress and from people in industry that they are part of America, they are not. They are not apart from America. They are not some on some, you know, other planet, or like, you know, the Greeks used to believe that they had this special place where the gods lived. They're human beings, and they have to take a responsibility and have an empathy and pay their fair share of taxes and do all the rest of those things that if they did just some of that, the society would be enormously would be enormously better. And I think that our politicians need to be called to account, that our political process has got has been turned upside down. They are our servants. They are the public service. We are not their servants, and everything has been twisted around. I think a lot of that has to do with the current administration too, because the current administration has conveyed an attitude of basically lawlessness, where people basically believe they can do whatever they want to do. There's no constraints, etc, etc, and that's a better. That's a better by the Congress, who, you know, is very docile. They don't want to, they don't want to rock the boat. And it's ultimately, it's ultimately, you know, our court system that we depend on. And now we have to figure out, as a society, how we can make our court system more effective, so that when they judge, judge the law and judge what is right and judge what is wrong, that they're backed up and not abandoned. And we're going to be abandoned while they're abandoned. Basically, you know, I wanted to talk for a couple of minutes. I'm going to take this time out to, you know, as this is our last broadcast of the semester to talk about my partner here, Kira Kramer, who has been my third partner on these broadcasts. And I want to, you know, compliment her and thank her for the really enormous contribution she's made to this program. You know, I'm pretty much fossil like and of a dinosaur nature. So it is always a welcome opportunity when we we have someone who, you know, sees some of these issues in a different light, the way I see them. Yeah. And all through this, all through this semester and through this year, actually, she has given us a lot of a lot of things to think about from, you know, not from supposedly the professor's point of view, or even from industry's point of view, or even from academia's point of view, but as someone who's a student who has high aspirations and noble goals, she's going to be, you know, you know, leaving us after this broadcast in the fall, she'll be going into UNLV Boyd School of Law. And I think she, will be the prototype of so many young people like her who truly, deeply and wholly want to make our country better, and who are idealistic and really want to really change things for the better and not, you know, keep with The status quo and that idealism and that fire and that passion is going to be, I think, contagious with with, you know, with what she does and the people she interacts with, that that this is our future. This is the future for all of us. And I just wanted to say what, you know, a great pleasure it's been to to have her partner with me on this program, and I want, I'm sure, all of us, to wish her well as as well.

Kira Kramer 26:30
Thank you so much, Professor Stanton. It's been an honor to work with you and to learn from you genuinely. I think I got to meet Professor Stanton when I was taking an honors course, he was teaching feminism in film, and it was one of the courses that I think it really opened my eyes into the struggle of women's rights and how long this struggle has been going on, and the very artistic and creative way that that struggle has been portrayed by the film industry. And so I just want to thank you for all of the guidance and support that you've given me throughout this whole journey. And I am very eager to start law school in the fall. And as you said, I hope to be an advocate and a public servant in every sense of the word. And so with that, I want to thank you all for listening and for joining me on this journey. It's been absolutely wonderful, and as we go through these uncertain times, I hope that you continue your own responsibility to stay informed and to advocate for what you believe in. So thank you so much, and have a great night. Yes,

Charles Stanton 27:46
thank you from the from the both of us, and the main thing is keep the faith. Never stop believing and never stop looking for the best in others. God bless you.

Kira Kramer 28:07
I thank you for listening to this broadcast, and if you have any questions or ideas for future discussion topics, please contact myself. At K, R, A, M, E, k2@unlv.nevada.edu or Professor Charles Stanton at C, H, A, R, L, E, S, dot, S, T, A N, T, O n@unlv.edu, See you next time we look forward to it. You