The Issue Is: Rep. Barbara Lee and LZ Granderson

LOS ANGELES - America’s longest-ever war is given an end date, slavery reparations move forward in the House, protests for racial justice are reignited, and California’s economy continues to reopen in a major way… it’s been a busy week in politics.

To discuss these issues and more, Elex Michaelson is joined on The Issue Is by California Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D) and LZ Granderson, columnist at the Los Angeles Times.

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THE ISSUE: AN END TO AMERICA’S LONGEST WAR

BACKGROUND: This week, President Joe Biden announced plans to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by September 11. That symbolic date falls on the 20th anniversary of the attacks of 2001 that led to America’s longest war. Biden’s plan shifts the withdrawal date that former President Trump had negotiated last year with the Taliban, in which troops would leave the nation by May 1. Regardless, the news was welcome news for Rep. Lee, who in 2001 was the sole member of Congress to vote against the Authorization for Use of Military Force.

LEE’S CENTRAL TAKE: "We have lost so many of our brave troops, $2 trillion out of our national treasury, not to mention the number of people, the Afghans, and people who have been refugees as a result of the invasion and the use of force…. I voted against that because it was a 60-word resolution that was a blank check. It gave any president, Democrat or Republican president, the authority to go to war forever. It set the stage for Forever Wars. It's been used in over 41 countries, at least 17 or 18 times… So right now, in addition to being grateful and thankful that President Biden is going to begin to bring our brave troops home, I have legislation that would repeal the 2001 authorization, because that's over…

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THE ISSUE: THE CASE FOR SLAVERY REPARATIONS

BACKGROUND: This week, the House Judiciary Committee approved HR40. The bill, which would create a 13-person commission to study the effects, practicality, and forms of slavery reparations for African Americans, now goes to the House floor for a vote, marking the first time since 1989 that such a bill has made it out of a committee to the full chamber for consideration.

LEE’S CENTRAL TAKE: "This is not about you personally, this is about a system of government, a legal system of government, that enslaved Africans for 250 years. This is about policies that were set into place to continue to discriminate, and subjugate, and oppress African-Americans. When you look at lynchings, when you look at the black codes all the way up until today, when you look at the criminal justice system, when you look at the gaps and the disparities and the injustices in the system, this just didn't start yesterday. Structural racism is dated back to 401 years ago when the first enslaved Africans were brought to America…. And so we're talking about repairing the damage of the past. When you look at institutions that enslaved Africans, that enslaved my ancestors, that have policies that continue even in the financial services industry and all the industries we see today that are barriers to moving forward, so we have to repair this damage of the past and this country has to take some responsibility to do that…"

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THE ISSUE: RACE AND "THE GOLDEN GIRLS"

BACKGROUND: This week, LZ Granderson penned a column in the LA Times entitled "The Killing of Daunte Wright shows this American sickness doesn’t stop," in which he explores Wright’s killing, the Chauvin trial, the Tuskegee Airmen, and other instances of racial discrimination through American history. Alongside that narrative though, is Granderson’s attempt to appease the bias and prejudice he faces in his own life, a task that brings an unlikely 1980’s sitcom about four retirees into the fold.

GRANDERSON’S CENTRAL TAKE: "I noted that as we were becoming more accustomed to what it meant to deal with this coronavirus in terms of not just social distancing, but also wearing the mask, I was noting that we were expressing ourselves with our mask, whether it was wearing a Dodgers match or a Lakers mask… I talked about the mask I picked up in West Hollywood of The Golden Girls, and how much I loved The Golden Girls, but also, more importantly, I knew how much white people love The Golden Girls. And the reason why I pointed that out was because I wasn't just wearing that mask as a way to express my own interest in the show… I was also wearing the mask to help white people feel more comfortable with a 6’2" black man with dreadlocks wearing a mask, walking in and out of your stores…. And so I used The Golden Girls mask as a jumping off point to talk about the larger issue, which is dealing with biases, microaggression when you're a minority…"

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THE ISSUE: THE CHAUVIN TRIAL COMES TO AN END

BACKGROUND: With the eyes of the nation on Minneapolis, Monday will see the closing arguments in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former officer charged with killing George Floyd last May. With Chauvin’s fate potentially being decided next week, Michaelson asked Granderson what he expects to see transpire on the streets of America in the verdict’s aftermath.

GRANDERSON’S CENTRAL TAKE: "I honestly have no idea, in large part because I have no idea what the verdict is going to be, and I know that that might sound ridiculous, especially those of us who watched the trial as I did, reported on it, written about it. We see the video, but we know it all the checkmarks are, but we also don't know what the verdict will be, because we've been here countless times before. I don't need to point out, in Los Angeles particularly, how we need to hold our breath and wait, because it kind of jumped off with Rodney King in terms of having video evidence to support what we've been talking about for decades and decades. So I don't know what to expect, because I don't know what the verdict is going to be… All I can do is pray for the best and hope that, regardless of the fallout, that we still find a way to keep working towards the perfection that we all want this country to raise itself up to be…"

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The Issue Is: with Elex Michaelson is California's only statewide political show. For showtimes and more information, go to TheIssueIsShow.com.