Professor of Anthropology and History, University of Illinois
Professor of Anthropology and History at the University of Illinois, and Director of its Program in Jewish Culture and Society; incoming Artistic Director of the Chicago Humanities Festival and author of Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia: Hatreds Old and New in Europe
Germany Ignites Debate on Multiculturalism, Integration Memories of the Holocaust made Germany sensitive to ethnic discrimination after the Second World War. But the demand for labor has led to the immigration of two million Turks who are now living in ethnic ghettos. A new book saying immigrants of inferior intelligence are changing the nation has become a best seller, and this week, Chancellor Angela Merkel told a political meeting that "multiculturalism has failed, totally."
Germany's Identity Crisis Memories of the Holocaust made Germany sensitive to ethnic discrimination after the Second World War. The country's demand for cheap labor has produced a Turkish minority two million strong in a nation of 80 million. New immigration laws allow Germany citizenship, but the Turks are living in ethnic ghettos, featuring women in veils and street signs in Turkish. Chancellor Angela Merkel says "multiculturalism" is a failure and that it's time for a change. Have the Turks refused to assimilate, or are they unwelcome? A best-selling anti-Islamic book has raised fears of a right-wing nationalism that's all too familiar given Germany's Nazi past.
The Drug Wave Crests 72,000 Americans died from drug overdoses last year. A lot of that was due to opiates. And it started a small.
Very legal? Very cool? President Trump says it was very legal and very cool to run his business and campaign simultaneously, but was it?
One Year Later: Rebuilding from the Thomas Fire This week marks one year since the Thomas Fire descended on the city of Ventura. It burned more than 500 homes within city limits. Since then, roughly half of those properties have received the green-light to start construction, but only a handful have actually broken ground. We visit one neighborhood where some of the first homes are getting rebuilt.