Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Pools and Segregation, Vincent Bugliosi Dies, and the Primates of Park Avenue
The town of McKinney, Texas is in the news after a video surfaced over the weekend of a white police officer using force on a group of black teens at a pool party. We look at the surprisingly intertwined history of public pools and segregation.
By Madeleine Brand • • 50m ListenMcKinney, Texas is in the news after a video surfaced of a police officer using force at a teenage pool party, we look at the surprisingly intertwined history of public pools and segregation. Then, Vincent Bugliosi, who successfully prosecuted Charles Manson in L.A. in the early ‘70s, has died at 80. We hear from someone who worked with him on the case. Next, the author of a new memoir about the strange ways of wives on Manhattan’s Upper East Side talks to Madeleine about the now-infamous “wife bonus” and other observations. And we preview the L.A. Film Festival, happening this week.
Banner Image: The public swimming pool in Pullen Park (Raleigh, North Carolina), which was closed by the city after four black males went swimming with two white companions on August 7, 1962; Credit: Universal Pops
In this episode
5 storiesA Social History of Swimming Pools
Another case of white police officers using force on unarmed African-Americans is making news this week. A video of a McKinney, Texas police officer surfaced this weekend. In it, you can see the officer waving a gun at black teenagers and wrestling a teen girl in a bikini to the ground at a pool party. The officer is now on administrative leave.
Read the story9 minVincent Bugliosi, Manson Prosecutor, Dies at 80
Vincent Bugliosi, who successfully prosecuted Charles Manson, has died. He was 80 years old. Bugliosi wrote the definitive, bestselling book about the Manson trial, Helter Skelter, in 1974. He went on to write more true crime books, but was best-known as the Manson prosecutor and author of Helter Skelter.
Read the story5 minThe Women's World Cup
In the Women’s World Cup, the U.S. beat Australia last night. Another team to watch, Brazil, squares off against South Korea today. The leader of team Brazil is a player known simply as “Marta.” She’s one of the best soccer players of all time, and yet she barely makes enough money to make soccer a full-time career.
Read the story9 minThe 'Primates of Park Avenue'
When we think of anthropologists studying a culture, we picture distant tribes on the pages of National Geographic magazine. But Wednesday Martin has chosen to study the exotic tribe known as the wealthy housewives of the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
Read the story14 minThe Los Angeles Film Festival
The Los Angeles Film Festival kicks off tomorrow with an opening-night gala screening of Grandma. It stars Lily Tomlin as a mature misanthrope trying to help out her 18-year-old granddaughter.
Read the story8 min
