Becoming a grandmother has made me think deeply about the responsibility we all share as stewards of...

1. Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post
Becoming a grandmother has made me think deeply about the responsibility we all share as
stewards of the world we inherit and will one day pass on. Rather than make me want to slow down,
it has spurred me to speed up.
I am beyond disbelief that even though there is a glaring problem with the policies of policing in
New York City, coupled with an inherently flawed justice system, not one new law has been passed
since a father of four was choked out on a hot, summer day last July in Staten Island.
Anjan Chatterjee is a neurologist and cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania and
the author of The Aesthetic Brain: How We Evolved to Desire Beauty and Enjoy Art. In answer to my
questions, he shared his insights on cosmetic neurology, the potential of so-called smart drugs to
harm our health and our sleep quality, and the habits that are truly good for our brains.
Yet, while we gladly celebrate the Lord's Resurrection as the reality of life and hope, all around us in
the world, we can hear the cries and threats of death launched in many parts of the planet by those
who believe that they can resolve human conflicts by destroying their enemies, which in itself
constitutes the greatest proof of their weakness.
Another shooting of an African-American man by a white officer. Another moment to lead seemingly
squandered. Isn't this the moment for the president and his administration to address police
brutality and race relations in a big way?
As all genetic testing databases continue to grow, life-changing, personal discoveries are becoming
more and more common. And in aggregate, these genetic relationships -- which science only recently
could prove -- will continue to reveal more mind-boggling statistics about the connections between
all of us
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African
American Research at Harvard University
Julie Granka
Population geneticist, AncestryDNA

2. I assume at some point during campaign season I will get an interview with Secretary Clinton. I am
tempted to suggest that it be a single topic so that it can get around the sound bite stuff. I would like
to dig into one or two topics (go deep!) -- not slap the surface of many topics.
Should we give this hope for peace a chance? I believe Christians should answer yes. Here's why.
Jim Wallis
Christian leader for social change; President and Founder @Sojourners
"It's not 'P.C.' to say this, but..." Thank you for this helpful preface alerting me to the fact that I can
spend the next 30 seconds fantasizing about "Star Trek" without missing anything important.
Last year, I challenged the Koch brothers to meet me for a debate so that we could have an open,
transparent exchange of ideas. Unfortunately, they refused, so I'm about to give them another
chance. I am formally inviting the Kochs -- again -- to participate in a public debate.
Tom Steyer
California Philanthropist Climate Champion
There's a real chance for change in relations here. We shouldn't let rhetoric put a nail in the coffin of
trying to work a concrete deal come June -- and Congress shouldn't either.
As a country, and a world, we must understand that our destinies are linked. As business owners and
integral employees within organizations, we can make a difference. We can offer our unique ideas
and contributions that might help close the growing gap between the rich and the poor. We can
examine ourselves for prejudices founded on fashionable beliefs rather than solid values.
In the House and Senate budget proposals for fiscal year 2016, passed with only Republican votes at
the end of March, there are big winners and big losers. The big winners are defense spending and
contractors and very wealthy people and powerful special interests. The big losers are children, our
poorest group in America, and struggling low- and middle-income families.
An increasing number of legal experts around the world have come to believe that the lack of
government action to prevent dangerous climate change represents a gross violation of the rights of
those who will suffer the consequences. These arguments are at the core of the Dutch lawsuit and
will undoubtedly be put to the test in other countries before too long.

3. The underlying centrality of class to the nature of our contemporary economic and social condition
continues to go largely unacknowledged. It is an acknowledgment that is now long overdue.
David Coates
Worrell Professor of Anglo-American Studies, Wake Forest University, Department of Politics
I couldn't stop feeling like Black Girls Rock! was doing more than entertaining us. It was bonding us.
Halfway into the show, Michelle Obama walked onto the stage and for some reason, I had a visceral
reaction. Suddenly, I started remembering moments from my childhood.
America's decade-long experience in the post-9/11 Middle East has conditioned the American public,
and by extension the American body politic, to embrace hyperbole and sensationalism over fact and
nuance. In doing so, decisions are being made which do not reflect reality, and as such not only fail
to rectify the situation at hand, but more often than not, exacerbate it.
As members of very different "camps" on school reform, we think there is more common ground than
has yet been evident in the political process surrounding the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act and its later iteration, No Child Left Behind.
Linda Darling-Hammond
Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford University; Faculty Director, Stanford
Center for Opportunity Policy in Education
Paul T. Hill

4. Political scientist, policy researcher, author
How does it feel to be a threat? How does it feel to know that your life is less valued? How does it
feel to know that there are people in your midst who feel and are more privileged than you by the
accident of phenotype?
Michael Hanchard
SOBA Presidential Professor in the Political Science Department of Johns Hopkins
It's time for the U.S. government to put an end to this fiasco. The legitimacy of such important
terrorism cases as the September 11 attacks is not something to be disregarded, nor is the impact
on the victims' families, who have yet to see justice done. All the military commission cases could be
reliably tried in the seasoned and successful U.S. federal court system.
Daphne Eviatar
Senior Counsel, Law and Security Program, Human Rights First
This is what ex-members of Congress and their staffs do nowadays. Rarely do they follow the
example of ancient Rome's Cincinnatus and go back to the farm -- or take that teaching job at the
local university or join a hometown law practice. They stay in DC to reap the bountiful harvest that
comes from Capitol Hill experience and good old fashioned cronyism.
Michael Winship
Senior writer, Moyers Company on public TV. Senior writing fellow, Demos. President, Writers Guild
of America, East.
Good girls who question become bad girls. Heck, good girls who don't question are always on the
edge of being considered bad girls anyway. The goodness of a girl is devastatingly fragile. So,
instead, my education took place in secret.
Kelly Vrooman
Actor, comedian, and speaker for high schools and colleges through Campus Outreach Services
Video or no video, prompt investigation and appropriate action following a police shooting -- just as
with any possible crime -- should be the rule nationwide, not the exception. But these incidents are
more than just bad-apple cops: The problem of unjustified lethal force is endemic.
If we want to realize social media's full promise of massive unprecedented global conversation
conducted in real time, we should be teaching our students how to argue both thoughtfully and
effectively.
Greg Lukianoff
President, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
The Bad Newz Kennels bust captured the attention of dog lovers all across the country. Eight years
later, these 48 dogs have proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that fighting was something that was

5. forced on them -- not something they were born to do. Once they had the opportunity to become
companions, they took it and ran with it.
Jacqueline Johnson
Manager, Best Friends Animal Society's Parrot Garden; Adopter of two former fighting dogs
What any sensible Congress should be doing -- and what any sensible elite would be demanding -- is
making the tax code more, not less progressive. Estate taxes should be higher; the various loopholes
and dodges to escape them should be eliminated.
Unless you belong to the lucky few, a sports fan's journey ends the same way each season: just short
of one more W. And if you aren't part of the fandom, you probably wonder why so many people care
so much about a bunch of players they don't even know.
Hillary Clinton should make the moral case about power: for taking it out of the hands of those with
great wealth and putting it back into the hands of average working people.
Robert Reich
Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley; author, 'Beyond
Outrage'
From late 2007 through 2010, the United States and its Israeli partner ruled the roost in the Middle
East. It was the best of all worlds - for them. With that construct now shattered, they are trying
desperately to put Humpty-Dumpty back together again.
Michael Brenner
Senior Fellow, the Center for Transatlantic Relations; Professor of International Affairs, University of
Pittsburgh
Facebook regularly turns me into a jealous mess. Everyone in my network seems to have either a
book deal, an award or an article in the New Yorker (I currently have none of those things). It's
tempting to prescribe self-help to the envious. But that advice is misguided. The cure for the social
media blues is honesty.

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