Will the Real Young Voters Please Stand Up? | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian
Los Angeles In-Person | Streaming Online

Will the Real Young Voters Please Stand Up?

Young millennial and Gen Z voters could be a mighty force in the 2024 presidential election, with Gen Z alone accounting for over 40 million potential voters. It’s no wonder both major political parties are attempting to mobilize this group, half of whom don’t identify as Democrats or Republicans. But turnout among young voters has always been low, and their …

Are the U.S. and Mexico Becoming One Country? | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian
Los Angeles In-Person | Streaming Online

Are the U.S. and Mexico Becoming One Country?

Our politics and news are all about the borders and divides that separate the U.S. and Mexico. But in real life, we’re becoming more alike. Some 37 million people living in the United States today trace their roots to Mexico. They are part of a giant diaspora so intertwined with American life that its political, cultural, educational, and economic impacts …

When Does Protest Make a Difference? | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian
Los Angeles, United States In-Person | Streaming Online

When Does Protest Make a Difference?

American history credits protest with ending segregation and the Vietnam War, securing women the right to vote and the LGBTQ+ community a path to equality, and building one nation out of 13 colonies. It’s a national tradition enshrined in the Constitution and fiercely protected by the legal system. But protest can also be violent, messy, and contested, and frequently ends …

How Does the Inland Empire Strike Back Against Hate? | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian
Riverside In-Person | Streaming Online

How Does the Inland Empire Strike Back Against Hate?

In the 1920s, Southern California’s Inland Empire was a bucolic place, dotted with small towns set amid orange groves. It was also a growing outpost for the Ku Klux Klan, whose members subjected the region’s minority residents to exclusion, harassment, and violence in following decades. Today, antisemitic, anti-Muslim, anti-Black, anti-Latino, anti-Asian, and anti-LGBTQ movements persist, with hate crimes again on …

What is a “Latino”? With Héctor Tobar | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian
Los Angeles In-Person | Streaming Online

What is a “Latino”? With Héctor Tobar

Is “Latino” a race or an ethnicity? Is it European or American? Is it a source of strength or of subjugation? And does it bring people together—around shared histories of migration and resilience—or is it born from racial ideas about “the other,” borders, and national identity? Journalist and novelist Héctor Tobar is a professor of English and Chicano/Latino studies at …

What Makes a Great California Idea? | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian
Sacramento In-Person | Streaming Online

What Makes a Great California Idea?

California has been Tomorrowland since long before Walt Disney opened the theme park version—and its greatest inventions have changed the world for the better. But its government often seems stuck in the past. And the Capitol’s dominant interests are more focused on maintaining their current power than investing in big, California-grown ideas—which appear to be more perilous than promising. Artificial …