This week on the Sunday Documentary Hour, an election special hosted by NPR's Scott Simon called Groundwork: Democracy Close to Home from The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.
At a time of political gridlick and polarization at the national level, Groundwork explores the tone and flavor of democratic action in towns and cities, where one’s antagonist is not an opposing talking-head or a politician from a state of a different “color,” but a neighbor.
Stories in this hour include:
The debate over North Carolina’s Marriage Amendment in an African American church in Hickory, NC.
In San Juan, Texas, the debate over how aggressively to police the border.
The “participatory budgeting” experiment in Chicago’s 49th Ward.
A look at how young people are engaging in politics and social action four years after the Obama Wave.
Fishermen in Kodiak, Alaska, their livelihoods threatened by ocean acidification, take steps to make their voices heard on carbon emissions.