The Current

The Current for June 8, 2020

Today on The Current: Mourning in the Black community, Richard Haass on making history, The problem with taking a knee, COVID-19 and child abuse, Breaking down barriers with bhangra dance.
Matt Galloway is the host of CBC Radio's The Current. (CBC)

Full episode transcript

Today on The Current:

A public visitation for George Floyd will be held today, with a funeral tomorrow. We discuss the importance of mourning and grief for the black community with Kami Fletcher, a professor at Albright College, and Nyle Fort, a minister, activist and a PhD candidate in religious studies at Princeton University.

It sometimes feels like there is too much history coming too fast. To help us understand the meaning of this moment, we hear from Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Affairs and author of The World: A Brief Introduction.

Some police and politicians are taking a knee amidst anti-racism protests around the U.S. and Canada. University of Toronto Black diaspora professor Rinaldo Walcott explains how the gesture can be dangerous, and why it dilutes the movement against police violence.

Wendy Carr and Irwin Elman say we need to do more to protect children in abusive situations, especially when some ways to spot abuse, like schools, are closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bhangra dancer Gurdeep Pandher believes that dance can help break down barriers and shine light on a dark time. Thanks to the pandemic, his classes have migrated online — and hundreds of people are participating.