The Current

The Current for June 19, 2020

Today on The Current: Author Bakari Sellers on importance of Juneteent, Pandemic mental health, Two Michaels charged in China, Conservative leadership contest, CBC podcast World on Fire.
Matt Galloway is the host of CBC Radio's The Current. (CBC)

Today on The Current

Friday is Juneteenth, the day the last U.S. slaves were freed. Author and political analyst Bakari Sellers joins Matt Galloway to discuss why the struggle for Black freedom isn't over. Sellers traces the fight in his own family — from his father, shot in the Orangeburg Massacre, to his own daughter joining Black Lives Matter marches today.

Then, three months into this pandemic, how are you feeling? As the abnormal becomes a new normal, we check in on our anxiety with Dr. Roger McIntyre, and hear some ideas on developing mental resilience from writer Eva Holland.

Plus, the two Canadians detained for months in China, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, have now been charged by Chinese authorities with espionage. The Globe and Mail's Beijing correspondent Nathan VanderKlippe discusses the implications, including how the men could face life in prison if convicted.

After two debates, is the landscape any clearer on who could lead the Conservative Party? We turn to our national affairs panel — western correspondent for Maclean's magazine Jason Markusoff, Ottawa bureau chief for Huffington Post Canada Athia Raj, and columnist with the Hill Times and co-host of the Bad & Bitchy podcast Erica Ifill.

‪When your backyard is burning — is anywhere safe? A new podcast from CBC Edmonton explores the growing problem of wildfires, threatening our homes and livelihoods.

Full Episode Transcript