Weekender: Searching For Justice and Empathy

The nation watched in horror this week as riots broke out in the streets of Baltimore following a funeral service for Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African-American man who died after suffering a spinal cord injury when he was taken into police custody in April.

As William “Bunk” Moreland on “The Wire,” actor Wendell Pierce lived and worked in Baltimore for years. This weekend in a special extended interview, Pierce reflects on the fictionalized world of “The Wire,” and the real-life problems facing the city today.

This weekend The Takeaway also hears from Jodi Rudoren, Jerusalem bureau chief for our partner The New York Times.

Rudoren has been stationed in Jerusalem for three years. During her time in Israel, she’s covered two Israeli national elections, two wars in the Gaza Strip, failed peace talks and watched the fallout from political instability in neighboring countries. 

“This idea that you can’t show empathy for both Israelis and Palestinians … I think it’s really troubling,” Rudoren tells The Takeaway. “I don’t think it’s a zero-sum game and that showing empathy for one side of a story requires a lack of empathy for another.”

This weekend, Rudoren reflects on her time working in the region.