Gaza Unfurls in Massive Demonstrations, Israel Responds with Deadly Firepower

Here’s what you’ll find on today’s show:

— On Friday, thousands of Palestinians took part in demonstrations along the Israel-Gaza border. The protest was just the beginning of what is expected to be a six-week long demonstration. But on that first day, interactions between Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers quickly turned violent. At least 15 Palestinians were killed and, according to the Gaza health ministry, more than 700 were wounded.

— A 2017 Reuters report found that some neighborhoods in California’s Bay Area have higher rates of childhood lead poisoning than in Flint, Michigan, which made headlines over the past few years for its notoriously mismanaged lead crisis. But the California cases are different from the Michigan ones in distinct and important ways. Unlike in Flint, where the crisis was largely spurred by the erosion of lead-containing pipes into the municipal water supply, Californians are grappling with an infestation that is etched into the landscape.

— Last week, the Oklahoma approved the first major tax increase in 25 years in order to fund raises for teachers to avert a strike. But for teachers demanding more comprehensive reforms to the state’s public education system, the proposal was only a paltry first step. 20 percent of schools are already on a four-day schedule in the state, due to budgetary concerns, and a quarter of teachers left the state or quit last year. In addition to raises, teachers are calling for more spending health care and pension plans and millions of dollars in school funding to be restored.

— Earlier in March, California lawmakers appointed the first undocumented immigrant to a statewide post. Lizbeth Mateo, who was named to the California Student Opportunity and Access Program Project Grant Advisory Committee, came to the U.S. with her parents from Oaxaca, Mexico, when she was 14, without any legal documents. Since her arrival she has graduated from college, and then from law school, and now owns her own law practice.

— On the campaign trail, Donald Trump was quick to invoke the the gang MS-13 as a symptom of a country that had strayed too far from principles of law and order. After winning the election, the Trump administration has followed through on the rhetoric, ramping up the detention of vast groups of people who may have even tenuous links to criminal organizations. In its efforts to pursue this hard line approach, a newly empowered I.C.E. has reportedly gone too far, detaining individuals seeking refuge in the United States.

— A new book explores a dialogue between a close friend of Martin Luther King Jr., also his former barber, and a modern social justice and youth advocate. In the book, Nelson Malden and Kevin Shird discuss how history and the Civil Rights Movement have created a roadmap for the future of racial justice.