Earlene McMichael

It'll be a historic moment Saturday at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. Nearly all the museum’s permanent collection has been deinstalled for a major 12-week touring exhibit of African-American art. Kalamazoo is one of six stops in the U.S. for the Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum of Harlem installation, and the only city in the Midwest. Click on the icon below to learn more from our interview today with KIA Executive Director Belinda Tate.

College campuses may be increasingly diverse, but incoming students are still often from segregated neighborhoods, meaning they "don't have much practice connecting across lines of difference," says race relations expert Beverly Tatum. So how will things ever improve in America?

What's one of the most powerful ways to reduce racism in America? Just talk to someone different than you. So says race relations scholar Beverly Tatum, the former longtime president of Spelman College, an historically black women's college in Atlanta. 

A longtime effort to bring a public defender's office to Kalamazoo County has succeeded. The nonprofit entity called Kalamazoo Defender opened for business on July 1 to work with income-challenged defendants. The Sixth Amendment guarantees Americans legal representation in criminal cases.

On July 1st, things began looking up for Kalamazoo County residents who can't afford an attorney. Now, defendants can turn to a central office of 22 attorneys dedicated exclusively to such cases, and soon two social workers will be on staff to link clients with community resources so they can live healthier in hopes of preventing recidivism. The newly created Kalamazoo Defender is the first ever public defender's office in the county.