Racism and Life After Virginia Tech Shooting

Kathryn interviews award-winning novelist Jim Grimsley, author of “How I Shed My Skin: Unlearning the Racist Lessons of a Southern Childhood”. In his memoir Grimsley chronicles his own coming of age as a boy in a small eastern North Carolina when federally mandated integration of schools went into effect in 1966. Grimsley looks back at that school and those times, remembering his own first real encounters with black children and their culture. The result is a deeply moving narrative, and an honest discussion of racism and its roots. Kathryn also interviews Lori Haas, Virginia State Director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. After her daughter Emily was shot twice and survived the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, Haas became personally involved in gun violence prevention efforts. Haas has lobbied on Capitol Hill in Washington and before the Virginia General Assembly for responsible gun laws numerous times.