Memorial Day: Leaving Afghanistan; West Farms & Food Justice; Nancy Pelosi's Power; 'La Brega'

The Brian Lehrer Show observes the Memorial Day holiday with these recent interviews:

• As the Biden Administration works on the planned withdrawal from Afghanistan, Paul Rieckhoff, activist and veterans advocate, founder and president of Righteous Media, host of Independent Americans podcast, founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) and frequent contributor on CNN and MSNBC, and Allison Jaslow, adjunct professor at the Hart Leadership Program at Duke University, Iraq war veteran and former executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) honor the lives lost over 20 years of war, and talk about what the U.S. may be leaving behind.
• Karen Washington, community gardener, longtime food justice advocate, board member of the New York Botanical Gardens, and board president of Green Worker Cooperatives, discusses her work addressing "food apartheid" in the Bronx and around the country.
• Susan Page, USA Today Washington bureau chief and the author of Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power (Twelve, April 2021), talks about the role of Nancy Pelosi as House Speaker and her impact on national politics.
• Alana Casanova-Burgess, host of La Brega and former producer for WNYC's On the Media and Brian Lehrer Show, talks about her new podcast, La Brega: Stories of the Puerto Rican Experience, and explains what "la brega" means to Puerto Ricans, and how it so often defines life on the island.

These interviews were edited slightly for time, the original versions are available here: 

Honoring Those Who Died Over Twenty Years in Afghanistan (May 12, 2021) 

West Farms 10460: Cooperative Economics, Community Farming, and Food Justice (April 1, 2021)

Susan Page on Nancy Pelosi (April 22, 2021)

What 'La Brega' Means to Puerto Ricans (February 24, 2021)