US society is increasingly polarized between rich and poor, with 15% of the population living in poverty (30% of children) and 20% requiring public assistance. This economic panorama strongly intersects with race and ethnicity. In today's program "Racism and Discrimination in the US" host Jorge Gestoso interviews Karen Dolan, Project Director at the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank. They discuss media stereotypes of African Americans and Latinos as violent and criminals and the criminalization of poverty; the legacy of slavery; the interrelationship between race and poverty; the fraud of conservatives blaming welfare and public assistance as causes for poverty; growing inequality and income polarization in US society; the renewed interest in race with the recent police killing of African Americans and the significance of the Ferguson events; Barack Obama and the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Selma, Alabama civil rights march; the restrictions on voting rights five decades after the struggles of the 1960s; and how "just" is the criminal justice system in its relation to Blacks and Latinos. teleSUR