Race discrimination

Actor Giancarlo Esposito talks about coming back to play Gus Fring in Better Call Saul, after originating the role in Breaking Bad. . . and how being bi-racial has affected his life and career. He's the son of an white Italian father, and an African-american mother, who was an opera singer.

Ari Berman, author of Give Us the Ballot, says the new commission will keep alive the idea that voter fraud is rampant — despite the fact that "all the studies show the opposite."

Journalist Robert Draper's article for The Atlantic traces how the redistricting process has been manipulated for electoral gain. It has created increasingly solid Republican or Democratic congressional districts, which has led to more representatives who are unwilling to compromise, Draper tells Fresh Air.

Bandleader and clarinetist Artie Shaw died Dec. 29 at the age of 94, apparently of natural causes. In the 1930s and '40s, Shaw's band ranked with the Goodman, Dorsey and Miller bands in popularity. But he largely rejected pop tunes and stuck with music by composers like Porter, Gershwin and Berlin. We remember Shaw.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews Todd Haynes' new movie Far from Heaven.

Band leader and clarinetist Artie Shaw. In the 1930s and 40s his band ranked with the Goodman, Dorsie, and Miller bands in popularity. But he rejected many of the pop tunes and stuck with music by composers like Porter, Gershwin, and Berlin. Shaw is also known for working with many fine Black musicians and singers, including Billie Holiday. Shaw is now retired from performing. He celebrated his 90th birthday last week. (Rebroadcast from a 12/241985 interview.)

We remember Judge Leon Higganbotham, who died yesterday at the age of 70.

Writer David Shipler. A Country of Strangers: Blacks and Whites in America (Knopf) is his newest book. It looks closely at the ever present race question in the United States through interviews of folks across the country and analysis of stereotypes he found. Shipler is the author of Russia and won a Pulitzer Prize for Arab and Jew: Wounded Sprits in a Promised Land.

Band leader and clarinetist Artie Shaw. In the 1930s and 40s his band ranked with the Goodman, Dorsie, and Miller bands in popularity. But he rejected many of the pop tunes and stuck with music by composers like Porter, Gershwin, and Berlin. Shaw is also known for working with many fine Black musicians and singers, including Billie Holiday. Shaw is now retired from performing. (From an interview recorded on 12/24/1985).