Social justice activist, San Francisco public defender and candidate for San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin joins us for a conversation about criminal justice reform.

Shawn Harrington, star basketball player from Marshall High School and Rus Bradburd, author, coach and college basketball recruiter join us to talk about Chicago gun violence, high school sports and social justice.

Newly elected Chicago alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez joins us for a talk about Chicago politics, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, her campaign against the Mell Machine and her view of socialism.

Chicago Friends of the Parks executive director Juanita Irizarry and 1st Ward Alderman Daniel LaSpata join us to talk about equity, privatization and Chicago's parks.

Rachel DeWoskin grew up spending a lot of years in China. She is a professor at the University of Chicago, teaching writing among other things, and has just published Someday We Will Fly, a story of a family of Polish Jews who during WWII find refuge in Shanghai, China.

Fred's in Brooklyn. But Susan Klonsky is co-host with Mike Klonsky and guest Elizabeth Todd-Breland. Dr. Todd-Breland is author of A Political Education: Black Politics and Education Reform in Chicago since the 1960s.

Singer, musician, teacher Mark Dvorak joins to for song and stories celebrating Pete Seeger's 100th birthday.

Veteran activists Mickey and Dick Flacks join us to talk about their joint memoir, Making History, Making Blintzes. How Two Red Diaper Babies Found Each Other and Discovered America.

Steve Rhodes, the Beachwood Reporter (read his blog), has been following Chicago politics and culture for years. Ra Joy is part of the transition team for Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot.

Professor Kate Phillippo, author of A Contest Without Winners. How Students Experience Competitive School Choice. We are also joined by Sol, A CPS student.

Chicago Inspector General Joe Ferguson joins us for a lively hour of history and speculation about Chicago. On Tuesday we will elect a new mayor who takes office the end of May. Joe has been IG for a decade and we discuss the culture of corruption, the systems that facilitate the corruption and how to change it.

Flint Taylor is with us to discuss his new book, The Torture Machine. Racism and Police Violence in Chicago.

We are joined in studio by Jamie Kalven of the Invisible Institute. Kalven broke the story of the Laquan McDondald killing by Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke. 

Jane Saks of Project& joins us to talk about art, politics and democracy.

Curtis Black is a long-time opinion writer and reporter for the highly regarded Chicago Reporter. In his previous visit to Hitting Left we talked police torture, forced confessions and false convictions involving the CPD. Today we talk about Tuesday's Chicago municipal elections.

Brother Mike is watching our southern border. South Florida to be precise. He reports that there is no wall and lots of immigrants and sons and daughters of immigrants seven days into the national emergency. Meanwhile we are broadcasting our last show before the Chicago municipal primary for mayor and council. Political consultant and strategist Joanna Klonsky is co-host and 32nd Ward Alderman is our guest. This is a damn corrupt city and what are we going to do about it?

A pre-Oscar Awards talk with Floyd Webb, Susan Kerns and Gordon Quinn. Susan teaches film at Columbia College and is one of the founders of the Chicago Feminist Film Festival. Floyd has been deeply involved in African American film study and film making and has a keen interest in Afro-futurism. Gordon Quinn is one of the founders of Kartemquin Films, which produced the 2019 Academy Award nominated Minding the Gap as well the new film, '63 Boycott, a documentary about the historic strike in 1963 of CPS schools by Black students.

Lisa Yun Lee and Sunny Fischer of the National Public Housing Museum join us in studio for a conversation about the history, the present and the future of public housing in Chicago and the nation. We're not just talking affordable housing, but public housing for every person who needs it.

Veteran Chicago Reader columnist and progressive talk radio host Ben Joravsky and Amisha Patel, Executive Director of Chicago's Grassroots Collaborative talk with Mike about the way Chicago politics works and doesn't work.

Fred's gone this week, so brother Mike is flying solo with guests Susan Klonsky and Professor Timuel Black. Tim just turned 100 years old AND has had his latest book, Sacred Ground, The Chicago Streets of Timuel Black as told to Susan Klonsky from Northwestern University Press.

Tom has literally written the book on corruption in Cook County. Page is an activist in the Black Lives Matter movement and founder of Assata's Daughters.

Susan Sadlowski Garza is a teacher who now is a sitting alderman running for a second term. Joining us are three more women who are teachers and political activists running for city council.

Don Rose has been a political organizer, publicist and strategist for 60 years. Henry Wallace, Martin Luther King, Jane Byrne, Harold Washington, the protests against the wars in Iraq. Don has seen it all.