April and Glen are joined by Annabelle Clinton Imber Tuck, a trailblazer in Arkansas law and the first woman ever elected to the Arkansas Supreme Court. In this first part of our conversation with Annabelle, we hear about her early life, starting in Arkansas, and including living in South America and later in Washington, DC, then winding up back in her beloved home state of Arkansas. She describes her early life influences, her interests in the legal profession, and the intense sense of justice and fairness that has influenced her work through the years. She also explains her political leanings, which some may find surprising. She highlights her longstanding desire for everyone in court to be heard and for justice to be done, with emphasis on the value of due process.

This episode of On The Other Hand is a “best of” recording of an interview in July 2024, when Glen and April spoke with Asa Hutchinson, an attorney and the previous 2-term Republican governor of Arkansas. Asa’s long history of public service includes serving as a US Congressman, one of the House managers for Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial in the Senate, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, and chair of the National Governors Association. Asa had just recently concluded an unsuccessful campaign for the Republican presidential nominee for the 2024 election at the time of this interview. In the interview, Asa described his then current activities, what he viewed as highlights of his career, and the approach he took as governor. He explained how he handled the COVID pandemic during his term as governor, which included consulting with a variety of experts and weighing various views to help him find a way to manage Arkansas's approach to COVID that adhered to his conservative philosophy. While he outlined his strong conservative credentials, Asa also expressed concerns about several developments nationally. In particular, we heard his criticisms of how he saw the Republican party as having moved away from traditional conservative values, and his conviction that civility and compromise remain critical for the success of our government.

In part 2 of our conversation with community activist Kwami Abdul-Bey, we hear about both his formal and atypical means of education that have led him to who he is today. He also outlines problems during his early times at the Air Force Academy due to his Muslim religion and related negative reactions occurring at a time when war with Iraq was breaking out. Some of his challenges during his early years included time being homeless. Subsequent choices about education were made with an eye to learning how best to help his community and to pass that information along to his fellow citizens. Emphasizing the importance of participation in democracy, Kwami asserts that “the fewer citizens that are involved in the process, the better off the people in power are.” He also reminds us that it is our responsibility to prepare our world to be in better shape for our children, relating it to the native American “7 generations rule”. Throughout the interview, Kwami focuses on the importance of all citizens getting involved and participating in democracy.