The following podcast contains explicit language.

Hello and welcome to the Slate Political Gab Fest for December 25th, 2015. It's Christmas.

Hello and happy Merry Christmas. We're obviously not taping this on Christmas, even though Emily and I are Jewish and we are going to be talking to you, but we're not taping on Christmas. But we have a special edition for you. It's our year's best Gab Fest. We've compiled some of our favorite segments, cocktail chatter, Slate Plus segments of the year, and we're going to

replay it for your pleasure. So it's a gift for you. We hope you like it. Exactly. So that's

Emily Bazelon of the New York Times Magazine. John Dickerson is not here to introduce the segment

because he had to go catch a plane, but he blessed it.

There will be a Slate Plus segment.

If you're not yet a Slate Plus member, go to slate.com slash GabFest Plus.

So our first segment today is a discussion we had with Tanahasi Coates, of course, had a big year as a writer and commentator and conscience of America. After Freddie Gray's

death and after the troubles in Baltimore, Tonahassee came and talked to us about his native

city. He'd grown up right where Freddie Gray lived and had gone to school. And as always,

he had very passionate and fascinating and brilliant things to say.

Anything else you want to call out about this segment, Emily?

I just remember how heartfelt this segment was and how emotional we were all feeling, I think especially Taunahassee since it was his city.

So enjoy this segment about Freddie Gray with Tonohsi Coates.

On Monday night, there was upheaval in the city, Baltimore, as demonstrations associated with the, or following, I guess, the funeral of Freddie Gray turned

violent. There was burning of buildings. The mayor and the governor brought in huge public

security presence into the streets of the city, imposed a curfew.

By Tuesday night, the city had reached a state of relative calm.

But the fact remains that Gray's death while in police custody is a mystery, a healthy man, paralyzed and then killed after a brief period under the care of the police. We don't know what happened, why it happened, how it happened, where culpability for his death lies. We've had death after death of black males at the hands of the police. We had, of course, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott. I think I'm missing one. Now, one prominent case and now gray. And it just continues. And so obviously we want to talk about this week. And we have the person who I think we all want to hear from most on this, which is Tom Hassee, who's a native Baltimore. And he's a national, what did you say your title was, Tonnesi, National Correspondent.

For the Atlantic.

Correspondent, yes, correspondent.

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