This week, The Laura Flanders Show traveled to Los Angeles to talk about labor, race and gender:

Lola Smallwood-Cuevas shares about her work with the Black Workers Center, and we visit with domestic workers who marched to Washington to meet with the pope. All that and a few words from me on the surprisingly low cost emergency that can throw almost half of all Americans into a crisis.

In her closing monologue, Flanders emphasizes the importance of ending inequality and systematic racism:

Black workers centers are meeting nationally this month to deepen their ties and strengthen their political power. In a sane world their agenda would be our national agenda: to build assets and access to resources, for the least wealthy Americans. After all, how strong do we want 21st Century America to be? By 2040, we’ll be a majority-minority nation, meaning the majority of us will be living firmly on the wrong side of the racial wealth gap, less wealthy, less secure and more isolated.

What difference does wealth make? The Federal Reserve gets at it when, in their annual survey of consumer finances they ask Americans how they’d handle a $400 emergency. Last year, fully 47 percent of respondents said they wouldn’t be able to cover it, or only by selling something or borrowing money.

That’s wealth: that extra beyond your income, what’s coming in and going out, that helps you cover a crisis. Let alone invest in the future. Almost half of all Americans don’t have any of it.

For highlights from the past year’s best interviews, check out this recap showcasing the best of The Laura Flanders Show in 2015: