Can I Just Tell You? Tell Me More host Michel Martin offers weekly thoughts about current events and what's in the news.
Special Series

Can I Just Tell You?

NPR's Michel Martin gives a distinct take on news and issues

Empire actor Jussie Smollett leaves Cook County jail after posting bond on Thursday. Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images

Opinion: 'Be Prepared' To Face The Facts For Jussie Smollett

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/697382001/697401702" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

In a speech at the Golden Globes, Oprah Winfrey told the story of Recy Taylor's violent rape by six white men in 1944. Taylor, pictured above, died last month at age 97. Her attackers were never prosecuted. Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press hide caption

toggle caption
Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press

'Recy Taylor's Rape Still Haunts Us'

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/578010819/578032219" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Carryn Owens, wife of Navy SEAL William "Ryan" Owens, is recognized as U.S. President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress last Tuesday. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

It's Their Grief To Live Through, Not Ours To Question

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/518663864/518663865" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

How We Engage In 'Discipline Theater' In Policing And Parenting

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/505187981/505187982" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Police tape blocks off a street where a 16-year-old was shot and killed and another 18-year-old was shot and wounded on the on April 25 in Chicago. Joshua Lott/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Joshua Lott/Getty Images

For Stopping A Pandemic Of Gun Violence, Let's Look To The Flu

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/488148068/488150541" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

'Hamilton' Reminds Us Of Our Country's Promise

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/485460460/485460461" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
chaiyon021/iStockphoto

Perhaps It's Time To Celebrate A Day In Honor Of Caregivers

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/477257984/477257985" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

This Year, Anger Is All The Rage In Politics. Why?

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/465934702/465934703" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Demonstrators protest the police shooting of Michael Brown in August 2014 in Ferguson, Mo. A Justice Department report found the police in Ferguson levied excessive fines for small infractions. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

For Some, Powerball's Promise Wasn't Just A Big Payout — But Stability, Too

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/463979829/464219476" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Why would a mother whose baby died after she put him down for a nap be considered a murderer and not part of a tragedy? iStockphoto hide caption

toggle caption
iStockphoto

Can I Just Tell You: Problems Money Can't Fix

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/461843959/461843960" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
iStockphoto

The Diminishing Middle — And Why That Widens The Gap Between Us

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/460488054/460496205" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

An unidentified Freedom Rider sticks his head out of a chartered bus window in Jackson, Miss., in August 1961. AP hide caption

toggle caption
AP

When In Pursuit Of Positive Change, Better Drop The 'Why Me'

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/457790247/457795154" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

People gather outside of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, ahead of a ceremony for the victims of Friday's terrorist attacks. Even as we mourn for those lost in the violence, NPR's Michel Martin says, we should not forget the many who have died in similar attacks the world over. David Ramos/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
David Ramos/Getty Images

Grief Knows No Native Tongue — But We Must Listen, Wherever It Speaks

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/456121870/456132251" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Candles are placed on graves at the Slavicie udolie cemetery in Bratislava, Slovakia, on November 1, 2015. The day is celebrated by many around the world as All Saints' Day, a time for remembering saints and deceased loved ones. Vladimir Simicek/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Vladimir Simicek/AFP/Getty Images

In A Shared Language Of Remembrance, Whose Memories Are 'Ours'?

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/453736358/453739585" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Rep. Paul Ryan — shown on Capitol Hill in 2013 with his daughter Elizabeth — told his fellow Republican congressmen he would agree to run for speaker of the House only if, among other things, his time with his family was protected. Drew Angerer/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Drew Angerer/Getty Images

A 'Family-Friendly' Shift In Debate Over Work-Life Balance

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/451749841/451749842" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

A boy stands onshore after arriving with other refugees and migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey, on Saturday. Dimitar Dilkoff /AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Dimitar Dilkoff /AFP/Getty Images

People On The Move Drive Anxiety, Hope — And, Always, Change

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/449727201/449748286" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Writer Svetlana Alexievich answers questions during a press conference in Minsk, Belarus, on Oct. 8, following the announcement of her Nobel Prize. Alexievich writes about hard truths, making Russian authorities uncomfortable. She says she wants her country to be better — instead of comfortable with where it is. Sergei Gapon/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Sergei Gapon/AFP/Getty Images

What Makes Us Uncomfortable Might Be Just What We Need

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/447785246/447796777" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tell Me More host Michel Martin. Amy Ta/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Amy Ta/NPR

Making Space For People Who Are Out Of the Spotlight

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/336538663/336538664" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tell Me More producer Amy Ta in racing mode. John Clark Jr./Courtesy of Amy Ta hide caption

toggle caption
John Clark Jr./Courtesy of Amy Ta

After A Bad Bike Crash, Lessons In Limits And Love

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/329923183/330120695" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript