Maria and Julio debrief the news with ITT All-Stars Jenni Monet, an independent journalist and tribal member of the Pueblo of Laguna, and Terrell J. Starr, a senior reporter at The Root and host of the new podcast, Black Diplomats. They dive into what it means to celebrate a Fourth of July marked by the sexual assault and killing of servicemember Vanessa Guillén, a racist diatribe by President Trump at Mount Rushmore, and spikes in cases of the coronavirus across the country. ITT Staff Picks: - ...
Jul 07, 2020•33 min
Maria and Julio are joined by authors and historians Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross to talk about their latest book, A Black Women's History of the United States. They analyze the history of Black women in America and their legacy of activism, resistance and entrepreneurship. Daina and Kali offer their insight on how Black women are shaping politics and harnessing their electoral power. ITT Staff Picks: - "Historians Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross came together to weave the won...
Jul 03, 2020•45 min
Maria and Julio are joined by Peniley Ramírez, an investigative reporter with Univision, and Gisela Pérez de Acha, a human rights lawyer and journalist, to talk about the growing number of COVID-19 cases in Latin America. They discuss the surge in cases, how governments are responding, and the role information plays in a public health crisis. ITT Staff Picks: - Peniley Ramírez writes for El Universal about four pieces of good news for Mexico about COVID-19. - In this piece for Noteworthy - The J...
Jun 30, 2020•36 min
COVID-19 cases are surging nationwide, and President Trump is unilaterally imposing strict immigration restrictions. Maria and Julio get into that and more as they talk about the people powered organizing that is pushing back — often in creative ways — and recap this past week's 2020 primary elections. ITT Staff Picks: - Joe Coscarelli writes for The New York Times about how K-Pop fans are turning to political activism online. - Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern write for Slate about the Sup...
Jun 26, 2020•24 min
This year's Pride month lands during a global pandemic and a national uprising to defend Black lives, which means the LGBTQ community of color is on the frontlines, as always. Maria and Julio speak with Elle Hearns, the executive director of the Marsha P. Johnson Institute, and Nala Simone Toussaint, founder of R.O.A.D, the Reuniting of African Descendants. They talk about the history of struggle and leadership from Black transgender women, and the importance of centering Black trans lives in th...
Jun 23, 2020•53 min
On Juneteenth, Maria and Julio take time to honor and reflect on what today has meant for Black Americans for decades. They hear from Futuro Media's Amanda Alcántara, who shares her reflections on the historical significance of this day. They also talk about the Supreme Court’s decision to block Trump from ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and they break down which states around the country are seeing spikes in coronavirus cases. ITT Staff Picks: - Jelani Cobb div...
Jun 19, 2020•23 min
Maria and Julio talk about police and prison abolition with Charlene Carruthers, author and founding member of Black Youth Project 100, and Ejeris Dixon, director of Vision Change Win. They imagine a world without police, dive into community safety, and get real about what calls for defunding the police mean. ITT Staff Picks: - Mariame Kaba, an organizer whose work focuses on dismantling the prison industrial complex writes, “Yes, we mean literally abolish the police,” in this op-ed for The New ...
Jun 16, 2020•40 min
Maria and Julio get into how race and activism show up in sports - historically and in the current Black Lives Matter movement - with Howard Bryant, a senior writer for ESPN and correspondent for NPR’s Weekend Edition. They talk about Bryant’s recent book, Full Dissidence: Notes from an Uneven Playing Field, and the ways in which Black athletes, like Colin Kaepernick, have spoken up and been silenced in the movement for racial justice. ITT Staff Picks: - Sally Jenkins writes for The Washington P...
Jun 12, 2020•55 min
As thousands of protestors fill the streets, Maria and Julio talk about the #BlackLivesMatter movement, performative allyship, and what it means to abolish the police with Karen Attiah, global opinions editor for the Washington Post and ITT All-Star Dr. Christina Greer, associate professor of political science at Fordham University and co-host of the podcast FAQ NYC. ITT Staff Picks: - Karen Attiah writes for The Washington Post about #blackouttuesday and performative solidarity. - Jenna Wortham...
Jun 09, 2020•38 min
Protests continue across every state in this country, and in countries around the world, in the fight for racial justice for Black lives. Maria and Julio talk about the different ways people have been organizing, the gaslighting they have seen in responses from those in power, and what this means in the context of 2020 primary elections. ITT Staff Picks: - “Responding to a protest of police violence with more police violence and more criminalization, is the absolute worst possible response," And...
Jun 05, 2020•23 min
Maria and Julio process this historic moment in the fight for racial justice and defending Black lives with Julieta Martinelli, Futuro Media producer who is on the ground covering the ongoing protests in Atlanta. Then, they dive into conversation with Danielle Moodie, co-host of the podcast Democracy-ish and host of the radio show WokeAF, to make sense of this year so far and what it all means for the 2020 presidential election. ITT Staff Picks: - By Michael Harriot in The Root: A timeline of ev...
Jun 02, 2020•50 min
As protests continue in Minneapolis and spread across the country, Maria and Julio talk about anti-black racism and violent policing in the United States. They reflect on the ways in which white supremacy shows up in police interactions, as well as in daily life — for instance in threats from a white woman walking her dog in Central Park. ITT Staff Picks: - A former classmate of George Floyd says his nickname was "gentle giant" in this profile by the Associated Press. - ITT All-Star, Jelani Cobb...
May 29, 2020•24 min
Maria and Julio are joined by James Boo, showrunner at Self-Evident, a podcast telling Asian America’s stories and Erika Lee, award-winning author and professor of history and Asian American studies at the University of Minnesota. They focus on the spike in anti-Asian sentiment that people are experiencing across the country. They also talk about the economic impact for historic neighborhoods across the country, including New York City’s Chinatown. This episode was reported and produced by In th...
May 26, 2020•41 min
Maria and Julio discuss how the Latinx community is being affected by the COVID-19 crisis. They highlight the latest Latino USA episode which looks inside a New York City hospital's ICU. Also, they continue to dive into the cruel, inhumane conditions at detention centers and prisons around the country. ITT Staff Picks: - Latino Rebels reports on a lawsuit filed by four migrant detainees against the Elizabeth Detention Center, a private prison in New Jersey. - A poll of nearly 2,000 Latinx Americ...
May 22, 2020•21 min
May is Mental Health Awareness month, so Maria and Julio discuss the psychological and emotional toll of living through a global pandemic. They are joined by Dr. Patrice Harris, child and adolescent psychiatrist and president of the American Medical Association, and Bethany Ao, a mental health reporter at the Philadelphia Inquirer. ITT Staff Picks: - In her latest for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Bethany Ao writes about the psychology behind why it is hard for us to accept a pandemic. - The Washin...
May 19, 2020•37 min
Maria and Julio discuss Dr. Anthony Fauci's and Rick Bright's congressional testimonies on the pandemic response. They also dive into the Supreme Court's pending decision around DACA which could strip protections from hundreds of thousands. Finally, they return to policing and criminal justice during the pandemic and the ongoing violence toward black and brown communities. ITT Staff Picks: - Rick Bright, former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, testifies bef...
May 15, 2020•22 min
This week Maria and Julio are talking about education during the time of this pandemic. They hear from Dr. Elizabeth Farfán-Santos, professor of anthropology at the University of Houston, and Dr. Pedro Noguera, professor of education at the University of California, Los Angeles, about how school districts across the country are adapting to online learning, what gaps still remain especially for students of color, and what this new normal means for our systems of education going forward. ITT Staff...
May 12, 2020•44 min
The COVID-19 story is a POC story. Maria and Julio work through a devastating news cycle. They talk about policing during the pandemic and the disproportionate brutality toward people of color, the murder of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, and the death of Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejia, who passed from COVID-19 related complications while being detained by ICE. ITT Staff Picks: - Charles M. Blow writes in this op-ed for The New York Times: "Arbery had committed no offense. His only offense, the thing t...
May 08, 2020•18 min
Maria and Julio talk with Alex Roque, executive director at the Ali Forney Center in New York City and ITT All-Star Imara Jones, creator of TransLash Media about how LGBTQ youth of color are coping during the coronavirus pandemic. This episode was reported and produced by In the Thick's New York Women’s Foundation IGNITE! Fellow, Harsha Nahata. ITT Staff Picks: - "With schools closed amid the pandemic, some LGBTQ young people have lost crucial support systems and are self-isolating with unsuppor...
May 05, 2020•33 min
Maria and Julio discuss the latest with the sexual assault allegation against the 2020 presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden who appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe on Friday to publicly address the allegation. They also cover the historic May Day strikes happening around the country and what President Trump’s executive order to keep meatpacking plants open means for the many migrant workers. ITT Staff Picks: - Rebecca Traister writes about "The Biden Trap" for her latest in The Cut. - Workers ar...
May 01, 2020•25 min
This week Maria and Julio focus on how different faith communities are staying connected during the pandemic. They talk with Dawud Walid, a faith leader and executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Alejandra Molina, a national reporter from Religion News Service covering Latinos and religion. ITT Staff Picks: - Alejandra Molina's latest for Religion News Service on how traditional houses of worship are moving online in the face of the pandemic. ...
Apr 28, 2020•39 min
On today’s ITT Sound Off, Maria and Julio are fed up. They talk about how the Trump administration continues to lash out at immigrants, and the disproportionate press coverage the President’s tweets receive. They also dive into what is happening in Chelsea, Massachusetts and in the Bronx, New York where hotspots of the virus are developing. We want to hear from you. As schools shut and services become difficult to access, this is an especially tough time for young LGBTQ people of color. If you’r...
Apr 24, 2020•25 min
This week in honor of Earth Day, we’re taking a break from our daily COVID coverage, and sharing an episode we recorded pre-pandemic. Maria and Julio talk with climate activists Julian Brave NoiseCat and Jennifer Allen about their experiences organizing for environmental justice for Indigenous and POC communities. ITT Staff Picks: - Julian writes about the environmental movement and its racist history for Vice. - More than 160 environmental defenders were killed in 2018, The Intercept reports. -...
Apr 21, 2020•41 min
Maria and Julio break down the pandemic, specifically the white male leadership that has dominated news cycles. They also talk about the tug-of-war between state governors and the Trump administration on when states will reopen. Finally, this week saw a cascade of high-profile endorsements for the presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, including from former competitors Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. As schools shut and services become difficult to access, this is an especially tough tim...
Apr 17, 2020•26 min
Maria’s back and feeling better! For today’s roundtable, she and Julio revisit the last two cities In The Thick did live shows in before the pandemic. They chat with ITT All-Stars, Stephen Henderson, host of WDET’s Detroit Today, and R.L. (Ryan) Nave, editor-in-chief at Mississippi Today, about how their respective communities are faring during the coronavirus outbreak. ITT Staff Picks: - Over 35,000 immigrants are in detention in the U.S., and as the spread of COVID-19 continues many are left v...
Apr 14, 2020•45 min
Julio and guest co-host Jamilah King talk more about how the coronavirus pandemic is disproportionately affecting communities of color. They also discuss the latest with the 2020 Election including, Senator Bernie Sanders’s exiting the race. And, they breakdown the Wisconsin primary, which was held this week despite statewide stay-at-home orders. We want to keep hearing from you and how you’re COVID Coping. Tell us how you're finding joy and hope in these unprecedented times. Call us to leave a ...
Apr 10, 2020•23 min
On today’s show Julio and guest co-host Jamilah King talk about how the worldwide pandemic is taking a toll on the economy and affecting workers throughout the country. They are joined by Jeet Heer, a national affairs correspondent for The Nation, and Sabrina Rodríguez, a trade reporter at Politico to talk about the social inequities brought to light by the coronavirus and how this may change our economic system for years to come. How You Can Support Workers: - The National Domestic Workers Alli...
Apr 07, 2020•43 min
We're so happy and grateful that Maria is feeling better! She and Julio bring you the latest updates on COVID-19, including how state leaders, Congress and the President are responding. They also talk about historically high unemployment, the federal relief package, and the 2020 presidential race, including recent #MeToo allegations against Joe Biden. ITT Staff Picks: - This Salon article dives into why mainstream media hasn’t covered Tara Reade’s sexual assault allegations against presidential ...
Apr 03, 2020•28 min
Julio and guest co-host Jamilah King talk about how the 2020 political landscape is being affected by the coronavirus pandemic. They also chat with NPR’s Hansi Lo Wang - resident census expert - about how to make sure communities of color aren’t undercounted amidst changing guidelines during this time. We want to keep hearing from you and how you’re COVID Coping. Tell us how you're finding joy and hope in these unprecedented times. Call us to leave a voicemail on the In The Thick hotline at (505...
Apr 01, 2020•49 min
In this week’s ITT Sound Off, Maria and Julio continue reporting remotely, and focus on NYC — home to the headquarters of Futuro Media and the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States. They talk about the rapidly evolving scenario in New York and around the country, and breakdown how COVID-19 is affecting communities of color and immigrants. We want to keep hearing from you and how you’re COVID Coping. Tell us how you're finding joy and hope in these unprecedented times. Call u...
Mar 27, 2020•26 min
