So far this year, we’ve heard the President of the United States say the only way he’ll lose his bid for re-election is if the vote is rigged. He's said he may not accept the results of the election. He’s even suggested that people vote twice. (That’s illegal, by the way...) We’re 55 days out from the election, and this year is shaping up to be a wild ride. President Trump is sowing the seeds of distrust and more people will be voting by mail due to fears of coronavirus. It’s possible we may not...
Sep 10, 2020•20 min
Wynton Marsalis was born into a musical tradition. He grew up in New Orleans, home of the best jazz musicians around – including his father, jazz-great Ellis Marsalis. But Wynton Marsalis is a master in his own right. Back in 1984, when he was just 22 years old, he won two Grammy awards for his performances in jazz and classical music. In 1997, Marsalis became the first jazz musician to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his record Blood on the Fields. Then in 2007, he released From the Planta...
Sep 07, 2020•26 min
Hip hop legend Bun B has been involved in activism in the city of Houston for a long time. So when George Floyd, a longtime Houston resident, was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis, Bun stepped up. He organized a march for Floyd that drew 60,000 people, and he hasn’t let up since, attending the March on Washington and recording a new single about this moment. On the latest episode of Into America, Trymaine Lee talks with Bun B about politics, how his small hometown of Port Arthur influenc...
Sep 03, 2020•41 min
Men’s basketball coach John Thompson, Jr was one of the greats. In his 27 seasons as the coach of the Georgetown Hoyas, he built a weak team into a powerhouse. Under his leadership, Georgetown won seven Big East titles and made it to the Final Four three times, even bringing home a national championship in 1984. He was the first Black coach to win the title. During his tenure, Thompson coached Hall of Famers Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo, and Allen Iverson. But he’s most rememb...
Sep 02, 2020•25 min
The panic of COVID-19 and high-profile Black deaths like those of Breonna Taylor and Geroge Floyd have led to a rise in Black gun ownership around the country. A survey from the National Shooting Sports Foundation found that gun dealers reported a 58-percent increase in Black customers in 2020, the most rapid growth of any ethnic group. Twenty-four-year-old Jeneisha Harris is worried she could be another Breonna Taylor. Harris is a student and activist in Nashville, Tennessee. She grew up anti-g...
Aug 31, 2020•30 min
On August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, D.C. More than 250,000 people gathered to hear Dr. King speak from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial that day, for the original March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Fifty-seven years later, organizers are taking to the nation’s capitol again. This time, they are calling the gathering the “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks” March on Washington, an urgent reflection on the national uprising a...
Aug 27, 2020•25 min
With 68 days until the presidential election, the Republican National Convention is underway. This year, amid national protests against police violence and racism, the convention appeared to make a pointed effort to reach one unexpected audience: Black voters. While many Americans are frustrated with the system, the Trump campaign has outlined a strategy to reach this crucial voting bloc. Black voters are typically seen as one “base” of the Democratic Party. But that doesn’t tell the full story....
Aug 26, 2020•22 min
If you’re not getting your mail on time, you may not be alone. Cost-cutting measures from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy have created substantial delays in delivering mail in many parts of the US. And with many voters opting to vote-by-mail due to the pandemic, lawmakers are worried these cuts could threaten the integrity of the upcoming election. The House interrupted its summer recess to call DeJoy to testify. DeJoy insisted the USPS is fully capable of pulling off vote-by-mail this election. ...
Aug 24, 2020•23 min
The Democratic National Convention—the first “virtual” one, due to COVID-19—has come to a close. Joe Biden has had his moment in the spotlight to accept the nomination for President, and Kamala Harris has made history as the first woman of color on a major party ticket. Over four nights, the DNC convention featured harsh attacks on President Trump and dire warnings about the future of American democracy; a focus on issues like gun violence, climate change, child care, immigration and the power o...
Aug 21, 2020•24 min
The vast internet conspiracy theory known as QAnon began in 2017 with a single post to the online message board site 4chan. The beliefs associated with QAnon range from the merely strange to the downright dangerous. Followers believe a ring of devil-worshipping pedophiles run the country and are plotting against President Trump, who they say is here to save the world. They say this Satanic ring includes top Democrats like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, as well as Hollywood celebrities. QAnon’...
Aug 19, 2020•26 min
The 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified 100 years ago, on August 18, 1920, giving women the right to vote. But like many of the promises in the US Constitution, this was a victory primarily for white people. The suffrage movement was notoriously rife with anti-Blackness. So Black leaders like Ida B. Wells and Mary Church Terrell paved their own way, aiming to undo racism and win voting rights for Black women. As the United States celebrates a century milestone for 19th Amendment, we’...
Aug 17, 2020•27 min
This fall, millions of American students and teachers will head back to school. In California, for most kids that will mean continuation of remote learning. Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond believes that, if done right, this giant online learning experiment we’ve all been thrust into could revolutionize the future of education. Dr. Darling-Hammond is the President of the California’s State Board of Education and the first Black woman to hold this role. In our final episode of our week-long series Coron...
Aug 13, 2020•27 min
The debate over whether to re-open schools doesn’t just affect kids. This summer, teachers have found themselves ensnared in a nation-wide fight over school reopenings. In Florida, the largest teacher’s union sued the state over its plans to re-open. In Michigan, teachers organized a protest to stop school buses from leaving lots, raising their voices and signs, pleading summer camps to stay closed. Teachers are crafting mock gravestones. Some teachers have even started drafting their wills. For...
Aug 12, 2020•29 min
Joe Biden finally has a running mate: Senator Kamala Harris. The Senator from California is the first Black woman on a presidential ticket in U.S. history. Biden promised to pick a woman back in March, and over the past few months, calls for him to choose a Black woman grew louder. Harris is a moderate choice by Biden, a moderate Democratic candidate. She was District Attorney in San Francisco and Attorney General of California before being elected to the Senate in 2017. Last year, Senator Harri...
Aug 12, 2020•23 min
All over the country, policymakers, parents, and teachers are hotly debating whether to bring kids back to school. President Trump and Secretary of Education Betsy Devos have insisted that schools must reopen, while major teacher unions are threatening to strike if schools reopen without adequate safety measures. But for more than 4 million American students, their back-to-school plans are sealed. At least 17 of the 20 largest school districts across the country have decided to go fully remote t...
Aug 10, 2020•24 min
Last week, many Americans got their last $600 unemployment check from the federal government. In Washington, Congress is at odds over whether to extend those benefits. Meanwhile, unemployed Americans are now struggling to make do with less. According to an early study from the University of Chicago, two out of every three people qualified to receive the $600 extra would make more money unemployed than at their regular jobs. In Stockton, California, a chef named Selena Pollack was one of those pe...
Aug 06, 2020•25 min
Growing up, Joy Reid loved to watch the news with her mother – and even remembers staying up late to watch coverage of the Iran Hostage Crisis as a middle schooler. Along the course of her career, Joy’s worked in local news, as a press secretary for the 2008 Obama campaign, and written books on American politics. And she recently became the host of a new primetime show on MSNBC: The ReidOut, which premiered on July 20th with big-name guests such as Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. More than 2.5 mi...
Aug 05, 2020•27 min
For more than 150 years, Howard University in Washington, D.C., has graduated high-profile alumni like former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, authors Zora Neale Hurston and Toni Morrison, and rapper Sean Combs. Like many Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in recent years, Howard has faced dwindling enrollment and financial uncertainty. But renewed calls for social justice might be shifting that. Last week, Mackenzie Scott, a philanthropist and ex-wife to Amazon CE...
Aug 03, 2020•25 min
The late Civil Rights icon and Georgia Congressman John Lewis was laid to rest on Thursday. But he had one final thing to say. John Lewis’ last words appeared in The New York Times on Thursday in an essay titled “Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation.” John Lewis wrote the essay shortly before his death and requested that it be published on the day of his funeral. In this bonus episode of Into America, Academy Award winning actor Morgan Freeman reads the final words of his friend John ...
Jul 31, 2020•7 min
Congressman John Lewis was laid to rest this week at the age of 80, after a lifetime of fighting for civil rights and human dignity. As a young man, his life was almost cut short as he led a protest for voting rights in Selma, Alabama. That day — March 7, 1965 — became known as Bloody Sunday, as state troopers attacked the protesters with horses and billy clubs. Lewis was badly beaten, and his skull was fractured. Broadcast images of Bloody Sunday put pressure on Congress and then-President Lynd...
Jul 30, 2020•29 min
From the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, many officials warned it was crucial to slow the spread of the virus to protect what they called the most vulnerable people: the elderly and those with underlying conditions. The people who have been mentioned far less often are those with disabilities. Having a disability isn’t a risk factor for COVID-19 on its own, but according to the CDC, people with disabilities often do have other health conditions that put them at risk. It can also be harder...
Jul 29, 2020•17 min
Dr. Elizabeth Alexander is an author, a teacher, a philanthropist and a scholar. But most people know her as a poet. In 2009, she performed her poem “Praise Song for the Day,” at the inauguration of President Barack Obama, reminding us of the ancestors who’ve led us to the progress we see today. She urged us: “Say it plain: that many have died for this day.” Alexander is now the President of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the country’s largest funder of arts and culture. This year, they’re wor...
Jul 27, 2020•25 min
When the federal government sent officers from the Department of Homeland Security to Portland, Oregon earlier this month to help guard city buildings, the city erupted in chaos. So officials in Chicago were skeptical when President Trump announced on Wednesday he would also be sending federal law enforcement agents to their city. Nearly 200 agents from the FBI, DEA, ATF and other agencies are being sent to the city to help address a recent uptick in violence. The President’s announcement came j...
Jul 23, 2020•25 min
There has been a slew of anti-Trump attack ads that have gone viral in the last few months. One ad shows the President as weak, sickly, and feeble. Another ad is a mock endorsement from Putin. These splashy, viral ads aren’t coming from the left, but from The Lincoln Project -- a political action committee run by long-time Republicans and Independents determined to defeat President Trump. This group includes conservatives like George Conway, husband to White House advisor Kellyanne Conway. They ...
Jul 22, 2020•27 min
Bernard Lafayette first met John Lewis in 1958 when the two men were roommates at American Baptist College in Nashville, Tennessee. They were both from the South, resented segregation, and wanted to do something about it. They began organizing in Nashville and participated in sit-its and the Freedom Rides across the south. Over the years, Lafayette watched Lewis grow into a national figure, from leading the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and being the youngest speaker at the 1963 Marc...
Jul 21, 2020•29 min
When it comes to race relations, 2020 has caught a lot of us off guard. When protests broke out in response to the killing of Geroge Floyd, we saw diverse crowds out in the streets. More and more white people began asking what they could do to uproot the racism that plagues America. These conversations on race are crucial. But as writer Damon Young points out, they can also be really strange. Damon Young is Black, a senior editor at The Root, and founder of the blog Very Smart Brothas. He’s also...
Jul 16, 2020•25 min
In 2017, Larry Krasner, a public defender and civil rights lawyer who had sued the Philadelphia police department multiple times during his career, made an unusual decision. He decided to run for Philadelphia District Attorney, the city’s top prosecutor. His goal was to reform that system from the inside. Krasner was part of a national wave of progressive prosecutors responding to calls for police reform. Since taking office, Krasner has made efforts to stop the cycle of mass incarceration for l...
Jul 15, 2020•18 min
The votes are still being tallied, but progressive Democrat and political newcomer Jamaal Bowman is poised to beat out sixteen-term Congressman Eliot Engel in the primary race to represent New York’s 16th Congressional district. The district is the second most unequal in the state; it’s majority Black and Hispanic, but also stretches into some very wealthy, mostly white neighborhoods. Eliot Engel is white, in his 70s, and chair of the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee. And Bowman - who is...
Jul 13, 2020•23 min
As he lay on the ground under the knee of a Minneapolis Police Officer, George Floyd called out “I can’t breathe” more than 20 times. In 2014, Eric Garner struggled to say the same words 11 times while being choked by an officer in New York. These high-profile deaths have been at the center of protests across the country. But in addition to the names we know, there are plenty that we don’t. According to a 2013 Department of Justice survey, of the police departments nationwide that serve more tha...
Jul 09, 2020•32 min
Professional sports teams are getting back into the game, against the backdrop of two national crises: the relentless spread of coronavirus, and the national demands for racial justice. For the WNBA, the game plan is two-fold: practicing and playing in “the bubble,” and dedicating the 2020 season to social justice. The league’s 137 players will spend the next few months living and playing on a sports compound in Florida, with extraordinary medical protocols and protections. Teams are arriving th...
Jul 08, 2020•19 min
