Ola Latino USA listener. You know, we've been spending a bit of time remembering and thinking about the one year anniversary of the massacre in Uvalde, Texas, and we want to share with you an episode of our sister podcast, which is called In the Thick. My co host Julio Ricardorella and I are joined on this episode of In the Thick by an award winning filmmaker. His name is Keith Beauchamp. He actually immortalized the work of Maimie Till Mobley in his film that he produced and co wrote.
It's called Till. And we're also joined on this episode of In the Thick by Monica Mugnos Martinez, who's a historian. She's an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin. She's also a MacArthur Award winning genius for her work as a historian. And in this episode, we're going to talk about how mothers past and present play a central role in the activism that brings change in our country and in our world. So I'm really glad that you're
going to listen to this. It's very thoughtful and it's part of our continuing coverage of the one year anniversary of Uvalde Guess Yes from Futuro Media and PRX. It's in the Thick, a podcast about politics, race and culture.
I'm Marieojsa and I'm Jude Dirigrloarella.
And today marks the one year anniversary of the massacre in Uvalde, Texas.
Rob Elementary and Uvalde, where just under six hundred second through fourth graders were in school, is about an hour and a half just outside of San Antonio. It's a smaller community there of a little more than twenty four thousand people. A shooting at rob Elementary School in Uvalde officially left nineteen children and two adults dead.
And so a year later, Julio, you know, we're still processing. I know, yes, there have been many mass shootings and school shootings since then. That's a lot, right, it's a lot to deal with. So let me ask you first, how you doing, Like, what's your temperature check? On this one year anniversary of the massacre at Valde.
I'm at this point as a journalist, as a commentator, as someone who writes opinions on the side, right that it's very important to recognize what happened a year ago and not to forget it. But I also fear that in this day and age, these anniversaries become like media checklist items for news organizations and everyone. You know, there's a big like, oh, let's talk about the one year anniversary,
and then everything goes away. And so in hindsight, well, I love the decision that you made with your team to say we're not doing that and we're here forever. I think about families a lot today, about the kids, your thoughts. I know you've gone through a lot about your temp check.
Right now on the anniversary, it's a really tough day, and I really wish I was in Uvalde, to just be hanging out in the softball field, playing with the kids, eating Mexican food, going to the bird sanctuary.
But I'm far away. I'm here in New York.
I'm in touch with the families, well, in particular, i'm in touch with the Gonzali's family that I've become close to.
How am I doing. I'm hopeful for Uvalde.
I'm horrified that they had to live through this, but there's a part of me that still has hope. But it's hard. I'm really sad. I'm really sad to meet sadness. You also have to find joy. So I'm really busy also trying to find something joyful to think about it. And when I think about joy, I think about Caitlin Gonzalius, who survived the massacre and who is just we have a lot of fun, like when I jumped on the
zip line with her in the backyard. And in fact, that's how the Latino USA piece called Uvalde Rising, that's how it actually starts with laughter. You're ready, Oh my god, this is so fun.
Oh my god, this is so fun. Now what do I do?
Now?
What do I do?
And so over the past year, I've been spending on everybody who follows me. Knew I was in Texas, they knew I was in South Texas. They didn't know that I was in Uvalde. It's a new documentary that is co produced by Futuro Investigates, Frontline on PBS and the Texas Tribune. It's called After Uvalde, Guns, Grief and Texas Politics. At premiers on Tuesday, May thirtieth, you can watch it on PBS and across streaming platforms. I really do hope
you will watch. We're gonna lift a clip. This is one of the more dramatic moments, and there are a few from the front line. This is my interview with doctor Roy Guerrero, who is basically the only pediatrician in the city of Uvalde.
Let's go to the tape.
So they took me back there, and that's truly when I realize the caliber of what these weapons can do to a child's body. So imagine a child who's decapitated.
What else do I have.
To tell you?
Huge chest wounds where it seems like, you know, someone bore a hand through the full chest. The only consoleance I have to myself is maybe it was so fast that they didn't have time to suffer, that they went quickly. Maybe not peacefully, but quickly.
I mean, you're reduced to saying that to.
Parents, what else can I do?
Because I couldn't have done anything for them that.
Day, So, Julio.
The reporting side of this, right is that the families actually have been demanding to get access to the footage that has been recorded, because there are hours, over one hundred hours of tape from security cameras, from body cameras that document everything that happened. As you know, I saw some of that, but the families of Uvalde, the families Yeah, the ones who should be able to see what they want when it involves their children, they have been denied
access to all of this. That's just one of the as I would say, falta respetos. You know, the jobs at the families in Uvalde, and it has been a labor of love.
It has.
It's really been extraordinary and has changed my life. But mostly I'm just thinking about the friends that I now have in Uvalde.
Right on a day like today, because you know, first of all, doctor Gifrido's clip, when I saw it as a parent, as a human being, as being the only pediatrician in Ualde, I just can't even begin to think of that day and can't even begin to think of what's happening today in Oualde. Really in a way, grateful to you as a journalist for doing it with part and I'm just deeply proud.
And I appreciate that Julia and we did absolutely, I mean, we move as a team with heart, being very conscious of the traumatic space that we were in Uvalde, making up a commitment to spend quite a bit of time there. But you know, this is a frontline documentary, and frontline at its core is investigative work.
And so.
The investigative part, I think is really revealing, and it's not a good look for the state of Texas or for the governor. Now, you know people in the state of Texas are reporting. Is showing, right, is that they are beginning, even people who are Republicans, right, are beginning to need to have some more answers rather than just
you know, it's mental health, mental health, mental health. So the conversation about the fact that the Uvalde families, not all of them, but some of them have been pushing as activists to get the state to raise the age of purchase for an assault weapon from eighteen to twenty one. Right, the shooter was eighteen days after he turned eighteen. That's when he bought the gun, That's when he got the bullets.
That's then this horrible thing happened. The activism of the families, and there's a long history of activism in nuvaldeve As. We've talked about that, the student walk out, et cetera
in the nineteen seventies. This is one of the investigative stories, right that we're pursuing, which is watching how the families in fact have been able to affect the politics of Texas and the investigative side, which is the fact that even though Texas has the second highest rate of mass shootings in our country, that since the first shooting that was tracked by the Texas Tribune in their investigation in the nineteen sixties up until now, there has been no
legislation ever even brought to the floor in the state of Texas to address this. And it's because there's this whole culture of the gun in Texas. But I think that there's Uvalde is definitely part of a tipping point. Are they there yet? No, But again it's because of the families in Uvalde and their activism that anything has changed.
You know, you said to me, I remember, and you told me straight up, I'm a different journalist after Uvalde. I'm a different person after Uvalde. And I noticed it, and I can say I can speak this with authority because I've known you now for eight and a half years and you told me that straight up, and I saw a difference in you, and it's a good difference.
I think I see you on this path of like this will be a place for me forever, Like I will not forget this community, and it lends itself to the long term issue of PTSD which you suffered from after.
Nine to eleven and talk about a lot.
Yeah, you talk about the PTSD within the Valde community, especially for the survivors of the shooting. So this notion of the deep impacts of PTSD and mental health in the Valde community is definitely one of the parts of the story that you reported on in the Frontline documentary and the Latino USA Audio companion reporting. So let's take a listen to a clip from all your reporting.
These kids are it's just they're walking PTSD just like a veteran and it you know veterans, you know they have to fight for getting mental health access and we're being put in the same situation, except the only difference is, you know, they signed up for my children. My child did not.
So, Madia, we can talk about the facts and the figures and the charts and the graphs and the calls for gun legislation in this country, but the longer term health effects of Uvalde are much harder to measure. What can you tell us from your reporting to paint a picture of why it's so hard to measure?
So, as everyone who listens to our fabulous show, you all know that I developed PTSD after covering September eleventh for CNN and being a mom to young children at the time, and so what was weird for me? What was hard, What was the challenge was finding myself as far away as possible from New York in Uvalde, Texas and identifying with the trauma that I was seeing everywhere in Uvalde. I mean everywhere everyone that you met is
dealing with this. There's just no other way. So you have an entire town that needs to actually do public healing, like massive auditorium style meditation. And I'm just coming up with this off the top of my head. I no, no, like musical healing, like open the public park and like this is a place that needs that like on a weekly basis. Wow, Right, if Uvalde is a mental health desert because you have one psychiatrist, right, and now there
is more attention being placed. But that was basically all you had, So now you have this much more need.
The reporting that we did is that the people of Uvalde feel neglected, have felt that way for decades actually by the state, and then this kind of like you don't matter, You're just not that important, and sadly, oh ya Mejulia, this was hard to hear, and I heard it the day I got to Uvalde the first time in January, which was the families have been told, you know, they should get over it, and it's like, you're kidding me that anyone would say this to any family in Nuvalde.
So the trauma is going to be there for a long time.
And my hope is that it becomes not a mental health desert but becomes a mental health garden, and that people who have capacity to offer mental health services go to Uvalde and help.
This is a town that needs help.
Of course, the other side of the story is that the people of Uvalde are people who understand activism and they are demanding things, that's for sure.
Hey, before we go, there's a particular animal that's popular in Uvalde. What is the animal? And why did you ask me to ask you that question? Because now I'm infinitely curious about this connection.
So the reason why I asked you to ask me this question and is because I think people think of Uvalde now and they just think, oh my god, horror, terrible, you know, sadness morning. Yes, I want people to understand that there is a lot of beauty and joy and happiness in Uvalde, and I also experience that and that my life has been changed by getting to know Caitlin Gonzalez, her mom, Gladys, her dad Nef, her little sister Camilla. She's a survivor and she's an activist now. And so
we laughed a lot. There's a lot of laughter that I experienced in Uvalde. And so there's actually an Instagram for the chickens of Uvalde. Yes, the chickens, because the chickens. I'm loving that. I'm laughing while I'm talking about Valde because lose guys Ubalde are so famous. They have an Instagram page because you never know where they're going to show up, and they kind of pop out in the middle of the road.
I following now, I'm following it.
We wanted this to be part of the front line, you know. I think they were like, yeah, no, I don't think we can go.
Coming up on frontline Los Poo.
So I just want people to understand that. Also, Walde now is a place of extraordinary art. The murals that they made for the kids and the two teachers son impression Nantees, and it is the place where I got the coldest beer I've ever had in the United States
of America in Uwalde, Texas. So let's also bring joy those of you who can, you know, send what you can to the people of Uvalde that brings joy and happiness because they need it and they're also, like all of us, after trauma, trying to put it together by putting one foot in front of the other.
So, dear listener, after.
The break, we're going to continue our conversation about Uvalde, and actually we're going to bring in Keith Beauchamp. He's a filmmaker who made the movie Till, and Monica Munhos Martinez, who is a historian from Muvalde. We're going to talk about the role of moms in all of this and decisions that moms make in a tragic moment. So Nottevayes Hey, welcome back to in the Thick. I'm Maria no Josa.
Let's turn to our roundtable. Now joining us for this discussion from the liberated Territory or something like that of Brooklyn, New York is Keith Beauchamp. He's an award winning filmmaker and producer on the film Till. Keith, it's great to have you on the show. Welcome from Brooklyn. I'm in Harlem. All in the house.
Thank you for having me.
And joining us.
From Austin, Texas. Is Monica Muno's Martinez. She's somebody who I see as a guiding light in the story of Uvalde and understanding it. She's a historian and associate professor the University of Texas at Austin, a MacArthur Genius Award fellow. Welcome to the show, Monica. It's great to be talking to you again.
It's great to be with you.
So Monica knows this because I actually was inspired because of the work that Monica has done as a historian on Uvalde and on violence in Texas against Mexicans and Latinos. So basically, for the greater part of this year and a little bit of last, I have been reporting on Uvalde and the aftermath. And that means that I've been on a lot of planes, too many hotels and a
lot of planes. And I was traveling to Austin actually to cover a hearing recently on gun legislation, and I was looking for the movies on the plane and Till was there. Till Is the movie directed by Chinoya Chiku produced and co written by U Keith. It tells the story of maybe Till Mobley's fight for justice for her son, fourteen year old Emmett Till. Remember, of course, he was lynched in nineteen fifty five. And you know, I think a lot of people think, oh, my god, Till, it's
gonna be it's gonna be a horrible movie. In fact, it's such a beautiful film, so beautifully directed and acted and everything, the cinematography, the music, the production just beautiful, even though it's a film about something really horrible. And so I want to know, actually, Keith, you, being close to mother Mobley, what do you keep in mind as you continue to document Emmett Till's legacy even after she's gone.
And you know, again, it was nineteen fifty five when Mother Mobley made this decision to have an open casket. It changed his But I'm wondering, what are the things that you hold close, Keith.
Well, what I hold close is a lot of the things that she instilled in me before she passed away. She understood the importance of telling Emmitt's story time and time again. I've said often when I've done interviews over the years, there's no other story that speaks more to this generation political and racial climate than the story of Emmit Lewis Till then I think about many of the things that she used to say to me. White thing
comes to mind often. She used to say to me all the time, Keith, you must continuously tell Emmitt's story until man's consciousness is risen, because only then that would mean justice for him. At till and for the longest time, I didn't quite understand what she was trying to instill in me. I was young. Here's this iconic civil rights icon who's actually talking to me, Little Keith Bowshop from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
And I didn't really.
Understand what she was trying to tell me until I'm matured in understanding the story of Immatetill a lot more, and of course how the civil rights movement had come along, and so what she was trying to say to me that I realized now more than ever. She was trying to say that no matter how long I fight, no matter how hard I fight to get justice for her son, it's not going to stop all the immitate tills of
the world from hand. And of course, in recent years and decades, we see that happening time and time again, and so I truly believe that Mother Mobley had the blueprint to men's liberation when it comes to racial progression in this country, and of course when we're fighting against social injustice. And so it's still the story of Mattil and which is why I continue to tell the story.
That is important that we understand what transpired in nineteen fifty five, because I firmly believe if we forget our past, history will repeat itself. And that's what we're saying happening today.
Thank you so much for that, Keith. And what part did you say? Where are you from? Exactly in Louisiana. Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge.
All right, Baton Rouge is representing just saying we love Louisiana. So, Monica, you actually grew up in Uvalde, Texas. You joined us just a few days after the massacre happened in Uvalde.
You are now based in Austin, Texas.
And your research that you spoke to us about this on Latino USA goes deep into law enforcement violence against Latinos and Latinas in Texas and along the border. But you've also researched racial violence in the civil rights era
as well. And these examples from Emmett Till's murder to the deadliest school shooting in Texas and Wilde are basically showing us that policing and law enforcement don't always take the responsibility in the fight for justice, obviously, and that it sadly it falls on the mothers to prove their pain and basically have to kind of use their pain and their range to inspire change. And one of these this is why I'm fascinated by Valde, and we'll talk
about that in a second. But in another part of Texas, there's a mom named Ronda Hart. She's the mother of Kimberly Vaughn. Her fourteen year old daughter died in May of twenty eighteen in the Santa Fe, Texas High school shooting, which was the first school shooting in Texas, and Ronda has now become an activist pushing for tighter gun laws in Texas. And she's interestingly not a surprise, right she's been blocked from viewing her daughter's autopsy report. She's pushing
to get it. Not everybody wants these things, but some people do, and you have to fight for it. So this is what she told our producer Futuro investigates producer Sofia Sanchez about this situation.
Let's take a listen, Let's go to the tape.
That's the whole thing I've been lobbying for this session is to get my autopsy report.
After five years, I still don't have that.
Our district attorney in Galison County won't give it to us.
It's his discretion, but he chooses not to.
So Monica, there is historical context. Again, we're talking about what happened to emmat Till in nineteen fifty five. We're talking about what happened in Uvalde in twenty twenty two. We're talking about what happened five years ago in Santa Fe, Texas in the high school. Can you give us some historical context though, about how it is that mothers and I know that this is part of the work that you've done in documenting other massacres. It's actually mothers and children,
mothers of the victim and children's survivors. They end up having to kind of fight for access to the story, to the truth, to the facts. But there is historical context here. This doesn't just happen now, right. Can you help us understand this.
Yeah, So, unfortunately, the history of racial violence in this country teaches us a lot of things about violence today. You know, Number one is that time does not heal all wounds. That feelings of injustice are carried and they are passed from generation to generation, and they impact how communities, community relations, and how people perceive their relationship to government, to police and institutions. So Notable on Clodia Rodriguez lives
in San Antonio. She's a descendant of Hisshu's Bazzad and Anthonio Long Clodia, who were murdered in twenty fifteen by a pose that included a Texas ranger. And so when I asked, you know why she had committed so much time to preserving that story, she said, it's injustice never
leaves you, it's inherited loss. And you know, I have studied people like notable on Couadiodo Vegas, but also people who survived in the aftermath of murders, police homicides, massacres, lynchings and seeing that in calling for redress and calling for accountability and transparency for records, they left a record. And especially if we think about violence, that is state sanctioned. If we think about the history of police homicides, that the police people who were calling for violence or who
were aggressors, they also preserved a corrupt archive. And so that meant that due to false reports and corrupt archives, that victims and survivors carried the burden of being the truth tellers. And so this included parents, This included children, in some cases grandparents, and also people who witnessed violence, massacres, police homicides, and who were deeply troubled by what they witnessed,
haunted by it, and compelled to testify. So, you know, I senso Walde, you know, thought about some of the kids and the families that I wrote about for my book Research and I wrote about for my book, and one of the stories that keeps returning to me is the story of Matina and Goncepsian Swasta, who witnessed the lynching of their father, Flodentino Swasta and Cotula, Texas in eighteen ninety five, and the local law enforcement, you know,
acting with a culture of impunity, falsely explained that the you know, a mob had overtaken the jailer and removed Flordenthino by force, and that they couldn't be identified. And it's one of these daughters who witnessed this that said no, the jailer let them in. And one of these daughters who identified one of the mob participants by name, gave a physical description his hair color, his beard color, and that she did so she recognized one of them when
she was begging in town for money. And so it just gives you a glimpse into the life of people living in a period of racial terror, the extreme vulnerability and yet the deep commitment to justice and the links that people have been willing to go to seek the truth, to get closure, and even just to be able to
start to heal by having information about what happened. And so it's deeply troubling that today we have families that are in pain, that are asking, that haven't had their most basic questions answered, and that they have anything in common with people who witnessed and survived lynchings and massacres more than one hundred years ago.
Yeah, it's a horror and it is sadly it is a part of our country. And that's why I think what happened with Mother Mobley and the decision that she aid in a modern era, right where newspapers were now carrying photographs. Of course what she said to the funeral director.
I looked at mister Rayner, and mister Rayner wanted to know was I going to have the casket opened? I said, oh, yes, we're going to open the casket. He said, well, Miss Bradley, do you want me to, oh do something for the face, want me to try to fix it up? I said, no, let the people see what I've seen. I said, I want the world to see this.
And then, you know, there was a distribution of this graphic photograph of his mutilated body to the media, and that photo changed history right sixty eight years later. It's a reminder of the violent structure basically of white supremacy, the power of white supremacy that is at the core of this country. Again, even though the film Till is about this, you know, this, this mutilation right based on hatred and a lie. Mother Mobley said, everybody's going to
see this. And I wonder at this point about the conversation, which is incredibly controversial, right around the power of graphic images and igniting change. We're going to take a listen again to another clip from Ronda Hart, who again is still waiting for access to her daughter's crime scene photos.
I think that they should be shared. I think that the public needs to know. I don't think that.
There's any other way to really illustrate the devastation the guns can cause. And I think that, you know, maybe not showing a victim's fees like my daughter was shot and her torso and stuff, but showing her injuries.
Yeah, I would support that. I think they should make it public.
So I find it interesting Keith and Monica that the state probably in reaction to what mother Mobley did. The state has ultimate control. Again, this is your child's body. You are the parent. You should have the right to anything in regards to this, and yet the state is saying no, yes, And so I'm wondering, Keith, how you process this really challenging conversation about the sharing of graphic images, especially after these conversations that you had with mother Mobley and documenting her life.
Well, you know, it's really a troubling moment to continue to hear what it seems to be decades after decade of people having this type of conversation about an atrocity that we're faced with today. And so it's very important to understand the magnitude of Mother Mobley's decision to have an open casket funeral so the world could see what happened to her son. Because without that courageous decision, we would have never heard the likes of people such as
Martin Luther King, Sister Rosa Parks, and so on. You wouldn't have had a movement of the sixties because many of those who are part of that movement would tell you that they're from the Emmit Toll generation. And so I guess what I'm saying, Maria. If we're looking for a new movement for change, one must take action. And what is that action? Well, if we could take a look at what transpired in nineteen fifty five and the courageousness of Mother Mobley having this open casket funeral, And
for people to understand you have to understand this. There were many lynchings going on at that time in fifty five. A lot of the victims were a lot younger than Emmitt Till. But what set this away from all the others was her courageous decision to have an open casket funeral. And is that photograph that awakened the sleeping giant of
good hearted people across the globe. And that's why we saw change now Again, if we're looking for a change today, and we've all been longing for a new movement, well, in order for us to truly understand how to reach that level, that goal of a new movement for change, we have to understand what transpired in nineteen fifty five
and the courageous actions of Mother mobe. Now, nothing hits you more than a visual and Mother Mobley knew that, which is why she had this open casket fune because it wasn't just someone telling you about a lynching that took place. Now you could see the visual of what this lynching had done to this fourteen year olbo, and that's what made it so powerful. If it was fourteen years old, we could all relate to being fourteen years old.
So yeah, to the mothers and to the families of your valde, I have to support many of those decisions of having these pictures shown. We had the same conversation with Sandy Hook took place and everybody was saying that we need an immit till moment, and I don't believe that things would change until we have that Imma till moment with these families.
The thing is Monica, and you may not agree, right, So I believe that this is such a personal decision, right, And having been on a lot of ends of death, right including having a family member who disappeared in Mexico and therefore having that thing, which is that you want to know everything about their death. And some people can
understand that they feel like that's a little gory. But mony, guys, you know, in fact, there is somebody who I'm I'm Internet friends with and who I've interviewed on Latino USA whose own daughter, Anna Grace, was murdered in Sandy Hook, Nelba Marquez Green. And Nelba is very adamant. She says, do not ask me to show the photographs. How dare you? What an act of disrespect of any journalist to ask me to share that? And so I hold Nelba in my heart as I'm also you know, having been in
Uvalde basically since January on and off. And the one the horror that the parents went through, the fact that they are being denied all access to any information, any photographs, any video. But this is a difficult one, moniquette. So you have two ways to look at this. One is a historian, and two as a mom and as a Texan, as a Mexicana from Muvalde, and somebody who's been very close to the community since the massacre on May twenty fourth,
twenty twenty two. So give us, give us how you process this conversation, this debate.
Yeah, it's so complicated. It's so complex. And I'll start by first responding to the what you described as the impulse for wanting to know every detail of what happened to your loved one, and coordinating with experts and trauma who have conducted trauma informed work, that that is actually something that is very common, and that for families who lose a loved one to violent crime, that having details about what happened is a crucial part to start healing.
And so family members of a mother's, siblings, a child's, if someone is asking for information and seeking information, photographs, or autopsies, they should have access to that information. I think that it's I've learned that it's important for them to be able to heal. And again, not everybody wants all of the same information, and so that is an individual request. But as a historian, I've also and I have seen you know, from the history of the NAACP
and journalists like IDB. Wells and social luminaries like Mother mobile that the anti lynching movement was tireless and worked for over half a century to try to end the lynching culture and raise national consciousness about the inhumanity of the practice. And it took decades worth of work. And really the Immittill moment was so crucial because it did raise the national consciousness so that there was a movement then to end the practice.
Because I'm sorry to interrupt, but in some ways, Moniquet, what had happened is that there were photographs of men who had been lynched. In fact, they were made into postcards. They were sent via US Postal Service. So it's almost like when people say, well people will get desensitized, Well, there was a desensitization to men being lynched, right, except then Mother Mobley makes this decision and it changes everything.
Well, it's also in a different moment. It's post brown versus board, and so across the country and the South, in different states, there's an effort in southern states like Texas to maintain segregation. And so the decision the open casket, the horror of the lynching of Emmett till it also was at a moment in which the nation and people across the country were making decisions about the world that they.
Wanted to live in.
And so what I have to contrast today is that the majority of Americans, the majority of Texans, believe and support in common sense gun reform. And it's not the need to shake the national conscience. It's a need to
shape legislators into passing legislation. So something that I am returning to Kimberly and Felix Rubio who showed a photograph of their daughter Alexi in an open casket to a US senator and asked for their support in passing gun reform in the honor of Lexi and so that other kids would not suffer the same violence, and it didn't happen.
And also State Senator Roland Gutierez he in Texas has also explained that he has legislators who refuse to look at the footage that they have access to from Mold And so for me, it's a question of what is putting information out there, putting photographs out there? Will people look,
Will the people who can make decisions look? And my other concern is that we are living in a climate when we are experienced a mentical health crisis, and particularly the mental health crisis among youth, and the way that images circulate now, the way that kids have access to what's put online, to me is worrisome. But that question of what will make people who are in positions of power to make changes in policy, what will make them look is something that I don't have an answer for.
Oh, it's so hard, so listen, we're gonna wrap up. And as I've said now that I'm talking about making the frontline film in Uvalde, and actually le Bretavad le Bret Vad, Monica and Keith after seeing some of the images, because as an investigative journalist, yes, I have seen things about Uvalde, and I am not the same the before and after Marie No Josse is not just one who has been impressed by the horror of it, impressed in the sense of like it will stay. It's marked me
like a tattoo on my brain. But also Monica, we haven't had a chance to talk about this, but to me, Uvalde, the fact that the parents of Uvalde have stepped up and spoken back to the Texas politics to the Republican legislature of the Republican governor that they were able to move. The legislator was never able to pass, but they were able to at least be heard have a hearing. You to have a hearing where they could speak to me. There is, in fact, a lot of hope, and I
center that hope. It's what actually keeps me going. So we're going to end on hope. And actually, Keith, we'll start with you. Like I said, I hope everybody watches the movie Till because it is such a beautiful movie, and it does fill me with hope because, as you said, it was a call across the world. It was not just the United States, it was the whole world that was saying no more. So, what's something that gives you hope in this whole conversation that we can hold on to.
Well, it gives me hope that you have a show such as this that allows someone to speak. I mean, many of these families, and I've worked with many of them, they just want the opportunity to have a platform to speak about their loved ones, to have a recorded history so they would be remembered. And that gives me hope. That you have a show such as this that allows that. But also I want people to be encouraged. You know, just by showing a photograph, you won't receive action by
that alone. It's going to take the people to collectively get involved with change for change to happen. And so you can't help but have hope, especially someone such as myself who've devoted his life to civil human rights, many of us who have made this decision to take on social injustice in this country. We know that it takes some time. That you know, we're talking about generational ills and may take the generation of two to fix, but we know that we must be on the front lines
to fight. And so I have hope just simply being on this show and you know, being able to speak about my SHEI ro and the things that we must be doing in this country if we ever want to see change happen again.
And dude, you know, when did you ever think that the movie Till would be playing on the airplanes in the United States and that people. Yeah, so if you're if you haven't watched it, please please please do Monica, something that you've held on to in the conversation that gives you hope again. You grew up in Uvalde, that you live in Austin now, but something about the families removal there maybe that is giving you hope.
Yeah.
I mean, it's one of the things that is just so profound that there's such a deep commitment weld to heal and to repair and actually to go to great links to improve the social wellbeing of every kid in Velde, and in that process finding strategies and solutions to meet the magnitude of unmet needs. There's such a deep commitment by people involved it to taking those and helping improve the well being of kids across Texas, across the state,
and across the world. And that deep commitment to saying we're going to fight for justice not just for our own families, but for families everywhere is so deeply inspiring.
I don't know if you know this Morniquay, because it happened kind of quickly, But on the Friday after the shooting, the mass shooting in Nashville a couple of weeks back, Kitlin Gonzalez and a bunch of her fifth grade classmates from rob Elementary.
Now they're no longer at that school, but they walked out.
Yeah, they walked out of the classroom, they had little you know, lined you know signs, they're lined paper signs, which was like, stop the gun violence, remember the twenty one No. I mean, it was just extraordinary, and so thank you for saying that it's what I hold on to.
I never would have imagined that I would feel so close to a family of I mean, they're great Americans because they're participating in the political process as activists, and that this new part of my extended family is in Uvalde, Texas, and it's Caitlin and Gladys, Gonzalez and neph and Gamilla, you know, and we text back and forth and they're like, you know, Caitlyn's you know, doing softball right now, or Caitlin's on the zip line, or Caitlyn is dancing, or
Caitlyn is going to speak at a rally right now. And so I feel hopeful that I have made this profound connection with your hometown of Uvalde and to become closer to you, Monica and have this conversation with you.
Keith.
So thank you so much for joining me on this episode of In the Thing. I so appreciate it.
Thank you, Thank you, Keith.
Beauchamp is an award winning filmmaker and monicam Mundo's Martinez is an award winning historian and associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
And I'm Maria Noojosa. Also, Dear listener, be.
Sure to check out our documentary with Frontline on PBS and the Texas Tribune. It's called After Uvalde, Guns, Grief and Texas Politics. And also be sure to check out our one hour special on Latino USA. It's a beautiful independent piece actually collaboration with Frontline and Futuru Investigates that airs on Friday, June second.
It's called Uvalde Rising and Special.
Thanks to our intrepid Futudo Investigates producer Sophia Sanchez for co producing this episode. Dear listener, go to Apple Podcasts to rate and review us.
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Remember you can listen to In the Think on all major podcast platforms. Check us out on the web at in Thethik dot org, follow us on Twitter and on Instagram, show like us on Facebook, Tell everyone you know to listen. And the thing is produced by Ner Saudi, Oscott Fernandez and our New York Women's Foundation Ignite fellow Daniella Dieo Garson. Our editorial director is Fernande Santos. Our audio engineering team is Stephanie LAbau, Julia Gruso, Gabrielle Abias and JJ Krubin.
Our marketing manager is Luis Luna. The music you heard is courtesy of Not Captain CZK Records. Dear listener, again, thank you so much for listening. See you on the next one. Yes, lapproxima Bye.
The opinions expressed by the guests and contributors in this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Futuro Media or its employees.