In this continuation of Latino USA’s 2022 midterms coverage, Maria welcomes her In The Thick co-host Julio Ricardo Varela and the following two guests: Sonja Diaz , Founding Director of the Latino Policy & Politics Institute at UCLA, and Jazmine Ulloa , national reporter for The New York Times. Looking ahead to the midterm elections, they discuss the role Latinos and Latinas will play, what they are hearing from voters on the ground, the races that we should be keeping an eye on and the comp...
Aug 19, 2022•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast You probably haven’t met a comedian quite like Julio Torres. Julio’s work is highly visual and deeply inquisitive, often focusing on everyday objects or routine and giving it a surreal twist. After immigrating from El Salvador to the U.S. for college, Julio did the rounds in New York City’s stand-up scene before landing a gig writing at “Saturday Night Live.” After a few years, Julio decided to leave 30 Rockefeller Plaza and strike out on his own. In 2019, he released a comedy special for HBO ca...
Aug 16, 2022•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast For the closing of our series Genias in Music, celebrating the contributions of women in their fields, we go to Colombia, where Petrona Martínez became one of the most important Black singers in the country’s modern history. She’s known as “the queen of bullerengue”, an ancestral music tradition that goes back to times of slavery in the Colombian Caribbean Coast. But it took many years for Petrona Martínez to get recognized as an artist. She dealt with isolation, poverty and invisibility as a Bl...
Aug 12, 2022•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast Luna Luna is a rising four-member band from different walks of life. They’re known for mixing nostalgic sounds of the past and fusing them with elements of funk and dream-like pop. In this episode of Latino USA , we learn more about the people behind Luna Luna and hear how they say the universe and destiny have brought them together to live out their wildest dreams.
Aug 09, 2022•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Last November, Robert Santos became the first Latino to be confirmed as the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau. Santos is no stranger to the federal agency. Before his nomination and confirmation, Santos had warned that former President Donald Trump’s interference of the census count would result in one of the most flawed census counts in U.S. history. Census counts are important because they help determine congressional representation and how billions of federal dollars are distributed. In this...
Aug 05, 2022•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Here is a podcast from our Latino USA archives. Latino USA sits down with Guadalupe Rosales of [Veteranas and Rucas](http:// https://www.instagram.com/veteranas_and_rucas/ "V&R") and Map Pointz , two archival projects focused on the Los Angeles backyard party scene of the 80's and 90's that celebrate big hair, house music and endless nights. Rosales is joined by Eddie Ruvalcaba, who photographed the scene with Streetbeat Magazine and attended parties as a teenager. The two speak about the po...
Aug 02, 2022•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Here is a podcast from our Latino USA archives. In 1950, a group of majority Mexican-American miners in New Mexico readied themselves for a showdown with their bosses. The miners were going on strike to demand an end to discriminatory practices at the mines. The events inspired the 1954 film "Salt of the Earth"—made by filmmakers who had been blacklisted in Hollywood for supposed leftist sympathies. Latino USA heads to Grant County, New Mexico, to uncover the history of The Empire Zinc Strike, t...
Jul 29, 2022•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast Latino USA is proud to feature an episode from Colorado Public Radio’s new ¿Quién Are We? podcast, which explores what it means to be Latino, Hispanic or Chicana... or however you identify. Host and journalist May Ortega shares stories about our wide-ranging identities and the beautiful things that make us who we are. This episode from the series is about Allan Benavides, who grew up in Southern California in a family that loved baseball. Despite his family’s wishes, he couldn’t be a player. Sti...
Jul 26, 2022•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast The call for the abolition of all student debt has never been louder–but how did we get to a place where this demand is possible? Latino USA dives into the history of the student loan system in the U.S, as well as the stories of Black and Latinx organizers that have been at the forefront of the movement for student debt cancellation. We look at how their efforts have shifted the conversation and ask why abolishing student debt is an issue of racial economic justice....
Jul 22, 2022•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast When the members of LADAMA met for the first time, it felt as if they already knew each other. In 2014, Lara Klaus from Brazil, Daniela Serna from Colombia, Maria Fernanda Gonzalez from Venezuela, and Sarah Lucas from the U.S. all attended a residency for socially engaged musical artists. That’s where they created LADAMA. Together, the women of LADAMA would embark on a years-long journey of sharing rhythms and creating a pedagogy aiming to empower women and girls to connect through voice, percus...
Jul 19, 2022•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast As part of Latino USA’s ongoing 2022 midterms coverage, Maria Hinojosa is joined by her In The Thick co-host Julio Ricardo Varela, Carlos Odio of EquisLabs, and award-winning journalist Tanzina Vega to talk about the lasting impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on Latino communities across the United States. They get into the immense losses experienced by Black, Indigenous, and Latino communities from COVID-19, and reflect on how the pandemic’s impact on the economy will affect voter turnout....
Jul 15, 2022•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the special presentation of the In The Thick political podcast produced by Futuro Media, Maria Hinojosa and Julio Ricardo Varela are joined by Ibram X. Kendi , founding director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, for a conversation about his new book “How to Raise an Antiracist.” They discuss the evolution of his antiracist scholarship, the rise in mass shootings and white supremacist attacks, and how Black and Brown communities can work together in solidarity. To subscr...
Jul 12, 2022•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Living in the Bay Area has become a luxury that many cannot afford anymore. It’s home to the biggest —and richest— tech companies in the world. Yet at the same time, homeless encampments grow under the freeways, around empty lots and parks. Data shows that evictions went down in California during the pandemic, thanks to an eviction moratorium that protected tenants. But the housing struggles of undocumented communities aren’t being captured by authorities or mainstream media. In collaboration wi...
Jul 08, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast Latino USA presents a recent episode of Latino Rebels Radio , also produced by Futuro Media. For the first time in its history, Colombia has moved to the left with the election of Gustavo Petro as president and Francia Márquez, the country's first Afro-Colombian vice president. Latino Rebels Radio host Julio Ricardo Varela welcomes freelance writer Christina Noriega from Bogotá to break down both the victory and the challenges ahead. To subscribe to Latino Rebels Radio, click here ....
Jul 05, 2022•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Latino USA takes a look back at Disney’s relationship with Latin America. We start in the 1940s when Walt Disney and a group of animators were deployed by the U.S. government to Latin America in efforts to curb Nazi influence there. Then we hear from a Chilean writer who wrote a book called How to Read Donald Duck , critiquing Disney comics’ American imperialism in the 1970s. His book would later be burned in Chile. Finally, we talk with the directors of Coco , Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina. Thi...
Jul 01, 2022•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast For this bonus podcast drop, Latino USA shares the latest episode of the award-winning political podcast I n The Thick , hosted by Maria Hinojosa and Julio Ricardo Varela. In this episode, Maria and Julio are joined by [Kimberly Atkins Stohr]( http://Kimberly Atkins Stohr "Boston Globe"), senior opinion writer for The Boston Globe and The Emancipator, and Jessica Mason Pieklo , senior vice president of Rewire News Group and co-host of the podcast Boom! Lawyered. They unpack the Supreme Court rul...
Jun 29, 2022•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast Growing up in Denver, Colorado, Kali Fajardo-Anstine did not see herself, nor her family, represented in books or television. But, she knew she wanted to be a writer. Kali is a mixed Chicana woman with Indigenous and Filipino ancestry; she brings all of that into her work in hopes of creating a space where readers feel represented and seen. Kali is also the author of “Sabrina and Corina,” a collection of short stories that explore the lives of Chicanos and Chicanas in and around Dever, and she r...
Jun 28, 2022•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast One year ago on June 24, a small beachside town in South Florida was asleep. It was the summer, past 1 a.m., when the section of the Champlain Towers South that pointed to the beach collapsed. Twelve stories of apartments pancaked in about 30 seconds. Ninety-eight people died; most of the victims were Latinos and Latinas. To mark the first anniversary of the collapse, we visit Surfside with producer Elisa Baena, who lives there with her Cuban grandmother. She brings us a story about memory, comm...
Jun 24, 2022•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast For years, McAllen, Texas, has been at the front lines in the struggle for reproductive access in the country. The city has only one abortion provider, the Whole Woman’s Health Clinic, serving more than one million people in the area. It took them seven years, but filmmakers Maya Cueva and Leah Galant documented the community’s story, trying to look past the polarizing sides of the debate, to focus on how people live in the gray areas of those two extremes. In this episode, they discuss their do...
Jun 21, 2022•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast What will the future look like for low-income communities of color if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade ? In this Latino USA roundtable episode, Maria Hinojosa is joined by Laurie Roberts, executive director of the Yellowhammer Fund, an abortion fund and reproductive justice organization; Sabrina Rodríguez, national political correspondent at Politico; and Tina Vasquez, editor-at-large at Prism. They discuss the pre-existing barriers for marginalized communities to access abortion and...
Jun 17, 2022•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast Recently, our friends at Death, Sex & Money shared a conversation with Latino USA anchor and executive producer Maria Hinojosa. In this wide-ranging interview, host Anna Sale asks Maria about Futuro Media’s 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Audio Reporting win, how she built up confidence in the world of media and the moment when Maria reached a breaking point in a marriage that led to a reevaluation of her priorities. This episode includes a description of a rape. Listen to the Pulitzer Prize-winning ...
Jun 14, 2022•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast On Tuesday May 24th, 2022, an 18-year-old man entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and shot and murdered 19 children, as well as two teachers. The ripple effects of this mass shooting have been felt across this small Mexican-American community, and across the country. We mourn with Uvalde. In a tight-knit community like Uvalde, Robb Elementary is the lifeblood of the town. That same elementary school has roots that stem back to 1970 when students, teachers, and parents held one of th...
Jun 10, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Transcript available on Metacast When Roberto Carlos Lange chose his stage name, he didn’t want to limit himself. Helado Negro represented something unknown and unexpected—and for over a decade, that’s what he set off to explore in his music. Helado Negro’s dreamy, psychedelic soundscapes explore themes of relationships and love, along with his own cultural heritage. Since his debut in 2009, Helado Negro has released seven albums, including his most recent, 2021’s “Far In.” Made during the early days of the pandemic, “Far In” i...
Jun 07, 2022•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast In collaboration with the award-winning In The Thick political podcast, Maria Hinojosa and Julio Ricardo Varela explore current immigration policy under the Biden Administration with guest Camilo Montoya-Galvez , immigration reporter for CBS News. They talk about Trump-era policies like Title 42 and Remain in Mexico, as well as the detention of migrant children and the treatment of refugees seeking asylum. Finally, they discuss what Democrats need to do moving forward to reimagine the nation’s i...
Jun 03, 2022•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast From My Cultura Network and IHeart Podcasts Hosts Patty Rodriguez and Erick Galindo reflect on their lives as children of immigrants. They realize that a pivotal moment in their parents and their lives was in fact the signing of IRCA in 1986. That moment defined a generation. To subscribe to Out of the Shadows: Children of 86 , click here ....
May 31, 2022•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s 1993 in California. Dr. Dre is on the radio. The state is in a budget deficit. And a group of Orange County residents collects signatures to put a tough proposition on the ballot that would deny undocumented immigrants access to public services and education. You could say it was the first shot in today’s culture war over immigration. From Futuro Studios and Los Angeles Times, the story of Proposition 187 and how it continues to affect our culture and politics today. A three-part miniseries...
May 27, 2022•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this special collaboration with In The Thick, Maria Hinojosa and Julio Ricardo reflect on the mass shooting that occurred in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday. They process the heartbreaking news that an 18-year-old man opened fire at an elementary school killing two teachers and 19 children. They also get into the systemic issues of gun control, policing, and how this intersects with immigration.
May 26, 2022•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast From LAist Studios Oscar Gomez was a star of the 1990s Chicano student movement and then, unexpectedly, he died. A rattling event in host Adolfo Guzman-Lopez’s life spurs him to investigate Oscar’s death. To subscribe to Imperfect Paradise, click here .
May 24, 2022•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast There are two kinds of immigrants: the ones who don’t look back and the ones who spend their lives looking back. Miguel Macias has been both over the course of his life. “Limbo” follows Miguel’s migration journey after moving to the United States from Spain in 2001, when he was 25 years old. As we learn about the struggles that come with remaining connected to the homeland, and the life-long dilemma of whether to return one day, “Limbo” dives into the ways in which migration and depression inter...
May 20, 2022•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast If you’re looking for a sign to go get that tattoo you’ve been dreaming of — well, this is it. Tattoo and multimedia artist Tamara Santibañez believes that tattooing can work for anyone who wants it. The art form has existed for thousands of years, and it’s more than a tool for creative expression. In their book, “Could this be Magic? Tattooing as Liberation Work,” Tamara makes the case that tattooing holds deep meaning and even deeper potential: tattoos are a way to reclaim personal and collect...
May 17, 2022•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
