In The Thick

Maria and Julio discuss the latest House committee hearing on the January 6 attempted coup at the U.S. Capitol. They also get into a commemorative coin that’s been circulating, which shows Border Patrol agents chasing Haitian migrants on horseback, and they reflect on the 10 year anniversary of DACA. Finally, they unpack the special election in South Texas, where Republican Mayra Flores won the congressional seat.

ITT Staff Picks:

• “If the coins are connected to Border Patrol agents, they could become the latest example of what immigrant advocates have said is a prevalence of offensive humor within the ranks, after Facebook posts making fun of dead migrants and lawmakers surfaced in 2019,” reports Hamed Aleaziz for the LA Times.

• Rommel H. Ojeda at Documented spoke to Dreamers who share that they are in a state of anxiety because of DACA’s uncertainty, and that the program is not enough.

• Mayra Flores’ win in South Texas’ 34th congressional district shows how Republicans have been working to flip the region, reports Patrick Svitek for The Texas Tribune.

Photo credit: AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File

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Maria and Julio are joined by Josiah Neville Bates, staff writer at TIME, and Gisela Pérez de Acha, an investigative reporter with UC Berkeley who focuses on extremism, to unpack the epidemic of gun violence in the United States. They talk about what a meaningful response might look like, the nuances of gun control legislation in Black and brown communities, and the intersection of policing and gun violence. Plus, we hear from Meg Juarez, whose father Luis Juarez was killed in the El Paso mass shooting in 2016, and Gregory Jackson Jr., a gun violence survivor and executive director of the Community Justice Action Fund.

This episode was mixed by Rosana Cabán.

ITT Staff Picks:

• “When people of color are involved in acts of gun violence, the assumption is we are to blame. We are living in the wrong neighborhood, or the violence was the result of criminal activity. However, it is our communities that are most affected and harmed by these tragedies,” writes Gregory Jackson Jr. in this piece for The Guardian.

• For The 19th, reporter Nadra Nittle chronicles the efforts of young women activists of color, who have become major leaders in the fight against gun violence.

• In his latest piece for TIME, Josiah Neville Bates writes about 11-year-old Miah Cerrillo’s testimony before Congress after surviving the shooting at Robb elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

Photo credit: AP Photo/Rich Pedroncell

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Julio and guest co-host Jamilah King, deputy inequality editor at BuzzFeed News, talk about the first public hearing on the January 6 attempted coup at the U.S. Capitol. They also get into the Congressional hearing in response to gun violence and the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde last month. And, they discuss the media coverage of a migrant caravan traveling to the U.S. through Mexico, and the upcoming 10 year anniversary of the DACA program.

ITT Staff Picks:

• In this piece for The Boston Globe, columnist Renée Graham analyzes whether the public will actually pay attention to the Jan. 6 hearings, despite their clear importance for American democracy.

• “Our security is a constitutional value, one that outweighs absolutist gun-rights claims by NRA lobbyists, or Oath Keepers, and other insurrectionist groups who hold their access to weapons dear for use in an imagined anti-tyranny quest,” writes law professor Thomas P. Crocker in this piece for The Atlantic.

• On the 10-year anniversary of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA, recipients are reflecting on the program’s limitations and an uncertain future, writes journalist Jeff Brumley in this piece for Baptist News.

Photo credit: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via AP, Pool

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In this special collaboration with Latino USA, Maria and Julio are joined by Camilo Montoya-Galvez, immigration reporter at CBS News. They dive deep into immigration policy in the United States and where the Biden administration stands on fulfilling campaign promises on immigration reform. They talk about the continuation of Trump-era policies like Title 42 and Remain in Mexico, and the detention and treatment of migrants and refugees seeking asylum. Finally, they get into what Democrats need to do moving forward to reimagine immigration systems in this country.

ITT Staff Picks:

• “A new Biden administration policy aims to expedite the processing of migrants who ask for humanitarian protection along the southern border,” reports Camilo Montoya-Galvez for CBS News.

• Aishvarya Kavi of The New York Times interviewed over a dozen people living in the U.S. with temporary visas. They are urging the Biden administration for a path toward legally remaining in the country after their visas expire.

• In this piece for Documented, Natasha Ishak breaks down recent immigration reform proposals and how they have stalled in Congress.

Photo credit: AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File

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Maria and Julio talk about the law enforcement’s mishandling of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. They get into the efforts to advance gun laws in this country. And, they talk about how the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general covered up reports of abuse by DHS agents under the Trump administration.

ITT Staff Picks:

• For the Texas Tribune, reporter Karen Brooks Harper dives deep into a Texas mental health program — which had not yet been extended to Uvalde — built to identify troubled students and prevent school shootings.

• “We must talk about why, even with all the money, training, weapons, and resources, the police couldn’t prevent, stop, or adequately respond to this tragedy,” writes Olayemi Olurin in this piece for Teen Vogue.

• According to an unpublished federal watchdog report, over one-third of Department of Homeland Security employees surveyed have experienced sexual harassment at the agency, Adam Zagorin and Nick Schwellenbach uncover for the Project on Government Oversight.

Photo credit: AP Photo/Eric Gay

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Maria and Julio are joined by Reema Amin, reporter for Chalkbeat New York, and Antonia Hylton, correspondent for NBC News and co-host of the Southlake podcast, for a conversation about how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted students. They also get into the conservative-led movement to ban books and bar classroom discussions around what they perceive as critical race theory. 

ITT Staff Picks:

• “The decline in mental health among teenagers was intensified by the Covid pandemic but predated it, spanning racial and ethnic groups, urban and rural areas and the socioeconomic divide,” writes Matt Richtel for The New York Times.

• This report for Five Thirty Eight gets into how anti-critical race theory bills are impacting teachers across the country, including reprimands and firings. 

• For NBC News, Matt Lavietes and Elliott Ramos report on the record number of anti-LGBTQ bills that have been proposed at state legislatures just this year. 

Photo credit: AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio, File

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Maria and Julio process the tragic mass shooting that occurred in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday, when an 18-year-old man opened fire at an elementary school, killing two teachers and 19 children. They get into the systemic issues of gun control, border policing, and how this intersects with immigration. 

ITT Staff Picks:

• “There are parents today scrolling through photographs of their children, realizing that there will be no more photographs of them to take. We cannot continue to live like this, but I fear we will,” writes Clint Smith in this piece for The Atlantic. 

• Mike Hixenbaugh spoke with a teacher in Uvalde, Texas. She was at the school on Wednesday and said it was the longest 35 minutes of her life, via NBC.

• Bindu Bansinath writes about ways to support the community in Uvalde, in this piece for The Cut.  

Photo credit: AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

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Maria and Julio are joined by Danielle Moodie and Wajahat Ali, co-hosts of the Democracy-ish podcast. They talk about the latest in immigration news, including the continued enforcement of Title 42. They also unpack the mainstream media’s coverage of the white supremacist attack in Buffalo, and the murder of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by Israeli forces. And, they reflect on the latest attacks on abortion rights in the lead up to the midterms.

This episode was mixed by Kieran Gannon.

ITT Staff Picks:

• “For a segment of Christians, the battle over abortion is just one front in a wider war to make America Christian again — by any means necessary. They are not pro-life so much as pro-control,” write Samuel L. Perry and Philip S. Gorski in this piece for The Washington Post.

• Much of the media coverage that followed Shireen Abu Akleh’s killing by Israeli forces showed a pattern of euphemisms, false equivalencies, and double standards, writes Jon Allsop for Columbia Journalism Review.

• For The Intercept, reporter Jordan Smith unpacks the repercussions of Oklahoma’s new highly restrictive abortion ban, which is currently awaiting signature by Gov. Kevin Stitt.

Photo credit: AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

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Maria and Julio react to the deadly white supremacist attack at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. They talk about the rise in mass shootings rooted in racist and anti-Black ideologies, and the culpability of right-wing media and politicians. They also discuss the primary elections held this week across the country.

ITT Staff Picks:

• In this piece for The Grio, David A. Love analyzes the ways that journalists and all-white newsrooms have failed in their coverage of the Buffalo shooting by refusing to reckon with the reality of white supremacist and racist violence. 

• “A question remains for those who still reside in this republic: What do we owe the deceased in Buffalo and all those who preceded them? It cannot be anything less than pursuing the truth and unveiling all the interconnected evils that led to their tragic end,” writes Esau McCaulley for The Atlantic.

• Ryan Cooper writes about how the results of the 2022 midterm elections could have big repercussions for key election administration posts, and the integrity of the 2024 presidential election, in this piece for The American Prospect. 

Photo credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke

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Julio is joined by Jason Wu, public defender at the Legal Aid Society's Harlem Community Law Office, and Tiffany Diane Tso, freelance writer, editor, and co-founder of the Asian American Feminist Collective. They reflect on the rise in hate crimes targeting different Asian American communities, and how to build community safety beyond policing. They also get into the opportunity for multiracial solidarity in light of the increasing white supremacist violence in this country.

ITT Staff Picks:

• “A year after the shootings, many additional attacks on Asian Americans have continued across the country, something activists view as part of the long tradition of violence and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders woven through the nation’s history,” by Frances Kai-Hwa Wang for PBS Newshour in April 2022.

• In this analysis of data from AAPI Data and Momentive, professors Janelle Wong and Sara Sadhwani found that “all racial groups experienced a hate crime over the first months of 2022 at very similar rates to one another.”

• “In interviews with more than a dozen community members — from shopkeepers to long term residents and elected officials — one particular sentiment coursed through the interviews: The systems that were supposed to protect people — from homeless people to the elderly and women — have failed Chinatown,” writes Lam Thuy Vo in this piece for Documented.

Photo credit: AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura

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