Maria and Julio are joined by Elie Mystal, justice correspondent at The Nation, for a conversation about the latest on voting rights and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. They unpack the whitewashing of Dr. King’s words, what he stood for, and how to meaningfully honor his work.

ITT Staff Picks:

Photo credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

Maria and Julio talk about the latest on federal voting rights legislation, a devastating fire in the Bronx, and give an update on grassroots organizing in New York City. They also reflect on the growing number of non-white NPR hosts who have recently left the network.  ITT Staff Picks: - President Biden gave a strong speech on voting rights and filibuster reform, but it’s unlikely to make meaningful legislative change, reports Li Zhou for Vox.  - This post from Epicenter NYC, a community journalism initiative founded by S. Mitra Kalita, lists ways to help out those affected by the Bronx fire.  - Former NPR host Audie Cornish is among the latest to leave the media outlet, joining part in what is being known as “The Great Resignation,” with a majority of women of color leaving their employment, reports Alexandra Jane for The Root.  Photo Credit: AP Photo/Patrick Semansky  

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Maria is joined by Abdullah Shihipar, public health researcher at the People, Place & Health Collective at Brown University, and Jessica Malaty Rivera, infectious disease epidemiologist and a senior adviser at the Pandemic Prevention Institute. They break down the latest on the COVID-19 surge, including guidance on the new Omicron variant, and how capitalism is influencing the CDC’s shifting public health response. They also talk about ways to protect the most vulnerable, and what a post-pandemic world might look like.  ITT Staff Picks: - For The Marshall Project, reporters Beth Schwartzapfel and Keri Blakinger warn about what the latest omicron-driven COVID-19 surge could look like in jails and prisons, many of which are already experiencing staffing shortages, vaccine hesitancy, and overcrowding.  - “In the US, we are so accustomed to paying out of pocket for essential health care that when it is provided for free, it is a foreign concept,” writes Abdullah Shihipar in this piece for The Nation on how a lack of universal health care coverage has aggravated the pandemic in the US. - Aaron Short writes about the brutal toll of pandemic-induced burnout and staffing shortages on the nursing industry in this piece for New York Magazine.  Photo credit: AP Photo/David Dermer, File  

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Maria and Julio reflect on the one-year anniversary of the January 6th insurrection. They get into President Biden’s remarks this week and what accountability looks like for the attack. We also hear from Renée Graham, opinion columnist at the Boston Globe, about the language surrounding the attack and how local extremist movements have expanded in the year since.  ITT Staff Picks: - “It’s infuriating when someone in the media or a pundit insists on calling Jan. 6 a riot. What millions witnessed live at the U.S. Capitol was not a protest spurred by passions that spontaneously combusted,” writes Renée Graham for the Boston Globe. - Elie Mystal writes about the implications of attorney general Merrick Garland’s slow-moving prosecution of participants of the January 6 insurrection in this piece for The Nation. - In this piece for Vice, Tess Owen reports on the evolving tactics of the Proud Boys, a far-right neo-fascist gang, in the year following the Capitol insurrection.  Photo credit: AP Photo/John Minchillo, File  

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Maria and Julio are joined by Jelani Cobb, staff writer at the New Yorker and co-editor of the new book “The Matter of Black Lives: Writing from the New Yorker.” They reflect on the history and legacy of the Black Lives Matter movement. They also unpack the latest in attacks on voting rights in the lead up to the midterm elections, and the state of U.S. democracy as we approach the one year anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection. ITT Staff Picks: - As we approach the 10-year mark since the murder of Trayvon Martin, we’re sharing Jelani Cobb’s first piece in The New Yorker about his death and its aftermath. - In his 1962 essay printed in The New Yorker, James Baldwin writes about growing up in Harlem, his experiences with racism, Black people’s struggles in the United States and the myths that white Americans cling to.  - “America’s political system is broken, seemingly beyond its normal capacity to repair,” writes senior correspondent Zack Beauchamp in this piece for Vox. Photo credit: AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File  

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Happy New Year ITT familia! In this special episode, Maria and Julio reflect back on 2021 and how they found joy throughout a turbulent year. They revisit some of the top ITT moments, from the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, where they spoke with journalists Jazmine Ulloa and Wajahat Ali to unpack the aftermath of it all, to the virtual live show featuring two Minneapolis-based journalists, which marked one year since the murder of George Floyd. To the roundtable episode the dove into white supremacy and racial justice with guests Elie Mystal and Michael Harriot…and much more! Photo credit: AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File  

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Maria and Julio are joined by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, historian, writer and professor at Princeton University, and Adam Goodman, professor at the University of Illinois Chicago, for a conversation about the deep-rooted history of white supremacy in this country. They discuss their chapters in a new anthology titled “A Field Guide to White Supremacy,” and also get into how white supremacy manifests in our society today, from the immigration system to policing.  ITT Staff Picks - In this piece published over the summer in The New Yorker, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor writes about the impact from the protests following the police murder of George Floyd in 2020. - “Americans are familiar with white-supremacist movements like the Klan, skinheads, neo-Nazis, and the Proud Boys. But they don’t seem to recognize white-supremacist ideology—the most venomous form of racist ideology,” writes Ibram X. Kendi for The Atlantic.  - For The Brookings Institution, Charles Kamasaki, Senior Cabinet Advisor of UnidosUS, writes about the history of immigration compared to the systemic racism we see in the system today.  Photo credit: AP Photo/Peter Dejong  

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Futuro Media is off for winter break, and Maria and Julio want to send all of you, our ITT familia, lots of love, light and appreciation during this holiday season. Be sure to keep checking your feeds, because we will be dropping fresh content for you throughout the break. And, we can’t wait to dive back into the latest news and political analysis in the new year.  Photo credit: AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda  

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In The Thick is excited to share a recent episode from Latino Rebels Radio, which gets into the remake of West Side Story from director Steven Spielberg. Julio talks to Erica González Martínez and Frances Negrón Muntaner, who are part of a new series from the Women’s Media Center called “Latinas are not in love with West Side Story. Here’s why.” Subscribe to Latino Rebels Radio wherever you get your podcasts.  Photo credit: Niko Tavernise/20th Century Studios via AP  

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Maria and Julio talk about former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s guilty plea for violating George Floyd’s civil rights, as well as the ongoing trial of former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter, who shot and killed Daunte Wright last April. They also discuss the latest with the January 6th investigation, as well as a new House bill to combat Islamophobia. Finally, they reflect on the legacy of author, feminist scholar, and poet bell hooks. ITT Staff Picks:  - The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports on the ground with the latest on the Kim Potter trial, including Potter’s expected testimony. - “Meadows is hiding what happened in the White House on January 6. It’s no wonder he does not want to testify,” writes David Corn for Mother Jones. - Marian Jones writes about bell hooks and her impact on Black feminist cultural studies and criticism for Teen Vogue. Photo credit: AP Photo/Morry Gash, File  

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