In The Thick

Maria and Julio are joined by Anayansi Diaz-Cortes, senior reporter and producer at Reveal, and Kate Doyle, senior analyst at the National Security Archive. They discuss Reveal’s new podcast series “After Ayotzinapa”, a three-part investigation into the disappearance of 43 students from a Mexican teacher’s college in 2014. They also unpack the role of the U.S. in Mexico’s drug war, and the human consequences of corruption.

You can listen to the full series here. 

ITT Staff Picks

• “It was evident from the beginning that state violence, including enforced disappearances, was a feature, not a bug, of this new war,” writes journalist Ryan Devereaux in this June 2021 piece for The Intercept on Mexico’s unsolved disappearances.

• Reporter Jeremy Kryt unpacks how collusion between police and organized crime led to the disappearances of the 43 students in Ayotzinapa in this piece for The Daily Beast from October 2021.

• This episode of Latino USA from 2016 dives into the context and immediate aftermath of the students’ disappearances in Mexico.

Photo credit: AP Photo/Claudio Cruz, File

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Maria and Julio discuss Justice Stephen Breyer’s decision to retire from the U.S. Supreme Court, and President Biden’s commitment to appoint a Black woman in his place. They also give an immigration update, and reflect on the heartbreaking killing of Mexican journalist Lourdes Maldonado López.

ITT Staff Picks:

• Elie Mystal, justice correspondent at The Nation, gives a detailed look into the potential Black women nominees for the Supreme Court.

• Medical advisers are urging DHS to expand protections for COVID-19, as cases have soared by over 800 percent in detention centers this year, reports Camilo Montoya-Galvez for CBS.

• “When someone kills a journalist or tries to silence an independent critical voice, the journalist is not the ultimate target. You are,” writes Katherine Corcoran in this opinion piece for The Washington Post.

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Julio is joined by Danielle Moodie, host of the show Woke AF and co-host of the podcast Democracy-ish, and Nathalie Baptiste, opinion writer for HuffPost. They reflect on President Biden’s first year in office, and unpack the latest on voter suppression and ongoing threats to U.S. democracy. We also hear from ITT All-Star Terrell Jermaine Starr, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and host of the Black Diplomats podcast, on the context behind Ukraine-Russia relations. 

ITT Staff Picks:

• On President Biden’s first year in office, Nathalie Baptiste writes, “it’s clear his to-do list has become more of a wish list,” in this opinion piece for HuffPost. 

• In his latest episode of the Black Diplomats podcast, Terrell Jermaine Starr speaks with Polina Sinovets, an international relations specialist, for a deep-dive into Ukraine-Russia relations. 

• In Texas, hundreds of mail-in ballot applications are already being rejected as confusion arises over the new voter restriction rules under SB 1, reports Alexa Ura for The Texas Tribune. 

Photo credit: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

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Maria and Julio talk about President Biden’s press conference to mark his first year in office, and they get into the latest on voting rights. They also discuss a new plan to resolve Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy and give an update on the COVID-19 pandemic.

ITT Staff Picks:

• For Latino Rebels, correspondent Pablo Manríquez reports from the Senate chamber on the debate over the John L. Lewis Voting Rights Act.

• “Pandemics do not end ‘individually,’ and vaccines aren’t meant to work only as individual protection,” writes Abdullah Shihipar in this piece for Teen Vogue.

• Nicole Acevedo breaks down the history, context, and next steps for the debt restructuring plan aimed at ending Puerto Rico’s nearly five-year-long bankruptcy in this piece for NBC News.

Photo credit: AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

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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:

• In this article for The Nation, Elie Mystal writes about what the late Harvard Law professor and icon, Lani Guinier, taught him about voting rights.

• “When Biden fully entered the battle, the other warriors were already bloody, bruised and exhausted,” writes opinion columnist Charles Blow about President Biden’s speech on voting rights in this piece for the The New York Times.

• “This holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., sees a nation embroiled in conflicts that would have looked numbingly familiar to him,” writes Jelani Cobb in this article for The New Yorker.

Photo credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

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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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