Originally from Benghazi, Libya, Mohanad Elshieky has found in comedy a space to discuss and laugh about immigration, politics and white privilege in the United States. Maria and Julio talk with him about Hollywood, bidets and his encounter with immigration officers in a Greyhound. 

ITT Staff Picks:

• Mohanad's TEDx talk on being an immigrant and using humor to connect with people.
• “They Kept Repeating the Word ‘Illegals.'” -- The Willamette Week's article on Mohanad's encounter with the CBP.
• Mohanad is going on tour with the amazing Pop-Up Magazine. You can get your tickets here.

This episode was mixed by Jeanne Montalvo. 

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Journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones led a team of black journalists, writers and poets to create The 1619 Project, a deep and thoughtful look into the 400th anniversary of the beginning of slavery in this country. But a lot of the response has been predictably critical. Maria and Julio are joined by ITT All-Stars, Wajahat Ali, New York Times contributing op-ed writer and contributor with CNN, and Dr. Eddie Glaude, James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor at Princeton University, to discuss the significance of this project and its response. They also talk about the Antifa movement and Israel’s decision to ban Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from visiting.   Help In The Thick grow by telling our advertisers a bit about you as a member of the ITT community! Take this QUICK survey. 

ITT Staff Picks:

• Don’t miss The 1619 Project from The New York Times Magazine.
• Everything that went down at the 30-minute Proud Boys rally in Portland, from HuffPost.
• How the barring of Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from Israel is highlighting BDS, via The Daily Beast.For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy  
  

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From the recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Christchurch, New Zealand, to the Charlottesville car attack in 2017, it’s clear that white nationalists and the “alt-right” are not just living on the dark corners of the internet, but actually carry out deadly violence in the world. Maria and Julio talk with Alexandra Minna Stern, professor in the Department of American Culture at the University of Michigan, about her latest book, Proud Boys and the White Ethnostate: How the Alt-Right Is Warping the American Imagination. They discuss white nationalist groups and how misogyny and white supremacy are the underlying ideals that motivate them.

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ITT Staff Picks:

• Alexandra Minna Stern’s essay for The Progressive, about how the alt-right plans to take over.
• How white supremacist terror is becoming strategic, via The Atlantic.
• Read about the weird, dark history of 8chan, from Wired. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy  
  

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Maria and Julio are joined by ITT All-Stars, Terrell Jermaine Starr and Jamilah King, to discuss the surge in white supremacist and anti-immigrant violence instilled by the current administration, following the recent shootings in Texas, Ohio and California. They also talk about the latest state-sponsored attacks on the immigrant community: last week's largest single-state immigration raid in US history in Mississippi and USCIS’ announcements on cutting down immigrant benefits from all federal agencies.

ITT Staff Picks:

• ITT All-Star, Lulu Garcia-Navarro's article on the erasure of Latinos by the media after the El Paso shooting, via the Atlantic
• Why white supremacist violence is rising today — and how it echoes some of the darkest moments of our past, via Vox
• Gene Demby's latest for NPR's Code Switch that we mentioned, and an article from The New Republic that discusses the history of immigration in the U.S., including the 1875 Page Act and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 that Maria discussesFor information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy  
  

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Entirely situated within the 100-mile border zone, Michigan has the second-highest rate of ICE arrests in the country. This has had a huge and detrimental impact on Detroit residents, a city of immigrants. Maria and Julio are joined by Serena Maria Daniels, immigration reporter and co-founder of Tostada Magazine, and Sarah Rahal, breaking news and immigration reporter with the Detroit News, to discuss the impact ICE and CBP have had on Michigan’s POC and immigrant communities.

ITT Staff Picks:

• The U.S. was the only country he knew, but he was forced to die in Iraq, via Detroit Free Press.
• Sarah Rahal’s piece on Iraqi immigrants fearing deportation, from the Detroit News.
• Serena Maria Daniels writes about how she stays connected to her Mexican culture through food, via Hour Detroit. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy  
  

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There have been over 250 mass shootings in the U.S., averaging to at least one shooting a day, according to the Gun Violence Archive. After this weekend's two mass shootings, Maria and Julio are joined by award-winning journalist Bob Moore, and Cynthia Pompa, Advocacy Manager of the Border Rights Center at ACLU of Texas, to discuss the devastating impact of white supremacy and domestic terrorism in the Borderland. They also talk to Representative Veronica Escobar of Texas’ 16th Congressional District in El Paso to see how the community is coping.

ITT Staff Picks:

• Julio's latest with NBC News discussing Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric
• The El Paso shooter may not be charged as a terrorist via Buzzfeed News
• The victims of the weekend's mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, via Buzzfeed NewsFor information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy  
  

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Julio and producer, Nicole Rothwell, traveled to Detroit, MI this week to cover the second round of the Democratic Debates. In this ITT Sound Off #DemDebate edition, Maria and Julio discuss the highlights from how well (or not) the 2020 candidates covered racial justice, immigration and healthcare to what was missed completely. 

ITT Staff Picks:

• The seven things we learned from the Democratic Debates in Detroit via CNN
• Vox's piece on Marianne Williamson's awkward yet scary behavior
• Booker Bodies Biden, Bernie Gets Cardi, and Kamala Gets Clapped: 2020 Presidential Black Power Rankings, via Jason Johnson of The RootFor information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy  
  

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To emphasize the significance of black feminism, Maria and Julio talk with Feminista Jones on the release of her latest book, “Reclaiming Our Space: How Black Feminists Are Changing the World From the Tweets to the Streets.” They also talk about the influence of hip hop on women's sexual liberation, the importance of mental and spiritual health, and black women speaking out on their experiences with sexual abuse in the #MeToo era. 

ITT Staff Picks:

• The difference between White allyship and advocacy, via Vice
• The purpose of the #YouOkSis movement being stolen by white people, via The Grio
• Beyond Saviors: Black Women, Black Feminism and Building Better Political Discourse, from Ms. MagazineFor information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy  
  

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Maria and Julio discuss this week's news about Puerto Rico. After weeks of massive protests from the people, governor Ricardo Rosselló finally announced his resignation. They also talk about Robert Mueller’s testimony and the Trump Administration’s bringing back the death penalty.

ITT Staff Picks:

• US justice department resumes use of death penalty and schedules five executions, via The Guardian 
• The takeaways from the topics discussed during Robert Mueller's Testimony, via Vox
• The U.S must be held accountable for the mayhem in Puerto Rico, via Rewire NewsFor information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy  
  

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More than forty years after the Vietnam war, Vietnamese refugees are being deported under Trump's immigration policies. Maria and Julio are joined by James Boo, documentary filmmaker and managing producer of the podcast Self Evident: Asia America's Stories, and Phi Nguyen, litigation director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice. They discuss the historical context of the Vietnamese immigrant community and the political and civic engagement of Vietnamese Americans. 

ITT Staff Picks:

• Check out the Self Evident episode we highlight in this conversation: Hello, Freedom Man
• Why Asian Immigrants Are Uniquely Vulnerable To Trump’s Looming ICE Raids, via HuffPost
• Vietnamese Refugees face deportation under Trump Administration, via NPRFor information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy  
  

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