The Takeaway

The recent derailment of a train carrying toxic and hazardous chemicals through East Palestine, Ohio, offers a window into the centuries-long history of industrial pollution in the Ohio River Valley region. This area, known for centuries as “coal country,” is transforming into a plastics production hub — with similarly devastating environmental consequences.

We're joined by Eve Andrews, an environmental journalist from Pittsburgh. Andrews recently visited the region and spoke with residents about how this past impacts their futures. Read her story for Grist here.

York, Pennsylvania holds a significant place in American history. During the Revolutionary War, it served as the temporary capital for the Continental Congress, and in York, the Articles of Confederation were drafted.  But today the city of 44,000 residents suffers from a high rate of poverty, crime, and gun violence. 

Host Melissa Harris-Perry recently spent time in York with Mayor Michael Helfrich and learned about the city’s efforts to interrupt violence through community based initiatives and to build economic strength through local, small business development.  Mayor Helfrich describes York as a city of second chances he shares his vision for how to make those second chances a reality. We also hear from Tiff Lowe, of York's Group Violence Intervention program on community based efforts to stem violence and support victims of violence.

For most of us, chickens are ubiquitous, mainly as sources of food. Yet we rarely know much about chickens beyond that, or even interact with them. Those that do quickly find themselves obsessed with these fowl creatures — like today’s guest, journalist Tove Danovich.

Inspired after adopting three chickens for her Portland, Oregon backyard, Danovich set out to report on the wide world of chicken-keeping, a journey that took her hatchery in Iowa, to a chicken show in Ohio, to a rooster rescue in Minnesota.

We speak with Danovich about her discoveries and the surprising ways that chickens changed her life, and the lives of millions of Americans. Danovich's new book is "Under the Henfluence: Inside the World of Backyard Chickens and the People who Love Them."

Last year, state lawmakers in Oklahoma passed SB 1369, the Oklahoma Healthcare Transparency Initiative Act. The legislation requires all healthcare providers to enter patient records into an online database.

Set to go into effect on July 1st, the measure specifically requires providers to quote “submit health and dental claims data, unique identifiers, and geographic and demographic information for covered individuals to the Oklahoma Healthcare Transparency Initiative”.

In advance of implementation, mental health care providers in Oklahoma are raising concerns about patient privacy and confidentiality. We spoke with Sabrina DeQuasie, a therapist in Oklahoma.

With a population of around 220 million, and growing fast, Nigeria is the largest democracy in Africa. After decades of colonial and military rule, Nigeria’s democracy is still young, beginning in 1999. 

Last month, Nigeria held its Presidential elections, and political veteran, 70-year-old Bolo Tinubu was declared the winner with 37-percent of the vote. However, opposition parties, as well as international election observers, have criticized the election, citing logistical problems, violence, and the slow publishing of results as problematic. 

We speak with Ope Adetayo and Ambassador Mark Green about Nigeria’s elections, and the state of democracy in the country, and more broadly, in Africa.

Original Air Date: October 13, 2021

Professor Christina Beltrán introduced us to the concept of political cruelty in Cruelty as Citizenship: How Migrant Suffering Sustains White Democracy, which reveals how white supremacy manifest as white democracy—a participatory practice of "racial violence, domination, and exclusion" that lends white citizens the right to both wield and exceed the law.

Progressive scholar, organizer, media personality, and co-president of Community Change Dorian Warren joined our host to discuss the ways we understand political cruelty. From Trump rallies to insurrectionist violence to the Haitian migrant situation at the border, our host and our guest make bold connections between power, civic engagement and domination.

Original Air Date: May 5, 2022

On February 13th, Christina Yuna Lee was stabbed to death in her own apartment in the Chinatown neighborhood of New York City. A college graduate and creative, digital producer Christina was just 35-years-old when a man she did not know followed her to her home, pushed his way into her apartment, and took her life with stunning brutality. 

This unthinkable violence against Christina came just weeks after the shocking killing of Michelle Go. Just 40 years old, Michelle was waiting on the platform in the Times Square subway station when a man pushed her in front of an oncoming train. 

The deadly crimes against these two Asian-American women occurred in New York, but the reverberations were felt across the nation. After Michelle’s death, Russell Jeung, a co-founder of  STOP AAPI HATE, spoke with FOX 2 in San Francisco and said, "I think in our community a lot of people are one degree of separation from knowing someone who has been attacked or assaulted."

From March 2020 to December 2021, the advocacy coalition Stop AAPI Hate received nearly 11,000 reports of hate incidents against Asian American and Pacific Islanders. It’s no wonder that many in Asian-American communities are feeling the grief and fear of living just “one degree of separation” from violence.

In her Nation article, "Sex, Death, and Empire: The Roots of Violence Against Asian Women," Panthea Lee, an ethnographer, activist, and writer, interrogates a long history of sexualized and gendered violence against Asian women. She finds the roots of contemporary anti-Asian hate are far deeper than Covid-era rhetoric.

And when Panthea found a 38-second video from the summer of 2020 in her own iPhone, she discovered she was less than one degree removed from Christina Yuna Lee, whose startling murder in February rocked New York’s Chinatown. 

It’s been two years since eight people were killed when a man opened fire in three different Atlanta-area massage businesses. Six of the eight victims were Asian women.

The discourse surrounding the mass shooting, from government officials to mainstream media outlets, claimed the motive of the shooting was unknown. But many people in the AAPI community scoffed. Pointing out that this hate crime didn’t happen in a vacuum– but within the context of a long and racist history. So, in the last two years, has anything changed?

We spoke with Phi Nguyen, Executive Director for Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta, and Georgia House State Rep. Dr. Michelle Au, representing the Georgia House 50th district 

Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse last week was the largest American bank failure since 2008, and sparked worldwide fear of broader economic impacts and drew comparisons to the 2008 financial crisis.

We talk to Aaron Klein, Senior economic studies fellow at The Brookings Institution, about what caused this mess with SVB, what federal regulators are doing now, and what this means for other banks, and the economy as a whole.

This week marks the 111th anniversary of the founding of the Girl Scouts of America.

Founded with the goal of building girls’ confidence, The Girl Scouts has introduced millions of girls to new friends and experiences they may not have otherwise had access to. While they might be best known for their cookies, the organization’s true legacy lies with its nearly 2.5 million girl and adult current members worldwide, many of whom are in leadership positions in businesses, politics, and their local communities.

We explore the past, present and future of the Girl Scouts with Meridith Maskara, CEO of the Girl Scouts of Greater New York. And we hear from listeners about how the Girl Scouts changed their lives.

For full transcript, see above.