The Takeaway

Musician Bartees Strange broke out in the fall of 2020, when he released the album Live Forever to critical acclaim.

This month, he’s out with a new album, Farm to Table, which finds Strange celebrating everything he’s achieved, while taking his music in new sonic directions. 

The Takeaway spoke with Strange about his journey from a childhood in western Oklahoma to a career playing stages across the world.

The Supreme Court has issued its ruling in the much anticipated case Dobbs. V. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The decision has two parts. All of the court’s conservative justice ruled in a 6 to 3 decision to uphold Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks. In a second portion of the decision explicitly overturning Roe v. Wade, the court decision was 5 to 4, as chief Justice John Roberts joined with the more liberal members of the court. 

The outcome overrules Roe v. Wade and ends federal recognition of a constitutional right to an abortion after nearly 50 years. 

We speak with Kenji Yoshino, the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at NYU School of Law, and Melissa Murray, Law Professor at NYU, faculty director of the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network and co-host of the legal podcast called “Strict Scrutiny.” 

We speak with Planned Parenthood president Alexis McGill-Johnson about the ramifications of the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe vs. Wade and what reproductive healthcare organizations will be doing in the wake of the decision.

Even before the excruciating weight of the COVID-19 pandemic, poverty rates rose for the first time in five years. In 2020, there were 3.3 million more people living in poverty than in 2019. Poverty rates rose among white and Hispanic Americans, and for the 1 in 5 Black Americans already living in poverty, there wasn’t much room for the rate to go up. All were poorer in 2020 than the year before.

A package of pandemic-era policies stemmed rising poverty in 2021; however, many of those temporary measures have expired as consumer prices continue to rise, leaving many American families and workers economically vulnerable. According to the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University, the monthly child poverty rate increased from 12.1 percent in December 2021 to 17 percent in January 2022, the highest it's been since the end of 2020. Black and Latinx children experienced the largest increases in poverty rates.

This 4.9 percent increase accounts for the nearly 3.7 million more children living in poverty after the Child Tax Credit ended. The monthly Child Tax Credit payments "buffered family finances amidst the continuing pandemic, increased families’ abilities to meet their basic needs, reduced child poverty and food insufficiency, and had no discernable negative effects on parental employment."

"I think one of the core themes of my work–across multiple sectors and fields–has been a focus on poverty. And the fact that poverty is not an ordained or natural system or condition, but a system of policy choices," says Dorian Warren, co-host of our Deep Dives, co-president of Community Change, and co-chair of the Economic Security Project. 

The experience of poverty is even more widespread than the official definition tells us. Yet, the perception of poverty remains contentious for many Americans. Research shows that Americans overwhelmingly identify themselves as 'middle-class,' even when they’re not. Groups like Confronting Poverty have developed tools like the poverty risk calculator to help people better understand economic hardship and risk. Awareness is just one facet of the ongoing fight against poverty. The anti-poverty and low wage workers movement is leading “a national call for moral revival.”

 On June 18, 2022 the Poor People’s Campaign led a mass demonstration in Washington, D.C. Thousands of people from all over the country attended. Ahead of the march, we spoke with the Poor People's Campaign co-chairs Bishop William Barber and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Director of Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary. Dorian was there as well, both as an organizer and observer, covering the march for The Takeaway. In this Deep Dive, Dorian joins The Takeaway in critical conversation around today's anti-poverty and labor movement and the voices defining what economic, racial, and social justice can and should look like. 

"We were born this way" was the unofficial mantra of the movement for LGBTQ rights in the 1970s and 1980s—a counter to the idea that people "choose" to be lesbian or gay or bisexual or transgender. But the message raises as many questions as it answers. We speak with Dr. Lisa Diamond, Professor of Psychology and Gender Studies at the University of Utah, about how this language took root in our culture and what the science actually says about it. Then, Chase Strangio, Deputy Director for Transgender Justice with the ACLU, explains how "born this way" language became entrenched in our legal system's treatment of constitutional rights, and how we might strive for a world with more nuance.

Today marks 50 years since Title IX was signed into law, banning sex-based discrimination in educational programs and activities at federally funded institutions. The statute itself is only 37 words long, but that one sentence expanded educational opportunities for millions of women.

Before Title IX, many educational institutions set quotas for the number of women admitted, or barred them from access altogether. As a result, according to a Census report, in 1970, only 8 percent of women were college graduates compared to 14 percent of men. And according to the most recent census data, a greater percentage of current U.S. college graduates are women than men. 

The statute extends far beyond access and admissions – it applies to discrimination in classrooms and grading, extracurricular programs and activities, and sexual harassment and assault on school campuses. 

Title IX has also been used to protect LGBTQ students, too. Last week, the Department of Education issued a policy directive stating that Title IX protects against discrimination towards students on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

To get a better understanding of the legal framework provided by Title IX, we spoke with Chai Feldblum, long-time civil rights activist, scholar, and former Commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

And shortly after Title IX was passed, the law set in motion equity in high school and collegiate athletics – opening new opportunities for women in sports and attempting to level the playing field.  

According to a report from the Women's Sports Foundation, in 1972 there were about 300,000 women participating in high school athletics. In the 2018-2019 school year, that number was nearly 3.5 million…. And at the college level, the number of women athletes competing on teams rose. In 1972, they made up just 15 percent of college athletes. By the 2020-2021 school year, they made up 44 percent.For more on Title IX and sports and the gaps that still exist, we spoke with Donna Lopiano, the president and founder of Sports Management Resources, the former CEO of the Women’s Sports Foundation, and a National Sports Hall of Fame 4- sport athlete.

The 146th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show concluded late on the evening of the 22nd of June. Just under 3,500 dogs competed this year for the title of Best in Show at the Lyndhurst Estate in Tarrytown, New York.

Trumpet the bloodhound won Best in Show, which was the first time in Westminster's 146-year history that a hound took the prize. We speak with journalist Sarah Montague, The Takeaway’s Westminster Dog Show correspondent, who shares highlights and canine coverage from this year’s show.

Tangerine Records, founded by Ray Charles and now run by record producer and collaborator John Burk, released two new records of the legendary pianist’s past work.

Ray Charles Live in Stockholm 1972 includes concert recordings only discovered last year and A Message from The People has just been reissued in a 50th anniversary album. Burk joined to discuss the new releases and to share what it was like working with musical legend Ray Charles. 

Global food prices have remained close to record highs in June, in part due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. As the world’s fourth largest exporter of grain, about 20 million tons is sitting in storage in Ukraine without any efficient way to get it to market because of a Russian blockade in the Black Sea, which is preventing shipping containers from transporting the grain.

We speak with Ukrainian-American Anna Nagurney, Chair in Integrative Studies at the Isenberg School of Management at The University of Massachusetts - Amherst and board member at the Kyiv School of Economics, about the latest on Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian food exports, and how it is affecting global food prices and supply.

With average national gas prices hovering around $5, the Biden administration is feeling the pressure to take more actions that will lower prices and take some heat off of Democrats running in the midterms. President Biden is currently deciding whether to implement a federal gas tax holiday, which could decrease gas prices by roughly 18 cents, but could also be a bigger help to gas and oil companies than to consumers. We take a look at the economics and politics of gas prices. We speak with Joel Payne, former aide to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign and CBS News political contributor, and Denvil Duncan, Associate Professor of Economics at Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University.