The Takeaway

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, more than 500,000 people are estimated to have fled Ukraine for neighboring countries. Amid the exodus from the country, a number of accounts have emerged on social media and in various news outlets detailing discrimination experienced by people of African descent, as well as other people of color trying to leave Ukraine.

Some have accused white Ukrainian citizens and border agents of racism, including forcing groups of Black and brown people to wait while white people board trains to the border. And others have said that border guards in neighboring nations have prevented them from entering.

To get a better sense of the racial demographics of Ukraine and how racism might be playing into the experiences of people of color trying to leave Ukraine at the moment, The Takeaway speaks with Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon, PhD student at the University of Pennsylvania Department of History who's studying race in Ukraine and Russia and book review editor for H Net Ukraine.

Throughout the month of March for Women’s History month, The Takeaway is joining forces with the Center for American Women and Politics to bring you the stories of Women Leading Locally.

We’re talking to women breaking barriers, shattering ceilings, holding office and holding it down right where they're changemaking directly touches lives. We kicked off this series with one of our partners in this endeavor, Debbie Walsh, director for CAWP at Rutgers University.

For nearly half a century, "racial discrimination in agriculture, exclusion from federal relief programs, and laws that preyed upon the economically disadvantaged" squandered the number of Black farmers from nearly one million in the 1920s to less than 50,000 today. 

President Joe Biden signed The American Rescue Plan into law in March of 2021 which included $5 billion for farmers to address a history of racial discrimination in the USDA and provide debt relief for farmers of color during Covid.

Not only have many farmers of color not received a dime, the USDA has sent letters of foreclosure to those farmers who are behind in their loan repayments. John Boyd Jr., Founder and President of the National Black Farmers Association and April Simpson, senior reporter at the Center for Public Integrity joined us to talk about farming while Black.

Here in the U.S., abortion access is under threat as state legislatures continue to pass increasingly restrictive laws. But that’s not necessarily the case elsewhere in the world. 

Across Latin America, there’s been a string of reproductive rights victories in recent years. Just last week, Colombia’s top court decriminalized abortion during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. Clad in their signature green bandanas, abortion rights activists gathered outside Colombia’s constitutional court in the capital, Bogotá, to celebrate the historic day. 

The decision follows rulings in Mexico and Argentina that have similarly expanded access to abortion. It’s part of a sea change across Latin America, which has historically been conservative on the issue of abortion. 

For more on this, The Takeaway spoke with Julie Turkewitz, the Andes bureau chief for the New York Times.

To understand more about Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision-making, we speak with Nina Khrushcheva, a professor of international affairs at the New School in New York and the great-granddaughter of former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. 

In many ways the Russian invasion of Ukraine is unprecedented, but there are other contemporary examples of war waged in urban centers with resisting populations. We talk with Earl Catagnus, Jr, about what we might expect next from both the Russian military forces and Ukrainian military and civilian resistance. 

Rashad Robinson is an American civil rights leader and president of Color of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization, which organizes campaigns and mobilizes supporters to make tangible change in communities and systems. 

He joined for our final, February installment of Black.Queer.Rising. a special project series we launched in accordance with Black History Month. It's a special project series highlighting Black Queer people's impact on American culture and society. Throughout the series, we interview Black, queer trailblazers and changemakers who are making an impact in their lives and in our world.

On Friday, President Biden nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the Supreme Court, making good on his promise to appoint the first Black woman to ever sit on the court.

Judge Jackson currently sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and is a former clerk for retiring Justice Stephen Breyer. The Takeaway speaks with 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,” about Judge Jackson’s experience and her path to confirmation.

For the next part in The Takeaway's series Black.Queer.Rising., we talk with New York Congressman Ritchie Torres (NY-15), who became the first openly gay Afro Latino lawmaker elected to Congress in 2020.

There hasn't been a large-scale war in Europe since World War II. Now it’s on the brink, after Russia launched a military attack on Ukraine.

In the weeks leading up to the attack, President Joe Biden imposed economic sanctions against Russia to deter military action. He also enacted measures aimed at hurting some members of the Russian elite, as well as barring Russia from trading debt in the U.S. and Europe. 

On Thursday, President Biden took things a step further, announcing yet another slate of sanctions against Russia and vowing to “hold Russia accountable” for the attacks. This time, the president announced sanctions on four of Russia's largest banks. That’s in addition to two financial institutions the U.S. sanctioned earlier this week. The U.S. and allies will also be imposing new export controls on Russia and further hitting Russian elites with sanctions. 

President Biden said NATO will be convening on Friday, where the U.S. and allies will be mapping out what comes next — though the president emphasized that U.S. forces would not be going to fight in Ukraine.  

For more on this, The Takeaway spoke with Paul McLeary, defense reporter at POLITICO. 

In Texas this week, Governor Greg Abbott issued an order to state agencies criminalizing gender-affirming surgery and medical care for trans youth. This decision followed an opinion issued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton earlier in the week stating that providing gender-affirming medical care to minors is considered child abuse under Texas law.

While Gov. Abbott is saying that gender-affirming care could be considered child abuse, medical organizations including the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics say there are long-standing and significant benefits for social, medical, legal and surgical aspects that assist transgender and gender-nonconforming young people.

We heard from Kimberly Shappley and her daughter Kai, about how this directive in Texas is affecting Trans youth and their families. We also heard from Andrea Segovia, Senior Field and Policy Advisor at the Transgender Education Network of Texas.