Into America

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Boston is Blacker Than You Think Oct 28, 2021

Show notes

Boston maintains a reputation as one of the most racist cities in America, despite its long abolitionist history and image as a bastion of East Coast liberalism. And in many ways that reputation is well-earned. From the city’s staggering racial wealth gap, to its violent backlash against school desegregation in the 1970’s, to racial epithets hurled at Black athletes to this day, there’s plenty of evidence to back up the assertion that Beantown is racist. But often left out of the conversation are the voices of Black Bostonians themselves.

Writer, historian and Boston native Dart Adams is on a mission to change that. Dart leads walking tours in the city, highlighting overlooked aspects of Black Boston’s past and present. He recently wrote an article arguing that Black Bostonians are caught in the middle of the debate over their city’s racism. At home they face erasure in Boston’s media landscape, as well as the injustices that Black folks everywhere navigate in dealing with systemic racism. But they also face friendly fire from Black folks outside the city when they try to bring a level of nuance to the conversation which outsiders lack.

This week on Into America, Dart Adams gives Trymaine Lee an insider’s view of Black Boston, from the city’s rich musical history to its role as home to some of the greatest Black leaders in civil rights history during their formative years. He also gives us a sense of what it’s like to love a city that doesn’t always love you back.

For a transcript, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/intoamerica.

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at intoamerica@nbcuni.com.

Further Reading and Listening:

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Jazmine Sullivan’s Fight Against Breast Cancer Oct 21, 2021

Show notes

BET’s Album of the Year winner Jazmine Sullivan is one of the biggest names in R&B music, but her world stopped back in 2019 when she found out her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Sullivan turned from singing, to taking care of her mom. And over time, she started learning about the racial disparities with disease, like the fact that Black women in the US are 40% more likely to die from breast cancer than white women.

Since then, Sullivan has been using her platform to start conversations about health with her fans; and she’s partnering with a new initiative called More Than Just Words-- a campaign aimed at helping Black women recognize the signs of breast cancer, get early screenings, and arm them with the tools to have tough conversations with their doctors.

On this week’s episode of Into America, Sullivan sits down with Trymaine Lee to talk about her mother’s breast cancer diagnosis, the journey to recovery, and how Sullivan is using her own experience to help Black women prioritize their health.

For a transcript, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/intoamerica.

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at intoamerica@nbcuni.com.

Further Reading and Viewing:

To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts.

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Inside a Texas Abortion Clinic Oct 14, 2021

Show notes

On August 31st, Marva Sadler stood outside the Whole Women’s Health abortion clinic in Fort Worth, Texas, and vowed to help as many people as she could before the end of the day. Along with a small staff, Sadler and a physician performed 67 abortions before midnight. The next day, the nation’s strictest abortion ban went into effect.

The law, known as SB-8, bans nearly all abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected, typically around the sixth week of pregnancy, before most people know they are carrying. SB-8 is facing multiple legal challenges, but its authors designed it to stand up to a challenge before the Supreme Court, by moving the enforcement from the state to private citizens, who can sue anyone who “aids or abets” an abortion procedure.

So far, the bet has paid off. The Supreme Court let the law take effect in September, and while there’s been recent legal back and forth over the law, it’s still in effect today. In the past six weeks, many pregnant people have sought to get around the ban by crossing state lines or seeking abortion pills online.

On this episode of Into America, Marva Sadler, the clinical director for the Whole Women’s Health network, tells Trymaine Lee that this law will have greater consequences for Black people, who already face higher face higher rates of maternal mortality in Texas.

Michele Goodwin, a law professor at UC Irvine and founding director for the university’s Center for Biotechnology and Global Health Policy, says the law, with its vigilante nature, is reminiscent of the fugitive slave acts of antebellum America.

For a transcript, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/intoamerica.

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at intoamerica@nbcuni.com.

Further Reading and Listening: [[POD ONLY]]:

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The Tax Auction Block Oct 07, 2021

Show notes

With its luxury resorts and golf courses, Hilton Head, South Carolina, is a popular vacation hotspot. But the island is also home to the Gullah Geechee; descendants of formerly enslaved West Africans who have owned land on the island since their ancestors were freed.

However, every year Gullah Geechee families are in danger of losing their land to investors at Beaufort County's tax auction. If a family falls behind on its property taxes, the land goes up for auction; and that can happen for as little as a few-hundred dollars in back-taxes.

On this episode of Into America, Trymaine Lee speaks with Marine Corp veteran Joseph Walters Jr, who has come close to losing his land two years in a row. And Trymaine talks with members of the Gullah Geechee community who are trying to stop this cycle: Marshview Community Organic Farms owner Sará Reynolds Green, and Pan African Family Empowerment & Land Preservation Network founder Theresa White. Green and White are both part of a network of Gullah advocates raising awareness (and funds) to help people hold onto their land, and the culture that comes with it.

For a transcript, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/intoamerica.

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at intoamerica@nbcuni.com.

Further Reading and Listening:

To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Haiti’s Unforgivable Blackness Sep 30, 2021

Show notes

On September 19th, photographers captured a harrowing scene at the US Mexico border: Border Patrol agents, on horseback, chasing and intimidating a large group of Haitian migrants as they tried to cross into Texas.

The images sparked outrage, and President Joe Biden eventually condemned the actions of the agents. But since that day, the Department of Homeland Security has expelled nearly 4,000 Haitian migrants on 37 flights to Haiti — without giving them a chance to claim asylum — under a Trump-era public health rule designed to protect the US from incoming disease.

Nana Gyamfi, the executive director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, says that the administration is hiding behind policy, rather than standing up for migrants. And for people like Garry Pierre-Pierre, a Hatian-American journalist who founded the Haitian Times news site, it’s been hard to feel like he’s stuck between his adoptive country and his homeland.

For a transcript, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/intoamerica.

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at intoamerica@nbcuni.com.

Further Reading and Listening:

To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Locked in Hell Sep 23, 2021

Show notes

Two things are true. Texas is one of the hottest states in the country and climate change is real. Yet, Texas is one of thirteen states that do not have universal air conditioning installed in their state prisons. As climate change gradually makes the state hotter, prisons are forcing their staff and inmates to endure extreme temperatures with little to no relief.

LaQuita Davis, now released on parole, was one of those inmates at Lane Murray women's prison in Gatesville, Texas.It was there that she noticed it getting hotter in the prison. That led to many unbearable days and nights; to the point where she had to soak her clothes in water every half hour to cool down enough to sleep at night.

On this episode of Into America, Trymaine Lee speaks with Davis about her time in Lane Murray and how she made it through the Texas heat behind bars with no air conditioning.

He also speaks with Dr. Susi Vassallo, a Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine at NYU’s Med School, who has been studying the issue of heat in prisons for several years. She talks about the effect of extreme heat on the body and how prison populations are especially vulnerable to heat-related illnesses.

Trymaine also sits down with Amite Dominick, president of Texas Prisons Community Advocates, who for years has been fighting for legislation to bring air conditioning to Texas prisons.

For a transcript, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/intoamerica.

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at intoamerica@nbcuni.com.

Further Reading and Listening:

To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Celebrating Black Fashion Sep 16, 2021

Show notes

As a Black girl in Detroit, Tracy Reese loved making her own clothes and attending the famed Ebony Fashion Fair with her mother. Today, she’s one of the most well-known designers in fashion. Michelle Obama, Sarah Jessica Parker, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Oprah Winfrey have all worn her designs. But getting to this level wasn’t easy.

Reese is part of a long line of Black designers influencing the fashion industry, while navigating a world where they’re often underrepresented and marginalized. But Black designers, creatives, and brands have still found ways to break through the industry and push the culture forward in fashion.

On this episode of Into America, Reeses peaks to Trymaine Lee about her path to becoming a household name. And Lee speaks with J. Alexander Martin, the co-founder of the iconic sportswear line, FUBU — the first clothing line to integrate fashion with hip-hop culture, media, and entertainment. Martin talks about how he and his crew defied the odds by starting a mainstream brand that is "for us, by us."

Reese and Martin took very different, but parallel, paths to make it in the industry. Both faced barriers and pressures to conform, while ultimately learning to move confidently and strut their stuff to become the moguls they are today.

For a transcript, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/intoamerica.

Follow and share the show on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, using the handle @intoamericapod.
Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at intoamerica@nbcuni.com.

Further Reading and Listening:

To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Black Firefighters of 9/11 Sep 09, 2021

Show notes

Every September 11th, people across the country commemorate the emergency service workers and countless civilians who were lost on 9/11. This includes the Vulcan Society, an organization of former and active Black firefighters in New York City, who gather at a memorial every year to remember the 12 Black firefighters who lost their lives.

But many Black firefighters and the families of these fallen heroes feel these men have been overlooked and unrecognized.

On the 20th anniversary of 9/11, Trymaine Lee speaks with Kevin Maynard, whosetwin brother Keith was one of the firefighters killed that day. Kevin, who now works for the Houston Fire Department, talks about the brothers’ different paths to becoming firefighters, and his struggles with grief since Keith’s death.

Trymaine also speaks with Captain Paul Washington, the head of Engine 234, a majority Black firehouse in Brooklyn, who was the president of the Vulcan Society during 9/11. Captain Washington talks about how the Vulcan Society pushed for recognition of the Black firefighters who died, and their larger fight for Black representation in the department.

For a transcript, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/intoamerica.

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at intoamerica@nbcuni.com

Further Reading and Listening: [[POD ONLY]]:

To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Race and Education in an American Suburb Sep 02, 2021

Show notes

Over the past few decades, families have flocked to the affluent Dallas suburb of Southlake for its top-rated school system. But beneath the manicured lawns and gleaming fountains lie something Black families call “Southlake’s dirty secret."

Less than three years ago, two videos of white Southlake teenagers saying the N-word went viral within a few months of one another. The videos prompted an outpouring of stories from Black parents and students, detailing their own experiences with racism in Southlake. For a time, it seemed like the town was united in taking action to confront the problem.

Then came 2020. As the Black Lives Matter movement picked up steam, so did the backlash. And that backlash threatened to take over the town of Southlake.

This story — and what comes next — is the subject of a new podcast from NBC News called “Southlake.” On this episode of Into America, Trymaine Lee talks with Southlake co-hosts Antonia Hylton and Mike Hixenbaugh about how a group of parents and students tried to confront racism in their schools; but instead, got steamrolled by their own community.

For a transcript, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/intoamerica.

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at intoamerica@nbcuni.com

Further Reading and Listening:

To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Essential Kerner Commission Report Aug 26, 2021

Show notes

In the 1960s, America burned. Black communities’ frustration against racist policies, economic isolation, and police brutality spilled into the streets in cities across the country.Hundreds were killed, many by police, and cities like Newark and Los Angeles were left with tens of millions of dollars in property damages.

In 1967, shortly after the uprising in Detroit, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced the creation of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, to investigate the causes of the protests. It would become known as the Kerner Commission, for its chair, Governor Otto Kerner of Illinois.

The panel was mostly white, and all men. But what the commission ultimately found was damning. The Kerner Commission Report, published in 1968, found that white America was responsible for the structural and societal failings that led to the uprisings, famously declaring “white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it. And white society condones it.”

These words, written over 50 years ago, are still relevant today. To some, the words may even seem radical.

That’s why New Yorker writer Jelani Cobb decided to edit and publish a new version of the findings, called“The Essential Kerner Commission Report.” Trymaine Lee sat down with Jelani at a special New York Public Library event to talk about the re-released report, the discarded recommendations, and why the report is crucial to understanding America today.

For a transcript, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/intoamerica.

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at intoamerica@nbcuni.com

Further Reading and Listening:

To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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