Into America

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Big Daddy Kane’s Lyrical Legacy Aug 19, 2021

Show notes

Before he was Big Daddy Kane, the legendary MC who broke out big in the late 80s, he was just Antonio Hardy, the kid from Brooklyn who heard something new coming out of the turntables at the block party. It was the sound of hip-hop coming of age, and Kane was coming up with it. Soon, he’d be writing his own rhymes and traveling to other boroughs to battle their best MCs.

Big Daddy Kane would go on to become one of the most versatile rappers of his day, with hits like “Ain’t No Half-Steppin,’” and “Smooth Operator.” He came up alongside the late great Biz Markie, and joined up with Marley Marl and the Juice Crew, establishing himself as one of the pioneers of the golden age of hip-hop.

Trymaine talks with Kane about those early days in Brooklyn, what he can offer today’s rappers, and what the forthcoming Universal Hip-Hop Museum could mean for Black culture.

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

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

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Freedom in the Final Round Aug 12, 2021

Show notes

Dewey Bozella was 18 years old when he was arrested for murder. It was a terrible crime: an elderly woman had been beaten and suffocated in her home in Poughkeepsie, New York. But Dewey had nothing to do with it.

Five years later, Dewey was convicted on flimsy, circumstantial evidence, and became one of the estimated tens of thousands of innocent people stuck in prison for crimes they did not commit.Black people are overrepresented in that group: they are seven times more likely to be wrongfully convicted of murder than whites.

Before he was locked up, Dewey had taken up boxing. And while incarcerated at Sing Sing Prison, Dewey turned back to the sport he loved, something he says helped save his life. He became the prison's light heavyweight boxing champion, and after being released in 2009, he began mentoring young people and teaching them to box.

He didn’t give up on his dreams of boxing, and two years after his release, Dewey competed in his first professional fight, at 52 years old. Trymaine Lee sits down with Dewey to talk about his fight to prove his innocence and to live out his dreams, and the lessons he learned along the way.

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:

Exonerated of murder, boxer makes his debut at 52
26 Years: The Dewey Bozella Story (ESPN 30 for 30 documentary)

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Don’t Mess with Texas Voting Rights Aug 05, 2021

Show notes

Texas State Representative Senfronia Thompson remembers when her grandparents had to save pennies so they could pay a poll tax in order to vote. Congress passed the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965, which outlawed Jim Crow restrictions like literacy tests and poll taxes designed to keep Black Americans from voting. But 56 years after President Lyndon Johnson signed that landmark legislation, Representative Thompson has found herself in the middle of another heated battle over voting rights.

This year alone, after Donald Trump falsely claimed he lost the 2020 election due to voter fraud, Republicans in 18 states have passed at least 30 new laws that restrict voting, claiming they are acting in the name of “election security.” That includes a law in Florida aimed at reducing early voting and drop box locations, and one in Georgia that would allow the legislature to take over local election boards and bans passing out food and water to people waiting to vote.

And then there’s Texas. Earlier this summer, Texas Governor Greg Abbott called special legislative session to pass a slew of Republican priorities, including voting restrictions. GOP lawmakers had the votes, but a group of Democrats pulled the only card they had left and fled the state to stall the vote. Rep Senfronia Thompson was one of them.

Trymaine Lee speaks with Rep. Thompson, who is the longest-serving Black lawmaker in state history, about why she’s risking arrest to keep up the fight for voters back home in Texas and to push for better voter protections nationwide.

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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Beyond the Fist: Activism at the Games Jul 29, 2021

Show notes

With COVID restrictions in place, the cheering section at this year’s Olympics may be a little quieter than usual. Still, the pomp and circumstance are still on display in Tokyo, as the world’s greatest athletes come together to compete.

But the global stage isn’t just a chance to display athletic feats, it’s also an opportunity for some athletes to make a statement. Several women’s soccer teams, including the US team, have taken a knee before matches. And before the Olympics started, American hammer thrower Gwen Berry turned from the flag after winning third place during the Olympic trials.

Berry and other activist-athletes other stand on the shoulders of people like sprinter Wyomia Tyus. In 1968, Tyus showed up ready to the Mexico City Olympics ready win. But 1968 wasn’t just about the games – it was a time of widespread protest, for Black Americans in particular. So Tyus used her stage to run in solidarity with other Black athletes.

Dr. Amira Rose Davis, co-host of the feminist sports podcast Burn It All Down explains why Tyus ultimately got overshadowed, in part because she was a Black woman; and because it was the same year as one of the biggest moments in sports history: when John Carlos and Tommie Smith raised their fists in the air after winning medals in the men’s 200-meter race.

Tyus says that she didn’t mind Carlos and Smith getting most of the attention that year. She understands her legacy and is excited to see Black women like Berry continuing to build on the tradition of sports activism.

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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8 Mile 4 Life Jul 22, 2021

Show notes

Sometimes discrimination is systemic. Sometimes it’s emotional. And sometimes, it’s made of brick and mortar. The Eight Mile Wall in Detroit, also known as the Birwood Wall and the Wailing Wall, was built in 1941 to separate Black and white residents in what is now known as the Wyoming neighborhood.

Erin Einhorn is an NBC News national reporter based in Detroit. She recently teamed up with Olivia Lewis, a reporter and editor for the local nonprofit newsroom Bridge Detroit to outline the creation of this half-mile-long wall, financed by one of the city’s most prominent families, and its impact on Detroit residents.

One of those residents is Rose McKinney-James, a clean energy consultant. She’s based in Las Vegas now, but grew up in Detroit. Rose’s grandmother, Burniece Avery, was a community activist who fought against the wall and other forms housing discrimination.

And they spoke with Teresa Moon, a retired city employee and long-time resident of the Eight Mile neighborhood. Teresa grew up with the wall literally in her backyard, and is now one of the neighborhood’s biggest cheerleaders.

Trymaine Lee sits down with Erin and Olivia to learn about the history of the Eight Mile Wall. And he speaks with Rose and Teresa about the legacy the wall left on their families.

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:

Read the NBC News special report by Erin Einhorn and Olivia Lewis: Built to keep Black from white
Documentary: A Detroit neighborhood stands in the shadow of a segregation wall built 80 years ago

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Righting the Wrongs of the War on Drugs Jul 15, 2021

Show notes

Ed Forchion, also known as NJWeedman, was a casualty of the War on Drugs, incarcerated on weed charges at the end of the 1990s. Across the country, Black people were disproportionately harmed by the War on Drugs, and in New Jersey, the ACLU found that even in the last decade, if you’re Black you’re 3.5 times more likely to be arrested for weed.

But now, voters have opted to legalize recreational marijuana in the state. And the move raises the question of whether and how Black people will benefit from this change.

Since 2015, Ed has operated a black market weed shop directly across from City Hall in Trenton. He opened the shop to protest to what he saw as unjust marijuana laws. And now, even though he could apply for a legal license, he doesn’t have faith in the state to equitably give access to potential Black sellers.

Dianna Houenou is hoping to change Ed’s mind. She’s the chair of New Jersey’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission.The CRCis responsible for deciding rules for recreational use, which businesses and how businesses will get approved, and how social equity will play into the process.

Racial and social equity was initially not part of the New Jersey legalization plan, but activists pushed for it, which led to an excise fee that will go towards communities disproportionality affected by the War on Drugs. The Commission is slated to announce how this will all work in August. While there is some excitement around the push for social equity, states like California and Illinois have proved that these social equity programs might be more about promises than actual help for Black sellers.

Trymaine Lee heads to the Garden State to find out whether New Jersey will be able to effectively prioritize social equity as marijuana becomes legal.

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.

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The Quiet Power of Preservation Jul 08, 2021

Show notes

When Brent Leggs started as a preservationist with the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2005, his first big project was to restore Joe Frazier’s Gym in Philadelphia. The late boxing champion’s former building was being turned into a discount furniture outlet. Brent and his colleagues knew the space had the power to tell a story of Black achievement and history, so they worked to restore he gym as a symbol of community pride.

Brent is now the Executive Director of the Trust’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. The Fund was launched in 2017 with the goal of preserving places key to Black life. These are the places that tell a fuller story of America, and Brent says that saving them can ensure that Black societal contributions are more fully understood. So far, the Fund has awarded grants to 65 historic locations and invested more than $4.3 million dollars to help preserve places like Nina Simone’s childhood home in North Carolina, Madame CJ Walker’s Villa Lewaro in New York, and Vernon AME church in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Earlier this summer, they received a $20 million dollar donation from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. So, Brent and his colleagues now have even more support to pursue what he describes as the “quiet power of preservation.”

Brent talks with Trymaine Lee about how he fell in love with this work, and he takes us on a journey into a few of his favorite projects.

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.

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Know Your History Jul 01, 2021

Show notes

Critical Race Theory. It feels like all of a sudden, this term is just everywhere.

White parents are protesting Critical Race Theory, falsely claiming it’s being used in social studies and anti-racist trainings to teach their children to hate themselves. Republican-led states across the country are introducing legislation to ban it from being taught in public schools. Fox News mentioned the term almost 1,300 times from March to mid-June.

But here’s the thing: almost everything these people are saying about Critical Race Theory is wrong. It’s not taught in K through 12 schools, it doesn’t say that people are inherently racist due to their genetics, and it’s not a “Marxist doctrine” that is “being deployed to rip apart friends, neighbors, and families,” as former President Donald Trump claimed last year.

Critical Race Theory is a way to study and scrutinize the intersection of race and law, that is primarily taught in law school. It’s a way of understanding how laws have embedded race and racism into our country.

It might be easy to dismiss this as just another battle in the right-wing culture war. But Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw, a co-founder of the theory, says the conservative uproar is much more alarming that that.

“When we start dictating what can be taught, what can be said and what it is, we are well, well, down the road towards an authoritarian regime,” she tells host Trymaine Lee.

Professor Crenshaw explains the origins of Critical Race Theory, and how this backlash mirrors the ugliest parts of America’s racial past.

Further Reading and Listening:

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Black and Blue Jun 24, 2021

Show notes

After George Floyd’s murder, police departments across the country faced criticisms of systemic bias and a failure to reflect the communities they patrol and so they worked to enact reforms. But diversifying efforts have been underway for years inside the Miami Police Department. Roughly a quarter of all officers in Miami PD are Black, which is a much greater percentage than the city’s overall Black population. Over the past year, Black officers have been pushing for even more reform within the department, from the top down.

One of those officers is Sergeant Stanley Jean-Poix, President of the Miami Community Police Benevolent Association, the second oldest Black police union in the country. Jean-Poix joined the force over 20 years ago with the goal of enacting change from within the department. He led a two-year fight against the former police chief Jorge Colina, alleging he oversaw a department that treated Black officers unfairly, and let racist cops slide. Colina resigned last year.

But can true change come from the inside? James Valsaint, a Miami-based artist and activist, doesn’t think so. Valsaint was born in Little Haiti, one of the neighborhoods that Sgt. Jean-Poix patrols. His interactions with the police growing up were not positive, whether the officer was Black or white. Valsaint got active following the killing of Trayvon Martin; he joined the Dream Defenders, who fought against Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, and later helped to organize actions in Miami following George Floyd’s murder. For Valsaint, defunding the police is just the first step on the long march to police abolition.

For these two men from Miami, the goal of reducing police violence against Black Americans is shared, but they see different paths forward. Trymaine sits down with Sgt. Jean-Poix and Valsaint for a frank and challenging conversation on the progress and limitations of police reform.

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.

DC Votes Yes Jun 17, 2021

Show notes

Saturday marks Juneteenth, when the last enslaved people in Galveston, Texas finally got word of their freedom in 1865. This came two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, which despite popular opinion did not automatically free every enslaved person. Washington D.C. was among the first cities to end slavery, doing so in April of 1862, months before President Abraham Lincoln’s historic speech. But many D.C. residents argue full democracy and freedom is still out of reach.

Saturday marks Juneteenth, when the last enslaved people in Galveston, Texas finally got word of their freedom in 1865. This came two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth is now a federal holiday, signed into law this week by President Joe Biden.

In Washington D.C., slaveryactually came to an end before federal emancipation. But today, many D.C. residents argue full democracy and freedom is still out of reach.

The city is nowhome to 700,000 people, nearly half of whom are Black. But despite living within arms’ reach of the halls of power, residents of the so-called Chocolate City do not have a voting representative in the House or the Senate. That’s because D.C. is not a state.

For years, activists have beenpushing for statehood; some hope to name it the Douglass Commonwealth, after abolitionist Frederick Douglass. In April, the House of Representatives approved HR-51, which if approved by the Senate, would make D.C. the 51st state. With the Senate Homeland Security Committee set to hold a hearing on D.C. statehood next week, statehood activists say they are closer than ever to achieving their goal. Democrats, including President Biden, are on board. However, with strong GOP opposition, the outcome is anything but certain.

George Derek Musgrove, a University of Maryland-Baltimore County history professor, explains that statehood matters because D.C.’s current status means it’s controlled by Congress. Residents can elect a mayor and city council, but Congress oversees the city’s budget and can block laws it disapproves of. Residents can’t dictate their own affairs.

One activist working to change this is 22-year-oldJamal Holtz, who grew up in southeast D.C. He’s one of the co-founders of 51 for 51, agroup of young people fighting for statehood. People often refer to him D.C.’s “future governor.” One of the people he looks up to is 71-year-old Anise Jenkins. Anise is the founder of Stand Up! for Democracy in DC (Free DC). She’s been fighting for D.C. statehood since the 1990s – before Jamal was born. Anise has been arrested nine times as she’s protested for statehood, and she’s excited to see Jamal’s generation carrying on the fight.

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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