In The Thick

In this week's ITT Sound Off, Maria and Julio talk about the results of Tuesday's elections and give an update on the latest with the impeachment proceedings. They also discuss the recent massacre of LeBaron family members in northern Mexico. ITT Staff Picks: What impeachment could mean for the 2020 election, via  FiveThirtyEight The Virginia elections show (again) that women are "electable", via ...

Maria and Julio travel to Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic, CT for a live show to discuss the state's immigrant and Latinx communities. Connecticut provides many protections to the  over 100,000 undocumented immigrants , but the community still faces discrimination. Our ITT hosts are joined by guests  Charles Venator-Santiago , associate professor with the Department of Politica...

Maria and Julio discuss a major step on the impeachment front that formalizes the inquiry. They also talk about the class disparities that are at the undercurrent of the wildfires raging in California, and cover the latest in immigration hearings.   ITT Staff Picks: Trump has received a formal invitation to be impeached, via  The New York Times Read Brittny Mejia's article about the domestic worke...

Maria and Julio are joined by All-Stars Wajahat Ali , New York Times contributing Op-Ed writer and CNN commentator and Aisha Moodie-Mills , a political strategist and CNN commentator. They talk about the latest in the impeachment proceedings and the 2020 election. But they also discuss international news from the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi as a result of the U.S. special forces oper...

Maria and Julio are back with another Sound Off! They discuss the civil unrest in Chile and how history is repeating itself. Plus, the latest in Trump impeachment coverage, and a new ACLU report that sheds light on how many children have been separated from their families at the US-Mexico border. ITT Staff Picks: - The latest on what's happening in Chile, via  Latino Rebels - How Trump's "lynching...

Maria and Julio travel to Three Rivers Community College in Norwich, CT for a live show to discuss addiction and mental health in POC communities. They're joined by guests Kelvin Young , sound healer and certified recovery coach, Kenyatta Thompson , senior community organizer at Katal Center for Health, Equity, and Justice, and Taylor Ford, statewide youth and family coordinator with FAVOR, Inc. T...

On this week's ITT Sound Off, Julio and guest co-host  Jamilah King  discuss Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney's surprise press conference and the Freudian slip that has everyone talking. They also discuss the fourth Democratic debates and the undercurrent of respectability politics with white versus POC 2020 candidates. And in Fort Worth, Texas, another fatal police shooting of a black person i...

For this live show from Cambridge, Mass. Maria and Julio discuss 2020 and the POC vote with guests IOP Resident Fellow  LaTosha Brown , award-winning organizer and co-founder of Black Voters Matter Fund, and  Renée Graham , associate editor and columnist with The Boston Globe. The 2018 midterms were the highest turnout rate for a midterm election in recent history, with voters of color turning out...

In this ITT Sound Off, Julio and guest co-host Jamilah King discuss the pivotal SCOTUS cases that could affect LGBTQ rights for the foreseeable future. Plus this week, CNN and the Human Rights Campaign hosted the Power of Our Pride Equality town hall where 2020 hopefuls answered questions on LGBTQ issues. Then, we turn to the latest news on the impeachment front and what's going on with China, the...

In this crossover episode, ITT airs the second episode of the new podcast,  Climate 2020 , a podcast that zeroes in on climate change as a top issue of the 2020 presidential election.   Impeachment has thrown a monkey wrench into the news cycle -- and the scandal has a climate change link. Hosts of Climate 2020, journalist David Gelber and executive director of Climate Nexus,  Jeff Nesbit  talk wi...

Maria and Julio are back with another Sound Off! They talk the latest in the impeachment proceedings chaos and how the media should cover authoritarianism. They also give an immigration update and discuss the conviction and sentencing of Amber Guyger, the Dallas police officer who shot and killed her black neighbor, Botham Shem Jean, last September.    ITT Staff Picks: Botham Jean, Amber Guyger an...

Maria and Julio are joined by senior reporter at The Root and ITT All-Star  Terrell Jermaine Starr  to discuss the whistleblower scandal that has rocked the White House. They talk about the viability of the impeachment proceedings being launched against Trump and the response of politicians from both sides of the aisle. Plus, they talk about the latest in immigration and how the mainstream politic...

In this crossover episode, ITT airs  the first episode  of the new podcast,  Radical Imagination , that's produced by our very own  Futuro Studios .    The U.S. once had open borders. Migrants from all over the world would arrive fleeing war, escaping poverty and seeking opportunity. Open borders made our country strong. But many Americans today are horrified by the idea of “open borders.” Harsh n...

Maria and Julio are joined by ITT All-Stars,  Feminista Jones , writer and activist, and  Jenni Monet , independent journalist and tribal member of the Pueblo of Laguna. They discuss the latest with the 2020 election and the erasure of POC and Indigenous organizing within the Global Climate Strike and the UN Climate Summit. They also talk pop culture and break down the 2019 Emmys.    ITT Staff Pic...

Julio and guest co-host  Jamilah King  sound off over the week's news about abusive men in power. They talk about the multiple instances of brown/blackface by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (and his ridiculous apology), the charges against wealthy Democrat donor Ed Buck for operating a drug house, administering methamphetamine, and battery; and the sexual assault and rape allegations again...

Human rights lawyer and journalist,  Gisela Pérez De Acha  and journalist with El Universal Mexico,  Melissa Amezcua  join Maria and Julio to discuss the recent wave of feminist protests in Mexico. They talk about the gender-based violence that provoked the demonstrations and how the AMLO administration has fallen short of their duty to protect women. They also speak about the new details that hav...

In this ITT Sound Off, Julio and guest co-host Jamilah King discuss the third Democratic Debate, which took place in Houston this week. Julio and Jamilah talk through Biden's confusing response to a question about the legacy of slavery in the United States, the reaction to an intense moment between Biden and Castro, and how the candidates successfully and unsuccessfully addressed issues from healt...

Julio welcomes ITT All-Star  Jamilah King  as guest co-host, along with  Andrea González-Ramírez , senior writer for GEN at Medium, and  Esther Wang , staff writer at Jezebel. They discuss Elizabeth Warren’s notable performance at the New Hampshire Democratic Party convention, the third Republican to announce his 2020 candidacy, and Trump’s push to meet with the Taliban at Camp David. They also ta...

Maria and Julio are back in the studio to talk about  a recent OIG report  that establishes the detrimental mental health impacts of family separation and conditions in detention facilities on migrant children. They also discuss CNN’s climate crisis town hall with 2020 candidates, the devastation in the Bahamas following Hurricane Dorian, and an ongoing story from this week about ICE agents openin...

  Maria and Julio are joined by  Abigail Leslie Andrews , Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California, San Diego to discuss her  latest book ,  Undocumented Politics: Place, Gender and the Pathways of Mexican Migrants . They talk about political engagement within undocumented communities and the dehumanizing impact of forced displacement and deportation of immigrants that she'...

Maria and Julio are joined by the journalist and feminist author,  Mona Eltahawy  to discuss her new book,  The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls . They also talk about #MeToo, the power of fighting back, feminist activism through hashtags on social media and the importance of women’s voice in defying the patriarchy.  ITT Staff Picks: Mona Eltahawy’s viral social media campaigns about sexua...

Since Ilhan Omar was elected to Congress, she’s faced consistent attacks from the GOP and Donald Trump, even as far as the president telling her and three other Congresswomen to “go back to their country.” These attacks illustrate the greater struggle of being a black Muslim woman in this country today. Maria and Julio are joined by  Shamira Ibrahim , culture writer on race, identity, and politics...

Originally from Benghazi, Libya,  Mohanad Elshieky  has found in comedy a space to discuss and laugh about immigration, politics and white privilege in the United States. Maria and Julio talk with him about Hollywood, bidets and his encounter with immigration officers in a Greyhound.  ITT Staff Picks: Mohanad's TEDx talk  on being an immigrant and using humor to connect with people. “They Kept Rep...

Journalist  Nikole Hannah-Jones  led a team of black journalists, writers and poets to create The 1619 Project, a deep and thoughtful look into the 400th anniversary of the beginning of slavery in this country. But a lot of the response has been predictably critical. Maria and Julio are joined by ITT All-Stars,  Wajahat Ali , New York Times contributing op-ed writer and contributor with CNN, and ...

From the recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Christchurch, New Zealand, to the Charlottesville car attack in 2017, it’s clear that white nationalists and the “alt-right” are not just living on the dark corners of the internet, but actually carry out deadly violence in the world. Maria and Julio talk with  Alexandra Minna Stern , professor in the Department of American Culture at the Univer...