Into America

Marvel’s Black Panther has always been more than a superhero franchise. Since the first film came out in 2018, the characters and their utopian home, the fictional African nation of Wakanda, have become ingrained in popular culture. “Wakanda forever” became more than a line from a movie — it transformed into shorthand for Black pride and excellence. Now, the long-awaited sequel, Black Panther: Wak...

The morning after Election Day, results were still being counted and analyzed from the 2022 midterms . It seemed likely that Republicans would control the House, but without the “red wave” many analysts were predicting.  Into America host Trymaine Lee spent Election Day, Tuesday November 8th, in Atlanta, Georgia. He spoke to people who waited in line vote, hoping to make their mark, after Republic...

Midterm elections are critical junctures for Black America, moments in time that have transformed the wellbeing of the community — for better or worse. In 1962, the Democrats’ strong showing helped pave the way for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Backlash to President Clinton brought the Republican Revolution of 1994, which led to the Welfare Reform Act of 1996. And in 2010, President...

When someone in the Black community dies, we honor them with vibrant, spiritual homegoings and repasts as a celebration of their life. That’s because honoring someone in death is a reflection of how we loved them in life. This Fall, as the weather gets cooler and calls for introspection, and as some cultures celebrate Day of the Dead and All Souls Day, we’re looking to the Black burial and mournin...

Comedy is an art form that consistently provides some of the most insightful social commentary to be found. When the best comics get on stage, they shine a light on the darker, often uncomfortable, parts of our collective psyche, in the process opening a door for discussion.  W. Kamau Bell is a comedian who has used his art to highlight our country’s complicated relationship with race. And his CNN...

On the final stop of our HBCU tour on The Power of the Black Vote, we travel to Atlanta, home of three of the most prestigious historically Black colleges and universities: Spelman, Morehouse, and Clark Atlanta, to talk with HBCU students about the Black youth vote.  Georgia has always played a significant role in the fight for voting rights in this country. And when Stacey Abrams lost her race fo...

Despite being the Blackest state in the country, Mississippi has little Black political representation; and the state’s policies have been hostile to its predominately Black capital city of Jackson. But in the face of the state’s political neglect, Black people have never stopped fighting to make their communities stronger. During the Civil Rights Movement, Mississippi was ground zero for activism...

At one point, Florida’s Apalachee Bay was dominating the seafood industry, but over the years it has experienced a sharp decline from climate change and environmental destruction. When a local oyster farmer took notice, he connected with his friends at the historically Black college, Florida A&M University, for help.  FAMU has a long history of environmental stewardship, and leading environmental...

As a bonus for Into America listeners, Trymaine joins Chris Hayes on Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast to catch up on life, the latest news, and what’s to come in the midterm elections. Plus, Chris gets an inside look at the new Into America series “The Power of the Black Vote.”  Listen to the full episode now. And check out more Why Is This Happening? wherever you get your podcasts....

As the country gears up for the midterm elections, Into America is traveling to different HBCUs across the South for a special series called, “The Power of the Black Vote.” We’re talking to young Black voters about how they’re shaping America, and about the issues that matter to them the most. This week, we travel to Durham’s North Carolina Central University to discuss how the student debt crisis...

For the next few months, as the country gears up for the midterm elections, Into America is traveling to different HBCUs across the South for a special series called, “The Power of the Black Vote” to talk to young Black voters about the power of the Black vote in shaping America, and the issues that matter to them the most.  To jump-start our series, we travel to Texas Southern University. The sta...

Last month a new charter school opened on San Antonio’s East Side. Essence Preparatory Public School was founded with a specific mission: to serve the Black and brown children that the public school system was consistently failing, developing those children into leaders for their community. But as Essence Prep made its way throughTexas’s charter approval process, they were drawn into the state’s b...

Family legacy is a recurring theme here at Into America. We’ve spoken with the great-grandson of Civil War hero and Reconstruction-era politician Robert Smalls, the grandson of the ground-breaking historian and archivist Arturo Schomburg, and the son of Pan-Africanist leader Marcus Garvey .  But when you are the daughters of some of the most famous men of the 20th century, that legacy comes with e...

In the spirit of summer family reunions, we’re revisiting our episode “ Black Joy in the Summertime ” -- a conversation with William Pickens III, who grew up spending the summers in Sag Harbor Hills , one of the three small communities on Long Island, New York nicknamed the Black Hamptons. Mr. Pickens, who passed away in September 2021, talked to Trymaine Lee about the traditions and legacy of sum...

The last time writer Damon Young was on Into America was back in the summer of 2020. He spoke about his New York Times op-ed, “Yeah, Let’s Not Talk About Race––Unless You Pay Me” where he talked about the awkward and sometimes inappropriate questions he was often asked about race. Well, now he is getting paid with his new advice column, “Ask Damon,” in the Washington Post where readers can ask him...

As climate change fuels an increase in natural disasters like hurricanes, wildfires, and extreme heatwaves, the threat is not evenly distributed. Black Americans are more likely to live in areas that are more flood-prone , hotter , and have worse air quality. They’re also less likely to have access to life-saving measures like air conditioning.  And even though President Joe Biden’s new $369 billi...

Black Americans have long been one of the most loyal voting blocs within the Democratic Party. And Historically Black Colleges and Universities have often served as an important site for Democratic campaign outreach. As the November 2022 midterm elections approach, what is this new generation of young, Black voters looking for in their elected officials and what are the issues that matter most to...

Incarcerated women have largely been left out of the conversation when it comes to abortion rights, but they are often the one who suffer the most. Prior to the overturning of Roe v. Wade pregnant people behind bars already faced limited access to abortions. And it’s Black women who bear the brunt of mass incarceration: they are imprisoned at almost twice the rate of white women. This week, Into A...

Tops Friendly Market has now re-opened in East Buffalo, two months after a white supremacist walked into the supermarket with guns blazing. Motivated by previous racist attacks and the false and insidious“ great replacement theory ,” the shooter live-streamed his killing spree, during which he took the lives of ten members of Buffalo’s Black community. The victims included parents, the elderly, a...

Lance Stevens was standing outside his home in his calm Indianapolis neighborhood with his mother, Kim Tillman, as she dropped off the two young grandkids from a weekend at her house, when a stranger with a gun changed their lives in an instant.   Lance was shot in the leg and another bullet grazed the side of his head, while his mother received the brunt of the gunfire: she was shot in the chest...

There’s a prevailing narrative within our society when it comes to Black men, one which was spelled out in detail more than fifty years ago, but which continues to sit right at home in our country’s family of stereotypes about Blackness. The narrative goes that Black men don’t stick around to parent the children we father. Shaka Senghor is out to change that narrative. His most recent book, Letter...

“Freaknik in many ways is what Woodstock was for white people,” explains Dr. Maurice Hobson. Hobson is an historian at Georgia State University and former Freaknik attendee.  Freaknik was a legendary street party that started in Atlanta back in the early 80s. For more than 15 years, young Black people from all around the country flooded the parks and streets of Atlanta every third weekend in April...

Selma, Alabama was at the heart of the Civil Rights Movement. It was here in 1965 that Black protesters were chased and beaten during a march that would become known as Bloody Sunday . And today, that fight for Black liberation continues in Selma with Quentin Bell, the executive director of the Knights and Orchids Society , a nonprofit group that supports Black queer people who are facing housing...

More than ten years ago , Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teen, was fatally shot in a gated neighborhood in Florida while on his way back to their home from a local convenience store. Martin's death -- and his shooter's acquittal -- would go on to spark a new generation of protests and global attention on police and citizen violence against Black people.  In the wake of this renewed energy around...

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...