Into America

President Donald Trump has nominated conservative favorite Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg on the Supreme Court. Democrats are calling on Republicans to follow the precedent they set in 2016, when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to hold confirmation hearings for President Obama’s pick to replace Justice Antonin Scalia when he died eight months...

Louisville activist Hannah Drake has been fighting for Breonna Taylor since the 26-year-old’s death in March. As a speaker and author, Hannah helped elevate Breonna’s story on social media, and was part of an effort to push the city council to pass Breonna’s Law – a ban on “no-knock” warrants. The Louisville Metro Police Department had received court approval for this type of warrant in the botche...

With 41 days until Election Day, voters across the country are already casting their ballots. But in Florida, thousands of former felons can’t even register to vote. The problem? They’ve served their time, but they haven’t paid the court fees, fines and restitution – and that’s considered part of their sentence. In 2018, Florida voters approved Amendment 4, a ballot measure that would allow those...

When Ruth Bader Ginsburg accepted President Bill Clinton’s nomination to be the 107th justice on the US Supreme Court in 1993, she dedicated the moment to her mother. She said: “I pray that I may be all that she would have been had she lived in an age when women could aspire and achieve; and daughters are cherished as much as sons.” Ruth Bader Ginsburg spent her life facing discrimination because...

It’s hard to comprehend the scale of the wildfires burning across the west. Millions of acres have burned, thousands of homes and structures have been destroyed. Dozens of people are dead and more are missing. Hazardous air quality and apocalyptic skies have forced millions to stay inside. Climate change is a major reason why these fires continue to get bigger, more frequent, and more destructive....

People with mental illnesses are 16-times more likely to be killed by police compared to the general population. As deaths like those of Daniel Prude in Rochester, New York gain national attention, cities are looking for alternatives to using police officers to respond to mental health emergencies. And many cities are turning to a model called CAHOOTS run out of White Bird Clinic in Eugene, Oregon...

When the coronavirus pushed school online, discipline went with it. Educators have been handing out Zoom suspensions and other remote consequences to keep the virtual class a safe and respectful learning environment. And for those kids who are back in the actual classroom, there are new rules about masks, even about coughing and sneezing. Some experts worry these types of disciplines will have a d...

College football is a multi-billion-dollar industry. So even as coronavirus spread, most schools pushed forward with the 2020 season. But as the pandemic and the racial justice movement exposed inequalities across the country, college football athletes, who aren’t paid for their work and the risks they take on the field, started to speak up. Treyjohn Butler, a senior cornerback at Stanford Univers...

So far this year, we’ve heard the President of the United States say the only way he’ll lose his bid for re-election is if the vote is rigged. He's said he may not accept the results of the election. He’s even suggested that people vote twice. (That’s illegal, by the way...) We’re 55 days out from the election, and this year is shaping up to be a wild ride. President Trump is sowing the seeds of d...

Wynton Marsalis was born into a musical tradition. He grew up in New Orleans, home of the best jazz musicians around – including his father, jazz-great Ellis Marsalis. But Wynton Marsalis is a master in his own right. Back in 1984, when he was just 22 years old, he won two Grammy awards for his performances in jazz and classical music. In 1997, Marsalis became the first jazz musician to win the Pu...

Hip hop legend Bun B has been involved in activism in the city of Houston for a long time. So when George Floyd, a longtime Houston resident, was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis, Bun stepped up. He organized a march for Floyd that drew 60,000 people, and he hasn’t let up since, attending the March on Washington and recording a new single about this moment. On the latest episode of Into A...

Men’s basketball coach John Thompson, Jr was one of the greats. In his 27 seasons as the coach of the Georgetown Hoyas, he built a weak team into a powerhouse. Under his leadership, Georgetown won seven Big East titles and made it to the Final Four three times, even bringing home a national championship in 1984. He was the first Black coach to win the title. During his tenure, Thompson coached Hal...

The panic of COVID-19 and high-profile Black deaths like those of Breonna Taylor and Geroge Floyd have led to a rise in Black gun ownership around the country. A survey from the National Shooting Sports Foundation found that gun dealers reported a 58-percent increase in Black customers in 2020, the most rapid growth of any ethnic group. Twenty-four-year-old Jeneisha Harris is worried she could be...

On August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, D.C. More than 250,000 people gathered to hear Dr. King speak from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial that day, for the original March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Fifty-seven years later, organizers are taking to the nation’s capitol again. This time, they are calling the gathering th...

With 68 days until the presidential election, the Republican National Convention is underway. This year, amid national protests against police violence and racism, the convention appeared to make a pointed effort to reach one unexpected audience: Black voters. While many Americans are frustrated with the system, the Trump campaign has outlined a strategy to reach this crucial voting bloc. Black vo...

If you’re not getting your mail on time, you may not be alone. Cost-cutting measures from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy have created substantial delays in delivering mail in many parts of the US. And with many voters opting to vote-by-mail due to the pandemic, lawmakers are worried these cuts could threaten the integrity of the upcoming election. The House interrupted its summer recess to call De...

The Democratic National Convention—the first “virtual” one, due to COVID-19—has come to a close. Joe Biden has had his moment in the spotlight to accept the nomination for President, and Kamala Harris has made history as the first woman of color on a major party ticket. Over four nights, the DNC convention featured harsh attacks on President Trump and dire warnings about the future of American dem...

The vast internet conspiracy theory known as QAnon began in 2017 with a single post to the online message board site 4chan. The beliefs associated with QAnon range from the merely strange to the downright dangerous. Followers believe a ring of devil-worshipping pedophiles run the country and are plotting against President Trump, who they say is here to save the world. They say this Satanic ring in...

The 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified 100 years ago, on August 18, 1920, giving women the right to vote. But like many of the promises in the US Constitution, this was a victory primarily for white people. The suffrage movement was notoriously rife with anti-Blackness. So Black leaders like Ida B. Wells and Mary Church Terrell paved their own way, aiming to undo racism and win voting...

This fall, millions of American students and teachers will head back to school. In California, for most kids that will mean continuation of remote learning. Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond believes that, if done right, this giant online learning experiment we’ve all been thrust into could revolutionize the future of education. Dr. Darling-Hammond is the President of the California’s State Board of Educa...

The debate over whether to re-open schools doesn’t just affect kids. This summer, teachers have found themselves ensnared in a nation-wide fight over school reopenings. In Florida, the largest teacher’s union sued the state over its plans to re-open. In Michigan, teachers organized a protest to stop school buses from leaving lots, raising their voices and signs, pleading summer camps to stay close...

Joe Biden finally has a running mate: Senator Kamala Harris. The Senator from California is the first Black woman on a presidential ticket in U.S. history. Biden promised to pick a woman back in March, and over the past few months, calls for him to choose a Black woman grew louder. Harris is a moderate choice by Biden, a moderate Democratic candidate. She was District Attorney in San Francisco and...

All over the country, policymakers, parents, and teachers are hotly debating whether to bring kids back to school. President Trump and Secretary of Education Betsy Devos have insisted that schools must reopen, while major teacher unions are threatening to strike if schools reopen without adequate safety measures. But for more than 4 million American students, their back-to-school plans are sealed....

Last week, many Americans got their last $600 unemployment check from the federal government. In Washington, Congress is at odds over whether to extend those benefits. Meanwhile, unemployed Americans are now struggling to make do with less. According to an early study from the University of Chicago, two out of every three people qualified to receive the $600 extra would make more money unemployed...

Growing up, Joy Reid loved to watch the news with her mother – and even remembers staying up late to watch coverage of the Iran Hostage Crisis as a middle schooler. Along the course of her career, Joy’s worked in local news, as a press secretary for the 2008 Obama campaign, and written books on American politics. And she recently became the host of a new primetime show on MSNBC: The ReidOut, which...