Under the Radar with Callie Crossley

A note to our listeners: We taped this segment hours before Boston Mayor Marty Walsh was tapped by President-elect Joe Biden to lead the U.S. Department of Labor. There are just days to go before President-elect Joe Biden takes the oath of office, as the country continues to navigate political upheavals from Georgia to Washington, D.C. What's the fallout from a historic Senate election and a sitti...

This is a special encore edition of  Under the Radar with Callie Crossley.  This segment originally aired on October 15, 2017. Intersectionality may be a buzz word in the news, personal essays and protest marches now, but it wasn’t a well-known concept until scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw developed and presented the theory in the 1980s. Crenshaw is  a leading scholar in the fields of critical race theo...

Thirty years ago, East and West Germany reunited after the fall of the Soviet Union. It was 1990, the same year The World Wide Web debuted, plus singer Mariah Carey’s blockbuster hit, "Vision of Love," kicked off her career. And President George H.W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) banning discrimination against millions of Americans in education, transportation, and...

A special one-hour edition of Bookmarked: The Under the Radar Book Club. Today, 'Saving Bookstores.' When COVID-19 forced shutdowns in March, independent bookstores saw an immediate 8 percent overall drop in book sales from last year. But soon Americans returned to reading and buying books. However, some bookstores were forced to close before they could benefit from the uptick in sales. Others are...

Boston’s Chinatown lost a pillar of its community this summer. MIT professor emeritus Tunney Lee, an urban planner, architect, and historian died in July of complications from cancer. Lee immigrated from China in 1938 at the age of seven. He spent his life shaping the growth of his Boston neighborhood, always working to preserve its history with an eye toward the future. Tunney Lee's research focu...

Schools shift back to fully-remote learning in Boston, while parents and teachers seek innovative solutions. Plus, COVID-19 cases continue to spike in the state, further straining healthcare staffing levels. And for the first time ever, three jurists of color will soon serve on the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. These stories and more in our Local News Roundtable. Guests: Gin Dumcius , d...

One million people now face hunger in Massachusetts. Coronavirus has forced a huge increase across the state of residents who don't know where or how they will get their next meal. Worse, the non-profit  Feeding America reports  that the increased percentage of hungry Bay Staters is greater than any other in the nation. While the pandemic fuels unemployment, more people than ever join lengthening...

We still don’t know who will be the next president of the United States. And it appears the outcome will remain uncertain as ballot counters in battleground states continue to work through counting the votes. Meanwhile Americans on opposing sides are issuing clarion calls from the street demanding that every vote be counted or that the vote counting stop entirely. President Donald Trump is suing s...

By now you've probably seen them, the signs — large, small, colorful or simply black and white — with the words "Black Lives Matter." They've become a familiar sight since the wave of Black Lives Matter street protests after George Floyd was killed by a now-former Minneapolis police officer. Since then, Americans, some who never protested before, have signaled their support for antiracism efforts...

LGBTQ rights advocates protest ultraconservative Supreme Court Nominee Amy Coney Barrett. Plus, Pope Francis’ vocal support for civil union laws for same-sex couples sparks an international reaction. And the Merriam Webster dictionary updates the definition of bisexuality. Those stories and more on our LGBTQ News Roundtable. Guests: Grace Sterling Stowell,  executive director of the Boston Allianc...

Historians call it ephemera: the ticket stubs and posters that often are just thrown away or put in scrapbooks. But there are times when the humble handmade sign becomes more than a personal memory — it becomes documentary evidence of a special moment in time. That’s why Smithsonian archivists started collecting the handmade posters and other materials especially created for the street protests fo...

New York City and Boston get gold stars for topping this year’s  City Clean Energy Scorecard . But even their high marks show great room for improvement. Plus, fires in California are devastating the state, and officials say there’s also a risk for fires here in New England. And, a Boston neighborhood fights for its trees: how a boulevard redesign threatens to intensify the damaging environmental...

The first presidential debate is over, but not the determined battle to win the Latino vote. Or is it the Hispanic vote? Or the Latinx vote, the ethnic identification used by most media? Our Latinx Roundtable guests weigh in on the identity label debate. Plus, from "The Land of the Cranes" to "My Papi Rides a Motorcyle", Latino representation in children's books is expanding because of the focused...

The animated 1998 film Mulan remains one of Disney's all time greatest hits. Fans greeted Disney’s announcement of a live-action reboot starring an all Asian cast with great excitement. But COVID-19 forced the film from the big screen to Disney streaming, and the film’s recent debut sparked controversy both here and in China. At a time when Asian Americans are being attacked publicly — and being e...

State primary elections wrapped up across the country this week. Progressives claimed multiple victories in Rhode Island, while moderates topped the ticket in Massachusetts. Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu officially announced her run for Boston Mayor with a trilingual hat trick. Gov. Charlie Baker has an historic chance to select the entire state Supreme Judicial Court. Plus, President Donald T...

In Rhode Island, a  review of police use of force data  showed out of "at least 8,635 instances where force was used from 2015 through 2019" ... "all but four [incidents] were deemed justified." Unprecedented high numbers of voters chose to cast absentee ballots this past week in New Hampshire’s Primary Elections, despite a pushback against mask wearing. And did COVID fears create a “second summer...

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day – especially for students. Beginning each school day with a belly full of a nutritious morning meal is linked to better performance overall. And yet, Massachusetts is ranked 33rd in the nation when it comes to school breakfast. But a bill passed and signed by Governor Charlie Baker this August seeks to change that, by requiring schools TO offer break...

Seven candidates are vying to win the Democratic primary for Massachusetts’ Fourth Congressional District. The seat, currently held by Rep. Joe Kennedy III, opened up in November when Kennedy announced his run for U.S. Senate. COVID-19 has made in-person campaigning difficult for these candidates, and for their would-be constituents looking to make an informed choice. That’s why we’ve invited all...

Eight candidates are vying to win the Democratic primary for Massachusetts’ Fourth Congressional District. The seat, currently held by Rep. Joe Kennedy III, opened up in November when Kennedy announced his run for U.S. Senate. COVID-19 has made in-person campaigning difficult for these candidates, and for their would-be constituents looking to make an informed choice. That’s why we’ve invited all...

Nine – that’s the number of Democratic candidates on the ballot to be the next U.S. Representative for Massachusetts’ 4th Congressional District. The seat, currently held by Congressman Joe Kennedy III, opened up back in November when Kennedy announced his run for U.S. Senate against Senator Ed Markey. COVID-19 has made in-person campaigning difficult for these nine Democratic candidates, and for...

It’s our special August edition of “Bookmarked: The Under the Radar Book Club” and we’re talking with authors who leave the spicy and sweet, the baked and fried, on the page in a mystery sub-genre known as food cozies. On the plate -- author Joanne Fluke’s Coconut Layer Cake Murders, Maddie Day’s Nacho Average Murder, and V.M. Burns’ “Motherless Child.” These mavens of full stomach fiction join us...

This is a special encore edition of  Under the Radar with Callie Crossley.  This segment originally aired on June 14, 2019. From "The Simpsons" to the 1983 film "Mr. Mom," pop culture is rife with examples of bumbling fathers. And while it’s fun to laugh at these fictional send-ups of charming incompetence, in real life, dads consider parenting just as central to their identities as moms. That's o...

Brands like Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben’s confront their racist advertising. Meanwhile, K-pop fandoms take to Twitter and TikTok to fight white supremacy, and Michelle Obama is launching a podcast. And movies like ‘The Help’ and ‘Hamilton’ take streaming services by storm, but face criticism for downplaying racism and representation. How is pop culture changing during the racial reckoning taking pla...

Massachusetts coronavirus cases have not spiked again like in other parts of the country, but COVID-19 numbers keep rising in predominately Latino communities. Here and across the country, Latinos are three times more at risk of being infected. Plus, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden ramps up his campaign’s effort to increase voter turnout among Latino voters. And why are Latinos clashin...

This is a special encore edition of  Under the Radar   with Callie Crossley . This segment originally aired on January 3, 2020. While more than 60 percent of American high schoolers go on to college, only 17 percent of American Indian students do. Those who do enroll often have a tough time coping with a lack of connectiveness and social isolation. That's why 25 years ago, a group of young native...