The Takeaway

What’s the history and relationship between country music and Black people? That question and more is the subject of the new book, “Black Country Music: Listening for Revolutions,” by Francesca Royster. In the book, Royster writes about the careers of folks like Charley Pride, Darius Rucker, Tina Turner, Beyonce and Lil Nas X along with the white washing of country music to exclude black artists and how contemporary Black Artists are working to change that narrative. 

With far reaching implications for long standing precedent on issues like voting access, LGBTQ rights and beyond, the new session’s docket will likely remain as contentious as the last one’s. The Court’s right-wing majority is expected to continue leaning right on certain legal issues, drawing criticism of the institution’s objectivity.  We speak with Melissa Murray, Stokes professor of law at NYU, faculty director of the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network and co-host of the legal podcast, Strict Scrutiny.

With more than 48% of the vote, leftist former president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva didn't earn enough votes to secure a win over current far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who clinched more than 43% of the vote. Bolsonaro sewed the seeds of mistrust in the electoral system throughout his campaign, leading to some concerns of a January 6th style insurrection should he lose.  The country, split on issues like traditional and religious values, LGBTQ and Indigenous rights, economic and environmental policy and the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic will vote again in a runoff election on October 30th. Freelance journalist in Brazil, Ana Ionova discusses the election's outcome and what the next steps mean for Brazil. 

On Friday, in a ceremony at the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the annexation of four regions of Ukraine: Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia. These regions make up about 15-percent of Ukrainian territory. A map from BBC showing the regions Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed.  (Institute for the Study of War via BBC)   The announcement was resoundingly condemned as illegal and illegitimate by the the international community. A day after the announcement, Ukraine liberated the Donetsk city of Lyman, forcing Russian troops to retreat in another humiliating defeat in recent weeks. We speak with Ambassador Michael McFaul, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia and professor of international studies at Stanford, about how Russia’s annexation announcement changes the war, and what this announcement means for growing tensions between the U.S. and Russia.

It’s been nearly 10 years since Colorado and Washington became the first states to approve marijuana for recreational use. Since then 19 states have legalized marijuana for recreational use and nearly 40 states have legalized marijuana for medical use. In November, citizens in 5 states: Maryland, North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri and Arkansas will vote on marijuana legalization measures. We’ll talk about the states that have marijuana as a ballot measure for the 2022 midterms with Bruce Barcott, Senior Editor at Leafly, the World’s Cannabis Information Source. 

The new book "Brown Enough: True Stories About Love, Violence, The Student Loan Crisis, Hollywood, Race, Familia and Making It in America," is as much a memoir as it is a deep dive into what it truly means to be Brown in America. We talk with actor and author Christopher Rivas about how the language of identity fails us, the importance of representation and how to make space for non-binary thinking. 

After an 8 year hiatus, actress and singer Patina Miller has returned to Broadway this summer for the iconic role of The Witch in the play “Into the Woods.”  We speak with her about her time away from Broadway, her return to the stage, and how she's made the role of The Witch her own.  

There are record breaking numbers of LGBTQ+, Black and Latino candidates running in this year's midterm elections. Among the closely watched elections, like Stacey Abrams' second attempt in Georgia's gubernatorial election and the three Texas congressional districts along the southern boarder, many elections featuring diverse candidates like Cheri Beasley's race for North Carolina Senate or Odessa Kelly's shift to Tennessee's 7th Congressional District have flown under the radar of national political media. A panel of political strategists, Aisha Mills and Maria Cardona, discuss the elections they're following, the likelihood of a large demographic shift in Congress and the larger implications of more diverse representation.

Rikers Island, sits in the East River just across from LaGuardia Airport and its 10 jail campus is the main carceral complex for New York City. For decades, advocates and journalists have documented the dysfunction, violence, and deteriorating conditions at Rikers.   Now, new photos obtained through a public information request by Gothamist, reveal just how bad the conditions are, and the extreme neglect of some of the defendants held there. The disturbing photos were shown to hundreds of prosecutors in an August presentation prepared by the Board of Correction, which oversees and regulates the Department of Correction. According to a person who attended the presentation, it appears that the District Attorney’s Office requested this look inside the jail to make prosecutors consider the conditions at Rikers before making decisions on charges or requests for bail. And it’s important to remember, that a majority of the people detained at Rikers are waiting for trial, and haven’t been convicted of a crime. Defendants wait months, and sometimes years, for their court hearings.We speak with Matt Katz, the reporter for WNYC and Gothamist who requested and wrote about these photos.

Louisiana’s State Penitentiary, commonly known as Angola, is one of the largest maximum security adult prisons in the country. There are 4,400 prisoners at Angola currently serving life without parole in a state with the highest incarceration rate in the U.S. It is also notorious for its brutal treatment of prisoners. Last month, The Takeaway discussed Louisiana's Governor Jon Bell Edwards proposal to move teens from a juvenile detention center to a facility on the grounds of the former slave labor camp.  Advocates and families filed a federal lawsuit to block this move saying it would be dangerous for the teens and young adults, and a federal judge placed a temporary hold on the plan. Now, a federal judge has lifted the stay, and the state can now move ahead with a plan to relocate about two dozen incarcerated young people from the Bridge City Center for Youth to a facility on Angola's grounds. The facility is a building previously designed to hold adult death row inmates. The ruling allows for the transfer of children as young as 12. At a press conference in July, Governor Edwards said they would not have any direct contact with adult inmates at Angola, and would be housed in a separate facility, but parents and advocates remained worry what sending children as young as 12 to a maximum-security prison would only further the isolation and trauma wrapped up in childhood incarceration. We spoke with Gina Womack, Executive Director of Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children, and we also spoke with a mother of an incarcerated youth at Bridge City Center for Youth in Bridge City, Louisiana. Check out our previous segments covering Angola: Louisiana's Juvenile Detention Crisis. 

As Hurricane Ian batters Florida after knocking out Cuba's entire electrical grid Tuesday, more than 300,000 Puerto Ricans were still without power after Hurricane Fiona hit the island over a week ago. It's drawn parallels to Hurricane Maria, which devastated the island five years ago. With what could be the sixth costliest hurricane in the U.S., response, rescue and repair will likely dwarf support for Puerto Rico, which is still recovering from last week’s Hurricane Fiona.  Still languishing government response keeps artists and activists like Bad Bunny busy spreading the word about government corruption. Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny has been using his platform to bring awareness to Puerto Rico’s political problems. In the latest official music video from the Boricua reggaeton star, Bad Bunny cuts between his song “El Apagón” (the blackout) and a documentary.   The film, by freelance journalist Bianca Graulau, highlights the devastation caused by the displacement of Puerto Ricans due to gentrification and government corruption. The Takeaway speaks with Graulau about her reporting and her work with one of the biggest artists in the world right now.   

Megan Piphus Peace is the first Black woman puppeteer at Sesame Street in the U.S., voicing the character, Gabrielle. Megan began teaching herself the art of ventriloquy at the age of 10 when she fell in love with her friends on Sesame Street. While her previous career in real-estate development was a success, her passion and pursuit for puppetry remained. Megan joined the Sesame Street cast full-time in 2021, and will be bringing her spirit and musical talent to the voice of Gabrielle for the show’s upcoming season. We sat down with her to discuss what Sesame Street viewers can learn from Gabrielle.  

Pete Souza, was the former Official White House Photographer for President Ronald Reagan and former Chief White House Photographer for President Barack Obama.   We speak to him about his career documenting presidencies and his latest book of photographs, The West Wing and Beyond: What I Saw Inside The Presidency.  

Last Wednesday, draft papers were delivered to thousands of people across Russia after Vladimir Putin announced the country’s first mobilization since World War II. Tens of thousands of men are fleeing the country to dodge the draft. We’re checking in with Dr. William Pomeranz, director of the Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, to better understand what’s going on in the country.  

The Senate will likely pass a stopgap bill Thursday after West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin pulled his contentious energy permitting legislation from the package. While some House Republicans with inconsequential votes framed the bill as Democrat-led over-spending, Republican leadership is looking forward.  As the stopgap bill ends on December 16, Bloomberg congressional reporter Erik Wasson says the bigger budget fight will likely come later as Republicans hope to regain control of the House. He joins the show to discuss how the threat of a shutdown factors into partisan politics ahead of the midterms.