The Takeaway

A new investigation by Insider reveals flaws and failures of Facebook’s "Trusted Partner" program, which it heavily relies on in "Rest of World" regions which account for just 10% of Facebook's revenue. Trusted Partners are local NGOs contracted to provide local expertise and context to inform Facebook’s content moderation policies and practices. But Trusted Partners in Ethiopia told Insider that Facebook routinely ignored their recommendations and allowed hate speech that inflamed real life violence. We speak with Tekendra Parmar, Tech Features Editor at Insider, who led the investigation. Later we hear from Abrham Amare, whose father, Professor Meareg Amare, was murdered after Facebook posts calling for violence against him went viral. Amare and others filed a landmark lawsuit against Facebook last year.

During the past month, the new Republican majority controlling North Carolina’s state Supreme Court issued reversals of previous rulings on voting rights and overturned a trial court decision. These moves will have meaningful effects on the ability to cast a vote in the state and will have critical implications for local, state, and national election outcomes.  We speak with Ari Berman, National Voting Rights Correspondent for Mother Jones. 

The new investigative podcast series “Head Down'' explores labor trafficking happening within the U.S. government sponsored H2A visa program. It is sold as a “mutually beneficial” immigration program that allows migrant workers to come to the U.S. as temporary agricultural workers, but a close look into the program reveals a great disparity between how the program is described and what actually happens.  A recent investigation by Prism, LatinoUSA, and Futuro Investigates found that this program is rife with exploitation and abuse. The two part podcast follows the journey of Mexican farmworkers who soon after arriving in North Carolina with H-2A visas found themselves in a nightmare they were forced to escape. We speak with one of the podcast cohosts, editor-at-large of Prism News, Tina Vasquez. And while we’re on the topic of North Carolina, we also speak with Tina about the state’s recent move to ban abortion after 12 weeks. Listen to "Head Down": Head Down: Part I; Head Down: Part II

Original Air Date: March 3, 2023 As Americans faced soaring food prices, a proposed $24.6 billion dollar megamerger between Kroger and Albertsons was announced on October 14, 2022. These are two of the largest grocery chains in the country, accounting for more than 5,000 locations and employing over 700,000 people across its banner.  The United Food and Commercial Workers and Rocky Mountain Farm Workers Union- two of the nation's largest and oldest unions- are opposed to the merger citing its potentially monopolizing effects on the grocery industry and America's food system.  Back in 2015, Carol McMillian, a King Soopers groceryworker and a member of UFCW 7, remembers when Albertson’s acquisition of Safeway impacted her personally. Today, she joins us along with Dan Waldvogle, Director of Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, to talk about why they are a part of a broad coalition to ‘stop the merger.’ They spoke with The Takeaway about how this potential megamerger impacts some of America’s most vulnerable workers and consumers. Editor's Note: We reached out to a Kroger's Spokesperson for comment. If interested, read below. “Our proposed merger with Albertsons is about growing jobs and careers, and we expect the merger to create meaningful and measurable benefits for our associates. We will invest an additional $1 billion to increase wages and expand our industry-leading benefits starting on Day one following close, and we expect to provide new and exciting career growth opportunities for many associates. This commitment builds on our track record of supporting associates, including the incremental $1.9 billion we have invested in wages and comprehensive benefits since 2018. The Kroger Family of Companies is one of America’s largest unionized workforces and this merger also secures the long-term future of union jobs by establishing a more competitive alternative to large, non-union retailers. Kroger is a customer-focused organization, and our ability to deliver value to customers is rooted in providing lower prices and more choices. This is of critical importance to us, and we have a long track-record of investing in prices to lower costs, including investing more than $5 billion in lowering prices since 2003. As we have in past mergers, we will hold ourselves accountable to our customer commitments. This includes investing $500 million to lower prices starting on day one post close. With Albertsons, we will also offer customers a broader selection of fresh products and expand Our Brands portfolio to deliver more value without compromise.” 

Original Air Date: May 02, 2023 On Monday, another multi-billion dollar banking institution collapsed — First Republic Bank. Wealthy investors had been pulling out billions of dollars in deposits over the past few weeks, in a 21st-century digital run on the bank. Federal regulators seized its assets, covered $13 billion in losses, and sold it off to JPMorgan Chase. This is now the second-largest bank failure in American history, and the third significant bank failure of the past two months after Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. We discuss how this happened and what it means for the U.S. economy with Aaron Klein, Miriam K. Carliner Chair and senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution.

Jim Kenney was elected to the Philadelphia City Council in 1992 at just 32 years old.  After decades of service, he was elected mayor in 2016 then reelected in 2020.  As a term limited city leader, Mayor Kenney is in his final months of leading Philadelphia. We hear him reflect on his time as mayor, his efforts to address crime, and hear about some of the reasons why he is a proud Philadelphian.

A new study from the Brookings Institution reveals that Americans in four major cities — Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and Seattle — believe that crime is out of control in downtowns. But the data shows that that’s not the whole story. While cities post-pandemic have seen an increase in particularly violent and property crimes, those increases haven’t happened in the downtowns, but in the areas that have been historically disadvantaged and disinvested in. So what accounts for this mismatch between what people are seeing downtown and what’s really happening? We speak with Hanna Love, Senior Research Associate at the Brookings Institution, to find out. Love is co-author of the study, "The geography of crime in four U.S. cities: Perceptions and reality."

In March, the actions of a local church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina received national attention for all the right reasons. The congregation at Trinity Moravian Church partnered with an organization called R-I-P Medical Debt to cancel 3,000 local residents’ medical debt, to the tune of $3.3 million dollars. They bought that debt for just a little over $15,000 dollars.  Rev. John Jackman, the pastor of Trinity Moravian Church held a symbolic “debt burning” ceremony to mark the occasion, with confetti and hymns.  In 2016, John Oliver, a comedian and host of the HBO series Last Week Tonight, purchased $15 million dollars in medical debt from 9,000 people, that he bought for “less than half a cent on a dollar.” And some state officials, like Governor Ned Lamont of Connecticut, are currently proposing using federal pandemic aid to cancel billions of dollars in medical debt. Yes, these are happy stories of people working together to help their community members, neighbors, and even strangers.  But this is also a crisis. Millions of Americans carry the burden of outstanding medical debt – An investigation in 2022 by Kaiser Health News and the Kaiser Family Foundation, found that 100 million people across the nation have some type of health care debt. Kaiser estimated that in 2019 –  the total medical debt in the country was around $195 BILLION dollars. For more on this we spoke with Emily Stewart, Executive Director at Community Catalyst, a national nonprofit focused on health justice.

Last month violence took over Sudan's capital, Khartoum… it has now spread through the entire country and thousands of civilians have fled from the chaos seeking refuge in Chad, Egypt, and other neighboring countries. Despite a second 72-hour ceasefire, violence has continued. Nations, including the US, have evacuated diplomats and citizens from the country. The violence stems from a long rivalry between two generals. The fighting between the two rivals has resulted in attacks on healthcare facilities and the destruction of the Airport… Civilians trapped in the capital are facing shortages of medicine, fuel, and food and are unable to leave their homes without the threat of being killed.  To get a closer look at what is happening in Sudan, on Tuesday Morning we talked with  Lynsey Chutel, New York Times reporter from the Johannesburg bureau.

As if winning the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee and holding three Guinness World Records weren’t already huge accomplishments, now Zaila Avant-Garde is adding the title of author to her name. She stops by and chats with Melissa about “It’s Not Bragging If It’s True: How to Be Awesome At Life” which is out now, and the upcoming Children’s Book, “Words of Wonder: From Z to A,” which is out June 27th.

The recent death of Carolyn Bryant Donham, the woman whose words prompted the kidnapping, torture and brutal murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955, now means that the last person known to be involved in his kidnapping and murder…will never face accountability. We speak with Timothy B. Tyson, author of The Blood of Emmett Till and senior research scholar at Duke University, and Keith Beauchamp, an award-winning filmmaker behind the documentary “The Untold Story of Emmett Till” and producer of the movie “Till” about what Bryant’s death means in the quest for justice in Emmett Till’s murder.

Millions of American high school students take Advanced Placement Courses and Exams every year. AP Courses are standardized, college-level classes that students can take in high school, ideally exposing them to the depth, breadth and intellectual rigor of content they’d encounter in the university. But the author of a new book argues that these courses and exams are instead shortchanging students out of the liberal arts education that the AP was initially founded to foster. We speak with Annie Abrams, high school English teacher and author of "Shortchanged: How Advanced Placement Cheats Students." In response to a request for comment, The College Board, the nonprofit that runs the Advanced Placement Program, wrote: The great strength of the AP Program is the community of talented, dedicated teachers who care about their students and feel passionate about their subjects. We hear from thousands of those teachers every year, and their insights help make AP more effective and more inspiring for students. Annie Abrams' Shortchanged offers one, limited view, constrained by Abrams’ experience at a unique, highly selective high school. We find her examination of the AP Program not reflective of the experiences of the broader community of AP teachers and the students they serve. If she had consulted with any of the thousands of AP teachers educating across a variety of subjects, she would have found that students from all backgrounds can excel when they have the right preparation, a welcoming invitation, and a genuine sense of belonging.  Teachers choose to take part in AP because they find that it helps students engage deeply in subjects as diverse as English Literature, Physics, Art History, and Computer Science. Educators and college professors work together to guide AP frameworks, create and score AP exams, and make thoughtful revisions to course content as different disciplines evolve. The AP Program facilitates that large-scale collaboration between K12 and higher education, creating a uniquely valuable experience for students.  For schools across the country – urban and rural, large and small, well-resourced and economically struggling — AP provides a broad framework and a wealth of resources so that teachers at all levels can offer a college-level experience. AP frameworks are flexible by design so that teachers use their experience and creativity to expand and enhance the curricula. No two AP classes are alike, because they rely so thoroughly on the talent and commitment of individual teachers.  AP allows hundreds of thousands of students to engage in college-level work, regardless of the schools they attend. It offers an opportunity to earn college credit in high school, helping students and families save money, and graduate on time. We're incredibly proud to support the teachers who make that possible.

Original Air Date: April 25, 2023 Only days after passing a measure that could dismantle Diversity Equity and Inclusion programs at public universities and colleges, the Texas State Senate passed a bill that would ban tenure offers to new professors at public colleges and universities in Texas. The measure has been opposed by professors across the state who say that this is an attack on academic freedom. Senate Bill 18 now moves to the Texas State House. We speak with Dr. Karma R. Chávez, Bobby and Sherri Patton Professor of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies and Department Chair, and Sergio Martinez-Beltran, reporter with The Texas Newsroom. 

Original Air Date: April 26, 2023 The sitcom Abbott Elementary has become a weekly favorite among all ages in the world of streaming and binge-watching TV. The network series created by Quinta Brunson is a comedy at heart set at a predominantly Black elementary school in Philadelphia, but under the brilliant writing and jokes, is a political commentary about the challenges faced by under-funded public schools. In season 2 (spoiler alert!), the series introduces a new nemesis which is a charter school network – Legendary Charter Schools, along with the continuation of the artful slow burn of the “will-they-won’t-they” plot line between two young teachers. We recap the season with Jessica Winter, an editor at The New Yorker and also writes about family and education, and dive into the tension between public schools and charters.   

Original Air Date: December 16, 2021 The Takeaway community is full of book worms and literary lovers, so we spoke with some incredible authors about their work and some titles to look out for. Feminist AF: A Guide to Crushing Girlhood Co-authored by Brittney Cooper , Chanel Craft Tanner , and  Susana Morris, this book walks us through their tips for surviving girlhood with a feminist flair.  These Precious Days: Essays New York Times bestselling author Ann Patchett reflects on home, family, friendships and writing in this deeply personal collection of essays. Marley Dias Gets It Done: And So Can You! Author, host and executive producer of Netflix's "Bookmark," and 2021 Ambassador for the National Education Association’s Read Across Campaign Marley Dias speaks to kids about her passion for making our world a better place, and how to make their dreams come true! We talked to Marley about #1000BlackGirlBooks, her recent acceptance to Yale University, and how she's using her Netflix platform to expand engagement with books, reading, and ideas. WATCH: Melissa Harris-Perry & Marley Dias at ELLE Magazine The Takeaway Book Report: 2nd Edition Listen to the full episode here. Original Air Date: December 30, 2021 Our host Melissa Harris-Perry spoke with some amazing guest about the books they've been reading and writing. Guest in this episode include: Constance Grady, senior culture writer at Vox, talked about her picks for 2021. Treva B. Lindsey, author of America, Goddam: Violence, Black Women, and the Struggle for Justice discussed her upcoming book. Deep Dive co-host and co-president of the Center for Community Change Dorian Warren told us his favorite books of the year.  Kaitlyn Greenidge discussed her new work Libertie, a work of historical fiction that is one of the most buzzed about books of the year.  Torrey Peters author of Detransition, Baby discussed her national bestselling novel which tells the story of three people, transgender and cisgender, whose lives intersect thanks to an unexpected pregnancy.