The Takeaway

Eleven states in the country are currently using child welfare tracking algorithms to better identify children at risk. According to research conducted by Carnegie Mellon University, the algorithms target a disproportionate number of Black and low-income families. We discuss the implementation of child welfare tracking algorithms with Anjana Samant, senior attorney at the ACLU and Nico’Lee Biddle, Senior Program Manager at the Center for the Study of Social Policy.

The first Pride marches were radical acts for queer people occupying public space loudly and proudly. Today, Pride Month gatherings are more likely to be described as parades than marches. And with rainbow flags adorning the storefronts of big corporations, it might be easy to think the struggle is over. But many LGBTQ activists worry that Pride’s commercialization has diluted its political legacy and lets corporations off the hook for supporting anti-LGBTQ politicians. We speak with jodi nicole, an organizer with Reclaim Pride NYC, and Dr. Katherine Sender, professor of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Cornell University, about the commercialization of Pride.

People from different generations, different experiences, and different sexuality and gender identities use the word "queer" in different ways, and some prefer not to use the word at all. We untangle the powerful and painful politics of queer with Michael Bronski, long time activist, Professor of the Practice at Harvard University, and author of "A Queer History of the United States" and "A Queer History of the United States for Young People."

In 1999, the British network Channel 4 debuted a radical new show about the lives of gay men living in Manchester. Full of nudity, sex, drugs and hedonism, the show took a frank look at gay culture and took on taboo subjects. A year later, Showtime debuted the US version of Queer as Folk, which ran for five seasons and changed the game for American television’s representation of LGBT culture. Set in Pittsburgh, the US series started off as a literal remake of the British version, but quickly found a voice of its own and eventually outlast the original’s run.  Now, there’s a new “Queer as Folk” reboot . It reflects a much more diverse LGBTQ representation in terms of race and gender identity, and is based in the vibrant city of New Orleans. The show premiered on Peacock on June 9th, and follows the cast of characters as their lives intersect within queer friendships, family, love, tragedy, and everyday struggles. For the series, showrunner Stephen Dunn expressed his love for unique found sounds, and so for the relaunch of “Queer as Folk,” composer Jasha Klebe took inspiration from sounds around him to score the show and create specific character themes. We spoke to Jasha about working on the show and composing his music.

The new animated documentary Home is Somewhere Else tells the stories of immigrant children and their undocumented families. At a time when immigration policy is at a crossroads, can an animated documentary contribute to having a more compassionate and human-centered conversation? To find out, we spoke with director and producer Carlos Hagerman and Jose Eduardo Aguilar (El Deportee), one of the subjects of the film.

California held primary elections at all levels of government on June 7, 2022. We talk with Marisa Lagos, KQED’s California Politics and Government correspondent and co-host of the podcast Political Breakdown, about the results and ramifications.

Sunday, a bi-partisan group of Senators announced they had reached a deal on gun control. Their proposed legislation falls short of many of the actions  endorsed by President Biden, including passing federal “red flag” gun laws, also commonly known as extreme risk protection laws. These laws typically prevent the possession or purchase of guns from individuals who are deemed a threat to themselves or to others. 19 states and Washington D.C. currently have some version of red flag gun laws on their books. But, while there is seemingly momentum and signs of capitulation from Republicans, historically the powerful gun lobbies have wielded their power to prevent meaningful gun legislation from passing. First, we’ll hear from Jennifer Mascia, reporter for The Trace and former New York Times reporter covering gun violence, about what the research says about how effective red flag gun laws are, and how gun lobbies have prevented gun legislation like red flag laws from being enacted. Then we’ll speak with Cole Wist about his experience trying to get a red flag gun law passed in his state, and the retaliation it was met with from the gun lobby. In 2018, Cole Wist, a former Republican Colorado state representative (2016-2019) with an “A” rating from the NRA, sponsored a bill red flag bill in the state following the shooting death of a sheriff deputy close to his home. The bill passed the House, but was killed in the Republican state senate at the time, and a state wide gun lobby came after him. Wist, who was up for reelection at the time was called “Cole the Mole” in social media posts and flyers. He eventually lost reelection, and the bill did not pass. Colorado did eventually pass an even more restrictive red flag bill in 2019 once the state senate flipped Democrat.

Thursday marked the first of six proposed public hearings of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. It occurred during prime time from 8pm-10pm. What did we learn from this first round? Did the committee make its case? And will the mounting evidence result in charges against administration officials? We break all of this down with Adam Serwer, staff writer for The Atlantic Ideas.  Live Stream the Select Committee Hearing below.  

The 75th Tony Awards will be taking place this coming Sunday. Frontrunners include the musical “A Strange Loop” and the play “The Lehman Trilogy.” The Takeaway speaks with New York Times critic-at-large Maya Phillips about some of the highlights of the past year and whether it looks like the support Black theater artists received this season will be sustained going forward.

Many dancers are independent contractors with virtually no labor protections. While there are some unionized dance companies, the nature of the work is inherently precarious, with grueling training and policing of dancers’ bodies that seems intentionally designed to break them—physically and emotionally. In the past few months, more stories have come to light about serious abuses in dance companies: sexual harassment, revenge porn, etc. In all these stories, the abuse and corruption go straight to the top, and the institutions protect the abusers. How can dancers increase workplace protections, what obstacles do they face to organizing, and how do realities like young age and the hyper-focus of body image exacerbate the power imbalances here? We discuss current issues facing ballet workers with Chloe Angyal, Senior Editor at VICE News and author of “Turning Pointe: How a New Generation of Dancers is Saving Ballet From Itself.” 

Top Gun: Maverick is flying high at the box office. This newest installment in the Top Gun franchise features Phoenix, the franchise’s first female pilot. We wanted to find out how real the portrayal of her experience was: so we turned to Commander Becky Dowling Calder, the first female pilot ever to graduate from the Naval Fighter Weapons School—a.k.a. Top Gun.  

In 1996, 16-year-old Almeer Nance was an accomplice in an armed robbery in Knoxville, Tennessee during which 20-year-old Robert Manning shot and killed a worker. Despite the fact that Nance didn’t commit the murder, he was convicted of felony murder and sentenced to a minimum of 51 years in prison under Tennessee’s strict mandatory minimum laws. The other accomplice in the case, a white woman, only spent one year in prison for her involvement in the robbery. For "51 Years Behind Bars," a new documentary from Al Jazeera English’s "Fault Lines," correspondent Josie Duffy Rice and producer Jeremy Young interviewed Nance and other people connected to his case to learn more about the consequences of his lengthy sentence. The Takeaway spoke with Josie Duffy Rice about this reporting and how it coincides with recent developments in juvenile sentencing.

On June 8, Disney Plus’ "Ms. Marvel" will premiere. It brings New Jersey-based Pakistani-American teenager Kamala Khan’s story to Marvel viewers for the first time and represents a major moment for Asian American and Muslim representation in Hollywood. Filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy directed multiple episodes of the show, marking a major transition in her career. "Ms. Marvel" is the first fictional live action work Obaid-Chinoy has directed, after a successful career making documentaries and animated films.

The First Nations Version of the New Testament is a "translation" of the Christian text by Indigenous peoples that embraces tribes’ traditions, storytelling and language patterns in English. We speak with Terry Wildman, the lead translator of the text, about how language choices impact religious beliefs and how the historic relationships between Christian institutions and Indigenous people gave rise to this translation.

LGBTQ activists Kris Williams and Rebekah Wilson got married in 2019. In August of that year, Kris and Rebekah welcomed a baby boy into their family, and both women were recorded as mother and mother on the birth certificate. After two years, however, the couple divorced, and Rebekah petitioned the court to remove Kris from their son’s birth certificate. Oklahoma County Judge Lynne McGuire ruled in favor of removing Kris’s name from the birth certificate stating that Kris should have adopted her own son. Last week, Judge McGuire reversed her decision and recognized Kris Williams as a legal parent. We speak with Toby Jenkins, CEO and executive director of Oklahomans for Equality about this ruling and what it means for LGBTQ parents and all non-gestational parents in Oklahoma.