The Takeaway

We live in surround sound. From the din of traffic to a symphony of song birds, you can’t escape noise no matter where you live — whether it’s a rural, suburban, or urban environment.  In Sounds Wild and Broken: Sonic Marvels, Evolution’s Creativity, and the Crisis of Sensory Extinction, author David George Haskell explores the diverse sounds of our planet, as well as humans’ impact on the world’s soundscape.  The Takeaway recently spoke with David, who is also a professor of biology and environmental studies at the University of the South, about the first animal sounds, humans’ impact on the world’s soundscape, and the looming crisis of what he calls a “sensory extinction.”

After police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd, people across the country demanded racial justice and amplified a national movement to “defund the police.” During that time, several large cities and counties promised to restructure local police budgets with plans to rein­vest in community programs. But those promises have largely faded or reversed course completely. In Minneapolis, where George Floyd was killed, a majority of the City Council pledged to dismantle the police department and create a new department of public safety in its place. But come last November, voters rejected the idea, and during that November election, many voters across the country favored mayoral candidates who campaigned on public safety and were “tough on crime.” Meanwhile the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act remains stalled in the Senate. The bill would have enacted sweeping federal police reform that would ban certain police techniques, including chokeholds and forms of potentially deadly force. It would have also ended qualified immunity, a legal provision that makes it difficult to sue police officers for any wrongdoing. In order to make sense of these new efforts to refund local police departments, we talked with Philip Atiba Goff, Co-founder and CEO of the Center for Policing Equity, and a Professor of African-American Studies and Psychology at Yale University.    

In the introduction of Scott Reynold Nelson’s new book Oceans of Grain: How American Wheat Remade the World, he writes “Ukraine has what may be the richest soil in the world.”  Throughout history, what is today Ukraine, was considered a prize for ambitious emperors who saw the fertile land as a way to feed populations in their homeland, and in conquered lands.   Today, Ukraine is the world’s 4th largest exporter of corn and the world’s 5th largest exporter of wheat, and between Ukraine and Russia, the two countries produce 30-percent of the world’s wheat and 12-percent of the world’s calories.  But with the region that is known today as the “World’s breadbasket” now embroiled in war after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, wheat prices and global food prices have hit record highs, pushing the world towards a global food crisis. To explore the historical significance of grain to this region and hear how it's factoring into Russia's war in Ukraine and a global food crisis, we spoke with Scott Reynolds Nelson, Professor of History at the University of Georgia and author of the new book Oceans of Grain: How American Wheat Remade the World.

In our latest installment of Women Leading Locally we speak with Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell who serves as the chair of the LA County Board of Supervisors about her path to politics, hopes for the future, and inspiring others into service. We’ll also wrap up the Women Leading Locally series and look back at what we learned, the power of sisterhood and the necessity of money for women running for office. We also highlighted this week’s Facebook Live where we spoke with Kira Sanbonmatsu, Professor of Political Science at  Rutgers University and Senior Scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics. We’re also joined by Baton Rouge’s Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome.  

Russian President Vladimir Putin is a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and, according to the non-profit watchdog group Airwars, Russian airstrikes are responsible for the deaths of as many as 23,000 Syrian civilians. For Syrians watching from afar, the parallels in Russia’s violent invasion of Ukraine are unsettling. Borzou Daragahi, International Correspondent for The Independent, recently traveled to the opposition held Idlib province and spoke to Syrians about how they’re processing the invasion of Ukraine.

We talk with William Neuman, former Andes Region Bureau Chief for The New York Times about his new Book Things Are Never So Bad That They Can’t Get Worse: Inside the Collapse of Venezuela. He’ll take us through the events that have led to the current state of crisis for Venezuela and how the country factors into the current situation between Ukraine and Russia.

Cuba has refused to publicly support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, abstaining from a United Nations resolution to condemn the unprovoked war. Abstention does not signal neutrality, however. Cuban state media has echoed Russia’s false claims for invading Ukraine and blamed NATO for what they’re calling a “special military operation.” We speak with Patrick Oppmann, CNN International Correspondent and Havana Bureau Chief about Cuba’s position and what’s at stake during the Russian invasion.

The new book, “Crossing Borders: The Reconciliation of a Nation of Immigrants,” compiles the stories of people and families fleeing their homes in different parts of the world. Like many refugees today, the characters in this book are fleeing because of violence, corruption, poverty, or climate change. The book highlights many of the difficulties they face as they arrive at the doorstep of the United States, and the failures of American institutions to assist and protect them.  We spoke to the book's author, Ali Noorani. He is a long time immigration policy expert and President and CEO of the National Immigration Forum.  

It’s been 8 months since the Taliban re-captured control of Afghanistan, following the United States’ withdrawal from the country. Almost immediately, there were concerns over what this would mean for Afghanistan's women and girls. Since the Taliban regained power, there’s been a rollback of their rights, including banning them from government jobs and policing what they wear.  Now education is under threat. Just last week, the Taliban announced that girls’ high schools will be closed indefinitely, meaning that female students above the sixth grade will not be able to attend school.  This happened just a week after the education ministry announced that schools would open for all students. Schools will remain closed for girls until they can come up with a plan in accordance with Islamic law and Afghan culture.  The Taliban’s decision has prompted outrage from the international community, as well as teenage girls in Afghanistan. They’re taken to the streets in protest in Kabul, demanding the right to education.  For more on this, The Takeaway spoke with Shabana Basij-Rasikh, co-founder and president of the School of Leadership Afghanistan boarding school.

According to the United Nations, in Haiti, a country of over 11 million people, a rising food crisis is threatening nearly half the population with acute food insecurity and severe hunger.  Political instability, inflation, recurring disasters exacerbated by climate change, and challenges in Haiti’s agricultural capacity are all catalysts for the food crisis.  To make matters worse, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is also expected to drive food shortages around the world in a time where global food prices are at an all time high.  Because Haiti is a major importer of food and fertilizer, the disruption in the global market caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine is expected to exacerbate food insecurity in Haiti. To learn more about the food crisis in Haiti, The Takeaway spoke with Roseval Supreme, Country Director for Action Against Hunger in Haiti.  

On Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education bill – dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by opponents – into law.  The law bans public schools from teaching kindergartners through third-graders about sexual orientation and gender identity, it also prevents teachers from discussing these topics in a manner that is “not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.” LGBTQ advocates worry that language could extend to students beyond third grade. And the law allows parents to sue the school districts for violations. Earlier this month, while the bill was moving through the Florida legislature, high school students across Florida staged walk outs to protest the bill. Last week, Disney employees in Burbank, California ​​walked off the job to protest Disney’s tepid response to the bill. On Monday, Disney released a statement condemning the law. And the bill even grabbed some attention at the Oscars last weekend. A law like this could hurt LGBTQ students. A 2021 report from the Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization that helps prevent suicide in LGBTQ young people, says that LGBTQ youth who learned about LGBTQ issues in school were 23 percent less likely to report a suicide attempt. It’s not just a hypothetical that a law like this could pass in states beyond Florida. According to The Hill, lawmakers in fifteen other states have introduced legislation limiting how gender and sexual orientation can be discussed in schools. For more, we speak with Heather Wilkie, Executive Director of the Zebra Coalition, a nonprofit that helps support LGBTQ Youth in Central Florida. 

Maternity ward closures are increasingly common. According to recent reporting by Vox, many of these closures are happening primarily in rural areas and predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods. For more on this, The Takeaway spoke with Alecia McGregor, Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Politics at Harvard Chan School of Public Health, and Katy Backes Kozhimannil, professor at the University of Minnesota and director of the university’s Rural Health Program.

According to some estimates, millions of people in the U.S. could still be suffering from long Covid related symptoms, including brain fog, extreme exhaustion, and irregular heartbeat. But despite the widespread nature of the problem, many people have experienced challenges when attempting to qualify for disability benefits due to long Covid. We hear from Georgia Linders about her experience with long Covid and then speak with Washington Post reporter Christopher Rowland about his reporting on long haulers applying for benefits.

Across California, cities are dealing with a housing crisis that has resulted in dramatic increases to rent and housing prices. California’s state universities are also coping with a housing shortage. Most recently, the lack of student housing has aggravated town-gown tensions in the city of Berkeley, California, where a group of local residents have sued the University of California, Berkeley for increasing campus enrollment, claiming that students seeking housing are now aggravating the existing shortage. Save Berkeley’s Neighborhoods sued UC Berkeley in 2018 under the California Environmental Quality Act. The lawsuit cited the university’s failure to adequately mitigate the environmental impacts of increasing enrollment. This included traffic, party noise, pricing out local residents, and diverting emergency services. Last year, Save Berkeley’s Neighborhoods had a temporary win when UC Berkeley was ordered by a superior-court judge to freeze enrollment at 2020-2021 levels. An appeal on this case from UC Berkeley was rejected by the California Supreme Court earlier this month, which would have required the university to slash its admissions. But soon after, state legislators passed a bill that allowed Berkeley to move forward with its planned 2022 fall enrollment. Now UC Berkeley has 18 months after the court ruling to complete an environmental review. We spoke with Phil Bokovoy, president of Save Berkeley’s Neighborhood and Harry La Grande, vice chancellor emeritus for student affairs at the University of California, Berkeley, and Interim Vice President of Student Experience at California Institute of the Arts. 

  The 94th Academy Awards became quite tense on Sunday when Will Smith got on stage and slapped Chris Rock in response to an insensitive joke that Rock made about Jada Pinkett Smith. Shortly after the incident, Smith won the Oscar for Best Actor and gave a speech about family and protecting the people you love. The takes on the incident have ranged from insightful to groan inducing to flat out racist. The Takeaway takes a step back and speaks with Mark Anthony Neal, James B. Duke Distinguished professor of African and African American Studies at Duke University and host of the podcast, "Left of Black," about what this moment revealed about Black masculinity and race in mass media.