In The Thick

Julio and guest co-host Jamilah King sound off over the week's news about abusive men in power. They talk about the multiple instances of brown/blackface by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (and his ridiculous apology), the charges against wealthy Democrat donor Ed Buck for operating a drug house, administering methamphetamine, and battery; and the sexual assault and rape allegations against NFL player Antonio Brown.

Human rights lawyer and journalist, Gisela Pérez De Acha and journalist with El Universal Mexico, Melissa Amezcua join Maria and Julio to discuss the recent wave of feminist protests in Mexico. They talk about the gender-based violence that provoked the demonstrations and how the AMLO administration has fallen short of their duty to protect women.

In this ITT Sound Off, Julio and guest co-host Jamilah King discuss the third Democratic Debate, which took place in Houston this week. Julio and Jamilah talk through Biden's confusing response to a question about the legacy of slavery in the United States, the reaction to an intense moment between Biden and Castro, and how the candidates successfully and unsuccessfully addressed issues from healthcare to gun violence.

Julio welcomes ITT All-Star Jamilah King as guest co-host, along with Andrea González-Ramírez, senior writer for GEN at Medium, and Esther Wang, staff writer at Jezebel. They discuss Elizabeth Warren’s notable performance at the New Hampshire Democratic Party convention, the third Republican to announce his 2020 candidacy, and Trump’s push to meet with the Taliban at Camp David. They also talk about criticism surrounding Jonathan Franzen’s recent New Yorker article about climate change.

Maria and Julio are back in the studio to talk about a recent OIG report that establishes the detrimental mental health impacts of family separation and conditions in detention facilities on migrant children. They also discuss CNN’s climate crisis town hall with 2020 candidates, the devastation in the Bahamas following Hurricane Dorian, and an ongoing story from this week about ICE agents opening fire while attempting to apprehend a man near Nashville.

Maria and Julio are joined by Abigail Leslie Andrews, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California, San Diego to discuss her latest book, Undocumented Politics: Place, Gender and the Pathways of Mexican Migrants. They talk about political engagement within undocumented communities and the dehumanizing impact of deportation of immigrants that she's witnessed through her work.  This episode was mixed by Jeanne Montalvo. 

Maria and Julio are joined by the journalist and feminist author, Mona Eltahawy to discuss her new book, The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls. They also talk about #MeToo, the power of fighting back, feminist activism through hashtags on social media and the importance of women’s voice in defying the patriarchy. 

Maria and Julio are joined by Shamira Ibrahim, culture writer on race, identity, and politics, and Margari Hill, co-founder and executive director of the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative, to discuss how the intersecting identities of being black Muslim women lead to anti-blackness both within the Muslim community and in the U.S. at large. This episode was mixed by Jeanne Montalvo. 

Originally from Benghazi, Libya, Mohanad Elshieky has found in comedy a space to discuss and laugh about immigration, politics and white privilege in the United States. Maria and Julio talk with him about Hollywood, bidets and his encounter with immigration officers in a Greyhound. 

Journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones led a team of black journalists and writers to create The 1619 Project, a deep look into the 400th anniversary of the beginning of slavery in this country. Maria and Julio are joined by ITT All-Stars, Wajahat Ali, New York Times contributing op-ed writer and contributor with CNN, and Dr. Eddie Glaude, James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor at Princeton University, to discuss the significance of this project and its response.

White nationalists and the “alt-right” are not just living on the dark corners of the internet, but actually carry out deadly violence in the world. Maria and Julio talk with Alexandra Minna Stern, professor in the Department of American Culture at the University of Michigan, about her latest book, Proud Boys and the White Ethnostate: How the Alt-Right Is Warping the American Imagination. They discuss white nationalist groups and how misogyny and white supremacy are the underlying ideals that motiva

Maria and Julio are joined by ITT All-Stars, Terrell Jermaine Starr and Jamilah King, to discuss the surge in white supremacist and anti-immigrant violence instilled by the current administration, following the recent shootings in Texas, Ohio and California. They also talk about the latest state-sponsored attacks on the immigrant community: last week's largest single-state immigration raid in US history in Mississippi and USCIS’ announcements on cutting down immigrant benefits from all federal agenc

Entirely situated within the 100-mile border zone, Michigan has the second-highest rate of ICE arrests in the country. This has had a huge and detrimental impact on Detroit residents, a city of immigrants. Maria and Julio are joined by Serena Maria Daniels, immigration reporter and co-founder of Tostada Magazine, and Sarah Rahal, breaking news and immigration reporter with the Detroit News, to discuss the impact ICE and CBP have had on Michigan’s POC and immigrant communities.

There have been over 250 mass shootings in the U.S., according to the Gun Violence Archive. After this weekend's two mass shootings, Maria and Julio are joined by award-winning journalist Bob Moore, and Cynthia Pompa, Advocacy Manager of the Border Rights Center at ACLU of Texas, to discuss the devastating impact of white supremacy and domestic terrorism in the Borderland. They also talk to Representative Veronica Escobar of Texas’ 16th Congressional District in El Paso to see how the community is

Julio and producer, Nicole Rothwell, traveled to Detroit, MI this week to cover the second round of the Democratic Debates. In this ITT Sound Off #DemDebate edition, Maria and Julio discuss the highlights from how well (or not) the 2020 candidates covered racial justice, immigration and healthcare to what was missed completely.