Into America

As a bonus for listeners, we’re sharing a special preview of “Rachel Maddow Presents: Déjà News,” a new original podcast series from MSNBC. In each episode, Rachel Maddow and co-host Isaac-Davy Aronson seek a deeper understanding of a story in today's headlines by asking: Has anything like this ever happened before? Would knowing that help us grapple with what’s happening now… and what might happen next? Listen to the first episode now and follow the series: https://link.chtbl.com/rmpdn_fdlw

The future is now. Artificial Intelligence already exists in smartphones, helps power social media algorithms, and is accessible through countless apps. AI has generated rappers with records deals and political attack ads.

But as AI gains mainstream attention, AI-powered software that helps landlords select tenants has been proven to discriminate against Black applicants and algorithms have misinterpreted healthcare data, resulting in fewer services for Black patients.

On this episode of Into America, Trymaine Lee speaks with Gelyn Watkins of Black in AI, to understand the implications of AI for Black America. Together, they test a popular app for accuracy and bias. And, Trymaine has a conversation with the AI version of himself. 

Follow and share the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, using the handle @intoamericapod.

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at [email protected].

For a transcript & to check out an AI-generated image of Trymaine, please visit our homepage.

For More: 

• AI risks leading humanity to 'extinction,' experts warn
• Why artificial intelligence needs to be on your mind in 2023
• Behind the Power and Threat of A.I.

Last week, Into America told the story of Freedom House, a Black-run ambulance service that defined American EMS in the late 1960s. Today, The Healing and Justice Center in Miami, FL operates Freedom House Mobile and Crisis Units, expanding the legacy of wellness from physical to emotional and mental health.

In this special two-part story, Into America explores Freedom House then and now; and how Black communities have always worked to keep themselves safe. 

On part two of ‘Don’t Send the Police,’ Trymaine Lee heads to Miami to speak with Rachel Gilmer, the director of the Healing and Justice Center; Dr. Armen Henderson, director of Health Programs at Dream Defenders, the Center’s parent organization; and others who are spending their days healing the community.

Follow and share the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, using the handle @intoamericapod.

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at [email protected].

For a transcript, please visit our homepage.

For More: 

• Don’t Send the Police: Send Freedom House
• Caring People Behind a Miami Mental-Health Initiative Want to Change a Tragic Narrative | Editorial

In May 2020, the murder of George Floyd inspired people to take to the streets in America and overseas, calling for cop reform, the defunding of police, or saying police should be abolished altogether. And as racial injustices continued, communities took matters into their own hands. The Healing and Justice Center in Miami, FL rolled out Freedom House Mobile and Crisis Units as an alternative to people having to call police, particularly in mental health emergencies. 

The group draws its name and inspiration fromFreedom House in Pittsburgh, which in 1968, became the nation’s first paramedics. Prior to 1968, police would transport people to the hospital during medical emergencies; but in Black communities, the result was often a disaster. Freedom House was all Black, rooted in community, and able to save lives. 

In a special two-part story, Into America explores Freedom House then and now; and how Black communities have always worked to keep themselves safe. 

On part one of ‘Don’t Send the Police,’ Trymaine Lee speaks with retired paramedic and health-care worker John Moon about how Freedom House began, and its lasting impact for generations to come.

Follow and share the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, using the handle @intoamericapod.

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at [email protected].

For a transcript, please visit our homepage.

For More: 

• Into Reimagining Mental Health and Policing
• George Floyd's Murder Won't Change Policing Without Senate
• At Freedom House, these Black men saved lives. Paramedics are book topic

The entertainment industry and its TV and film writers can’t get on the same page. For the first time in over a decade, the Writers Guild of America is on strike. Shows like Saturday Night Live have already stopped production, with more to come as the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers try to reach a labor agreement.

As networks and film studios continue make record-high profits, writers are fighting for livable wages and fair compensation in the streaming era. And for the Black writers and the community at large, there’s much more at stake.

For decades, Black writers were shut out of writers’ rooms, unable to tell their own stories. As the industry changed, these scribes were only relegated to write comedy. Today, just a handful have made it to the top of the television hierarchy as showrunners. 

Anthony Sparks, a 20-year industry veteran told Trymaine Lee that for him, the strike is about making sure writing can continue to be a viable career path for people like him. Because if the industry doesn’t change, Black writers could get squeezed out, and Black audiences risk losing representation, or worse – having outsiders control it.

Follow and share the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, using the handle @intoamericapod.

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at [email protected].

For a transcript, please visit our homepage.

For More: 

• The Re-Freshed Prince of Bel-Air
• Comedian Cristela Alonzo explains why WGA writers are on strike
• WGA Says Strike Is Costing California’s Economy $30 Million A Day

In May of last year, Tops Supermarket in East Buffalo was attacked by a lone white supremacist. Motivated by “great replacement theory,” the shooter targeted an area densely populated with Black residents, leaving this community grief-stricken. 

Into America visited Buffalo and spoke with residents shortly after the incident, so now, on the anniversary of the shooting, Trymaine Lee headed back to East Buffalo to revisit this community which has found strength and healing through each other.

Trymaine Lee speaks with Trinetta Alston, a nurse who’s made it her mission to look after the Tops survivors. And he visits the Love Supreme School of Music, which is putting on a series of wellness concerts for the community. And we get a heartwarming update from former guest Fragrance Harris Stanfield, who was working at Tops the day of the shooting.

Follow and share the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, using the handle @intoamericapod.

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at [email protected].

For a transcript, please visit our homepage.

For More: 

• Buffalo shooter sentenced to life in prison for racist attack
• Why My Cousin Who Died in the Buffalo Mass Shooting Would Forgive the Shooter
• Watch Trymaine Lee on NBC News Now after Tops reopened

Tracy McMillan’s dad spent most of her life in prison, getting out for the last time when she was in her 40s. But for all the movies and shows about prison, she hadn’t seen her experience portrayed on screen in a way that resonated with her. 

So, as a successful television writer and author, she decided to write it herself — for her and the millions of others who grew up with a parent behind bars. After years of work, Tracy’s story became Hulu’s new hit show UnPrisoned. 

It’s a funny and heartfelt take on what happens when a father who has spent decades in prison, played by Delroy Lindo, comes to live with his adult daughter, played by Kerry Washington. 

This week, Trymaine sits down with Tracy and Delroy, for an eye-opening conversation about their experiences from childhood, their relationship with their fathers, and the healing power of art.

Follow and share the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, using the handle @intoamericapod.

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at [email protected].

For a transcript, please visit our homepage.

For More: 

• Watch the trailer for UnPrisoned
• The Re-Freshed Prince of Bel Air
• Kerry Washington talks ‘Unprisoned,’ writing a memoir

Black women are three times more likely to suffer from pregnancy and childbirth complications than white women. And when faced with a health scare, terminating a pregnancy has been a way for doctors to save the life of the mother.

But under strict new limits on abortion, doctors are often forced to hold off on critical care, like in Florida, where a 15-week ban meant that Anya Cook almost died after she began experiencing something called PPROM, which can cause infection and hemorrhaging. 

Months after that incident, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill aimed to shorten the state’s ban to just 6 weeks, potentially putting more lives in the balance. 

On Into America, Trymaine Lee speaks with Anya, as well as OBGYN Dr. Zsakeba Henderson, to learn how abortion limits are disproportionately affecting Black mothers nearly one year since Roe was overturned.

Follow and share the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, using the handle @intoamericapod.

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at [email protected].

For a transcript, please visit our homepage.

For More: 

• Two women were denied medical care due to Florida's abortion ban
• DeSantis quietly signs extreme six-week abortion ban into law
• Inside a Texas Abortion Clinic

The conversative, white majority in Mississippi’s state legislature has continued to systematically undermine the ability of its capital, the Black city of Jackson, to govern itself.  

Pointing to the city’s homicide rate — the highest of any major city in the country — state lawmakers contended that Jackson’s police department isn’t equipped to handle crime, and moved to expand the powers of the Capitol Police, a law enforcement agency that answers to the state. 

But the Capitol Police unit has little experience fighting crime, and in the months since its reach was first expanded last summer, the force has become known for its aggressive tactics — including four shootings in the last half of 2022, one of them fatal. In that same time, there were just 10 officer-involved shootings in the rest of the state. 

This week, Into America heads to Jackson to speak with Black residents affected by this expansion: Latasha Smith, who was shot in her bedroom by Capitol Police, Arkela Lewis, a mother who lost her son, pastor Dr. Dwayne Pickett, State Representative Earle Banks (D-Jackson), and anti-violence activist Terun Moore.

Follow and share the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, using the handle @intoamericapod.

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at [email protected].

For a transcript, please visit our homepage.

For More: 

• We Save Ourselves
• Without Water in Jackson
• How did a police chase in Mississippi end with an innocent woman shot in her bedroom?
• Mississippi wants to expand an aggressive police force responsible for recent shootings

The conversative, white majority in Mississippi’s state legislature has continued to systematically undermine the ability of its capital, the Black city of Jackson, to govern itself.  

Pointing to the city’s homicide rate — the highest of any major city in the country — state lawmakers contended that Jackson’s police department isn’t equipped to handle crime, and moved to expand the powers of the Capitol Police, a law enforcement agency that answers to the state. 

But the Capitol Police unit has little experience fighting crime, and in the months since its reach was first expanded last summer, the force has become known for its aggressive tactics — including four shootings in the last half of 2022, one of them fatal. In that same time, there were just 10 officer-involved shootings in the rest of the state. 

This week, Into America heads to Jackson to speak with Black residents affected by this expansion: Latasha Smith, who was shot in her bedroom by Capitol Police, Arkela Lewis, a mother who lost her son, pastor Dr. Dwayne Pickett, State Representative Earle Banks (D-Jackson), and anti-violence activist Terun Moore.

Follow and share the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, using the handle @intoamericapod.

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at [email protected].

For a transcript, please visit our homepage.

For More: 

• We Save Ourselves
• Without Water in Jackson
• How did a police chase in Mississippi end with an innocent woman shot in her bedroom?
• Mississippi wants to expand an aggressive police force responsible for recent shootings