In The Thick

Futuro Media and PRX

Politics, unfiltered. Futuro Media presents a new political podcast where journalists tell you what you’re missing from the mainstream news. With Maria Hinojosa. Produced by Futuro Media. Distributed by PRX.

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Our Editor's Take

The In The Thick podcast is a public radio podcast that wants to make a difference. Award-winning journalists Maria Hinojosa and Julio Ricardo Varela produce and host the show. They cover the stories "that are missing from the mainstream news." The two travel far and wide, speaking with those affected and marginalized. From current events to diverse perspectives on news and issues, listeners stay informed. The hosts interview activists, journalists, and thought leaders on race, politics, and culture. The pair's real talk afterward enlightens even more.

In The Thick explores issues such as immigration and identity. The hosts address difficult issues like gun violence from the victims' perspective. The podcast covers stories from all parts of the country and worldwide events. The hosts challenge traditional narratives with fresh perspectives, analysis, and commentary. They offer a platform for those without. Fans find the podcast thought-provoking and laud it as an agent of change.

Podcast cohost Hinojosa and Varela team up to explore a wide variety of issues. One episode discusses Black and Asian solidarity in the US. The hosts interview thought leaders on race and identity. They study allyship in those communities, historical and present. Another podcast episode examined diversity within the Latino community. Topics include the Indigenous experience and the value of cultural diversity. A top-rated episode explored how climate change impacts marginalized communities more than others.

Listeners laud the depth the podcast offers over mainstream news. The hosts commented on the first anniversary of the Uvalde Texas school shooting. They discussed their interview with the only responding Uvalde pediatrician. Hinojosa talked about the people she met while helping make a documentary on the tragedy. She shared stories of a child survivor whose family she befriended. Like all episodes, In The Thick again went beyond basic coverage. The podcast further offered victims and families a platform for change.

In The Thick airs once a week. Episodes are usually around 45-60 minutes in length. The podcast began in 2016, so listeners can enjoy a backlog of enlightening episodes.

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Unpacking American Extremism

Unpacking American Extremism

A week after the re-election of Donald Trump, Maria Hinojosa is joined by ITT all-stars Imara Jones, journalist and founder of Translash Media, and Karen Attiah, Washington Post Opinion columnist. They dive into the far-reaching implications of Trump’s victory for our communities and what it means for the future of American democracy.Follow us on TikTok and Instagram. Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage.

Episodes

Unpacking American Extremism

Unpacking American Extremism

A week after the re-election of Donald Trump, Maria Hinojosa is joined by ITT all-stars Imara Jones, journalist and founder of Translash Media, and Karen Attiah, Washington Post Opinion columnist. They dive into the far-reaching implications of Trump’s victory for our communities and what it means for the future of American democracy.Follow us on TikTok and Instagram. Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage.

Trump Is Back, Now What?

Trump Is Back, Now What?

In The Thick teamed up with Futuro Media’s Latino USA to bring you a special episode, as part of its ongoing 2024 election coverage “The Latino Factor: How We Vote” series. In the election that many Americans said was “the most important of their lifetimes,” Maria Hinojosa spends the day speaking to voters, students, journalists and movement leaders across the country. Later Maria is joined by journalists Paola Ramos, Jean Guerrero and Jamil Smith to unpack key updates and trends in the election. Later Maria is joined by journalists Paola Ramos, Jean Guerrero and Jamil Smith to unpack why Trump won the elections—including the popular vote—with increased support from Latinos.Follow us on TikTok and Instagram. Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage.

Nobody's Garbage

Nobody's Garbage

With less than a week until Election Day, ITT hosts Maria Hinojosa, Judy Reyes, Paola Ramos and Dr. Christina Greer analyze everything from the Trump rally at Madison Square Garden that drew comparisons to an American Nazi Party rally, to the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post's refusal to endorse a Presidential candidate for the first time in decades. They talk about the Latino community’s response to Puerto Rico being called “a floating island of garbage” at the Trump rally, the meaning behind the poll numbers, and what’s at stake for democracy.Follow us on TikTok and Instagram. Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage.

In The Thick Presents: The Misinformation Web

In The Thick Presents: The Misinformation Web

This week In The Thick shares an episode of Latino USA.The 2024 presidential election has seen a rise in Spanish-language misinformation and in the content creators making a living by pushing out false content. For months, Futuro Investigates in collaboration with Latino USA, tracked how lies and conspiracies about the election and the candidates that originated in English soon found their way to Spanish-speaking audiences, amid the expanded monetization of tech platforms and the rise of technologies like AI. We meet face to face with social media influencers pushing out misinformation in Spanish, and with the experts combating it.This story is part of our ongoing election coverage “The Latino Factor: How We Vote.”Follow us on TikTok and Instagram. Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage.

Abortion, Beyond the Ballot

Abortion, Beyond the Ballot

ITT hosts Maria Hinojosa and Judy Reyes are tacking the critical issue of abortion and how it’s shaping the 2024 election. They are joined by Imani Gandy of Rewire News Group and Monica Simpson of SisterSong to discuss the future of the reproductive justice movement and the fight for bodily autonomy.Follow us on TikTok and Instagram. Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage.

The Voter Suppression Playbook

The Voter Suppression Playbook

ITT hosts Maria Hinojosa and Paola Ramos are joined by LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter and Frankie Miranda, president and CEO of the Hispanic Federation to discuss voter suppression in Black and Latino communities. They break down the legal, social and political methods being used by the far-right and reveal how these misunderstood voting blocs could decide the outcome of the 2024 election.Follow us on TikTok and Instagram. Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage.

In The Thick Presents: Chess Piece: The Elián González Story

In The Thick Presents: Chess Piece: The Elián González Story

Introducing a new series that we think you'll love: "Chess Piece: The Elián González Story," from Futuro Studios, in collaboration with iHeartRadio's My Cultura Podcast Network.In 1999, two Florida fishermen found a cherub of a boy named Elián González in the sea on Thanksgiving. The boy had floated alone for days. His mother managed to save her son’s life by strapping him to an inner tube before she drowned. Elián's father in Cuba desperately tried to get his son back.Our host, investigative journalist Peniley Ramírez, was also separated from her family by the Florida Straits. When Peni was 11 years old her dad told her a dangerous secret before he left on an official trip on behalf of the Cuban government — he would not be returning.Relating to Elián in many ways, Peniley seeks to unearth his story with the clarity of history, nearly a quarter century later. Looking beyond the mythology around Elián saga, from the miracle rescue to dolphins, Peni uncovers a more layered story, even dark at times. This season on Chess Piece, we tell you the Elián story unlike you've heard before.You can find and subscribe to "Chess Piece" on the iHeartRadio App, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. You can also follow it on Instagram and Tiktok.

Solidarity & Resistance In A Year of Devastation

Solidarity & Resistance In A Year of Devastation

A year after Oct 7, 2023, Maria is joined by Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour and Rabbi Alissa Wise to talk about what this past year of unimaginable loss, rage, and resistance has meant for their communities, and how they are building towards a future of solidarity. They discuss the election, the mobilizing power of grief, and what it looks like to create a world in which every life is treated as sacred.Follow us on TikTok and Instagram. Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage.

Midwest Manners and Mass Deportations: Unpacking the VP Debate

Midwest Manners and Mass Deportations: Unpacking the VP Debate

ITT Co-hosts Judy Reyes, Maria Hinojosa, Christina Greer and Paola Ramos dig into the first and only VP debate before the election. While mainstream media has praised both men for their “civil” performance, we go beyond the Midwest niceties to unpack the authoritarian policies being talked about on the debate stage, and what both candidates really mean when they talk about their abortion and immigration plans.Follow us on TikTok and Instagram. Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage.

The Rise of the Latino Far Right

The Rise of the Latino Far Right

Maria is joined by Paola Ramos, co-host and author of “Defectors: The Rise of the Latino Far Right and What It Means for America” to examine the growing support for extremism in America and why Latinos can be especially susceptible to far-right ideologies.Follow us on TikTok and Instagram. Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage.

Black Woman, White House

Black Woman, White House

Maria and co-host Dr. Christina Greer are joined by Mother Jones Editorial Director Jamilah King for a deep dive into how Vice President Kamala Harris is being portrayed by the right and the left, and what it tells us about our country’s understanding of race.Follow us on TikTok and Instagram. Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage.

ITT Is Back: Decoding the Debate

ITT Is Back: Decoding the Debate

ITT is relaunching for a popup season to help you break down this unprecedented political moment and what it means for our communities and our futures. In our first episode, Maria Hinojosa is joined by her fellow co-hosts political scientist Dr. Christina Greer, journalist Paola Ramos and actress Judy Reyes. Together they help you decode this week's presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.Follow us on TikTok and Instagram. Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage.

In The Thick Presents: Stars and Stars with Isa

In The Thick Presents: Stars and Stars with Isa

Futuro Studios presents Stars and Stars with Isa in collaboration with Stitcher Studios. Each week our host and astrologer, Isa Nakazawa, sits down with some of the most talented stars and thinkers of our time, to find what their birth chart reveals about them and their purpose. You’ll laugh, you might cry, and you’ll definitely connect with your favorites. And who knows, maybe, you’ll learn a little bit more about yourself. In this episode, Isa speaks with standup comedian, host, director, and producer, W. Kamau Bell. Together, they discuss how his Aquarius Sun, Scorpio Moon, and Taurus Rising inform his ability to ask the right questions of people who should be held accountable.You can find and subscribe to Stars and Stars with Isa wherever you listen to podcasts, and follow us on Instagram and Tiktok @starsandstarswithisa.

Introducing: My Divo

Introducing: My Divo

Introducing "My Divo"For host Maria Garcia, Mexican megastar Juan Gabriel has always held a singular allure. He was a prolific composer and one of the world’s greatest showmen. There was a lightness and a bigness to him—a big queer exuberance. And now, as the first openly gay woman in her family line, Maria looks to Juan Gabriel as a key to reconcile her queerness with her Mexican heritage."My Divo" is an Apple Original podcast produced by Futuro Studios.Follow and listen: Apple Podcasts

Gov. Wes Moore on Redefining Patriotism, from TIME’s Person of The Week

Gov. Wes Moore on Redefining Patriotism, from TIME’s Person of The Week

This week, we’re sharing something special from our friends over at TIME. It’s a preview of their first original podcast, Person of the Week. Each week, TIME Senior Correspondent Charlotte Alter hosts candid conversations with the people who shape the world, about the forces that shape them. In this episode, Maryland Governor Wes Moore dives deep into the heart of patriotism, unpacking the often-misunderstood term, the symbolism of the American flag and what it means to be an American in today's changing world. Listen to more episodes of Person of the Week here.

A Message for Our Listeners

A Message for Our Listeners

Maria checks in with an important update about In The Thick. Your favorite political podcast is taking a break for the rest of 2023. While we won't be releasing any new episodes during this hiatus, all of our previous episodes are still available on your podcast feeds. We’ll be restructuring and coming up with something new and better than ever as we get ready for our 2024 election coverage! And we want to hear from you, dear listener. Reach out to us on social media and let us know what you’d like to see on the show in the coming year. Peace for now– but we’ll be back. No te vayas!

AI Is Not What You Think

AI Is Not What You Think

In this episode, we’re unpacking AI. Julio is joined by Karen Hao, contributing writer for The Atlantic focusing on AI, to talk about the human impact of the rapidly evolving technology and what it means to decolonize AI. ITT Staff Picks: Rebecca Tan and Regine Cabato report on the “digital sweatshops” across the Global South, where workers have to sort and label data for AI models, in this article for the Washington Post. “Many creative types are wrestling with the credit conundrum and questions around copyright when it comes to making use of content that has been trained on original illustrations, graphics, and written material,” writes Ko Bragg, in this article for The Markup.Prosecutors from across the US are asking lawmakers to create a commission to study the impacts of AI on child exploitation, reports Meg Kinnard for The Associated Press. Photo credit: AP Photo/Richard Drew

A Pivotal Moment in American Labor

A Pivotal Moment in American Labor

Futuro Media is taking a short summer break, so we’re sharing an episode from 2022, where Maria and Julio talk with Kim Kelly, labor journalist and author of “Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor,” about the history of labor organizing in the United States and what it says about the labor movement today. They also discuss how women of color have been at the forefront of these movements. Photo credit: AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez

The Party of Authoritarianism

The Party of Authoritarianism

Julio and guest co-host Fernanda Santos kick off the show with some of the latest news, including the first Republican 2024 presidential debate, and an update on extreme climate across the globe. In our roundtable, Mike German, fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program, joins Maria and Julio to talk about why people of color join white supremacist movements, and how authoritarianism in the Republican Party is nothing new. ITT Staff Picks: As the GOP presidential debates make their premiere in Milwaukee, Jeanne Whalen reports on Donald Trump’s failure to make good on a promise of bringing a manufacturing boom to Wisconsin, in this piece for the Washington Post. The deadly fires in Maui reveal the danger of compounding climate events. Emily Pontecorvo writes, “While the precise relationship between the fires, the hurricane, and climate change has yet to be determined, these kinds of “compound” events are likely to increase in a warming world, with consequences that are hard to predict,” in this article for Heatmap. Mike German answers nuanced questions in this Spanish-language Q&A with editor-in-chief of Brennan en Español, Mireya Navarro. Photo credit: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

Oppenheimer’s Nuclear Colonialism

Oppenheimer’s Nuclear Colonialism

Maria and Julio discuss the indictment of Donald Trump and his allies in Georgia, and the devastating fires in Maui. Then, we share a recent episode of Latino Rebels Radio. Julio talks to Myrriah Gómez, associate professor at the University of New Mexico, about the film “Oppenheimer” and its omission of New Mexican history in the creation of the atomic bomb. ITT Staff Picks: “Trevian Kutti, a former publicist for rappers Ye (Kanye West) and R-Kelly, is named as a co-defendant in the sprawling RICO case against Trump and his allies. Charged with three felony offenses, Kutti is accused of participating in the overarching criminal enterprise to subvert the election, as well as conspiring “to solicit, request, and importune Ruby Freeman, a Fulton County, Georgia, election worker, to engage in conduct constituting the felony offense,” writes Nikki McCann Ramirez in this article for Rolling Stone.Mitch Smith and Kellen Browning talked to some of the families of people that are still missing in Hawaii, in this article for The New York Times.Myrriah Gómez writes about how the Manhattan Project negatively impacted Indigenous and Mexican communities in New Mexico, a part of the story that was conveniently left out of the movie Oppenheimer, in this article for The Latinx Project. Photo credit: AP Photo