Into America

The votes are still being tallied, but progressive Democrat and political newcomer Jamaal Bowman is poised to beat out sixteen-term Congressman Eliot Engel in the primary race to represent New York’s 16th Congressional district. The district is the second most unequal in the state; it’s majority Black and Hispanic, but also stretches into some very wealthy, mostly white neighborhoods.

Eliot Engel is white, in his 70s, and chair of the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee. And Bowman - who is Black, in his 40s, and a former middle school principal - is part of a new wave of candidates taking on the establishment of the Democratic party. Bowman’s gotten the backing of progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders, and the Working Families Party, which recently teamed up with the Movement for Black Lives to form a Political Action Committee.

On this episode of Into America, Trymaine Lee speaks with Jamaal Bowman about why he decided to enter politics and take on one of the most entrenched Democrats in Congress.

For a transcript, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/intoamerica.

Further Reading and Listening:

• The New York police under Michael Bloomberg scarred me and my family
• Amid U.S. reckoning on race, Black candidates harness voters' fervor for change
• Into America: Into a New Generation of Black Candidates

The vast internet conspiracy theory known as QAnon began in 2017 with a single post to the online message board site 4chan. The beliefs associated with QAnon range from the merely strange to the downright dangerous. Followers believe a ring of devil-worshipping pedophiles run the country and are plotting against President Trump, who they say is here to save the world. They say this Satanic ring includes top Democrats like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, as well as Hollywood celebrities. QAnon’s beliefs are false, but they’ve seeped into the mainstream; a QAnon supporter from Georgia is likely to be elected to Congress in November.

QAnon aggressively pursues potential followers via social media, relying heavily on Facebook’s algorithms, which have often recommended increasingly extreme groups to users who have demonstrated an interest in things like alternative medicine and “energy shifts.” During the coronavirus pandemic, these baseless conspiracy theories are catching on with many people who are stuck at home and feeling lonely and vulnerable. This has serious consequences for the safety of the country; QAnon has pushed anti-mask and anti-vaccination rhetoric during the pandemic.

On the latest Into America, Trymaine Lee talks to Ben Collins, a reporter for NBC News who covers disinformation, extremism and the internet. He's been reporting on QAnon for years, and he says we should all be paying attention.

For a transcript, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/intoamerica.

Further Reading:

• QAnon groups hit by Facebook crack down
• How QAnon rode the pandemic to new heights — and fueled the viral anti-mask phenomenon
• QAnon groups have millions of members on Facebook, documents show
• Inside the rise of QAnon-affiliated candidates for Congress

As he lay on the ground under the knee of a Minneapolis Police Officer, George Floyd called out “I can’t breathe” more than 20 times. In 2014, Eric Garner struggled to say the same words 11 times while being choked by an officer in New York. These high-profile deaths have been at the center of protests across the country. But in addition to the names we know, there are plenty that we don’t. According to a 2013 Department of Justice survey, of the police departments nationwide that serve more than 1 million people, 43 percent allow a neck restraint of some kind. There are no national statistics telling us how often these holds—sanctioned or not—end in death.

This summer we’ve seen conversations at the local and national levels about the use of police neck restraints. States like California and New York have moved to put an end to the controversial restraints; but why are they used in the first place? And is reform even possible?

Trymaine Lee speaks with Paul Butler, law professor and author of the book Chokehold, and Ed Obayashi, a Deputy Sheriff and a use-of-force training expert, about the history of chokeholds and the potential for reform. He also talks to Robert Branch, a Black man placed in a neck restraint by an officer in San Diego back in May of 2015.

For a transcript, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/intoamerica.

Further Reading:

• House passes Democrat-led bill for sweeping police reform in wake of George Floyd's death
• Minneapolis police rendered 44 people unconscious with neck restraints in five years
• Nation's police widely condemn move used to restrain George Floyd

In 2017, Larry Krasner, a public defender and civil rights lawyer who had sued the Philadelphia police department multiple times during his career, made an unusual decision. He decided to run for Philadelphia District Attorney, the city’s top prosecutor. His goal was to reform that system from the inside. Krasner was part of a national wave of progressive prosecutors responding to calls for police reform.

Since taking office, Krasner has made efforts to stop the cycle of mass incarceration for low-level crimes while contending with a powerful police union and judges resistant to change. But Krasner says the city is still in the shadow of Frank Rizzo, Philadelphia’s former Police Commissioner and Mayor who was notorious for being “tough on crime.”

Now Philadelphia, along with several other major U.S. cities, is facing a spike in shootings and homicides, as well as a growing opioid crisis, on top of the pandemic. Some Philadelphians say Krasner should be doing more to keep the streets safe, others say his office is not doing enough to change the system. Trymaine Lee talks to District Attorney Larry Krasner about whether his reform agenda can survive.

For a transcript, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/intoamerica.

Further Reading and Listening:

• Progressive DAs are shaking up the criminal justice system. Pro-police groups aren't happy.
• Why Is This Happening? How prosecutors can help end mass incarceration, with Larry Krasner: podcast & transcript

Every June, Pride month is a time for self-expression and celebration. But the road here was paved with struggle and sacrifice.

From confronting police during the Stonewall Uprising, to fighting to stay afloat during the AIDS crisis, to battling in the courtroom for the basic rights of citizenship, generations of LGBTQ people have faced gains and losses.

Of the frontlines of each of these fights have been queer baby boomers.

On this episode of Into America, Trymaine Lee speaks to elders of the Black community: Naomi Ruth Cobb, a Black lesbian activist from Florida, and Phill Wilson, of the Black AIDS Institute, based in California. We hear two stories, from opposite ends of the country, and learn what it means to find community, grow older, and never back down in the fight for equality.

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

For a transcript, please visit our homepage.

For More:

• Pride in the Bible Belt
• They lived a 'double life' for decades. Now, these gay elders are telling their stories.
• Black, Gray and Gay: The Perils of Aging LGBTQ People of Color