Into the Mix

Ben & Jerry's and Vox Creative

Ben & Jerry’s is back with another season of Into the Mix, a podcast about joy and justice. Hosted by Ashley C. Ford and produced with Vox Creative, this season we've got four multi-part stories that take you beyond the news headlines, and introduce you to the real people at the heart of some of today’s greatest fights for justice — like activists who fought to shut down a notorious jail in St. Louis, a community rising up against the destruction of their health and home in a part of Louisiana dubbed Cancer Alley, and leaders protecting voting rights and inclusion efforts in the south. And don’t miss our previous seasons for more stories of struggle and success from communities across the world, plus conversations about art and activism, with friends of Ben & Jerry’s like John Legend, Big Freedia, and Ava DuVernay.

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Top 10 Into the Mix Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Into the Mix episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Into the Mix for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Into the Mix episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

34 Cents an Hour: Prison Labor & the Exception in the 13th Amendment

Into the Mix

02/28/24 • 50 min

Johnny Perez worked hard throughout his 13 year prison sentence. He sewed sheets and facilitated classes, met demanding quotas and helped other men prepare for life on the outside. The highest wage he was ever paid was 34 cents an hour. Meanwhile, prison labor generated $14 billion last year.

So why do so many people like Johnny leave prison empty handed?

In this Season Two finale, we’re going back to 1865, to understand how a key exception written into the 13th Amendment paved the way for the modern prison industry. From convict leasing to prison plantations, exploited labor is part of the DNA of this country, and more than two-thirds of people behind bars in America labor throughout their incarceration. Their average day wage? Just 86 cents.

But: there’s a growing movement to end the exception, and end slavery once and for all in this country.

Learn more about the movement to End the Exception here, and be sure to check out Worth Rises’ incredible study on prison labor, and UNICOR’s phone bank video. You can also learn more about Johnny’s work for NRCAT here.

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Introducing Who We Are

Into the Mix

08/28/20 • 2 min

If America was built on a white supremacist foundation, what does that mean for our lives today? Join journalist Carvell Wallace and ACLU Deputy Director Jeffery Robinson for an exploration of how white supremacy became the law of the land. This is Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 6: The Myth of Post-Racial America

Into the Mix

10/20/20 • 42 min

From slavery to sharecropping to mass incarceration, American institutions have reproduced cycles of social rupture and exploitation by design. Is it even possible to imagine true equity as long as the current carceral system stands? Carvell Wallace and Jeffery Robinson begin with Bill Clinton’s 1994 Crime Bill before turning to the ways in which incarceration ripples through questions of voting, health, wealth, and state violence. With final words from Afro-futurist author Sheree Renee Thomas, we’ll explore how we might dream a new America into being and the possibilities of Black liberation. Additional information and resources related to this episode are available on our show page. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 2: The Failure of the “Great Compromise"

Into the Mix

09/22/20 • 44 min

The right to vote is the right to help define the future of the country. It’s at the heart of our democracy. But for much of US history, only property-owning white men had access to this right. Suffrage for Black men was hard won and enshrined by the 15th amendment after the Civil War. But, even that limited enfranchisement was quickly stymied by campaigns of terror and voter suppression that were then codified by the creation of the Electoral College — amplifying the power of white Southern voters and essentially bringing an end to Reconstruction in 1877. In this episode, host Carvell Wallace explores the history of, and ongoing battle for, total Black enfranchisement in conversation with formerly incarcerated Florida-based voting rights activists Betty Riddle and Marq Mitchell, as well as historian Dr. Yohuru Williams. For more on what you can do to protect voting rights in the US, visit the ACLU’s Voting Rights page. Additional information and resources related to this episode are available on our show page. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 1: Desire, Prosperity, Fortune, Hope

Into the Mix

09/15/20 • 26 min

Far from promising the fruits of equality and justice for all, the United States was founded on white supremacist ideals. Given this legacy, how do Black parents decipher and explain American history to their children? Or, even what it means to be Black in the US? These are questions that host and writer Carvell Wallace and ACLU Legal Deputy Director and attorney Jeffery Robinson have had to confront. Their answer has been to look more closely at the past and at the laws that continue to enshrine and reinforce racial inequity. This is how we both make sense of the present and shape a more equitable future for generations to come. Hear them start this journey into some of the lesser-known moments in America’s history which will reckon with the state of voting rights, the wealth gap, healthcare, policing, and the carceral state. Featuring the performance of a new work by city of Boston poet laureate Porsha Olayiwola. For more, visit our show page: https://bit.ly/2FzwX57 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 3: A Home and a Country

Into the Mix

09/29/20 • 32 min

Black bodies have always been on the line in America, whether on the auction block or in a parking lot in Minneapolis. American law has enshrined the state’s ability to enact violence with almost total impunity. And, going back to as far as the Colonial Marines in 1808, reclaiming one’s body from this system has required fearless acts of rebellion. In this episode, Carvell and Jeffery trace the evolution of slave patrols into modern policing, exploring the consequences of that origin story with activist and lead of Black Visions Collective Miski Noor and Dr. Kellie Carter Jackson, an historian of Black resistance and rebellion in the US. Collectively, they make the case that protest is vital to American progress and racial justice—and that we must keep taking to the streets. Third stanza of “The Star Spangled Banner” arranged and sung by Sandra Lawson-Ndu Additional information and resources related to this episode are available on our show page. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 5: How We Arrive

Into the Mix

10/13/20 • 29 min

What does it mean to be well in America? Who is seen as deserving of healthcare? Racism has plagued the American medical system since its inception and continues to produce disparities in health and life expectancy to this day. In this episode, Carvell Wallace and Jeffery Robinson trace the decades-long epidemic of sharply higher mortality rates among both Black people giving birth and their babies. In conversation with OB/GYN and maternal/infant health advocate Dr. Joia Crear-Perry, as well as SéSé Doula Services founder Nicole JeanBaptiste, we’ll examine the way the healthcare system was designed to fail Black people, with a focus on Black maternal and infant health. Additional information and resources related to this episode are available on our show page. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Police Free Schools: What does school safety really mean?

Into the Mix

08/30/23 • 31 min

Most kids in the U.S. go to a school that’s patrolled by police officers. They’re supposed to keep students safe, but after decades of increased surveillance, in-school arrests have skyrocketed for kids of all ages. And most of the kids arrested at school are students of color.

A group of students in Des Moines, Iowa didn’t need data to know that police in their school district were harmful, so they set out to do something about it. Here’s how they worked with their community to build a greater movement to protect students, and especially students of color.

Learn more about the Advancement Project’s Opportunity to Learn campaign here, the effectiveness of restorative justice in schools (5:09), how Des Moines Public Schools have updated their policies (16:53), and how Endi, Lyric and Kai made change in Des Moines.

Into The Mix has been nominated in the Signal Awards for Best Public Service & Activism podcast! Vote for us below to help support the show. Voting closes on October 5.

https://bit.ly/itmsignal

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Introducing Into the Mix

Into the Mix

02/09/22 • 2 min

Introducing Into the Mix — a Ben & Jerry’s podcast about joy and justice, produced with Vox Creative. Join host Ashley C. Ford as she talks with the artists, activists, and all-around amazing people who are working to build a better world. The struggle, the wins, the thrill of making change and forging a fairer future — it’s all in here. So get into it.

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Revisiting Reparations

Into the Mix

02/19/21 • 33 min

In 1865, General William T. Sherman issued Special Field Order No. 15— a promise to redistribute 40 acres of once Confederate-owned land in coastal South Carolina and Florida to each formerly enslaved adult to begin mending the seemingly unmendable. It never came to pass. H.R. 40, also known as the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act, has been brought to Congress repeatedly since 1989, first by the late Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich), now by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex). Hear Jeffery Robinson, founder of the Who We Are Project and deputy director of the ACLU take on the past, present and future of reparations with veteran political activist Dr. Ron Daniels and legal expert and reparations advocate Nkechi Taifa. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Baldwin, James. The Fire Next Time. Vintage, 1992 Coates, Ta-Nehisi. “The Case for Reparations.” The Atlantic. June, 2014. Du Bois, W.E.B. Black Reconstruction in America 1860 - 1880. Free Press, 1999 Foner, Eric. Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863 - 1877. Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2014. H.R.40 - Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act Lockhart, P.R. The 2020 Democratic Primary Debate Over Reparations, Explained. Vox.com, June 19, 2019 Marable, Manning. Beyond Boundaries: The Manning Marable Reader. Routledge, 2011. National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC) 10-Point Reparations Plan Taifa, Nkechi. Black Power, Black Lawyer. House of Songhay II, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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FAQ

How many episodes does Into the Mix have?

Into the Mix currently has 49 episodes available.

What topics does Into the Mix cover?

The podcast is about Society & Culture, Documentary and Podcasts.

What is the most popular episode on Into the Mix?

The episode title '34 Cents an Hour: Prison Labor & the Exception in the 13th Amendment' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Into the Mix?

The average episode length on Into the Mix is 30 minutes.

How often are episodes of Into the Mix released?

Episodes of Into the Mix are typically released every 22 days, 8 hours.

When was the first episode of Into the Mix?

The first episode of Into the Mix was released on Aug 28, 2020.

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Into the Mix

Ben & Jerry's and Vox Creative

Top 10 Into the Mix Episodes

FAQ

How many episodes does Into the Mix have?

What topics does Into the Mix cover?

What is the most popular episode on Into the Mix?

What is the average episode length on Into the Mix?

How often are episodes of Into the Mix released?

When was the first episode of Into the Mix?

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