Podcasts: In the Thick and On One with Angela Rye

Non-book club fans! I added a tab to the website where I’m putting my recommendations and yours, so we can easily find them. Check it out: This Is Not a Book Club. Back to the show…

Image from On One on Sound Cloud

Image from In the Thick on SoundCloud

I want impeachment news, but where to get it? For the past three years plus I’ve been tired of hearing white dudes talk to each other with a token minority around. Many of you were already tired of that years and decades ago, but I accepted the status quo in journalism unthinkingly for too long. The formality of mainstream news also entrenches the idea that things are normal when they’re not.

So in looking for analysis on impeachment, here are my two current recommendations. Please add your own. My criteria:

• Added knowledge on the process of impeachment and when it’s been used in the past.
• In-depth political and international background on what’s happening now, not just smart thoughts and feelings in front of a microphone.
• I’m not interested in debating whether impeachment is politically efficient or a smart strategic move.

I listened to five different impeachment episodes from five of my subscribed podcasts: In the Thick, The Breakdown with Shaun King, Intercepted, On One with Angela Rye, and End Times Podcast. Only two made the cut for me to highly recommend currently on the impeachment process.

1. In the Thick (ITT)

“Journalists of color tell you what you’re missing from the mainstream news. Co-hosted by award-winning journalists Maria Hinojosa and Julio Ricardo Varela, IN THE THICK has the conversations about race, identity and politics few people are discussing or want to discuss.”

==> LISTEN: ITT Sound Off: Impeachable Moments

This episode is a must-listen because of ITT all-star guest and senior reporter at The Root Terrell Jermaine Starr. Terrell gives the best background and analysis on Ukraine that I’ve heard, going back through the Obama Administration.

2. On One with Angela Rye

“the most honest answers to the pressing political, racial, and pop culture questions of the day”

==> LISTEN: An UNPRESIDENTED Impeachment Argument

Ironically, Angela’s impeachment episode is from July. It’s still highly relevant. She breaks down when impeachment has been used in the past, gives the best and most concrete answer to what “high crimes and misdemeanors” means, and she breaks down all the impeachable offenses pre-Ukraine call.

Bonuses:

• Angela’s episode in which she sits down with “The Squad” is a must-listen. Do it.
• Angela has a series of episodes in which she reads aloud the Mueller Report so more Americans have access to it. I haven’t listened to those, but that’s badass.

Book: “The Black and the Blue” by Matthew Horace

I don’t like book clubs. Half the month I feel guilty about not getting the book, and the second half I feel guilty about doing Sudoku instead of reading. But as a solitary freelancer and parent to three young people, I do crave getting and sharing book and show suggestions from like-minded grownups. So I’m starting some new short posts about what I’m reading, listening to, and watching. It’ll be a photo + quote and maybe some quick thoughts. That’s it. Life is wild. I hope you’ll add suggestions for what engaging, thought-provoking, or hilarious stuff you’re taking in, too. So here we go…

What I’m Reading: “The Black and the Blue: A Cop Reveals the Crimes, Racism, and Injustice in America’s Law Enforcement” by Matthew Horace with Ron Harris

Photo from MatthewHorace.com

Matthew Horace worked as a law enforcement officer at the local and federal level for almost 30 years. He criss-crosses the country interviewing law enforcement leaders, sharing their personal stories, and offering important commentary on how these stories reflect on our larger policing issues and racism in America.

As I made my way north up Interstate-95, I thought about deadly police interactions with African-Americans and the difference in the two drug crises [crack and opiods]—one perceived as black and the other as white. Whether unconsciously or intentionally, American society is suffused with a racial bias that must be eradicated. When it comes to ailments and needs in the black community, the response is punitive and lacking. The incidents we routinely encounter which would be unacceptable in the white community, are shunted aside, ignored, or explained away, as if we were throwaway people, as if our lives didn’t matter. Our lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher rate of chronic diseases, lower income levels, and higher unemployment rates are all interrelated. These same dire statistics have been the underlying cause of black riots since the 1960s. Police are merely the flash point, the most immediate intersection between abrasive and discriminatory policies and the black public.

I thought about my fellow officers who are upset or feel betrayed about a movement that is directed at fighting against police. But my brothers in blue are wrong. The suspect has once again been misidentified. These protesters are not saying white lives don’t matter or that police lives don’t matter. Everything in America—from educational institutions to social networks, television, news, films, financial markets—says white lives do matter. Instead, the message is a demand and a plea for society to embrace African-Americans’ humanity. Black lives matter—too.

[…]

The wrongs inside police departments Are not about a handful of bad police officers. Instead, they reflect bad policing procedures and policies that many of our departments have come to accept as gospel. To fix the problems requires a realignment of our thinking about the role police play and how closely they as a group and as individuals are knitted into the fabric of society. Do they stand apart from societal norms or will they uphold their motto of “To Protect and Serve”? Are they to be looked at as men and women who sweep up the refuse left by our refusal or inability to tackle societal problems, or are they partners in our efforts to provide a vibrant and supportive community for all? The decision is ours.

Find it at your local library. Or get it at our local, independent bookseller Powell’s: click here.