The American Myth

Maria and Julio are joined by Josiah Neville Bates, staff writer at TIME, and Gisela Pérez de Acha, an investigative reporter with UC Berkeley who focuses on extremism, to unpack the epidemic of gun violence in the United States. They talk about what a meaningful response might look like, the nuances of gun control legislation in Black and brown communities, and the intersection of policing and gun violence. Plus, we hear from Meg Juarez, whose father Luis Juarez was killed in the El Paso mass shooting in 2016, and Gregory Jackson Jr., a gun violence survivor and executive director of the Community Justice Action Fund.

This episode was mixed by Rosana Cabán.

ITT Staff Picks:

• “When people of color are involved in acts of gun violence, the assumption is we are to blame. We are living in the wrong neighborhood, or the violence was the result of criminal activity. However, it is our communities that are most affected and harmed by these tragedies,” writes Gregory Jackson Jr. in this piece for The Guardian.

• For The 19th, reporter Nadra Nittle chronicles the efforts of young women activists of color, who have become major leaders in the fight against gun violence.

• In his latest piece for TIME, Josiah Neville Bates writes about 11-year-old Miah Cerrillo’s testimony before Congress after surviving the shooting at Robb elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

Photo credit: AP Photo/Rich Pedroncell