Florida has an estimated 5 million immigrants — more than 20 percent of its total population. It is also ground zero of the Trump administration’s mass deportation program. With the eager assistance of Gov. Ron DeSantis and state legislators, it has seen some of the country’s most aggressive enforcement round-ups and most enthusiastic cooperation from state and local law enforcement. This week, we talk to Tessa Petit, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, about the efforts of grassroots and community organizations to fight for the rights and security of the state’s immigrant communities.
We also take a drive out the Tamiami Trail, through the Everglades, to the entrance of Alligator Alcatraz — DeSantis’ hastily built immigrant detention camp, which has already generated many complaints about inhumane treatment of detainees.
And in our arts and culture segment, we consider the work of the late Arkansas poet Frank Stanford. A new biography makes a case for his place in the pantheon of modern Southern literature.
Angie Hayden became an accidental activist when she stood up against censorship in her local library in Prattville, Alabama. Now she’s a founder of a statewide coalition called Read Freely Alabama, which is fighting efforts to ban books and restrict libraries across the state. We talked to her from the frontlines of a contentious fight over the control of public libraries and information.
Also, in the tragic aftermath of the flooding along the Guadalupe River in Texas earlier this month, there was some fingerpointing about faulty emergency measures. But there was little discussion from state or federal officials about the causes of increased flooding — even as there have been a record number of flash flood warnings nationwide this year. Jesse looks at the ways many Southern states avoid discussing — or doing anything about — climate change and its effects. (You’ll never guess what Tennessee has legally declared a “renewable energy.”)
And in the arts and culture segment, a consideration of Rock The Country. The touring two-day festival organized by Kid Rock and featuring acts like Nickelback and Hank Williams Jr. is making its final stop of the year this weekend in Anderson, S.C. The event bills itself as being a celebration of hard-working, real Americans. But its roster makes clear that it has a specific and narrow idea of who those Americans are — and aren’t.
Show Notes:
“Louisiana Is the Latest State to Redefine Natural Gas as Green Energy” The Associated Press 6/26/25
What does U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett do in the bathroom? The privy proclivities of our East Tennessee congressman are among the issues on the minds of Jesse and the gang from “Cast Iron Resistance” in a special podcast crossover. Jesse joined the guys on their own show a few weeks ago, and here we present some relevant excerpts from the freewheeling conversation.
Besides Burchett’s toilet talks, topics include organizing efforts for progressives in the South, the poisonous impact of right-wing media, and the best ways to get politically engaged at the local level. Thanks to Steve Wildsmith, Nathan Higdon and Jeremy LaDuke for the hang! (And make sure you check out their podcast, too.)
Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in America. It is also home to the country’s second-largest population of immigration detainees. Last week, a group of workers from the Service Employees International Union from across the U.S. took a caravan of buses to demonstrate outside two of the state’s ICE detention centers. The union’s membership includes more than 400,000 immigrants, and they wanted to show solidarity with people who have been swept up in the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign.
In this week’s episode, we travel to Basile, La., and New Orleans to hear from union members and partners in organizations including the ACLU about their efforts to stand up to ICE — particularly across the South. They stood in the sun at the height of summer heat on the asphalt outside the detention center where Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk was held earlier this year, in the hopes that their voices would carry over the barbed wire fences to reach the people caged inside.
As we close out Pride month, we thought it was a good time to check in with two leading voices for LGBTQ rights in the South: Chris Sanders of the Tennessee Equality Project and Jeff Graham of Georgia Equality. We spoke just a few days after the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of U.S. v. Skrmetti, and Sanders and Graham had a lot to say about the ongoing political and legal attacks on transgender people and the queer community more broadly. Both said they hear a lot of anger and fear, but also a determination to keep fighting for equality.
Also: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pulls a last-minute reverse on the state’s ban of hemp-derived THC products; Mississippi faces a lawsuit over yet another anti-DEI bill; and with a group of six Southern state university systems announces the formation of a new accrediting body, which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis promises will challenge what he called the “woke accreditation cartels.”
Plus: a look at some of the oldest and most creative 4th of July celebrations across the South.
Show Notes:
“Gov. Greg Abbott vetoes THC ban, calls for regulation instead” The Texas Tribune
Whose stories count in the South — and who gets to tell them? This week, we’re talking to Gwen Frisbie-Fulton, a social worker and author in North Carolina who writes about people in the rural and small-town South. She has a lot of insights about the importance of storytelling in Southern culture, and the absence of many voices in official narratives.
And after last week’s Supreme Court decision upholding Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors, we take a step back to consider the arc of LGBTQ rights in the South since the landmark Obergefell ruling in 2015. Southern states have been in the lead on attacks on the rights of transgender people, and have continued to push to marginalize queer people in general in various ways.
In our arts and culture segment, we catch up to the fantastic Mississippi Gospel-soul band Annie and the Caldwells.
Well before Robert F. Kennedy Jr. brought his vaccine skepticism to the federal government, many Southern states were already taking steps to weaken immunization mandates. This week, we take a look at recent moves in Florida, Louisiana and Texas to make it easier for parents to opt their children out of vaccines. Florida already leads the nation in unvaccinated kindergarteners.
The conversation this week is with Brandon Jones, political director for the Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund, which is seeking out and supporting progressive candidates in local races across the Deep South. Jesse talks with Jones about his background — which includes a stint in the Mississippi Legislature — and why grassroots races are important to building progressive strength.
Also: It’s AthFest time!
Show Notes:
“Citing Government Overreach, Louisiana Won’t Promote Vaccination, Surgeons General Say” CIDRAP
Bruce Springsteen once sang that “a king ain’t satisfied until he rules everything,” and Republican officials in one-party-rule states across the South are doing their best to prove the point. This week, we look at three examples of conservative attacks on the remaining pockets of liberalism in their states: Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn is calling for federal investigation of Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell; in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis is populating the ranks of state university presidents almost entirely with ideological politicos, most of whom lack academic credentials; and in Mississippi, the city of Jackson is continuing a nearly decade-long fight with state Republican leaders over control of its own airport.
Fittingly for Pride month, our interview this week is with indie country standout Adeem the Artist, a non-binary singer-songwriter who is part of a wave of “Queer Country” artists making space for diverse voices in the traditionally conservative genre. We talk about their North Carolina childhood and their growing awareness of their own gender identity and the complexities of their Southern heritage. It’s good stuff — and too much to fit all in one episode! So we’ll be posting a longer edit of the interview later in the week.
Finally, in our arts and culture corner we check in on a celebration in Texas this week of a homegrown pulp fiction legend — Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian.
Show Notes:
“Sen. Blackburn calls for DOJ to investigate Mayor O’Connell following ICE operations in Nashville” WSMV, Nashville
While much of the U.S. has given a green light to cannabis, the South remains mostly hostile to legalization. This week we look at recent moves in three states to restrict hemp-based THC products — and why Virginia still doesn’t have a commercial weed market, even though marijuana is legal.
In our conversation, we talk with Ilham Askia, CEO of the East Lake Foundation in Atlanta and co-founder of the nonprofit Gideon’s promise (in photo). She has worked in both criminal justice reform and community development, and she talks about the connections between the two.
We also check in on a special production of the play The Miracle Worker — staged every year at Helen Keller’s birthplace in Tuscumbia, Alabama.
Show Notes:
“Tennessee Governor Signs Hemp-Killing Legislation” Cannabis Business Times
Conservative legislators in the South have been attacking diversity programs for years, long before President Trump made a national priority of assailing “DEI.” This week, we look at some of this year’s anti-DEI bills in Georgia, Louisiana, Tennessee and Texas — and why their allegations of anti-white discrimination are mostly bunk.
This week’s conversation spotlights North Carolina state Sen. Graig Meyer, a “pragmatic progressive” who represents the Chapel Hill area. He talked about how his background in social work and education led him to seek public office; how he seeks to be effective as a member of a legislative minority; and why he helped start a new North Carolina media company just a few years ago.
And in our arts and culture segment, we look at a Kentucky quilt show with a unique focus: the Black jockeys who won the country’s most famous horse race in the late 1800s, before the Jim Crow era forced them out of the Derby.
When Reconstruction ended in the South in 1876, white political leaders moved swiftly to establish what they called a “redemption” — the re-establishment of white supremacist rule. Now, 60 years after the Civil Rights Act, white conservative political leaders are again moving to roll back advances toward racial and sexual equality. Are we in a second “redemption”?
We talk about that with Princeton historian Kevin Kruse, who grew up in the South and has studied its political currents in the aftermath of the Civil Rights Movement. He also discusses the lessons — and hopes — provided by the history of resistance and liberation movements in the South.
In our news roundup, we look at the explosion of crypto mines and massive AI data centers across the South — often with the enthusiastic support of state and local officials. One operation in Texas is poised to become the first 1-gigwatt crypto mine, using enough energy to power a city of 250,000 homes.
And our arts and culture segment checks in on this weekend’s Florida Folk Festival — a celebration of the complex state’s cultural diversity.
Immigration sweeps are picking up steam in states across the South, often with the help of state and local agencies. In this week’s roundup, we look at an unprecedented enforcement action in Florida called Operation Tidal Wave, which led to the arrest of more than 1,000 immigrants, along with operations in Tennessee and along the Interstate 10 corridor through Louisiana and Mississippi.
The conversation this week is with union leader Vonda McDaniel (pictured), president of the Central Labor Council of Nashville and Middle Tennessee. She talks about the connections between labor rights and all civil rights, the importance of the Black church in social justice work, and why football Sundays are the most union days of all.
Plus: an appreciation of Percival Everett, whose book James won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction last week.
