‘Demographic Paranoia’: Jelani Cobb on ICE, Race, and the Importance of History
Latino USA
My Cultura, Futuro and iHeartPodcasts
4.8 • 3.8K Ratings
🗓️ 15 March 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“We are dealing with the consequences of a demographic paranoia now.” Journalist, historian, and author Jelani Cobb often looks to the past to better understand the present, and he says the right’s pushback against immigration and multiculturalism is rooted in this country’s history. He speaks with Maria Hinojosa about the parallels between recent ICE raids and the Fugitive Slave Act, the importance of solidarity between Black and brown communities, and how we should be thinking about the U.S. as we approach the midterms and the country’s 250th anniversary.
Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa.
Follow the show to get every episode.
Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for exclusive episodes, sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes chisme on Latino USA and all our podcasts.
Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. Subscribe to our newsletter.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Futuro |
| 0:02.0 | La Braga is back. |
| 0:09.6 | This season, we're spending time with the people and symbols that represent Puerto Rico. |
| 0:14.0 | We're proud Boricuas. |
| 0:15.6 | And what does that mean? |
| 0:17.0 | And we are still in the fight. |
| 0:25.6 | We're telling stories about champions from a place worth fighting for. |
| 0:28.7 | Stories that will inspire you no matter where you're from. |
| 0:33.1 | This is La Brega Campeones. |
| 0:43.6 | Listen early and ad-free with Futudo Plus. It's Maria Innojosa, and I have a quick favor to ask you. |
| 0:47.1 | If you like listening to Latino USA on Spotify, |
| 0:50.1 | will you take a second and hit follow us on the show page? |
| 0:53.9 | Because I want to make sure you don't miss a single episode |
| 0:56.0 | and that you don't waste time looking for episodes every week. |
| 0:59.3 | And if you found us through one of Spotify's daily mixes, |
| 1:02.6 | following the show directly is the best way to keep the episodes coming. |
| 1:07.4 | Graziez, and here's the show. |
| 1:11.0 | Jelani Kopp is an award-winning author, a New Yorker staff writer, a historian, and a Pulitzer Prize finalist. |
| 1:18.4 | He's also the first black person to serve as dean of the Columbia Journalism School. |
| 1:24.3 | And he is a proud first-generation New Yorker. |
| 1:29.3 | My mother was from Alabama and my father was from Georgia. And they met in Harlem. |
| 1:35.7 | They had both left to the south for reasons that were the same as millions of other |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from My Cultura, Futuro and iHeartPodcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of My Cultura, Futuro and iHeartPodcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.