Feet In 2 Worlds

Today’s story comes from reporter Sophie Sleep with the Los Angeles Reporting Collective. What does it take to mobilize when ICE arrives? This story follows Proyecto Pastoral, an organization running one of L.A.’s rapid response networks in Boyle Heights, as volunteers learn how to respond to and confront the emotional toll of immigration enforcement. At the heart of it: a community trying to care for families — and for one another.

The largest known colonial burial ground for people of African descent in the United States — both free and enslaved — is in New York City. That burial ground in Lower Manhattan is a national park and monument that commemorates the forgotten and brutal history of slavery in New York City. But it’s far from the only site of this complex past. Producer Leina Gabra takes us to Flatbush, Brooklyn in New York, where a group of community activists are uncovering the history that laid below a corner of their neighborhood.

While we work on more upcoming stories from Feet in 2 Worlds, we want to share some great episodes from other podcasts we think you’ll like. This episode comes from Subtitle, a podcast about languages and the people who speak them. In this episode, Subtitle tells the inspiring, heartbreaking story of Radio Haiti. For several decades, the station broadcast not just in French, spoken by Haiti’s elite, but also in Kreyòl, spoken by rich and poor alike. The Kreyòl-language programs communicated directly with the rural poor—popularizing issues of inequity and corruption.

While we work on more upcoming stories from Feet in 2 Worlds, we want to share some great episodes from other podcasts we think you’ll like. This story comes from our friends at Proof from America’s Test Kitchen. It’s a podcast that dives deep into the unexpected backstories behind food and drinks, while examining the human stories that intersect along the way. This episode follows the journey of the Shinta and Kawahara families — from immigration, to incarceration, to the present day. Proof reporter Hannah Kirshner travels to Watsonville, California, to report how Japanese-Americans — through their resilience — used ingenuity to help turn strawberries from a seasonal fruit to one that's available year-round. The episode was hosted by Proof’s previous host, Kevin Pang.

While we work on more upcoming stories from Feet in 2 Worlds, we want to share some great episodes from other podcasts we think you’ll like. This episode is from Disrupting Peace from the World Peace Foundation. The show explores why peace hasn’t worked and how it still could. The episode we’re sharing is titled, “Why Addressing the Climate Crisis Will Increase Peace” from their first season. It explores the question: What if the inequalities and exploitation that are destroying the environment are also driving conflict?

In the last episode of the season, host Shaka Tafari speaks with three women who work at the intersection of labor and immigration. They discuss the most pressing threats to immigrant workers, as well as the ways immigrants can resist these threats and support one another. Our guests include: Mary from Mujeres Inspiradas en Sueños, Metas, y Acciones (MISMA); Saba Waheed, director of the UCLA Labor Center, and Jessica E. Martinez, executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH).

In the early 20th century, Chicago became a city powered by a strong immigrant working class. As U.S. industry grew, immigrant workers demanded a say in their economic, social, and political conditions. Producer Sophia Ramirez revisits the career of Adolph J. Sabath, a Bohemian Jewish immigrant whose constituents elected him into Congress 24 times.

In 1885, white miners brutally murdered 28 Chinese miners in Rock Springs, Wyoming. In 2025, producer Harrison Vijay Tsui goes to Rock Springs to unearth this dark chapter of U.S. history — and to ask: what does it cost to remember, and what does it cost to forget? We’ll hear from Chinese Americans in Rock Springs today and the descendants of the Massacre scattered across the country.

Chinese home care workers in New York City are fighting to end an exploitative labor practice known as the 24-hour rule, where they are only paid for 13 out of 24 hours worked. However, they face resistance from officials and non-profits, and insufficient union support. Producers Aria Young and Leina Gabra take us inside the reality of 24-hour work and why it has been so difficult to change this policy.

When New York State legalized recreational cannabis, officials did so with the promise to give those affected by the War on Drugs the first opportunity to sell cannabis legally. But while the state has celebrated the growth of its newest legal economy, many feel left out — no one more so than non-citizen immigrants. Producer Iggy Monda takes us through the streets of New York City to talk to formerly incarcerated business owners hoping to find a place in the industry, city and state officials who believe New York is on the right path, and experts who say immigrants should probably stay away from cannabis altogether.

In 1938, San Antonio was the center of the pecan shelling industry and one man, known as the Pecan King, controlled 50% of pecan production. The shellers were mostly Hispanic women and children. When the Pecan King slashed their pay, they took to the streets to strike against the injustice. Producer Avery Thompson takes us to San Antonio, Texas to tell the story of the 1938 Pecan Shellers’ Strike.

Over the past couple of years, around 40,000 Venezuelans arrived in Denver fleeing political and economic instability, eager to work while their immigration statuses played out. Initially, with help from the city and non-profit organizations, many were able to find stable housing and jobs. However, with all the recent changes in immigration policy, they now face an uncertain future and finding work has become more difficult. Producers Ann Marie Awad and Andrés Pacheco-Girón explore how the rules of the hustle have changed for one Venezuelan couple in Denver. Read more at fi2w.org.

Feet in 2 Worlds is back with our newest podcast series, The Hustle. On The Hustle, we share stories about the ways immigrants navigate a changing economy — today and throughout history. The series premieres on April 22, 2025. Each episode of The Hustle dives into a specific industry or moment in history when immigrant workers demanded changes during economic, social, and political shifts. These stories explore both the triumphs and tragedies of their attempts to stand up to big industries and fight for better pay and working conditions. The series will feature stories from Denver, San Antonio, Chicago, Wyoming, and New York. We’ll explore questions such as: how are immigrants navigating their need to work and an economy that relies on their labor when anti-immigrant policies are targeting them directly? Can immigrants participate in NYC’s recently legalized recreational cannabis industry? What does justice look like for the descendants of the 1885 massacre of Chinese railroad workers? What policies are needed to protect home healthcare workers today? Feet in 2 Worlds’ The Hustle can be found on all major distribution platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Pocket Casts, and Spotify.

Thousands of New Yorkers rely on an unofficial transit system to get around — a system entirely outside of the MTA. Dollar vans are a DIY immigrant innovation that have served riders for half a century, but their future is unclear. Producer Andrés Pacheco Girón speaks with riders, drivers, and entrepreneurs all navigating what comes next for these dollar vans.

Come November, an estimated 36 million Latinos will be eligible to vote in the U.S. presidential election. Across the nation, there are Spanish language radio stations invested in them as an audience — and content on those stations is targeting listeners with disinformation about the candidates, the parties and political issues. In this special episode of WNYC's Notes from America, host Kai Wright sits down with journalist Paulina Velasco from Feet in 2 Worlds to discuss “Frequency of Deception,” an investigation into the lies, rumors and propaganda that have been peppering Spanish language broadcasts in recent years. Velasco’s reporting includes egregious examples of attempts to manipulate listeners, ideas about who and what is behind these nefarious efforts, and a look at the ongoing push to combat the spread of misinformation and disinformation among vulnerable communities. This radio piece was produced as part of Frequency of Deception / Radiofrecuencia de engaños in collaboration with WNYC’s Notes from America. Frequency of Deception / Radiofrecuencia de engaños is an in-depth investigative series into misinformation and disinformation on Spanish-language radio in the United States. This series was produced by Feet in 2 Worlds in partnership with WNYC’s Notes from America, palabra and Puente News Collaborative.

Today we’re sharing a story from Re:Work, a podcast from the UCLA Labor Center. For the past decade, Re:Work has elevated stories of work to humanize and break down economic and racial justice issues. Each episode of Re:Work centers the life story of a worker or activist, with a focus on people of the global majority. This episode asks: Who are the people who make the clothes we wear every day? We’re about to take a journey through “Los Callejones”—Los Angeles’s garment district. Learn more about who works within this labyrinth of clothing shops and factories. You can learn more about Re:Work at: https://reworkradio.labor.ucla.edu/ And listen to our season of Home, Interrupted from Feet in 2 Worlds at: https://www.fi2w.org/home-interrupted/

Today’s episode comes from Living Planet, a podcast bringing you the stories, facts, and debates on the key environmental issues of our time. The story they shared with us is “Deep dive: The hidden toll of roadkill”—a phenomenon so great it’s throwing ecosystems out of balance and even threatening to wipe out whole species. In this episode, the Living Planet team investigates the best ideas out there for how we can make roads safer for wildlife, and even how to cook up roadkill, should you be tempted. You can learn more about Living Planet at: https://www.dw.com/en/living-planet/program-19028671 And listen to our season of Home, Interrupted from Feet in 2 Worlds at: https://www.fi2w.org/home-interrupted/

Today’s episode comes from Subtitle, a podcast series all about language and the people who speak them. Irish is among Europe’s oldest languages. It’s a near miracle that anyone speaks it today. Host Patrick Cox talks with online Irish teacher Mollie Guidera, whose students include a Kentucky farmer who speaks Irish to his horses, and with Irish scholar Jim McCloskey, who developed a love of the language when he spent a summer living with Irish speakers. Irish is changing fast, with far more of its speakers learning it as a second language, while the native-speaking population declines. You can learn more about Subtitle at: https://subtitlepod.com/ And listen to our season of Home, Interrupted from Feet in 2 Worlds at: https://www.fi2w.org/home-interrupted/

Today’s episode comes from Electric Futures, a podcast series exploring lesser known stories of the energy transition. On the US-Mexican border in California lies the Imperial Valley. It is a mix of deserts and verdant green fields. For centuries, it has been a crossroad for immigrants and Americans searching for opportunities. The Imperial Valley is now participating in an on-going white gold rush – a sprint to extract lithium from brines deep in the earth. This lithium is critical to the production of electric vehicles, which are a vital element in strategies to slow growth of atmospheric CO2 concentrations and limit global warming. Charles Zukoski—Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and previous provost of the University of Southern California—and the team at USC Annenberg produced this episode. You can learn more about Electric Futures at: https://linktr.ee/uscelectricfutures And listen to our season of Home, Interrupted from Feet in 2 Worlds at: https://www.fi2w.org/home-interrupted/

Your zip code can tell a lot about your health. Studies show that historically redlined neighborhoods can overlap with areas that flood the most, have the worst air quality, and experience the warmest temperatures. Our story takes us to California’s San Fernando Valley and to Newark, NJ, where immigrant families live in or near zones that have been redlined and experience health issues due to extreme heat and pollution.