An Unresolved Past

For this special Latino USA presentation of In The Thick, Maria and Julio are joined by Al Letson, host of Reveal and the new podcast series, “Mississippi Goddamn: The Ballad of Billey Joe.” Billey Joe Johnson Jr. was a Black high school football star who was found dead in Lucedale, Mississippi in 2008 after being pulled over by a white cop. They get into his story, the problematic history of investigations when it comes to suspicious deaths of Black people in Mississippi, and journalists’ responsibility when covering these tragic stories.