THE WEEKLY REVEAL

Hello! In this issue:

• Decades before COVID-19, AIDS tore through the U.S. There was little help for the most vulnerable communities.  
• We go inside the FBI’s operation to infiltrate Denver’s racial justice protests in 2020.

THIS WEEK’S PODCAST

The Plague in the Shadows

In the 1980s, HIV/AIDS tore through some of New York City’s most vulnerable communities while the wider world looked away.

This week, we partner with reporters Kai Wright and Lizzy Ratner from the Blindspot podcast to look back at the early years of the HIV epidemic.

Wright examines the initial media coverage and reaction from the medical community, which both focused on the spread of the virus within the gay men’s community. It created a feedback loop that led to other vulnerable groups being overlooked – including women, communities of color and children.

Then Ratner brings us the story of Katrina Haslip, a prisoner at a maximum-security prison in upstate New York in the 1980s. Haslip and other incarcerated women started a support group to educate each other about HIV and AIDS – then when Haslip was released, she took her activism beyond prison walls.

The podcast series Blindspot: The Plague in the Shadows is a co-production of The History Channel and WNYC Studios. Listen here.

A Quote to Remember

“Attorney general’s your target.”

Mickey Windecker was an FBI informant who infiltrated the Black Lives Matter movement in Denver. Over several conversations, he goaded two protesters toward the idea of sending a big message by assassinating a public official – even suggesting who the target should be. He brought them a would-be hitman, who was an undercover agent. Then he brought all those details back to the FBI, which told the media that it had busted up a big, deadly political plot.

In Case You Missed It