Past Present

In this episode, Neil, Niki, and Natalia debate the history of the institutionalization of children, the thankless job of refereeing youth sports, and the legacy of the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, one year after the Unite the Right rally. Support Past Present on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pastpresentpodcast Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Coverage of family separation is revealing many abuses visited upon children detained in state facilities. Natalia mentioned this WNYC history of immigration detainment and this PBS retrospective on deinstitutionalization. She also recommended journalist Alex Beam’s book Gracefully Insane and this ProPublica coverage of the organizations that operate shelters. Violence against youth sports referees has become disturbingly common. Natalia cited the work of sociologist Hilary Levey Friedman on competitive childhood, including this Atlantic article. One year ago, violence in Charlottesville captured national attent