“Wake up. You’re a pawn.” A former skinhead’s message to the alt-right.

Coming up on today’s show:

• The Southern Poverty Law Center has been documenting hate groups in the U.S. for decades. From 2015 to 2016, the organization saw a rise in the number of those groups operating in the U.S. Heidi Beirich, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, which tracks far right groups in the U.S., joins The Takeaway to break down the state of white supremacist groups in America, and The Takeaway also hears from to Timothy Zaal, a former skinhead and current speaker at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles.

• Today, Alabama primary voters will select a new candidate that may go on to fill the seat left vacant by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, but there’s more to this election than meets the eye.  Alan Blinder, who writes about the South for The New York Times, weighs in.

• Vice President Mike Pence is on a week-long trip across Latin America that will take him to Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and Panama. The vice president’s trip is intended to focus on trade and the economy, but diplomatic pressure on Venezuela will likely overshadow the visit. Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas and Americas Society, explains. 

• Blues legends Taj Mahal and Keb Mo have been on the scene for decades, playing together on stage countless times. Earlier this year, the two released their first collaboration album, “TajMo.” Nowdays, they’re taking a different approach to the blues — they say this music is meant to uplift in a political and cultural climate that often weighs people down.

This episode is hosted by Todd Zwillich.