Episode 19 : Maria Ann Russell's Diverse Life Actress, classically-trained dancer and one of the stars of the TruTV Comedy Series Tacoma FD, Maria Ann Russell, embodies the word diversity. In this exclusive and revealing conversation Maria shares her experience having a Lithuanian Father and Mexican Mother. How has her Father's Law Enforcement career affected Maria's approach to playing Law Enforcement characters on Tv and in Movies? What were her Mother's experiences growing up in Mexico and why does she still make Tamales every week? What lessons did Maria learn from her Parents that have helped her remain an in demand Actor for the past decade? Maria opens up about Racism and Immigration and how living in California and less than 2 hours away from Mexico has impacted her take on both issues. According to the FBI there were 7,103 single-bias hate crime incidents involving 8,552 victims over the past year. A percent 57.6% of victims were targeted because of the offenders’ race/ethnicity/ancestry bias; 20.1% were targeted because of the offenders’ religious bias; 16.7% were victimized because of the offenders’ sexual-orientation bias; 2.7% were targeted because of the offenders’ gender identity bias; 2.0% were victimized because of the offenders’ disability bias; and 0.9% were victimized because of the offenders’ gender bias. These stats are unacceptable and for this reason Tell Us The Truth will continue to reach out to people from the most marginalized populations, according to the data, and delve below the surface to gain more information on what's going on and how people are coping with these unacceptable challenges. *You can Subscribe to Tell Us The Truth on all leading podcast apps including the iHeart Radio App, Spreaker and iTunes/Apple Podcasts. Join us on Facebook and Twitter for daily discussion about top news.*See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.