Our Body Politic

This week, Farai interviews Tia Mitchell, Washington Correspondent for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and chair of the National Association of Black Journalists about the U.S. midterm election results in Georgia and what they tell us about the nation’s political atmosphere. And on this week’s roundtable foreign policy expert, host of “Oh My World” on Youtube, and Our Body Politic guest host, Hag...

This week on the show we’re presenting a midterms special where we highlight different races across the nation. Farai interviews Cheri Beasley, former Chief Justice of North Carolina’s Supreme Court on her race to replace retiring Republican senator Richard Burr. We hear from Tene Darby, chairperson of the Lancaster City Democratic Committee in Pennsylvania, on the midterm races happening in her s...

This week, Farai interviews Kiara Imani, Esq on how navigating “Black disprivilege” throughout her life led her to write her debut memoir “Therapy Isn’t Just for White People”. Then, Farai speaks to affirmation musician, Toni Jones, about how she uses music as a tool for healing. And on the weekly segment, Sippin’ the Political Tea, Farai is joined by Dr. Kali Cyrus, psychiatrist, activist and co-...

This week Farai talks to Wisconsin’s Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes about what inspired his run for the U.S. Senate, and how he sees the politics of division. Then, foreign policy expert Hagar Chemali interviews Firuzeh Mahmoudi, co-founder and Executive Director of United for Iran, about the youth and woman-led protests for bodily autonomy in Iran. And on our weekly segment, ‘Sippin’ the Political T...

This week, we’re offering another political remix of some of our most enlightening political conversations to provide context ahead of the 2022 Midterms. We bring back Farai’s interview with Tara Setmayer CNN political commentator and contributor to ABC News on why she chose to break her loyalty with the Republican party. Then, Farai speaks to Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton about the fight fo...

This week, we’re spotlighting a powerful voting bloc: Generation Z. First, Farai interviews Maxwell Alejandro Frost, Democratic nominee for Florida’s 10th Congressional District, about how his Afro-Cuban identity and work as an organizer and musician help shape his political platform and views. Then Farai is joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and host of MSNBC’s “Into America” Trymaine Le...

This week, Farai speaks with reporter and WAPT-TV news anchor Troy Johnson on Jackson, Mississippi’s recurring water crisis, and why catastrophes like this so often happen in communities of color. Then, we share again Farai’s conversation from April with Carmen Yulín Cruz, former mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, about how she guided her people through the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. And on our we...

This week, we’re re-airing some of Our Body Politic’s most noteworthy and illuminating political interviews from the past two years. In preparation of the 2022 Midterms, we’re looking at how some of the most pressing political issues continue to shape our nation by revisiting conversations with key public officials like New York Attorney General Letitia “Tish” James, who shares insights on holding...

This week, Farai interviews Dr. Sayu Bhojwani, civic entrepreneur and founder of Women’s Democracy Lab, about what it takes to create a more inclusive democracy and what current intraparty tensions reveal about the election field ahead of the midterms. Then, we re-air a conversation from “One With Farai” featuring Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry and her 2011 book “Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and...

This week on Our Body Politic, creator and host Farai Chideya interviews Anita Kumar, longtime reporter and first-ever senior editor of Standards & Ethics at POLITICO, on the 2022 midterm elections landscape. Farai and Kumar delve into how issues like political violence and extremism, abortion rights, and even media coverage are playing for the upcoming elections. Then, Farai interviews Carmen Rit...

This week on Our Body Politic, creator and host Farai Chideya interviews Bryan Greene, consulting producer on the Oscar-winning documentary, “Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised),” and Vice President of Public Advocacy at the National Association of REALTORS. Farai and Greene discuss how events like the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival serve as opportunities for Black Amer...

This week, Farai interviews Steven Thrasher, LGBTQ scholar, journalist and author of “The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Diseases Collide.” Thrasher offers insights from his new book on how systematic marginalization determines who is most affected by public health crises like HIV/AIDS, COVID-19 and now – monkeypox. Then, Farai speaks to Howard Polskin, president and founder...

This week, Our Body Politic celebrates its 100th episode. Host Farai Chideya reflects on some of the show’s most impactful moments of news and political coverage over the past two years with OBP regular contributors Karen Attiah, columnist for the Washington Post and Tiffany Jeffers, associate professor at Georgetown University Law Center. The trio examines the current political atmosphere, its or...

This week, host Farai Chideya interviews longtime TV and film producer and now co-director of the Sundance award-winning documentary Aftershock, Tonya Lewis Lee and one of the film’s featured subjects, reproductive justice advocate Shawnee Benton-Gibson. Benton-Gibson’s daughter died in October 2019 after giving birth – one more fatality in a long epidemic of Black maternal mortality. Farai also s...

This week, Our Body Politic re-airs a timely episode from November 2021. Host Farai Chideya talks with author and China expert Leta Hong Fincher about how feminists face up to the country’s authoritarian regime and the similarities with gender-equality struggles in the U.S. Sixto Cancel, CEO of the non-profit Think of Us, shares his experience in the foster care system and what their organization...

Is friendship truly the greatest gift of life? This week, Our Body Politic guest host and acclaimed radio journalist Celeste Headlee interviews psychologist, educator and author of the forthcoming book Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make– and Keep– Friends, Dr. Marisa Franco, who shares insights on the mental and physical benefits of social interactions and community building...

This week, Farai interviews New York Times bestselling author Julie Lythcott-Haims on what adulthood— or “adulting”— looks like for millennials and Gen Zers, and how generally we can all live with more authenticity in her new book, Your Turn: How to Be an Adult. Then in the weekly segment, Sippin’ the Political Tea, we revisit an enlightening conversation about abortion access for Black women and...

Who deserves and enjoys access to “America the Beautiful?” This week OBP guest host and veteran broadcast journalist Celeste Headlee interviews Baratunde Thurston, writer, activist and host of the new six-part PBS series, America Outdoors, about the new series and how we can collectively increase diversity in outdoor recreation and lean into more sustainable practices in nature. Then in the weekly...

What does the movement for workplace equity and inclusion look like today? This week, Our Body Politic guest host and acclaimed radio journalist Celeste Headlee interviews Reshma Saujani, CEO of Girls Who Code on her new book PAY UP: The Future of Women and Work (and Why It’s Different Than You Think) and how equal pay for moms is the next frontier. Then, Headlee speaks to author and Franklin Cove...

This week, Farai is joined by Washington Post investigative journalists and co-authors, Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa to talk about their new biography His Name is George Floyd and why they chose to document George Floyd’s life, legacy, aspirations and the systematic marginalization that derailed him from the American dream. Then Farai interviews writer and visual artist, K. Ibura about her...

This week, Our Body Politic presents a special episode where Farai exclusively speaks to former Watergate prosecutor, legal expert and MSNBC analyst Jill Wine-Banks about the House Select Committee’s investigation into the January 6, 2021 insurrection. Wine-Banks offers insight into the shocking evidence that is coming out of the ongoing public hearings, the real life harm election officials are f...

This week, Our Body Politic honors politics and pride, featuring a past interview between Farai and the late intersectional activist, lawyer, educator and author Urvashi Vaid who led movements for a range of progressive issues, including AIDS advocacy, LGBT rights and prison reform. The pair discuss Vaid’s legacy as a leading figure in social change and what it truly takes to change the lived expe...

This week, Farai speaks to the filmmakers of a new documentary The Big Payback Erika Alexander and Whitney Dow along with a key voice from the film founder and executive director of FirstRepair, Robin Rue Simmons. The film follows the growing movement for reparations for centuries of government policies blocking Black wealth. Then in the “Our Body Politics Presents…” series, we feature a conversat...

This week, we are revisiting some of OBP’s most joyous interviews starting with Farai’s conversation with two publishers of color, Elizabeth Méndez Berry, vice president and executive editor at One World, an imprint at Penguin Random House, and Lisa Lucas, senior vice president and publisher at Pantheon and Schocken Books on celebrating the work of BIPOC authors and critics. Then public health pro...

At Our Body Politic, the impact and experiences of Black women and other women of color takes center stage. This week, Farai interviews award-winning journalist, producer and author Danyel Smith, whose latest book, Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop offers insight into Danyel’s career in music journalism and highlights Black women’s seismic - and sometimes unsung - influen...