Our Body Politic

This week, U.S. Representative Ruben Gallego of Arizona speaks with Farai about how his past experience as a Marine combat veteran helped him keep himself and fellow congresspeople safe during the insurrection on January 6, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol building. The pair also discuss the mass shooting in Buffalo and how replacement theory is a driving force for racial discrimination. 'Our Body Politic...

Given the recent leaked draft of a Supreme Court decision which could overturn Roe v. Wade, we do a special episode with a focus on abortion access, law and lived experience. Farai starts with best-selling author of Nomadland, investigative journalist Jessica Bruder. Her Atlantic Magazine cover story, “The Abortion Underground” details the covert network that is preparing for the possible end of l...

What does it mean to age with purpose? In this week’s show, we are invited to hear a past conversation between Farai and author of Sign My Name to Freedom Betty Reid Soskin, who recently retired at age 100 from her work as a National Park Ranger and community historian. Then in “Our Body Politics Presents,” we hear more from Tonya Mosley’s podcast “Truth Be Told” where she speaks to Ayanna Brown,...

This week Boston Globe senior op-ed writer Kimberly Atkins Stohr joins Farai to discuss the latest findings - and potential government involvement - in the January 6 insurrection investigation. Our host then speaks candidly with OBP senior producer Bianca Martin about Farai’s 30 year journey as a field reporter who focuses on the challenges to democracy and society, and who predicted the 2021 poli...

How do you harness the power of money for the greater good? This week, Farai speaks to philanthropist Mona Sinha, founder and CEO of the Insight Circle Fund, about what it means to make an impact as a woman of color in the worlds of finance and of giving. In the series “Our Body Politic Presents…” Aimée Eubanks Davis, host and creator of the podcast After 1954 speaks to author of Black Teachers on...

This week, Farai speaks with Bridget Todd, technology guru and creator and host of the podcast, “There Are No Girls on the Internet.” In addition to spotlighting Bridget’s fascinating career as a digital creator and futurist, in our series, “Our Body Politic Presents…” we share a conversation between Bridget and freelancer and activist Shafiqah Hudson about how she and other Black women tried to h...

This week, Farai speaks to Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto, former mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico about what it took to guide her people through the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, as well as to create a compass for women leaders to understand their own power. In "Our Body Politic Presents..." A’shanti Gholar, host of the podcast “The Brown Girls Guide to Politics” interviews Dr. Sadaf F. Jaffer, the first A...

This week, Farai speaks to Dr. Raven Baxter about the effects of “long COVID” and the power she discovered from her own personal journey with the illness. In "Our Body Politic Presents..." Tonya Mosley of the podcast “Truth Be Told” interviews her mother and parenting coach Yolanda Williams about the joys and challenges of raising free and healthy Black children in today’s world. On our weekly seg...

This week, Farai speaks to Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee who shares a firsthand take on the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings at Capitol Hill for SCOTUS nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. In ‘Our Body Politic Presents…’ we hear from actor and author Gabrielle Union who spoke to the podcast, “Well-Read Black Girl” about writing her truth. And in Sippin’ the Political Tea, Farai talks w...

And a big thank you to Tonya Mosley, host and creator of the podcast Truth Be Told and her team: Ayanna Angel, Aisha Brown, James T. Green and Enrico Benjamin. Truth be Told is a production of TMI Productions in association with Fearless Media.

This week on Our Body Politic, Farai looks back on the 2016-2017 Dakota Access Pipeline protests with investigative journalist Jenni Monet to discuss activism among indegeonous peoples in America and across the globe. Farai also talks with MacArthur Grant Award winner, Harvard professor and author Tiya Miles about one family heirloom from the enslavement period that remarkably stood the test of ti...

This week, Farai talks with Georgetown law professor and OBP legal contributor, Tiffany Jeffers about the upcoming SCOTUS hearings for nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. Farai also speaks with Marcus Mabry, Senior VP of Content Strategy and Global Pogramming at CNN, about the tools we need to digest important global news coverage (like the ongoing war in Ukraine). On Sippin the Political tea, she revi...

This week on Our Body Politic, Farai interviews Nelba Márquez-Greene, parent of one of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy that occurred ten years ago, and founder of The Ana Grace Project and This Grieving Life. Then, she talks money strategies with personal finance guru Michelle Singletary, who shares tips on what we can do as inflation hits record highs. And finally, in our weekly...

This week, Farai speaks to co-founders Akoto Ofori-Atta and Lauren Williams of the new media initiative, Capital B– aimed at providing what’s lacking in Black communities across the country – reliable and trusted journalism. Also, she meets with Stephanie Wash a producer of “X/onerated,” a documentary about the men accused, and after decades, exonerated in the killing of Malcolm X. Lastly, Karen A...

This week, Farai talks with Daily Beast columnist Wajahat Ali about the trials he and his family have faced in America as muslims with Pakistani roots. She then speaks with Glynda Carr of Higher Heights for America, and Carol Jenkins of the ERA Coalition to discuss how Black women and women of color fare in the upcoming midterm elections. On the weekly segment, ‘Sippin’ the Political Tea’ Farai wa...

On this week's show, Host Farai Chideya talks with Politico’s Sabrina Rodriguez and pollster Fernand Amandi about how the Latino vote in Florida could shape this year’s elections. Award-winning journalist and author Celeste Headlee explores structural change around race in public media, and how everyone can have conversations about race that matter. Executive Coach Caroline Kim Oh talks about coac...

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Host Farai Chideya talks to OBP’s economics analyst Jamila Michener of Cornell University about the real impact of inflation on low-wage workers, and why they are upsetting power dynamics in the labor market. Farah Stockman discusses her new book on the fates of workers at a factory in Indiana: “American Made: What Happens to People When Work Disappears.” Alina Brown explains why she shares her pa...

In this holiday rerun, Farai Chideya brings back some of the best interviews of the year. First, Representative Lauren Underwood of Illinois on her personal and professional connection to the maternal health crisis, and what she thinks politicians can and should do about it. Author Carmen Maria Machado shares how her gay memoir found itself at the center of a controversy in a Texas school district...

Host Farai Chideya talks with Pulitzer-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones about why people need to speak out against bans on teaching U.S. history, which we’d likely condemn if they were happening in any other country. Two publishers—Elizabeth Méndez Berry of One World and Lisa Lucas of Pantheon and Schocken—discuss the role of books and cultural criticism in the wider political discourse. Mer...

Host Farai Chideya talks with LaTosha Brown, cofounder of the Black Voters Matter Fund, about where she thinks constituents like herself belong in the country’s two-party politics. Then Farai looks back at another voting rights and civil rights activist from decades past: Fannie Lou Hamer, as revisited by historian Keisha Blain in her new book: “Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message...

Host Farai Chideya talks with former Ohio state Senator Nina Turner about the pros and cons of being a progressive within the Democratic Party. Doctors Uché and Oni Blackstock share their family’s history with healthcare, and what we know and don’t know about the new Covid-19 variant. Dana Coester of 100 Days in Appalachia explains why she was not surprised by the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict after ye...