Our Body Politic

This week political contributor Errin Haines and host Farai Chideya reflect on the Presidential election and the role of Black women and women of color voters. Mutale Nkonde returns to talk about the actual impact of targeted voter suppression. Dr. Kimberly Moffitt gets into what it means to find truth in the information age, and a new ISPU study looks at how American Muslims build coalitions. Steven Thrasher applies the lessons learned from the AIDS epidemic to COVID. And science fiction author N.K Jemisin on how she finds inspiration in daily life. Plus, we hear from passionate voters on election day at polls across the country.

Episode Rundown

0:30 The origins of Our Body Politic, with host Farai Chideya. 

5:50 Voters from across the country tell us why they voted in this election. 

6:30 Errin Haines, regular contributor and Editor-at-large at The 19th, talks about the voters of color who turned out this election.

8:24 Haines explains trends we are seeing in Senate and House races.

10:51 The narratives around the role of white voters and Black voters and why that must change.

11:50 More voters talk about why they committed to their plan to vote. 

13:02 Mutale Nkonde, CEO of AI For The People, talks about the disinformation age and how to combat fake news.

16:02 Nkonde explains how the influx of people of color from progressive cities into the suburbs of southern states is turning some districts blue.

17:45 Farai and Nkonde ask: what lessons will politicians learn from the 2020 election?

20:32 Farai poses a question for our listeners to take part in our SPEAK segment.

21:17 The Covid update - record-breaking cases, the impacts of being pregnant with COVID-19, and what’s at stake in the SCOTUS case about the Affordable Care Act. 

22:23 Would a federal mask mandate work? Professor Steven Thrasher reflects on his time studying the AIDS epidemic and how we can apply lessons learned to the Covid pandemic. 

23:47 Is it helpful to prosecute individuals for a disease? According to Professor Thrasher, it does more harm than good.

26:30 A case study of how criminalizing disease creates bias and disincentivizes people from getting tested for disease.

32:10 How can we discern fake news from the true facts? Dr. Kimberly Moffitt explains why we are such impulsive media consumers, and how to change that.

33:24 Identity politics is a huge problem when seeking out the facts, Dr. Moffitt suggests.

37:23 A conversation with Dalia Mogahed and Meira Neggaz from the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding about their recent study on American Muslim voters.

40:06 Good news segment brings you good news from the entertainment world: Sharon Jones honored in her home state, Beyoncé lifting up young professionals, and Claire Zhao making impactful movies.

41:35 Fiction author N.K. Jemisin tells us about racism and bias in the literary world, and how fiction is based not on the past or the future, but the present. 

44:23 Jemisin talks about her Broken Earth trilogy and how it all started with an unexplainable dream.

47:00 Jemisin explains some of the conspiracies within the fantasy fandom community that prevent people of color from receiving awards.

Farai Chideya talks with Errin Haines, editor-at-large of The 19th, and Jess Morales Rocketto, civic engagement director at the National Domestic Workers Alliance, about what motivated women of color to turn out at the polls and take up leadership roles in activism, media, and more. Plus, what WoC want to see in political leaders from now on.

This week Farai Chideya dives into how federal judges are central in the fight to protect reproductive health with Alexis McGill Johnson of Planned Parenthood. We break down the steps in creating more inclusive representation with the cofounders of Women of Color for Progress. Also, understanding how students of HBCUs are mobilizing for the upcoming election, and lifetime activist Dolores Huerta reminisces about her advocacy over the years. 

Correction:  We incorrectly stated that Dolores Huerta was awarded the Medal of Freedom in 2000. She was a 2011 Medal of Freedom recipient; the honor was delivered by President Obama in 2012.

Episode Rundown

1:11 Alexis McGill Johnson, CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, talks about how the new Supreme Court appointment could impact Americans’ reproductive rights.

5:28 How the upcoming election will affect access to healthcare for all Americans. 

8:36 Women of Color for Progress cofounders Amanda Farías and Karen Coronel talk about running for local office and motivating more women to represent their communities. 

11:27 Farías explains how to take the plunge into politics, even if you have no prior experience. 

13:31 Errin Haines details her four-hour journey to cast an early vote.

15:13 Haines breaks down voter suppression and voter depression. 

17:10 Our SPEAK segment explores the top issues that our listeners are sharing with us.  

18:22 Delece Smith-Barrow talks about the importance of this election to students at HBCUs. 

22:03 Ruth Umoh dives into how Black business women have been affected by the pandemic. 

23:48 Umoh describes how the business and finance community has responded to the call for action after the death of Geroge Floyd.

27:47 Our weekly Covid update talks about the record number of coronavirus cases, why more white Americans are getting sick, and how masks are stopping the spread of the virus.

31:31 Dr. Ijeoma Nnodim Opara describes a recent encounter with a police officer who was not wearing a mask. 

33:18 “I recognized that the environments that we're in right now, politically, socially, culturally, economically as well, and that this will not be about public health. The most important thing was for me to get home safe to my babies right now.” Dr. Nnodim Opara reflecting on her identity and having to weigh the risks of an encounter with police.

35:55 Alice Wong, founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project, talks about #CripTheVote and raising awareness for voters with disabilities. 

39:25 Wong explains her fear of losing the Affordable Care Act and what it would mean for people with disabilities. 

42:55 Dolores Huerta and her legacy of “Si se puede.”

46:30 Huerta talks about her history with police violence and why she’d be at the protests happening right now if it wasn’t for Covid-19.

47:56 Huerta talks about her experiences on the Playa at Burning Man, and why she thinks it should be a model for society at large.

This week Farai Chideya explores Black gun ownership with journalist Trymaine Lee, and takes the pulse of voters in California with Representative Karen Bass. A pediatrician helps us understand how to support kids through the pandemic, and a former Secret Service agent gives us tips for staying safe at the polls. Plus, one writer’s escape to Paris.

Episode Rundown

0:35 Joe Biden’s campaign raised two million dollars after David Perdue’s exaggerated mispronunciation of running mate Kamala Harris’s name.

2:00 Farai talks to journalist Trymaine Lee about the increasing numbers of Black gun owners, a subject he spoke about on his MSNBC podcast Into America.

8:02 Lee talks about the risks associated with being a Black man with a gun. “While America has always been a very violent, very dangerous place, where guns are lionized, guns are worshiped, just not in the hands of Black folks.” Lee says.

8:39 Representative Karen Bass of California talks about voter suppression and encourages everyone to vote this upcoming election.

12:47 Political contributor Errin Haines and Farai talk about all things politics: the significance of having a Black woman moderate a presidential debate, the importance of state races, and Florida’s role in the election.

18:15 In the weekly Covid-19 update: the CDC’s new recommendations for avoiding close contact, the rising death rate for Hispanics, and new research on the low risk of transmitting the virus through breast milk.

20:18 Genevieve Daftary, pediatric medical director at Codman Square Health Center in Boston, says she sees increasing rates and intensity of anxiety, depression, and behavioral dysregulation in children since the start of the pandemic.

26:14 Former Secret Service agent Holli Draines gives advice on how to stay safe and secure at the polls and other public places.

28:09 Draines says you should always know your exits, tell people where you’re going, and if you ever feel unsafe, put time and distance between you and the situation.

31:48 Listeners tell us what’s on their minds with our SPEAK platform.

32:57 Liz Hartley, an investor who is also the co-founder of the group Eleven Three, offers tools that track polling lines and help you plan your voting strategy.

36:01 Filpina filmmaker Isabel Sandoval talks with us about her film “Lingua Franca,” a story about a power struggle that defies the tropes of Hollywood, especially when it comes to portraying trans women.

42:20 In our weekly “Good news:” Barbie addresses systemic racism, HBO announces more Euphoria episodes, and civil rights icon Angela Davis appears in the New York Times Style Magazine.

43:18 Author Audrey Edwards talks about her experience leaving the U.S. for Paris, when Donald Trump was elected in 2016. She talks about the freedom and empowerment she felt in her book American Runaway: Black and Free in Paris in the Trump Years.

This week Farai Chideya explores the ideological diversity among women of color with Shirlene Ostrov, the Chairman of the Hawaii Republican Party, and Dr. Leah Wright Rigueur, a leading expert on Black Republicans. "Rise" looks closer at feminism and social issues, from China to the U.S. with writer Frankie Huang, and a provocative discussion of Black leadership with Janaya “Future” Khan, international ambassador of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Episode Rundown

4:30 Hawaii GOP Chairman Shirlene Ostrov talks about how the President has helped people of color. 

7:29 Dr. Leah Wright Rigueur talks about the difference between Black Americans who identify as Democrats and those who identify as Republicans. 

10:14 There's a gender gap between Black men and women at the polls. 

13:22 Errin Haines and Farai Chideya talk about which congressional races have significant impact on women of color candidates and voters.

15:53 New York Times reports that the Trump Administration secretly briefed stock market investors ahead of the pandemic. 

17:25 Covid update: Where cases are spiking, and how to vote safely. 

20:09 Dr. Kavita Trivedi talks about vaccine trials for COVID

24:50 Shyvon Paul and Dr. Ronica Mukerjee tell us about Healthcare for the People. 

26:40 The U.S. has “the highest rates of death from COVID in the world because of the lack of caring for communities of color, and also poor people” - Dr. Mukerjee. 

28:28 As much as the healthcare system needs reform, systemic racism is at the root of healthcare disparities. 

33:30 Writer Frankie Huang talks about the racism Chinese-Americans face because of COVID and white supremacy.

37:43 The Good News segment includes Megan Thee Stallion, police accountability and Ava DuVernay. 

40:19 Activist Janaya Future Khan explains why “our job is to make revolution irresistible.”

44:00 Khan speaks about the new  leadership of Black women and queer folks today

46:34 Khan talks about their first time experiencing and understanding activism. 

This week Farai Chideya talks with California Congresswoman Barbara Lee about housing, climate change and Covid in the East Bay Area. Dr. Jonathan Metzl breaks down how the country’s racial hierarchy affects healthcare access for white Americans. Our weekly Covid update looks at the frontline workers exposed in the White House, and the impact of the pandemic on schools in New York City. And the "Rise" segment features Black explorers in search of sunken slave ships. Plus: an intrepid woman who refused to let Covid slow down her dating life.

Episode Rundown

0:35 This week’s happenings - Trump gets COVID-19, Minneapolis police officer gets bailed out, Puerto Rican voters at the polls, and the dialogue divide. 

2:44 “Here to talk to us about the debate and what America faces next is Representative Barbara Lee of California.”

3:25 Representative talks about the historic moment of Kamala Harris on the Vice Presidential Debate stage. 

4:55 “We're in the midst of a pandemic upon a pandemic upon a pandemic.” 

7:11  Amna Nawaz on the Vice Presidential Debate and what voters learned this time around. 

11:11 The Supreme Court and abortion. 

13:12 Women in the workforce and how the pandemic has disproportionately affected women. 

16:28 The pandemic is absolutely political for women because this is part of their daily lived reality.

18:27 Covid update: The virus in the White House and a resurgence in New York City neighborhoods. 

21:40 Dr. Jonathan Metzl on his book "Dying of Whiteness," about how the racial resentment affects all americans. 

23:47 What whiteness means in this pandemic

25:35 How maintaining a white identity is bad for individuals and public health. 

28:28 To some, the Affordable Care Act has turned into a social system that defies “whiteness.” How the Supreme Court could change that. 

32:03 Two years after Jamal Khoshoghi was murdered, Farai talks to Karen Attiah, global opinions editor at The Washington Post. 

36:26 Attiah on the pandemic: “It's a slow moving mass casualty event on par even beyond the scale of the wars that America has participated in.”

38:45 Forty dates in the pandemic with Jareen Imam.

40:17 “I didn't think in this point in my life that I would be alone. I thought I would be married.”

42:18 Some good news: Women of color in film, Angela Davis and the Divine Nine. 

43:24 Diving for sunken slave ships with Tara Roberts

45:58 “I love the quote by Chimamanda, the writer who talks about the danger of a single story.”

48:00 Searching for her roots and knowing that a story that begins with pain isn’t the end of the story. 

This week on Our Body Politic, Farai Chideya talks with Congresswoman Deb Haaland of New Mexico about leading with her Laguna Pueblo heritage. Farai digs into politics and the economy in conversations about income taxes and the role of disinformation in our elections. Our weekly Covid update puts President Trump’s diagnosis in context with other impacted Americans. Our Rise segment looks at one woman uplifting families of police-violence victims, and how exotic dancers in Atlanta are getting out the vote.

CORRECTION: This episode’s COVID update misstated the likelihood of Black and Hispanic patients dying of Covid as 3 and 4 times more likely than non-Hispanic whites. But they are roughly 2.5 times more likely to die than white patients.

Episode Rundown

2:20 Deb Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, talks about being a Congresswoman and how she remained hopeful. 

6:58 Haaland talks about why it’s imperative for those who can vote, to vote. 

8:09 Farai talks to Radhika Balakrishnan about Trump’s income taxes, income inequality, and our tax system. 

10:29 Balakrishnan explains the long-term economic impacts of the pandemic. 

13:00 One listener calls in to tell us their experience about incorrect voting dates in NYC.

14:22 Farai speaks with Mutale Nkonde, UN advisor on Race and AI, about disinformation campaigns that convince voters not to vote, domestically and abroad.

18:15 Disinformation: An art and practice developed in the Cold War, and still used to this day. 

22:54 How to steer clear from disinformation this election.

25:16 Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy talks about Amy Coney Barrett after her piece “If Amy Coney Barrett Was a Muslim”

29:12 Eltahawy talks about protests, revolution, and who the Supreme Court benefits. 

31:39 Errin Haines and Farai grapple with the first Presidential Debate. 

32:48 Erinn and her piece “Toxic Masculinity Takes Center Stage at the First Presidential Debate.” 

36:46 COVID-19: Who has it (POTUS and FLOTUS), and who it is disproportionately affecting.

40:36 Dr. Nikki Jackson talks about the importance of the flu shot. 

42:08 Is it safe to go to the doctors office? Dr. Jackson says yes, go! 

43:08 The Good News section - Beyonce, voting in style, and so much more. 

43:50 A conversation with Shatonna Nelson about police brutality and the communities it impacts. 

46:37 Nelson - “They all know that they need to tell the story,” on how to heal as the family of a victim of police brutality. 

Welcome to the first episode of Our Body Politic, created by award-winning journalist Farai Chideya. This episode digs into the controversies surrounding the Census with actor and activist Alfre Woodard. Farai talks to two lawyers leading the campaign to put a Black woman on the Supreme Court. Errin Haines of The 19th and Jess Morales Rocketto of the National Domestic Workers Alliance discuss the power of Black and WoC voters this November. Plus, our weekly Covid update about the pandemic’s impact on communities of color.

Episode Rundown 

1:57 April Reign and Sabriya Williams talk about the death of Supreme- Court- Justice Ruth-Bader-Ginsberg.

4:14 Why representation in the Supreme Court matters.

5:35 Republicans’ plans to rush a new Supreme Court Justice.

8:38 “There’s already names that are being circulated of Black women who might be Supreme Court justices and nominees.”

13:51 Errin Haines and Jess Morales Rocketto talk about the importance of the Women of Color vote in the upcoming presidential election. 

15:18 Oh my gosh. Absolutely. Women of color are key to winning elections.

17:18 Erin Haines - “I mean, you don’t have Joe Biden as your presumptive Democratic nominee weeks ahead of schedule without Black women, right?”

18:58 Jess Morales Rocketto - “To my Latina sisters and fems, honestly, I think the most important thing is that we can really make the difference in this election.”

20:43 Covid news and how essential workers are disproportionately affected by the virus. 

22:07 Last month, the CDC abruptly changed its testing guidelines, saying people who weren’t showing symptoms of COVID-19 didn’t need to be tested, even if they thought they’d been exposed.

24:09 Dr. Kavita Trivedi talks about her background iat the CDC as an epidemic intelligence service officer, and helping to manage outbreaks of antibiotic-resistant infections and manage infection control.

26:56 “We have now clearly seen that African Americans, Latinx communities, are disproportionately affected by the pandemic in so many different ways. “

29:05 Dr. Trivedi stresses the importance of the flu vaccine this upcoming winter, so that doctors can rule out the sickness when COVID symptoms arise.

32:16 An interview with Soraya Nadia McDonald about Naomi Osaka. 

37:25 Naomi Osaka repping Black Lives Matter masks during the US Open. 

40:02 An interview with Alfred Woodard about the importance of the Census. 

42:29 “So many people are putting their lives on the line daily to keep the country rolling.”

49:25 Alfred Woodward says, if those enslaved can show up for the Census, so can we. 

47:48 “I tell stories because I want to lift all of my sisters and my brothers the same way that griots have always done.”

48:49 “Black Lives Matter was a hashtag that started after the death of Trayvon Martin to find each other online.”

Created and hosted by award-winning journalist Farai Chideya, Our Body Politic is unapologetically centered on reporting on not just how women of color experience the major political events of today, but how they're impacting those very issues. Weekly episodes feature in-depth conversations about the economy, health, politics, education, the environment, and the most prescient issues—because all issues are women's issues. Tune in every Friday everywhere you listen to podcasts, and on public radio stations around the country. Presented by KCRW, KPCC, and KQED.