Us & Them

Whatever you call what happened at the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, a rally - a protest - a riot - or an insurrection, the congressional investigation and hearings are forging new territory. On this episode of Us & Them, we look at who’s watching the hearings, who’s not and why. What some call a clarifying moment in our nation’s experiment in democracy is surprisingly forgettable to others. Host Trey Kay listens to a range of opinions about what that day meant and finds a new layer of uncomfortable truths behind how people feel. Kay uses the Us & Them approach to listen to others and finds to his surprise, the outcome is far from what he imagined.

More than a hundred years ago West Virginia was home to our nation’s most violent labor uprising. For some, the Battle of Blair Mountain was a watershed moment when coal workers decided their rights were worth fighting and even dying for. The armed insurrection pitted 10,000 coal miners against 3,000 heavily armed coal industry guards and state troopers. The conflict came to a head because of the social and economic forces that hit West Virginia’s coal country after World War I. 

It was the largest labor uprising in American history and the largest armed conflict since the Civil War. And yet, the Battle of Blair Mountain is largely unknown to most Americans, including West Virginians. To learn more,  we follow the path of the miners on their march to Mingo, and learn what precipitated the battle.

The episode was honored with an award from The Virginias Associated Press Broadcasters.

Many West Virginians have trouble with their teeth. In fact, there’s a big gap between folks who can reliably access an affordable dentist and those who can’t. That’s no surprise when half the state’s counties have fewer than six dentists. A recent national ranking shows West Virginia is second to last in overall oral health care. A state report shows that by third grade, 56 percent of children show signs of tooth decay, and 12 percent of adults have had all their teeth extracted.

People who don’t have good oral health habits and access to regular and quality dental care elevate their risk of other critical health care issues such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes. About more than aesthetics or any toothless hillbilly stereotype, access to dental care is a dangerous culture divide that might look like a class gap but is deeper and far more serious.

This episode was recently honored with a regional award from the Associated Press of the Virginias. The first place honor was for best documentary.

More than a dozen states have new laws banning transgender girls and women from competing on girls and womens sports teams. Recently, three states have limited medical care or treatment that supports gender affirming therapy. On this episode of Us & Them, the battle over gender and sports. We’ll hear from transgender athletes who say they want to be who they truly are as they compete on the playing field. We’ll hear a lawmaker who says the new laws are not anti-trans, but rather designed to protect girls and women from unfair competition playing against transgender athletes. A federal judge has temporarily blocked West Virginia’s transgender sports ban but at least one national organization says it wants to extend the ban to any team that receives federal funding. 

2020 presented new levels of outrage over police killings of Black and Brown people in this nation. Police killed George Floyd and Breonna Taylor which prompted protests, marches and rallies to denounce racially motivated police brutality. A Black Lives Matter march in Kingwood, West Virginia set up a flash point for that tiny town. Black protestors and their allies faced off with white people who say Kingwood has no race problem. The angry white crowd outnumbered BLM marchers and showed the raw seam of rage that has come to define racism in this country. In this Us & Them episode, host Trey Kay speaks with West Virginia Delegate Danielle Walker, a woman pushing back at the fear and outrage of racial hatred in America.

This episode, which was originally posted in January 2021, has been honored with a 2022 Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Charges of vaccine hoarding and global protectionism are coloring the debate over our  response to new strains of COVID with vaccinations. The World Health Organization reports so far, only 16% of people in low-income countries have gotten a single vaccine dose. That compares with 80% in some high-income countries. The role vaccinations can play in shortening or ending the pandemic is still critical although COVID fatigue may prevent people from getting their first dose or continuing on to complete the regimen. ‘America first’ has been central to the Biden administration’s vaccination campaign. Now that focus has shifted and there’s more U.S. effort going into producing vaccines for the world. As international organizations work to get shots in arms, the effort continues to face challenges that may well affect our political and medical realities for years to come.  

Healthcare workers are the glue in our public health system. They’ve seen firsthand the impacts of messaging around COVID-19 — the good, the bad, and the downright dangerous — especially on social media. That firehose of information shaped our experience of the pandemic. The internet has also catapulted dangerous misinformation about the virus and treatment into mainstream public opinion. It’s a crisis some healthcare workers are taking to task themselves. In a new Us & Them episode, host Trey Kay talks with some of the Internet’s favorite doctors and nurses about what that movement should look like.

America has roughly 400 million guns in circulation. Our divisions - social, political and racial - and our fear of those differences fuel even more gun purchases. 2020 showed a historic rise in gun violence. Guns killed a record 45,000 people, the majority of them by suicide. In this episode of Us & Them we explore the foundations of the Second Amendment and the cultural and historical beliefs and myths that contribute to our very American divide over guns. Gun ownership is at record levels across the country with 40 percent of adults saying they have at least one firearm in their home. But what rights does the Second Amendment give us? And what happens if our collective arsenal intersects with our widespread distrust of our institutions, our government, and each other?

The weedkiller dicamba has created a divide between people who work the land in Arkansas.  In a new episode from the award-winning program Us & Them (from PRX & West Virginia Public Broadcasting), their team follows up on a story that’s gotten ugly over the past few years. A newer version of the herbicide is designed to give soybean farmers a way to combat pigweed, a tenacious plant that can take over soybean fields. However, there's evidence that the chemical can evaporate from where it was sprayed and move to harm other plants. It’s become so controversial that some farmers and backyard gardeners are afraid to complain about crop or plant damage. On the other side of the debate, farmers who want to use the herbicide have gone to court and challenged who gets to make the rules about pesticide use in the state. Rural farm communities are typically tight-knit and if one farmer has a problem with another, they meet at what is called the “turn row'' to talk things out. But that’s not what's happening in Arkansas. The atmosphere has gotten just plain un-neighborly.

Our trust can be tested by many things, both personal and professional. Political fractures make us question those we disagree with. The shifting science of a pandemic presents challenging scenarios for healthcare leaders. As COVID cases continue to rise and fall, Us & Them wanted to hear from people who’ve landed at different points along this trust continuum. Some don’t trust information or data about the coronavirus or the vaccines; from science, from healthcare, from government. Others say healthcare and government officials are doing their best handling a shifting reality with a virus that continues to mutate and infect. Where are you on the trust continuum? How willing are you to listen to someone who disagrees? That’s the challenge in our newest episode of Us & Them. Listen to a range of ideas and opinions. Some may challenge your thinking, others could upset you. But if the exchanges get us all listening and thinking, that can be a good outcome.