Pressing Pause: Our Body Politic is on hiatus.     |     Click here to learn more.    

This week we’re recharging and planning ahead. So we’ve curated some of the most interesting conversations Farai Chideya has had with our guests in the last few months. Senator Tammy Duckworth talked about how her service in the military inspired her political leadership, including her advocacy for veterans and people with disabilities. Investor Nathalie Molina Niño explained why it makes business sense to see entrepreneurship by women of color as an investment opportunity. Professor Steven Thrasher explained the ableism that seeps into talk of Covid-19’s disproportionate impact on communities of color, and the creation of what he calls a “viral underclass.” Journalist Leezel Tanglao discussed the platform Tayo Help which disseminates useful information to Filipinos, a population heavily impacted by Covid-19 due to the large number of Filpino healthcare workers on the front lines of the pandemic. MacArthur Fellow Tressie McMillan Cottom shared her personal story of pregnancy and loss to “reanimate” the worrisome statistics about Black maternal mortality. And futurists Sharon Chang and Kamal Sinclair discussed better ways our country could plan for retirement and work-life balance.