Unruly Subjects
Unruly Subjects is a weekly show about politics and culture hosted by Chenjerai Kumanyika, media professor and Peabody Award-winning audio journalist. Each week, Chenjerai makes sense of the week’s struggles with some of his favorite people - thinkers, journalists, friends, and folks who can help us laugh through the pain.
The show is created in partnership with Rowhome Productions. Support Unruly Subjects at Patreon.com/UnrulySubjects
Episodes
19 episodes
Steph Curry, Sportswashing, and Why NBA players are investing in Israeli Security Tech?
This week on Unruly Subjects, Chenjerai finally gets into sports. Kind of. Recently, it came to his attention that Steph Curry - one of the greatest NBA players of all time - has been investing in Israeli technology that’s linked to mili...
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Season 1
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Episode 16
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1:24:50
Jack Harlow’s "Blacker" Comments: Unpacking the Fallout with D Noble
This week on Unruly Subjects, Chenjerai is joined by his close friend Professor D Noble to unpack the viral fallout surrounding white rapper Jack Harlow. Following Harlow’s move into Neo Soul with his new album Monica, Ch...
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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23:26
How to Kill a Data Center
This episode is all about the fight against data centers. Specifically, we’re sharing the story of how the residents of Monterey Park, California waged a successful campaign against the construction of a data center in their town. Chenjerai int...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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45:27
How to Replace Family Policing with Real Community Care
This week, Chenjerai drives down to Philly to break bread with his friend - community activist and advocate April Lee. They visit Black Dragon, an innovative takeout spot in West Philly featuring Black Chinese cuisine from the mind of Chef Kurt...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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1:17:22
Chopping it up with Ronald Young Jr. About Building Dialogue When The Stakes Aren’t Equal
This week, the show features a long conversation between Chenjerai and his good friend Ronald Young Jr. Ronald is the creator and host of Weight For It, an award-win...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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1:14:10
Why the Fight for Federal Workers Is a Fight About All of Us
This week, we have an episode all about the Trump administration's attack on federal workers and how people are mobilizing to fight back. We feature an interview with two prominent organizers with the
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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1:16:26
Mobilizing Black Brazil: Culture, Power, and the Fight Over Democracy
This week, we have an episode all about what’s happening right now in Brazil - and how we got here. We feature an interview with Gilberto Porcidonio, a journalist, screenwriter, and writer from Brazil. He is a reporter and fact-che...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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56:23
Shackled at 30,000 Feet: What You Don’t Know About ICE Flights—and Who’s Paying for Them
This week, we feature an interview with journalist Gillian Brockell who recently wrote a story published in Mother Jones that breaks down what’s happening onboard ICE deportation flights, the private-equity airline that’s profiting off the crue...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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1:02:04
Who Polices the Police? with Mac Muir
This week, Chenjerai is back on one of his favorite beats: policing in America 👮He has a long conversation with Mac Muir, the author of Cop Cop: Breaking the Fixed System of American Policing. Muir recently served as the Executi...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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1:35:46
What It Takes to Shut It Down: General Strikes, Movement Strategy, Solidarity
This week, we feature a conversation with veteran labor organizer and strategist Bill Fletcher Jr. all about general strikes. What do people mean when they say general strike? What makes strike po...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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1:07:55
How Trump 2.0 Built a Vote Purging Machine with Abby Vesoulis
This week, we feature an interview with Mother Jones reporter Abby Vesoulis, who recently co-authored with Ari Berman the report “Y...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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1:00:55
Debate, Journalism, and Power in the Feed with George “Conscious” Lee
This week, we feature an interview with George “Conscious” Lee. He’s an orator, educator, and social media influencer who uses his platform to break news and promote dynamic understandings of justi...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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1:08:43
*UNRULY HOTLINE* The Love Struggle
While we're cooking up our next full episodes of Unruly Subjects, we wanted to re-share our first UNRULY HOTLINE segment that we originally published in Episode 2. In this segment, Chenjerai listens and reacts to callers that responded to the q...
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Season 1
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19:55
How Civil Rights Law Became a Weapon Against Dissent—on Palestine and Beyond
As the assault on Gaza continues and the crisis deepens, our individual freedom to critique Israel’s actions has become more and more fraught. We have a deep commitment to anti-racism in all its forms on Unruly Subjects, including antisemitism....
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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1:18:23
*BONUS EPISODE* News Fiend #3 (Dec 8-12, 2025)
NEWS FIEND is a weekly segment where Chenjerai offers his commentary and reflections on some of the week's headlines. This is a feature that is offered for all Patreon members of Unruly Subjects, ...
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Season 1
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7:28
Giving organizers of color power in electoral politics with Maya Meredith
This week - on the heels of Zohran Mamdani’s historic victory in NYC’s mayoral election - we’re featuring an interview with Maya Meredith, a Brooklyn-based leader in the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America’s Afrosocial...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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1:10:59
What do we need from the culture? Lovia Gyarkye on writing critically in an age of fascism
This week, we’re featuring an interview with the writer & culture critic Lovia Gyarkye, an editor at Hammer & Hope, a magazine of Black politics and culture. Lovia discusses her approach to cultura...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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1:15:52
The Truth Behind The Joke: Roy Wood Jr. on Comedy and Survival
This is the very first episode of Unruly Subjects! And we’re featuring an interview with Roy Wood Jr. Roy is a stand-up comedian and Emmy-nominated writer with a new book out - a memoir entitled The Man of Many Fathers. We talk a...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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1:02:56