Unruly Subjects – Details, episodes & analysis

Text the Unruly Hotline Here

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. But we find ourselves in a place where condemning the actions of a country is falsely - and often frighteningly - equated with being anti-semitic.

Darryl Li is an anthropologist and lawyer teaching at the University of Chicago. He's the co-author of a new study that puts this current moment in context. The study is titled  “Discriminating Against Dissent: the Weaponization of Civil Rights Law to Repress Campus Speech on Palestine”, published by the AAUP and Middle East Studies Association. We discuss the history of Title VI, academic freedom, and the ways that both Democratic and Republican administrations have been implicated in the suppression of free speech. 

Also in this episode: Following last week’s conversation with Daniel Coates about resisting ICE with Hands Off NYC, Chenjerai and his wife Saadiqa attend an action in Washington Square Park in NYC. 

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Buy After Savagery at Haymarketbooks.com Additional Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Grizzly Beatz

Unruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome Productions

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Text the Unruly Hotline Here

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, but we wanted to give our listener's here a taste of the UNRULY SUPPORTER perks.  We're a completely independent show! Each new supporter helps us make this project possible. 

Become a Patreon supporter here: http://patreon.com/unrulysubjects 

Included below are links to some additional articles and resources about the topics covered in this week's segment.

Afghan CIA fighters, like National Guard attack suspect, face stark reality in U.S.

https://www.npr.org/2025/12/10/nx-s1-5637440/afghan-zero-unit-lakanwal-national-guard

More than 200 environmental groups demand halt to new US datacenters

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/08/us-data-centers

Louisiana v. Callais and voting Rights

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/section-2-voting-rights-act-supreme-court

Spotify Unwrapped campaign calls for boycott over ICE ads and AI music

https://www.nme.com/news/music/spotify-unwrapped-campaign-calls-for-boycott-over-ice-ads-and-ai-music-3915774

Unruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome Productions

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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 Afrosocialists and Socialists of Color Caucus. Maya lets us know about some of DSA’s upcoming campaigns, talks about canvassing and organizing Black voters, and discusses fighting to create a more multiracial coalition within DSA. 

Also in this episode: Chenjerai talks with Daniel Coates about resisting ICE with Hands Off NYC, and Brooklyn-based artist Lauren Kaelin - a longtime former ice cream worker - gives advice on how to transport ice cream cones around the city, and more… 

Further reading & sources from this episode

Maya was one of the authors of Will Zohran Mamdani Win Over Black New Yorkers?” in issue #8 of Hammer and Hope. 

How the Black Panther’s free Breakfast Program both inspired and threatened the Government

https://www.history.com/articles/free-school-breakfast-black-panther-party

DSA Afrosocialist and Socialist of Color Caucus

https://www.dsausa.org/working-groups/afrosocialists-and-socialists-of-color-caucus/

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Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/UnrulySubjects

Follow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai and Bluesky @chenjerai.bsky.social and follow Unruly Subjects @unrulysubjectspod 

Get in touch unrulysubjects@gmail.com.

Buy Learning to Live in the Dark at Haymarketbooks.com 

Additional Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Grizzly Beatz

Unruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome Productions

Support the show

Text the Unruly Hotline Here

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 cultural critique, looks back at a 2017 piece she wrote about Trevor Noah, makes a case for why everyone should become familiar with the Jamaican-born cultural theorist Stuart Hall. 

Also in this episode: An excerpt of a conversation with Conscious Lee about processing the news as an influencer. And Chenjerai responds to voicemails from the Unruly Hotline. Last week’s question was: “How do you balance your love life with the struggle?” 

For more Unruly Content, expanded show notes, chat room, polls, & more... Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/UnrulySubjects

Follow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai and Bluesky @chenjerai.bsky.social and follow Unruly Subjects @unrulysubjectspod 

Get in touch unrulysubjects@gmail.com.

Buy Their End Is Our Beginning at Haymarketbooks.com 

Additional Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Grizzly Beatz

Unruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome Productions.

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Text the Unruly Hotline Here

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 about fatherhood, dive deep into a segment he did on the Daily Show about Cop City, and the role of comedy in times of political turmoil.  Also, Chenjerai reflects on a few news headlines, takes a phone call, & more. 

The Man of Many Fathers – Roy Wood Jr.

Roy’s new memoir about fatherhood, manhood, and the many “fathers” who shaped him, blending deeply personal stories with his stand-up sensibility https://roywoodjrbook.com/  

On how volunteer medics are trying to care for people in Sudan living with displacement, war trauma, and a collapsing health system. https://www.arabnews.com/node/2622402/middle-east

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Follow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai. 

Get in touch unrulysubjects@gmail.com.

Buy Black History Is For Everyone at Haymarketbooks.com 

Unruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome Productions.

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Text the Unruly Hotline Here

Unruly Subjects is a new podcast from Chenjerai Kumanyika and Rowhome Productions about the world as we’re living it, right now. Each week, we’ll check in about what’s happening in the news, and bring on some of the most brilliant, funny, and inspiring people to help us make sense of it all.

We’ll also be finding ways to connect with you and deepen the conversation on Patreon in the coming weeks and months. Unruly Subjects is an independent podcast, so to support the show, consider joining our Patreon starting at $5 a month. You’ll get exclusive premium episodes, ad-free episodes, and access to the chat.

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Get in touch unrulysubjects@gmail.com.

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Text the Unruly Hotline Here

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 question: "How do you balance your love life with the struggle?” 

Unruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome Productions. 

Become a Patreon supporter here: http://patreon.com/unrulysubjects 

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Text the Unruly Hotline Here

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 power different from other kinds of protest power? And what kind of conditions actually have to exist for this kind of action to succeed, especially in a moment when the repression is this real?

In this episode, we also hear from two workers on the ground in Minneapolis: Dr. Robert Mills III is a pediatrician and Nakia Dunbar is a school administrator. They talked about what it's been like to do their jobs while ICE is terrorizing the city, when families are scared, and when employees are scared to come in. 

And Chenjerai takes us to a Salon 50 event in NYC where he interviewed author Sequoia Patterson about her new book, talked to Dana Rachlin about the event series and learned more about the connections between childcare and public safety. 

Writer and scholar Leigh Claire La Berge will join Chenjerai on an upcoming episode to discuss the hotline responses. She’s the author of Fake Work (Haymarket Books), a memoir that looks back at her stint as a management consultant in the late 90s. 

We make Unruly Subjects 100% independently - support the show on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/UnrulySubjects

Follow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai and Bluesky @chenjerai.bsky.social and follow Unruly Subjects @unrulysubjectspod 

Get in touch unrulysubjects@gmail.com.

Buy books at Haymarketbooks.com 

Additional Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Grizzly Beatz

Unruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome Productions

Further reading & sources from this episode

https://jacobin.com/2026/01/ice-minneapolis-general-strike-history

https://bookshop.org/p/books/solidarity-divided-the-crisis-in-organized-labor-and-a-new-path-toward-social-justice-bill-fletcher-jr/d53c76836f07a2a5?ean=9780520934740&next=t

https://bookshop.org/p/books/claim-no-easy-victories-the-legacy-of-am-lcar-cabral-bill-fletcher-jr/e7c97ba41b2363da?ean=9781942173847&next=t

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This week, we feature an interview with Mother Jones reporter Abby Vesoulis, who recently co-authored with Ari Berman the report “Your Private Data Is Building Trump’s Voter Purge Machine”. Vesoulis breaks down the Trump administration’s plans for election interference via voter suppression, the Department of Justice’s role in purging voters, and how we can try to fight back ahead of the upcoming midterm elections. 

Also, Chenjerai previews a longer interview with veteran labor organizer and strategist Bill Fletcher Jr. about the purpose and power of general strikes. They discuss this in the context of the ongoing nurses strike in New York City and the statewide walkout planned in Minnesota this Friday, January 23rd in reaction to the violent ICE escalations that are ongoing in Minneapolis. 

Writer and scholar Leigh Claire La Berge will join Chenjerai on an upcoming episode  to discuss the hotline responses. She’s the author of Fake Work (Haymarket Books), a memoir that looks back at her stint as a management consultant in the late 90s. 

We make Unruly Subjects 100% independently - support the show on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/UnrulySubjects

Follow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai and Bluesky @chenjerai.bsky.social and follow Unruly Subjects @unrulysubjectspod 

Get in touch unrulysubjects@gmail.com.

Buy No Neutrals There at Haymarketbooks.com 

Additional Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Grizzly Beatz

Unruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome Productions

Further reading & sources from this episode

NYC Nurses Strike

https://www.thecity.nyc/2026/01/20/nysna-nurses-strike-mamdani-sanders/

AARP calls for accountability over DOGE sharing Social Security data 

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5699159-aarp-demands-doge-accountability/

ICE out of Minnesota 

https://labornotes.org/2026/01/will-ice-ignite-mass-strike-minnesota

https://www.left-horizons.com/2026/01/17/minneapolis-trade-unions-call-general-strike-over-ice/

Register for Labor Notes Annual Conference! 

https://labornotes.org/2026

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Text the Unruly Hotline Here

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 justice. He’s built a massive, engaged audience on Instagram and TikTok  by highlighting social and political issues that demand widespread awareness. In his interview with Chenjerai, Conscious talks about why analyzing power is the center of his work, how joining his college debate team gave him lessons that organizers, journalists and all of us need right now, how he approaches interpreting the news, and the limitations and risks of social media. 

Writer and scholar Leigh Claire La Berge joins Chenjerai. She’s the author of Fake Work (Haymarket Books), a memoir that looks back at her stint as a management consultant in the late 90s. 

Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/UnrulySubjects

Follow Chenjerai on Instagram @chenjerai and Bluesky @chenjerai.bsky.social and follow Unruly Subjects @unrulysubjectspod 

Get in touch unrulysubjects@gmail.com.

Buy Solidarity with Children at Haymarketbooks.com 

Additional Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Grizzly Beatz

Unruly Subjects is created in partnership with Rowhome Productions

Further reading & sources from this episode

Critical Debater’s Handbook - http://www.soonerdebate.com/SoonerDebate/Critical_Debaters_Handbook%21.html

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