Even with the most urgent issues facing the US as we head into (Project) 2025, our foreign policy on the Middle East and Islam are right at the top. And if you think it only affects people overseas, just ask Muslim Americans how the consequences play out stateside in their everyday lives. This week, host Sarah Jones talks to Kashif Shaikh, president and co-founder of Pillars Fund, an organization that raises money to support Muslim American artists and civics groups as they fight Islamophobia. Kashif reveals the long history of Muslims in the US dating back to slavery, and how US narratives about Muslims hide the complex diversity and joy he sees in his community.

You can follow Sarah Jones, see pod updates, and respond to AWHY prompts @yesimsarahjones on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. Send your responses to our weekly prompts to awhypod@gmail.com . This podcast was produced in collaboration with The Meteor.

If you need a pre-Thanksgiving pep talk, this is the episode for you. This week host Sarah Jones talks to Paul Scheer about his New York Times best seller Joyful Recollections of Trauma and how to both love your family AND still hold space for yourself. Whether you can’t swallow how your cousin voted or you’re stuffing (😬) down unacknowledged childhood trauma, you’re not alone. This episode just might help you decide whether keeping the peace is worth hiding your truth.

You can follow Sarah Jones, see pod updates, and respond to AWHY prompts @yesimsarahjones on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. Send your responses to our weekly prompts to awhypod@gmail.com . This podcast was produced in collaboration with The Meteor.

Politics got you rethinking your mental health? You’re not alone! In the aftermath of the election, some are considering therapy for the first time, while others may be wondering if their current therapeutic practices are really addressing the grief they’re experiencing. This week, Sarah Jones talks to psychologist and best-selling author of Decolonizing Therapy Dr. Jennifer Mullan about the importance of healing, and how the ‘mental health industrial complex’ replicates the same oppression that can drive both our politics and our personal trauma.

You can follow Sarah Jones, see pod updates, and respond to AWHY prompts @yesimsarahjones on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. Send your responses to our weekly prompts to awhypod@gmail.com . This podcast was produced in collaboration with The Meteor.

Well, we survived the election; now we just have to… keep going. This week, host Sarah Jones pushes through the exhaustion with CNN commentator Ashley Allison and national director of the Working Families Party Maurice Mitchell to break down what really happened. And more importantly what in the (literal?) hell is next, for all of us, but especially Black folks who understood the assignment while others barely showed up for class.

You can follow Sarah Jones, see pod updates, and respond to AWHY prompts @yesimsarahjones on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. Send your responses to our weekly prompts to awhypod@gmail.com . This podcast was produced in collaboration with The Meteor.

With the election a week away, polls show immigration is a top issue for voters even though most Americans have no idea how our immigration system actually works, or how much our society depends on the contributions of immigrants, both documented and not. This week, Sarah sits down with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and founder of Define American, Jose Antonio Vargas to break down some of the legal and personal barriers facing undocumented Americans. From limits on sponsoring family’s visas to how racism informs our perception of immigration, Jose highlights just how much humanity is missing from this discourse.

You can follow Sarah Jones, see pod updates, and respond to AWHY prompts @yesimsarahjones on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. Send your responses to our weekly prompts to awhypod@gmail.com . This podcast was produced in collaboration with The Meteor.

Project 2025 may be the Heritage Foundation’s plan for next year, but its strategies are built to set equality back decades, especially for groups already dealing with America’s legacy of discrimination. This week, host Sarah Jones is joined by Janai Nelson, the President and Director Council of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, to break down Project 2025’s threat to Black communities. Whether you care about reproductive rights, justice reform, or equality in education, Janai explains how these policies will severely impact Black and brown Americans most of all.

Find out if you're registered to vote here!

You can follow Sarah Jones, see pod updates, and respond to AWHY prompts @yesimsarahjones on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. Send your responses to our weekly prompts to awhypod@gmail.com . This podcast was produced in collaboration with The Meteor.

This week on #AmericaWhoHurtYou, author and climate policy expert Ayana Elizabeth Johnson (@ayanaeliza ) is ringing the alarm about the climate crisis, but in a way that offers real solutions, including how to do our small part in practical ways AND hold the biggest climate culprits (hiii fossil fuel execs and paid for politicians!) accountable. Spoiler alert: we have to VOTE both with our ballots and our dollars.

Get Ayana's Book Here for 20% Off with Code AYANA20

Fill out your Climate Action Venn Diagram here!

And find out how to divest your retirement from fossil fuels here!

Don’t miss this must-listen conversation that will give you a helpful to-do list and even an anti-apocalypse playlist! Tune in wherever you get your podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review!

You can follow Sarah Jones, see pod updates, and respond to AWHY prompts @yesimsarahjones on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. Send your responses to our weekly prompts to awhypod@gmail.com . This podcast was produced in collaboration with The Meteor.

Years of exit polls tell us that the outcome of this election may come down to white women who, at 40%, make up the majority of the entire electorate. But what can be done about the fact that white women have a track record of voting more conservatively in the majority of presidential elections since 1950, even when a fellow white woman was an option? This week, host Sarah Jones talks to activist and organizer Shannon Watts about the often overlooked power white women hold in politics and why it’s so consistently leveraged against their own interests.

You can follow Sarah Jones, see pod updates, and respond to AWHY prompts @yesimsarahjones on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. Send your responses to our weekly prompts to awhypod@gmail.com . This podcast was produced in collaboration with The Meteor.