Thanks for listening and sharing our body politic. As you know, we're only a few months into this show.

We are still evolving, still shaping it, and we need lots of input from listeners like you.

So I want to ask a small favor. After you listen today, please head over to Apple Podcasts on your phone,

tablet, laptop, or anywhere you listen, and leave us a review. We read those because your

ideas matter to us, and thank you. This is our Body Politic. I'm the creator and host, Varai Chidea. Each week we bring you

conversations with leaders and thinkers, mostly women of color, about how they're experiencing

the politics and culture of the moment, plus how they're influencing it. This week,

we're taking a short break from production to take stock of all the great interviews we brought

you and plan ahead. We've got some cool things cooking in the test kitchen. Now, these are some of

our favorite conversations from the last few months.

Let's start with Senator Tammy Duckworth.

She's a combat veteran, a disabled American, and a leader.

Born in Thailand, Senator Duckworth is the daughter of a Thai mother and an American father.

Her family's military heritage goes back to the Revolutionary War. Now that came up in a 2016 debate with her opponent, Republican Senator Mark

Kirk. Here he is on NBC News. I had forgotten that your parents came all away from Thailand

to serve George Washington.

Senator Kirk was essentially implying that Duckworth was lying about her family history,

or saying that he didn't understand or didn't want to understand her multi-ethnic heritage and history.

Duckworth defeated Kirk to become a U.S. senator from Illinois, and before that, though, she spent years continuing her family's history of military service. She served as a helicopter pilot for the Illinois

National Guard in Iraq. It was there that a rocket attack cost her both her legs and partial use of

her right arm, something she spoke about at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

A rocket-propro grenade hit our helicopter, exploding in my lap, ripping off one leg,

...