Us & Them
Society & Culture
About
We tell stories from the fault lines that separate Americans. Peabody Award-winning public radio producer Trey Kay listens to people on both sides of the divide.
Episodes
- Us & Them Encore: Heroin — N'ganga Dimitri
The Us & Them podcast revisits the topic of heroin addiction treatment, focusing on the psychedelic drug ibogaine. Host Trey Kay explores the potential of psychedelic drugs, including ibogaine, as treatments for addiction and mental health…
- Us & Them: The Good, The Bad, And The American Revolution
This episode of Us & Them features a public conversation at Marshall University about the American Revolution's historical meaning, its complexities, and its relevance today, particularly concerning executive power and citizenship.
- Us & Them Encore: Housing Options Are Few & Far Between In Appalachia
Us & Them Encore examines housing challenges in Appalachia, particularly in West Virginia, where a high homeownership rate contrasts with low income and a large number of old, substandard homes.
- Us & Them Encore: Substance Use Disorder — Can You Recover Without A Place To Call Home?
On Us & Them, Trey Kay returns to Kentucky to explore the effects of a new crime law on individuals facing addiction, homelessness, and the criminal justice system. The episode discusses the ongoing demand for housing and the limited socia…
- Us & Them Encore: Diminishing OB Care In Rural America
The episode discusses the increasing difficulty for rural families to access obstetric care due to hospital closures. It examines the reasons behind these closures and their potential consequences for rural communities.
- Us & Them Encore: The Stigma of Sobriety
America’s overdose crisis keeps changing shape. In recent years, provisional CDC data have shown a sharp national decline in overdose deaths — even as public officials warn the street drug supply remains volatile and some communities see s…
- Us & Them Encore: A Band On The Right Side Of History
The U.S. continues to struggle with racial discrimination and this episode of Us & Them looks back at a moment in the 1960s when music and race intersected. America’s popular music scene is a racially integrated space and there are times w…
- Us & Them Encore: Re-Entry
For this encore episode of Us & Them , host Trey Kay hears about the challenges to America’s incarcerated population as they re-enter society. At least 95% of all state prisoners are released after serving their sentence, more than 600,000…
- Us & Them Encore: Amazing Grace
In this encore episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay shares the story of a simple song written more than 250 years ago that now has a profound and universal legacy. John Newton wrote the hymn Amazing Grace to connect with Christians and over…
- Us & Them: America’s Civil Rights Champion
Many people know Thurgood Marshall as the first African American U.S. Supreme Court justice, however, first he had a long and distinguished career with the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. On this episode of…
- Us & Them: 2025 — Changing Definitions, Upending Institutions
As we count down to the end of 2025, Us & Them host Trey Kay looks back at the year’s whirlwind of actions and reactions. Each week presented fresh moves in the agenda President Donald Trump outlined during his campaign. First it was a res…
- Us & Them Encore: Who’s Going To Take Care Of Maw Maw?
We’re an aging nation. Today 16% of Americans are over 65. In the next few decades that will double as the youngest Baby Boomers move into old age. But in West Virginia, that future is now. It’s the third oldest state in the nation and mor…
- Us & Them: The Mythology Of Crime Stats
America’s crime rates have prompted President Donald Trump to deploy federal agents and National Guard troops in a handful of major cities. On this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay looks at what data and statistics can really tell us ab…
- Us & Them Encore: The Housing Struggle
America’s housing shortage continues to put affordable homes out of reach for people across the country — from small towns to big cities. While West Virginia has the nation’s highest level of homeownership overall, many residents still str…
- Us & Them Encore: The Fight For The Youth Vote
This episode first aired in 2023, focusing on the strategies to motivate young voters and we’re sharing it again in the wake of the Sept. 10, 2025, assassination of Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA. Kirk, a renowned conservative…
- Us & Them: A Fresh Look At America’s Origin Story
As the United States prepares to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, attention is focused on the relevance of the American Revolution to our country today. The new episode of Us & Them spotlights a recent communi…
- Us & Them: Rebuilding Justice In A Divided America
Just as America faces some of its most critical political divides, our criminal justice system suffers from a lack of public trust. How are these dual crises interwoven? In this episode of Us & Them , host Trey Kay talks with legal scholar…
- Us & Them: Caregiving In West Virginia
Every day, 10,000 people turn 65 as America’s Baby Boom generation ages. By 2040, the number of people 85 or older will more than double and the need for caregivers will grow dramatically. In this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay modera…
- Us & Them: West Virginia’s News Deserts — With No Government Watchdog Civic Engagement Plummets
Every week across the U.S. more than two newspapers go out of business. In the past two decades more than 3,000 papers have shut down operations. That’s left more than 1,500 counties so-called news deserts. Forty-three of West Virginia’s 5…
- Us & Them: Three Strikes 2.0 — But Is Kentucky Any Safer?
The perception of crime in our nation shows an enormous divide. One recent poll reports 90% of Republicans say crime is up while 60% of Democrats say crime is down. The result has been a wave of ‘tough on crime’ laws from states across the…
- Us & Them Encore: Another Small Town Paper Down
Our country’s divides often reveal themselves in our choices and habits, including how and where we get our information. As the economics of the media landscape have imploded, the economics of the industry have forced changes. In the past…
- Us & Them: Transgender In The Mountain State
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling just out upholds a state ban on gender affirming care for transgender minors. The Tennessee case will likely bolster efforts by conservative state lawmakers to regulate care for transgender Americans. It’s the m…
- Us & Them Encore: The Geography of Abortion
State borders are the new front lines in the nation’s abortion battle. On this encore episode of Us & Them , host Trey Kay looks at the evolving geography of abortion. Since a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision overturned federal abortion ri…
- Us & Them: 100 Days And A Lot To Discuss At Our Dinner Party
During his first months in office, President Donald Trump has issued about 150 executive orders and is taking action on the very issues he promised during the campaign. There’ve been dramatic changes in immigration in the form of mass depo…
- Us & Them: Carpe Sonum — Celebrating 10 Years of Us & Them with the Dead Podcasters Society
For this episode of Us & Them , host Trey Kay celebrates the tenth anniversary of the podcast with the young members of Marshall University’s Dead Podcasters Society, a club that is dedicated to artistic expression and following one’s pass…
- Us & Them: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion — Its History And The Efforts To Erase It
For decades, polls have shown most Americans believe equal opportunity in the workplace is beneficial and laws like the 1964 Civil Rights Act worked to achieve that goal. More recently, the effort has included voluntary diversity, equity a…
- Us & Them: Daniel Johnston — The Troubled Life And Artistic Genius Of West Virginia Music Hall Of Fame Inductee
Us & Them: Daniel Johnston — The Troubled Life And Artistic Genius Of West Virginia Music Hall Of Fame Inductee
- Us & Them: Substance Use Disorder — Can You Recover Without A Place To Call Home?
Reality is more challenging now for people who live at the intersection between substance use disorder, homelessness and the criminal justice system. New laws across the nation echo aspects of the 2024 Safer Kentucky Act, which enhance pen…
- Us & Them: We The People [But Not So Much] Women
Many Americans assume the U.S. Constitution guarantees men and women equal rights. But the authors of the Constitution did not consider women as part of ‘We the people.’ In fact, the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment provides f…
- Us & Them: Black West Virginians With Substance Use Disorder Face unique Challenges
The Trump administration’s efforts to cut federal spending is targeting a broad range of departments and agencies including the low-income health care program Medicaid. Republican lawmakers want work requirements in place for eligibility.…
- Us & Them: Housing Options Are Few & Far Between In Appalachia
Home ownership in America is one of the most common ways to build wealth for future generations. But in Appalachia, West Virginia presents the complexities and nuances of that reality. The Mountain State has the nation’s highest homeowners…
- Us & Them: What’s Next For Abortion?
There’s a fresh slate of legislative agendas in the new year and some include efforts to chip away at reproductive rights and access to abortion, even in states that have recently passed constitutional abortion rights ballot measures. On t…
- Us & Them: They’ve Been Here Before
With the start of 2025, legislators in some states are determined to pass even tighter abortion restrictions. In the two years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade, more than 40 states have passed abortion bans - some wi…
- Us & Them: Listening So Hard That It Hurts
The headlines and issues front and center in 2024 have presented complex challenges. In this year end episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay uses his cold water open swimming to launch an exploration of some of our most vexing questions. He l…
- Us & Them: No Rest For The Homeless
There are people in the U.S. who break the law each day, simply by sleeping outside. This year, more states and local governments have passed laws banning public sleeping after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that makes such laws constitutiona…
- Us & Them: Post-Election Politics Can Be A Bit Tough To Swallow
Host Trey Kay brings together the Us & Them dinner party guests once again, this time for a candid post-election review. The group, representing a wide range of personal and political perspectives, shares the table for a potluck meal just…
- Us & Them: Childhood Vaccines — Parental Rights vs. Public Health in West Virginia
West Virginia’s vaccination requirements for school children are what a lot of health experts call the gold standard. Only a medical exemption will get you out of school vaccine requirements. On this episode of Us & Them we look at a recen…
- Us & Them: Bridging Divides After A Brutal Election
In the aftermath of Election Day 2024, Us & Them host Trey Kay reflects on the increasingly divided American landscape and how the tone of political campaigns has changed since 2016. In this special episode, he recounts the heightened pola…
- Us & Them: Next Generation Voters
The 2024 Presidential election season continues to be a rollercoaster of unpredictable actions, reactions and events. It seems each week brings big political headlines. Political campaigns have always had some rough edges, but now, candida…
- Us & Them: Is The Playing Field Fair?
We love our sports in America. From little league to professional competition, athletic teams can bring us together. However sports can also spotlight some of our most pointed social, culture and racial debates. Mascot names drive a wedge…
- Us & Them: Pre-Election Politics & Food For Thought
Us & Them host Trey Kay invites us all back for a new dinner party episode bringing together a wide-ranging group of people for food and conversation. Kay has used this gathering as a forum to break bread with folks who hold vastly differe…
- Us & Them: Three People - Three Stories - One Community
In Charleston, West Virginia, there’s a monthly live storytelling event called “Three Things” that invites three highly-visible members of the community to talk about their careers. The guests are asked to follow a simple prompt: tell the…
- Us & Them: In The Beginning, There Was Very Little Mention Of The Right To Vote
Many people expected the 2024 presidential election would be unpredictable. But no one anticipated the recent sequence of events - Joe Biden’s debate performance, the assassination attempt on Donald Trump and Kamala Harris’s move to the to…
- Us & Them: Can Former Prisoners Help Fill Our Workforce Gaps?
There’s a serious labor shortage in the U.S. right now with millions of jobs going unfilled. Each year, West Virginia releases 50,000 people from state prisons and local jails and all those people need jobs. On this episode of Us & Them, h…
- Us & Them Encore: Re-Entry
America’s prisons incarcerate people who’ve violated the law, but at some point, at least 95% of all state prisoners will be released back into the free world. Some struggle to navigate that transition successfully. On this encore Us & The…
- Us & Them Encore: Mental Health Crisis Behind Bars In West Virginia
Overcrowding and understaffing have pushed West Virginia’s prisons and jails to what many believe is a crisis point. On this Us & Them , we hear what incarceration is like for someone in a mental health crisis. Hundreds of thousands of peo…
- Us & Them Remembrance — 50 Years Ago Today: Reflecting on a Pivotal Kanawha County Board of Education Meeting
We are releasing this bonus podcast because this month marks a significant milestone for Us & Them, West Virginia and actually American history. Fifty years ago today, on June 27th, the Board of Education in Kanawha County, West Virginia s…
- Revisiting The Great Textbook War
Fifty years ago this month, a fierce controversy erupted over newly adopted school textbooks in Kanawha County, West Virginia. The fight led to violent protests in West Virginia. Dynamite hit school buildings. Bullets hit buses. And protes…
- Us & Them Encore: SNAP — Do The Hungry Get More Policy Than Nutrition?
Forty-two million Americans or about 12 percent of the the population need help feeding their families. That help often comes from a federal program called SNAP - which stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly called…
- Us & Them Encore: Can Childhood Trauma Limit The Future?
We continue to learn more about the way childhood trauma can affect our physical and psychological health and the result is creating a social movement. More than two decades ago, researchers first came up with a way to assess the impact of…