Webby Award-Winning Beyond Voting Is Back to Tackle America’s Democracy in Crisis

The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College is proud to announce the return of Beyond Voting, hosted by Webby Award-winning and Signal Award-finalist host Emily Williams.

Building on the success of its debut season, Beyond Voting launches season two with Karen Attiah, the founding global opinion editor for The Washington Post, who was dismissed after speaking out against “political violence, racial double standards, and America’s apathy toward gun culture” following the death of right-wing media personality Charlie Kirk.

This season, listeners will also hear from some of the most visionary journalists, organizers, and thinkers of our time, including: Jenni Monet (Indigenous affairs and climate reporter) on the Arctic as both a political and environmental warning to the rest of the world; and Maurice Mitchell (Working Families Party) on how communities are building power through listening, organizing, and collective action.

Executive produced by Keisha ‘TK’ Dutes (Good Words with Kirk Franklin, Buzzfeed’s Thirst Aid Kit), Beyond Voting explores the evolving efficacy of boycotts in 2025, how AI and technology are reshaping privacy, energy, and governance in real time, and visions for a future rooted in care, radical imagination, and Indigenous leadership. Beyond Voting is for listeners across the spectrum of democracy, left, right, and center; and will release new episodes biweekly beginning Tuesday, October 7, 2025, wherever podcasts are available.

About Beyond Voting

Beyond Voting with Emily Williams examines the state of our country’s institutions, ongoing systems of oppression, and how everyday people can take critical action in pursuit of equity and justice. The show invites listeners to join a critical conversation about how we can all contribute to a more just and democratic society.

About Emily Williams

Emily Williams (she/her) is a Webby Award-winning podcast host, Signal Award-finalist, and Executive Director of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. A gender studies scholar and global advocate for social justice, Emily has worked with communities in more than 20 countries and co-founded the Social Justice Initiative at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her work includes contributing to a global treaty adopted by the United Nations and decades of leadership in advancing equity, gender justice, and human rights in the US and beyond.