John and I spoke about what we, as a society, need to do and our concerns about the repercussions of not healing the divides that we currently face. John gives us simple actions that we can take to bridge those divides and expand our own capacity for kindness and compassion.

In a time when there is heartbreaking news every day it is deeply inspiring and nourishing to reconnect with the compassion that is our greatest human strength.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here. 

About John:

John Pavlovitz is a writer, pastor activist and storyteller from Wake Forest, North Carolina. Over the past decade, his thought provoking blog Stuff That Needs To Be Said, has reached a diverse worldwide audience with over 100 million views. A 25-year veteran in the trenches of local church ministry, Pavlovitz is committed to equality, diversity and justice, both inside and outside faith communities. John's books include A Bigger Table, and If God is Love, Don't Be a Jerk. His new book, Worth Fighting For: Finding Courage and Compassion When Cruelty is Trending arrived on April 2. He currently directs Empathetic People Network, a vibrant online community that connects people from all over the world who want to create a more compassionate planet.

John's Action Steps:

1) Identify and lean into the burden.

2) Find a partner or collaborator

3) Take one measurable step with them, then another and keep going.

Connect with John:

Substack Website Instagram Threads Facebook

Credits:

Harmonica music courtesy of a friend

When we think about who is providing the childcare, the elder care, the cleaning services and more that we rely on to keep life functioning in the ways we are accustomed to, it is often women being paid unlivable wages. But many of these women themselves have families and if they aren't there to fulfill the adult role because they are, often, working multiple jobs to make ends meet, the brunt of filling that gap falls to their children, usually the girls. 

Dodson and Freeman explore the stories of the women they met, their realities, struggles, and aspirations, as they challenge us to confront and change what is a deeply unjust and flawed system in order to break the generational cycle of poverty and of parents who, as Dodson and Freeman describe, can't afford to buy their children a childhood. 

This conversation made me think in deeper and different ways about the impact of societal inequities and, once again, made me question whether these are bugs or features. 

It's an important book that leads us into an important conversation, one that challenges us to live into our oft-stated values around cherishing our children, not just some of them, all of them.

About Amanda Freeman and Lisa Dodson:

Amanda Freeman is a sociologist with research interests in poverty, social policy, gender, family and education. Her current work explores work family conflict for low income mothers. At the University of Hartford, Professor Freeman teaches a variety of courses including Social Welfare.

Lisa Dodson is Research Professor Emeritus at Boston College. She's the author of the books, The Moral Underground: How Ordinary Americans Subvert an Unfair Economy, and Don't Call Us Out of Name. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

Action Items: 

From Amanda: 1) If you have people working in your home become aware of their lives, their struggles, and just engaging with them as fellow human beings. 2) Join organizations that advocate for domestic workers. 3) Challenge inequitable policies in your workplace that treat salaried and hourly workers differently when it comes to issues such as parental leave.

From Lisa:

1) Have conversations about how these workers are compensated and treated in the workplace. 2) Listen to what these women have to say about their lives and the challenges they are facing and then do what we can to address the inequities that they are facing. 

Credits:

Harmonica music courtesy of a friend.

The experience of living undocumented in the U.S., particularly in southern border states, is a unique dance of engagement and evasion as Asad lays out. In reading his book, and in this conversation, I found myself both frustrated at the ever-changing  (but never resolved) immigration system and with a whole new level of respect for people who, for myriad reasons, come here at great risk to themselves and then find a place that is nowhere near as welcoming as it should be.

As the battle rages in Congress about what to do about the southern border this conversation could not be more timely.

About Asad L. Asad

Asad L. Asad is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Stanford University, and a faculty affiliate at the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity. Asad's research considers how institutional categories in particular citizenship and legal status matter for multiple forms of inequality. His book, Engage and Evade: How Latino Immigrant Families Manage Surveillance in Everyday Life examines how, and why, undocumented immigrants who are worried about deportation, navigate the delicate dance of engaging with certain government institutions while avoiding others. Using stories from undocumented immigrants themselves Asad brings nuance to the perspective of the undocumented and shines a light on some of the contradictions between what the government says they want, and the economic and personal realities of the immigration system as it applies to Latinos.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here. 

Action Items:

1) Volunteer with Freedom For Immigrants, which helps people who are currently in immigration detention, to make phone calls to people outside of the walls of the detention facility. And that is just so important to just give people who are detained the opportunity to just be a regular person to some degree, to interact with people who are not detained, who are outside, who can communicate messages, who can field complaints, and so on, and so forth. 

2) V I S T A. It stands for the Villanova Interdisciplinary Immigration Studies training for Advocates. It's an online program that trains students to become immigrant advocates,

3) I always suggest that people, if they have the opportunity and means, donate to a bond fund. And so there are local bond funds that I always I always tried to promote in the Bay Area, we have the Bay Area Immigration Bond Fund, which helps people who have been granted bond in immigration court, but who can't afford the $5 to $10,000 bond, because that's an unreal amount of money. And so contributions monthly, yearly would go a long way. And you can also find one, listeners, wherever you are, in your local community, again, with our dear friend, Google, just type in, you know, Milwaukee immigration bond fund, and it would pop up.

Credits:

Harmonica music courtesy of a friend.

Kat Calvin & Omkari Williams

Kat Calvin and I both wrote books! Kat's is American Identity In Crisis: Notes from  an Accidental Activist. Mine is Micro Activism: How You Can Make a Difference in the World (Without a Bullhorn). 

When we realized that our books were coming out within weeks of each other we thought that we should have a conversation about them and the work we do in the world.

Kat's work is getting the 26 million Americans who don't have ID the state issued ID that they need to do things like get a job, a home, a bank account, you know, little things like that. Mine, if you don't know, is getting folks to engage in micro activism, tiny actions that add us to big changes. 

In this conversation we not only talk about serious things but we also laugh, a lot. I loved this conversation and I think you will too. 

Definitely, buy both our books. They are really good! We did not write them together, though the covers do coordinate beautifully and the themes do have a lot of crossover. Holiday gifts, yeah!!!

Have you met Kat?

About Kat:

She's been a guest on the podcast before, but in case you haven't met her, let me tell you about her. Kat Calvin is the founder and executive director of Spread The Vote + Project ID and the cofounder and CEO of the Project ID Action Fund. A lawyer, activist, and social entrepreneur, she has built a national organization that helps Americans obtain the IDs they need for jobs, housing, life—and in some states, the voting booth. Kat and her work have been featured in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic,  and on NPR, PBS, BET, and many other outlets. She has been a guest commentator on MSNBC, CNN, Headline News, Sirius XM, and more, as well as a frequent keynote speaker and a sought-after voice for her expertise and opinions on politics, voting, ID-related issues, and more.

For a written transcript of this episode click here

Connect with Kat: Project ID Instagram

Credits: Harmonica music courtesy of a friend.

Drawing on stories from her own family and extensive research Blair tells us a compelling tale of Black folk beginning to claim their place in America as free people. 

With stories of washerwomen, Pullman Porters, and other Black workers who fought for rights for themselves, started unions, and paved the way for the modern Civil Rights Movement Blair had me captivated from the start.

The richness of her book is reflected in the richness of the conversation that we had. Both educational and inspirational, this is a conversation you don't want to miss. 

About Blair:

Blair LM Kelley, is an award winning author, historian and scholar of the African American experience. A dedicated public historian Kelley works to amplify the histories of black people, chronicling the everyday impact of their activism. Kelley is the Joel R. Williamson, Distinguished Professor of Southern Studies at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and the incoming Director of the Center for the Study of the American South, the first black woman to serve in that role in the center's 30 year history. Kelly's newest book, Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class, draws on family histories and mines the archive to illuminate the adversities and joys of the Black working class in America, both past and present.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

Action Items:

1) Buy and read Blair's book.

2) Spend time in "third spaces". Spaces outside of work and home where we can be in community and invest in one another.

3) Continue to learn about our past and advocate for broader education in our schools as well as in alternative and community learning spaces. Let this book be the beginning of a conversation that expands our knowledge and understanding of this important part of American history.

Stay in touch with Blair:

Instagram

Credits:

Harmonica music courtesy of a friend.

If I am a broken record on any subject it's probably on the impact of story and how the stories we tell to ourselves and others shape our understanding of the world. In his powerful book, author David Mura, writes about some of the stories that underlie the American experience. 

With examples from literature and film David explores and important perspective in our fight for racial justice. If we don't know how the biases we hold are the storyline of our society it's gonna be impossible to rewrite those stories. 

Reading David's book, and then speaking with him, was a fascinating exploration of some of our deepest stories as a society and how we are being held back because we don't even know that they are the scripts running the action. 

This conversation gave me a whole other level of insight into the struggle for racial equity and has inspired me to question more deeply some of the things I just assume to be so.

I loved this book and this conversation and I think you will also.

About David:

David Mura has written numerous books. His most recent book is the acclaimed The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself: Racial Myths and Our American Narratives. A third generation Japanese American, Mura has written two memoirs, Turning Japanese: Memoirs of a Sansei, which was listed in the New York Times notable books of the year, and, Where the Body Meets Memory: An Odyssey of Race, Sexuality, and Identity. In addition to teaching at various universities, Mura has served as director of training for the innocent classroom, a program designed by writer and educator Alexs Pate, to train K - 12 teachers to improve their relationships with students of color.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

Connect with David:

Website Twitter Facebook Instagram

Action Items:

1) None of us knows enough. We all have pockets of ignorance, and we have to keep learning. So it is simply just books, lectures, activities, arts activities, to learn about people, both within your community and outside your community. 

2) if your social life or your work life is racially or ethnically homogenous, you need to start diversifying and making conscious moves to diversify. And if you're a white person and you have no Black friends or friends of color, then you have to ask, why is that? How can you change your life so diversity becomes a part of it?

3) Once you understand the way racism works, you have to begin to work against it, and actively work and often time times you'll know you're working against it when people get angry. 

Credits:

Harmonica music courtesy of a friend.

BIG NEWS!!!

My book, Micro Activism: How You Can Make a Difference in the World (Without a Bullhorn) is now available for pre-order from your favorite bookseller.  

Leah Penniman

In 2018 Leah Penniman wrote Farming While Black, a beautiful book recounting her experience of building Soul Fire Farm and, also, a guide for other Black and Indigenous people looking to reconnect to the land. Now Leah has compiled a treasure trove of conversations that she's had with other Black people who work in harmony with the Earth. Black Earth Wisdom brings together the voices of these leaders in service of guiding us all to a deeper connection with the land, with it's place in all of our lives, and the necessity of rebuilding the connection to Earth that, for far too many of us, is broken.

This is my second time talking with Leah and I can't overstate how much I learn from her and value both her wisdom and her generosity in sharing what she has learned with all of us. 

In this conversation Leah and I talked about the relationship we can have with the Earth, the racist history of our National Parks, Dr. George Washington Carver, and expanding our time perspective. 

This conversation left me feeling so uplifted and committed to forging a deeper connection to the Earth itself. I think it will do the same for you. Listen, and enjoy.

About Leah:

Leah Penniman is founding Co-Executive Director and Farm Director of Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York, an Afro-Indigenous farm that works toward food justice and land justice. Her books Farming While Black and Black Earth Wisdom are love songs for the land and her people.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

3 Actions:

1) Center the voices and leadership of the people most impacted by environmental injustice. 2) Anytime there's an opportunity to advocate for policies that support Black farmers, such as the Justice for Black Farmers Act, that support farm workers, such as the Fairness for Farmworkers Act, anything that supports rights of nature, land back for Indigenous people, reparations for Black people, we need to be sending those letters, calling, be in the streets to support that type of change. 3) We have a chance to get to know our neighbors, not just the people neighbors, but the amphibians, and the trees and the flowers and the mosses. Get to know their names, spend some quiet time listening, sing them a song of gratitude. And in rekindling that relationship with the Earth, we are almost guaranteed to fall in love. And when we fall in love, we are almost guaranteed to defend and protect.

Connect with Leah:

Soul Fire Farm

Farming While Black 

Black Earth Wisdom

Instagram

Credits:

Harmonica music courtesy of a friend

Have you ever wished for an unmistakable sign of the direction you should be going in? I know I have. For Debilyn Molineaux, President and CEO of Bridge Alliance that sign set her on a path to work towards healing the divides that are ripping at the fabric of the United States.

In this conversation Debilyn and I talk about where we are as a country, how we get out of the mess that we're in, and about the experience that shifted the work that she does in the world.

What if the critical piece of healing what ails us is as simple, not easy, but simple, as listening to one another so that we can begin to find common ground and, at the least, understand one another? What if the tools that we need to build unity, rather than deepening the divisions that exist, are already available to us?

In an increasingly fractured and polarized world it is on each of us to do what we can to shrink the divide, not widen and solidify it. In this important conversation Debilyn gently challenges all of us to be better listeners, to grant others the grace we would want for ourselves, and to actively participate in our democracy beyond voting.

After speaking with Debilyn I felt more hopeful and more empowered. Positive change is possible, we just have to be willing to put down our personal armor long enough to make a connection with someone coming from another perspective.

About Debilyn:

Debilyn Molineaux is a long-standing leader of organizations working towards American healthy self governance. In 2015, she co-founded the Bridge Alliance, where she remains President and CEO. Bridge Alliance is a coalition of over 100 member organizations bridging electoral reform, policymaking, and media. Debilyn and her full time staff helped these organizations exercise their collective power, share best practices, and uncover opportunities for collaboration.

Debilyn's, deep knowledge of the healthy self governance field, extensive ties to movement leaders, and hard won field experience put her in a unique position to advise, mentor, and lead large scale healthy self governance initiatives.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

Action Items:

1) Go to citizenconnect.us and get engaged. 2) Find a way to fully share of yourself. Whether it's with a friend, family member or stranger where's there's no social capital at risk, find a way to share your story. 3) Make sure that whatever you're putting out on social media and also in your relationships is adding to the future you want to see in the world, not adding to the fear and division. 

Connect with Debilyn:

Citizen Connect Bridge Alliance

Credits: Harmonica music courtesy of a friend.

Given how little we are taught about Black history in general it's not surprising that most of us, me included, have relatively little knowledge of the role that Black athletes have played in the social justice movement before the late 20th century. But since the Reconstruction Era Black athletes have been pushing the envelope, trying to move us towards justice and equity.

Shaun Marq Anderson and I talked about the history of Black athlete activism and how the Sports Justice Movement has been evolving over the years as well as his new book, The Black Athlete Revolt. From Black jockeys who first raced in the Kentucky Derby to Colin Kaepernick and the Black Lives Matter movement Black athletes have used their voices and public platforms to address inequities. From the flamboyant to the subtle the movement has been as diverse as the athletes participating in it.

As Black athletes refuse to follow Fox anchor Laura Ingraham's directive to "shut up and dribble" their impact in their communities and the larger world continues to grow.

This conversation was not only informative but fun as Shaun told me about some real characters in the history of Black athletes. Have a listen, I think you'll really enjoy it. 

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

About Shaun:

Shaun Marq Anderson, is a global authority on sport and social responsibility Shaun says that sport is a microcosm of society, a catalyst for conversations about business, politics, racial injustice, environmental sustainability, and other pressing social issues. Shaun researches these contemporary problems in the context of sport to determine the most effective strategies and methods to solve them. As a consultant, he has used his work to help renowned brands such as Nike, ESPN, and Major League Baseball on their social responsibility initiatives.

Action Steps:

1) Reach out to retired athletes taking action on causes that you care about and explore how you might connect with them. A lot of these athletes are becoming the liaison in their teams' community development arm. 

2) What are the specific policy reforms that are currently being discussed that you can add your voice to with letters to the editor, letters to your legislators, and/or raising community awareness of the conversations that are happening around legislative changes. 

3) Pay attention the intersecting issues of race and gender and support women's teams in their fight for justice.

Connect with Shaun:

We hear a lot about Critical Race Theory, as we should. But what about Critical Media Literacy? Have you ever even heard the term? I hadn't. Then I read The Media and Me: A Guide to Critical Media Literacy for Young People. Not to quibble with the authors but really, this isn't only for young people. This is for all of us. 

We're taking in so much information from so many media sources and yet we rarely, if ever, stop to think about what those sources are, their agendas, and what that means for what we're hearing and reading. Allison Butler and her co-authors take this on and lay out a path to being far more savvy about what we hear so that we are making thoughtful decisions about what we choose to engage with and how, rather than just buying everything they're selling without looking behind the curtain. 

This conversation gave me so much insight into looking behind the scenes so that I am less vulnerable to being taken in by something that seems reasonable but, upon closer investigation, isn't what it appeared to be at all. 

In this time of instant "news" it's more important than ever that we pay attention and interrogate what we're told rather than just accepting it. Allison lays out some clear and simple ways that we can become media literate. Ways that will make us better able to engage with all that's coming at us. 

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

About Allison:

Allison Butler is a senior lecturer and director of the media literacy certificate program in the Department of Communication at UMass Amherst. She is the author of Educating Media Literacy: The Need for Critical Media Literacy and Teacher Education. She is the co-author of the open source text, Critical Media Literacy and Civic Learning: Interactive Explorations for Students and Teachers. She's also co-authored the new book, The Media and Me: A Guide to Critical Media Literacy for Young People.

Action Steps:

1) Recognize that this is not hopeless. It's easy to feel overwhelmed. Start by looking at your own language. Part of what we're doing is examining power so instead of "Googling" something and using Google's (a huge, powerful corporation) language, think about just searching for something. 

2) Slow down. Don't just scroll, take a bit of time to read more deeply.

3) Take a break. Turn off notifications. Get your news like back in the old days, when there was a morning paper and an evening paper rather than being inundated all day long. 

Connect with Allison:

Mass Media Literacy

Credits:

Harmonica music courtesy of a friend.

Ross Morales Rocketto

I feel pretty safe in saying that we all have gripes about our government. Where it's not doing enough, where it's overreaching. Most of us just gripe, Ross Morales Rocketto has taken a decidedly different path. Along with his co-founder, Amanda Litman, Ross has made it his mission to get as many young (read under 40) progressives elected to offices at the state and local level around the country as possible. 

From their start, rising from the ashes of the 2016 campaign, their organization, Run For Something, has been guiding successively larger numbers of young people as they run for elected office. 

What they've built in a really short period of time, is amazing. Ross and I talk  about Run For Something but mostly about how important having a strong progressive base is, especially in light of the deeply conservative Supreme Court that we're dealing with.  He's also very honest about the fact that having a (D) next to your name doesn't necessarily mean that you're someone who will fight to build a more just country.

It's a great conversation. I came away feeling hopeful and energized and I think you will too. Have a listen.

About Ross:

Ross Morales Rocketto is the co-founder and co-executive director of Run For Something, a piece of democratic infrastructure designed to recruit and support the next generation of young, diverse, and progressive political leaders. To date Run For Something has worked with more than 125,000 individuals who are interested in running for office. Run For Something as helped elect more than 650 new folks across the country. Before starting Run For Something Ross spent 20 years in electoral politics, having worked for candidates from school board to president. Ross lives in Washington DC with his partner, Jess, their dog, Nacho and cat, Baby Kitty.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

Ross's Action Items:

1) The first thing is you can run. So you can go to runforwhat.net and get more information about the offices that are available in your community. 2) The second thing you can do is volunteer either for a candidate or just to have one on one conversations and be a mentor for somebody who's thinking about running for office or currently running for office. You can go to runforsomething.net to find those opportunities.  3) Make a contribution.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Their strategic plan (it's really good and fun to read or listen to!).

Connect with Ross:

Run For Something's Twitter Website Ross's Twitter

Credits:

Harmonica music courtesy of a friend.

Most of us, mercifully, get through life without getting the news that Emerald Garner and her family got on a July day in 2014. Her father, Eric, had been killed by a police officer who used a chokehold on him as Garner spoke those words that we have heard all too often, "I can't breathe".

While her older sister, Erica, sprang into action Emerald stayed in the background until the day that Erica died at 27 years of age from a heart attack.  With Erica gone Emerald knew that she had to pick up the torch and fight for justice for her father, her sister, and all those who had suffered at the hands of police.

Emerald's book, Finding My Voice takes us through her fight for justice. Emerald and I talked about what it's like to navigate getting anti-chokehold legislation passed while raising her daughter and her sister's two children. We spoke about the youth services organization she is working to build and we talked about dealing with trauma.

Emerald is someone who found herself in an impossible situation and is taking the tragedies that she's experienced to make things better for all of us. Have a listen, I think you'll be inspired.

About Emerald:

Emerald Snipes-Garner is the youngest daughter of six children and is currently the Executive Director of her non-profit We Can't Breathe Inc, which is named after her late father Eric Garner and her sister Erica Garner. She is the author of Finding My Voice: On Grieving My Father, Eric Garner, and Pushing for Justice.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

Emerald's Action Items:

1) Get involved in any community action that means the most to you, whether it's a school board, things that involve your children, with your mental health services or elderly services, just get involved in something and figure out what your purpose is in your community. 2) Follow me on social media        Instagram       Twitter 3) Check in on all your friends, check in on your people, check in on somebody that you haven't spoken to in a long time, try to make amends with somebody who you left on bad terms with, if it's worth fighting for. 

Credits:

Harmonica music courtesy of a friend

Diane Rosenfeld

I read a lot of books, most of the people I interview on this podcast are authors, so I'm pretty used to finding interesting aspects to various subjects. But when I started reading this book I was riveted! I couldn't wait to talk with Diane about what we humans, particularly females, could learn from Bonobo apes. 

That apes had figured out how to eliminate male sexual coercion and violence while this is still a huge problem for a, supposedly, more evolved species fascinated me. By the time I finished reading the book I had pages of questions for Diane. When we finally got to speak I was not disappointed. There is a way to address the crisis of violence against women and women hold the key. This is something that we can do. We just have to choose to. As Diane describes it, it's a pivot. A different way of engaging, with other women both individually and collectively. Then, that different engagement changes the way that males and females engage. From a culture of sexual coercion and violence to a culture where that behavior is not tolerated and does not occur.

Listen to this conversation and then think about how you can create your own Bonobo Sisterhood and what an enormous shift that would create in the world. The opportunity is right there for us. We just have to take it. 

About Diane:  Diane L. Rosenfeld is an attorney, a lecturer in law and the founding director of the Gender Violence Program at Harvard Law School, where she has taught since 2004. Rosenfeld has appeared in major media outlets, including ABC, Nightline, Katie with Katie Couric, CNN Headline News, Fox and Friends, the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune, and NPR's All Things Considered and Morning Edition. She is featured in the award winning documentaries, The Hunting Ground: It Could Happen Here, and Rape Is. Rosenfeld served as the first senior counsel to the Office of Violence Against Women at the U.S. Department of Justice, and as an executive assistant attorney general in Illinois. She is the recipient of multiple awards for her teaching, mentoring and change making legal policy work. She is also the author of the new book, The Bonobo Sisterhood: Revolution Through Female Alliance.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

Diane's Action Items:

The first thing is what we talked about to stop judging yourself. Just start with yourself, stop judging yourself. And really take the book as an invitation to to be in an intimate space with yourself and the ideas in the book and see what resonates and what you feel, if anything, that you want to change and how you want to change it. The first thing is really to stop judging harshly yourself, and to open space for your sisters. To really believe in the bonobo principle and that you have a self worth defending.

Learn self defense learn, self defense that's inspired by the bonobo sisterhood. You could even start by going on YouTube and watching a 15 minute video, a lot of self defense is, is being ready to verbally shut down any aggression that's aimed toward you. But learn self defense.

And then once you learn self defense, the third thing is that that enables you to imagine defending your sisters. And it pisses you off. And you learn from the outside in and from the inside out that you have a self worth defending. And then you really want to do it. And you really want to defend your sisters. So it's a physical embodiment of the ideas. And that's what will change, because that's what will stop male sexual coercion.

Credits: Harmonica music courtesy of a friend

Resources mentioned in this episode: The Bonobo Sisterhood: Revolution Through Female Alliance by Diane L. Rosenfeld

Sports are part of the culture of every country. Here, in the U.S., baseball is our "national pastime". Kelli Stewart and her husband, CJ, decided to use the tool of baseball to teach disadvantaged and at risk young Black boys essential life skills. Founders of the LEAD Center in Atlanta, GA Kelli and CJ have grown a program that reaches at risk Black boys in middle school and high school and helps them create positive paths for their lives.

When Kelli and I spoke one of the things that struck me was her commitment to engaging with the kids that most people don't want to engage with. Not the high achievers who were doing well in school but the boys who were on the edge of being thrown out of school, thrown out of society.

What Kelli and CJ have created is practical and inspiring and made me look at the possibilities of sport as a tool for building productive, engaged citizens in a whole new way. She also tells a great story about a baseball game between the Black boys in their program and Atlanta police. 

Have a listen, I think you'll find this as affirming of what's possible when we get creative, as I did. Kelli and I also talk about Serena's retirement from tennis and how we're both pretty sure that we're related to her.

About Kelli:

Kelli Stewart was born in Atlanta and raised in Crawford, Georgia. Under the protective and nurturing guidance of her grandmother, Amy Lou Faust, she learned about work ethic and service. Kelli earned a bachelor's degree with honors in business from Kennesaw State University in 2011. In addition to her degree, Kelli holds a wealth of knowledge regarding sport Kelli's based youth development (SBYD) as a resource for social justice, and the impact sports has on the social emotional development of youth. She is a co-founder of the LEAD Center for Youth in Atlanta, an organization that uses the tool of baseball to help inner city Black boys develop the skills they need to succeed in a world that presents them with obstacles every step of the way.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

Kelli's Action Items:

1) Support SBYD (Sport Based Youth Development) where you live. It's a form of youth development that's different and specific in that it focuses on delivering a sport in a trauma informed, healing centered way. So it's not just for the sake of winning trophies, it's sport to help children who are living in very difficult situations, cope with those situations, and develop the SEL (social emotional learning) skills and the executive functioning skills that they need to cope.

2) Follow the LEAD Center on social media (see links below).

3) Become a recurring donor to support LEAD. I mean, $5, $10, $15, $20 a month, it really goes a long way. Those smaller amounts, they make a big difference. I can hear people saying, what can you do with that? Haircuts, transportation for MARTA, our public transit system here, it can go a long way. Meals for families who are experiencing food insecurity, it can really go a long way.

Connect with Kelli:

Website: Lead Center for Youth

Instagram: Lead2Legacy_Atlanta

Credits:

Harmonica music courtesy of a friend.

Will Jawando

Will Jawando sat down to write a book about the Black men who had the most impact in his life. That book, My Seven Black Fathers, has illuminated corners of the Black experience, particularly the Black male experience, that all too often go unseen.

In our conversation Will and I talk about the influence of these men, including Barack Obama, on him. But more than simply a personal narrative Will has written, and we discussed, the universality of many of his experiences and though luck played a part in connecting him to the men whose mentoring helped lead him to the success that he has found we can take luck out of the equation. 

We talked about the challenges that Black boys, in particular, face and some of the remedies to those challenges. But more than that, we talked about what it's like to be Black in America and the struggle to overcome the obstacles, both external and internal, that are in the way of Black equity in this country.

Will's story is both inspiring and instructive. He gives us a path to follow to close the gap of possibilities for young Black boys and men. This was a heartfelt and hopeful conversation and it left me feeling that, no matter the roadblocks, with people like Will fighting for what is right, we can make real the promise of this country. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

About Will:

WIll Jawando is an attorney and activist, a community leader and a council member in Montgomery County, Maryland, a diverse community of more than 1 million residents, called the progressive leader we need by the late Congressman John Lewis, Jawando has worked with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator Sherrod Brown, and President Barack Obama. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post, the Root, and on BET.com. And his work has been featured in The New York Times, New York Magazine and on NPR, NBC News, and M. T. V. He regularly appears on CNN, MSNBC, and other media outlets

For the written transcript click here.

Resources mentioned in this episode: My Seven Black Fathers by Will Jawando

Connect with Will: Website Instagram

Credits: Harmonica music courtesy of a friend

Kerri Kelly

September 11th changed life for all of us, but for Kerri Kelly the impact was especially personal. In the aftermath of that event Kerri upended her life and went on a search for wellness. What she found was not what she expected and, once again, the trajectory of her life was changed.

In her new book, American Detox: The Myth of Wellness and How We Can Truly Heal, and in this conversation, Kerri explores the ways in which our culture of wellness perpetuates systems that are deeply unwell. She leads us in a conversation that helps us find our way towards the deep, connected wellness that nourishes us all and away from individualistic focus that keeps us stuck in unhealthy comparison and competition.

I couldn't put Kerri's book down and then, when we spoke, I wanted to talk to her for hours more. 

Our distorted ideas of wellness hurt us all, and those ideas are so deeply embedded it can be hard to even see them. Kerri pulls back the curtain and gives us a path out, a path towards true healing.

Her book is out now and I can't say enough about how important a book I think it is. Listen to our conversation, read her book, and find your way to the healing that we so deeply desire. 

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

About Kerri Kelly:

Kerri Kelly, is the founder of CTZNWell, a movement that is democratizing wellbeing for all. A descendent of generations of firemen and first responders Kerri has dedicated her life to kicking down doors and fighting for justice. She has been teaching yoga for over 20 years. She is a community organizer, wellness activist, and author of American detox, the myth of wellness and how we can truly heal. Kerri is also recognized across communities for her inspired work to bridge transformational practice with social justice. Her leadership has inspired a movement that is actively organizing around issues of racial and economic justice, healthcare as a human right civic engagement and more. Kerri is a powerful facilitator, TED speaker, and is the host of the prominent podcast citizen, that is spelled CTZN. You can learn more about her work at KerriKelly.co.

Three Actions:

1) Interrogate yourself. Be relentlessly curious about what you've been taught, how you've been shaped and indoctrinated by dominant stories and dominant narratives and cultures, and how that's holding you back from your own wholeness. So be curious about that. And how that's a part of a larger system, right, how you're a part of a larger system. 

2) Locate yourself inside that system. What is your place, and proximity? We're all impacted and implicated in different ways. And I want to just say different and disproportionate, I feel like I have to say that as a white bodied woman with so much privilege. So it's really important for us to both take responsibility for our part in this mess. And also see ourselves as part of the solution, right? So it's like, locate yourself so that you can step into your right role and responsibility.

3) Engage in collective action, get political, work with other people, line up in solidarity with organizations who are on the frontlines of the many issues that we are navigating right now. Because personal solutions are not going to solve the many problems, the many systemic and collective problems that we're facing. And so it's really important for folks to see their practice beyond the cushion, and to see wellness as a radical political act, as we work to create the conditions where everybody can be well.

Resources mentioned in this episode: American Detox: The Myth of Wellness and How We Can Truly Heal by Kerri Kelly Decolonizing Wealth: indigenous wisdom to heal divides and restore balance by Edgar Villanueva Winner Takes All by Anand Giridharadas

Connect with Kerri:

Website CTZNWELL podcast

Credits: Harmonica music courtesy of a friend.

Shawn Ginwright

What if we've been approaching this whole idea of justice and have left out a critical piece? What if our very approach is actually helping cement the damage that bias and systemic inequity have caused? 

We all know that there is much healing that has to happen if we're going to be the equitable society that we envision. The question is how do we get from here to there? What are the tools we need, the way of thinking that will help move us along?

Professor Shawn Ginwright, in his new book The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves, argues that we are failing to use all the tools of social change that are available to us. And, he says, those tools begin close in, with us as both as individuals and in our close familial and community relationships. 

This conversation deepened my understanding of what it's going to take for us all to get free. I hope it does the same for you.

About Shawn: Shawn Ginwright, PhD is one of the nation's leading innovators, provocateurs, and thought leaders on African American youth, youth activism, and youth development. He's the founder and CEO of Flourish Agenda Incorporated, a national nonprofit consulting firm that design strategies to unlock the power of healing and engage youth of color and adult allies in transforming their schools and communities. He is Professor of Education in the Africana Studies department and Senior Research Associate at San Francisco State University. He is the author of The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

Three Actions: 1. At the end of each day map your emotional self. What were the emotions that you experienced that day. This, over time, allows us to map who we are, what our life is like, and whether we are showing up in the world in the ways we would like.

2. Ask, "Where am I going?" This is a question about who we want to become and where you (and your family and larger community) are going. This helps develop the habit of future thinking for yourself, your family, community, and society.

3. Practice these things in community. We in the West are taught to be individualistic but true healing happens in community.

Connect with Shawn:

On his Website

Credits:

Harmonica music courtesy of a friend

Tatenda Musapatike

If your best friend asks you what you want to do in the world and your response is, "Run shit" then you and Tatenda Musapatike should probably sit down and grab a drink. 

The founder of the organization, Voter Formation Project, Tatenda and her team work to leverage the digital age to not only get people registered to vote but also to get them excited to vote.

From working for Facebook to starting her own firm not only to run shit but to do it with intention and integrity Tatenda is creating a new model for how political work is done. One that isn't about living an underpaid, overworked existence. 

This conversation opened my eyes to the need for this kind of outreach to potential voters in this time of active voter suppression. I learned a lot and you likely will too. 

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

About Tatenda:

Tatenda Musapatike, has spent over a decade working on digital programs and in tech to support progressive causes. She was most recently a senior advisor at ACRONYM where she built a $12.5 million program from the ground up to expand the electorate working to reach register and mobilize Black and Latino voters across eight states in the 2020 general election and the Georgia Senate runoff elections. Before ACRONYM, Tatenda was the Client Solutions Manager for democratic politics at Facebook where she supported progressive leaning nonprofits in their platform strategies. And she is now the founder of Voter Formation Project.

Action Steps: 1) Please visit our Twitter @voterformation, or go to our website, voterformationproject.org. And just learn more. 2) There are donation links on Twitter and the website. 3) If you are really moved by the work that we do, get involved in your local community so that you can help talk to people who don't vote and get more folks registered and involved in the process.

Connect with Tatenda:

Twitter Website

Credits: Harmonica music courtesy of a friend

Nisha Anand

Around the world the divisions that define our societies are becoming deeper and more hardened. In this inspiring conversation Dream Corps CEO Nisha Anand and I talk about the power of finding common ground. 

If we truly want to make the difference that we say we want to make we have to be willing to work with people who may have radically different points of view to ours but who, miraculously, share common ground with us on maybe only one thing. 

Nisha gives us a map to coming together in service of a mutually important goal, beyond the politics and divisions that keep us in our silos of left, right, conservative, or progressive. 

This conversation made me think differently about what's possible to achieve with unlikely collaborators. 

Have a listen and then take her model out into your own work and expand your power to make change. 

For a written transcript of this conversation go here.

About Nisha:

Nisha Anand is a boundary-buster, common ground creator, non-violent culture-creator, outside-the-box experimenter, and national leader for social and racial justice. Once a grassroots activist arrested in Burma for pro-democracy demonstrations, Nisha is known today as a leader in cultivating unlikely and unconventional partnerships to create change. As Dream Corps’ CEO, Nisha guides a team of storytellers, organizers, and policy experts working on some of society’s toughest problems to create a better future for all.

3 Action Steps: 1) Listen deeply and with curiosity, not trying to change anyone's mind. Listen to understand. 2) Grieve with others. We've all lost something these past 2 years, grieve with others. 3) Dream big, the world can change overnight, so dream big. Bonus action 4) Get involved with Dream Corps

Resources mentioned in this episode: The Radical Act of Choosing Common Ground Tedx talk

Connect with Nisha:

Website: https://www.nishaanand.org/  Twitter: @nishamanand  Instagram: @nishamanand  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nisha-m-anand/  YouTube: Nisha Anand Playlist

Credits: Harmonica music courtesy of a friend

From the moment of his announcement that he was running for the presidency Donald Trump directed his efforts towards courting white evangelicals with  racist and anti-immigrant sentiments. But he didn't start this trend, he simply hopped on a bandwagon that had been gaining speed for years.

Author, scholar, and ordained minister Obery Hendricks and I explore some of the lesser known aspects of this issue and including the culpability of large swaths of the Black church for not responding forcefully to the ongoing assault on civil rights.

In theory the United States has separation of church and state, but do we really or are white evangelicals succeeding in shaping the country in the image they would like to see?

In this conversation we look at what has happened, what is happening, and how we can take action to prevent the U.S. from being dominated by the religious right.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

About Obery:

Obery M. Hendricks Jr, is a visiting scholar in the departments of Religion and African American and African Diasporic Studies at Columbia University. He is the author of several books, including The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus's teachings and How They've Been Corrupted, The Universe Bends Towards Justice: Radical Reflections on the Bible, the Church and the Body Politic, a novel, Living Water, and his latest book Christians against Christianity: How Right Wing Evangelicals are Destroying Our Nation and Our Faith.

Resources:

Christians against Christianity, How Right Wing Evangelicals are Destroying Our Nation and Our Faith (please consider buying this book from a local bookseller)

Credits:

Harmonica music courtesy of a friend

For many Black Americans the land itself is the scene of the crime. That legacy of slavery has dramatically impacted the relationship that many Black Americans have with the land. 

Food and land justice activist Leah Penniman is working to change that.

A founder of Soul Fire Farm and the author of Farming While Black, Leah has made it her mission in life to reconnect Black and Brown people with the land. 

In this conversation Leah and I talk about not only how the legacy of slavery is still seen in connection to the land and land ownership but how to heal some of these wounds. From spending time working with the land, to reparations, to political advocacy Leah and I talk about where we are, where we want to be, and how we get there. 

About Leah:

Leah Penniman is a Black Kreyol farmer, author, mother, and food justice activist who has been tending the soil and organizing for an anti-racist food system for25 years. She currently serves as founding co-executive director of Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York, a Black & Brown led project that works toward food and land justice. Her book is Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land. Find out more about Leah’s work at www.soulfirefarm.org and follow her @soulfirefarm on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

For a written transcript of this conversation go here.

Action Items:

1. Check out the Soul Fire Farm website where you'll find a ton of resources and action guides.
2. Look at the reparations map created by the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust and Soul Fire Farm and find a project that connects with you and needs resources if you are able to make a financial contribution.
3. Pay attention to legislation that is happening around farmers and our food and get in touch with your representatives. As few as 20 contacts from constituents make a difference.

Resources:

Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land by Leah Penniman

Connect with Leah:

Soul Fire Farm

Farming While Black, the book 

Instagram

Twitter

Credits:  Thank you to the National Liberty Museum for their production support. Harmonica music courtesy of a friend. 

For a lot of people Black Lives Matter became part of their lives in a concrete way in the wake of the murder of George Floyd but the story of the organization starts years earlier. In her book, with its gorgeous photographs, NYT editor Veronica Chambers takes us on not only the journey of BLM but also looks to the past and the future to see where we came from and where we might go.

In this conversation Veronica and I talk about both the struggle and about how we all get free. Looking at leaders who work outside of the spotlight and what they have to teach us we get a broader picture of how we might do our individual activism. 

From Ferguson to the climate conference in Glasgow we look at the intersections and how we can use them to increase our impact. 

I loved this conversation because it reminded me of the power of collective action which, I think, we sometimes underestimate. It reminded me of how many remarkable people, that includes you, are out in the world doing their part. We are not alone in doing this work, no matter how isolating it can sometimes feel. 

Have a listen and take inspiration from Veronica's words and her perspective. Take inspiration from the stories she shares and let's keep doing the work.

About Veronica:

Veronica Chambers is an award winning author and the lead editor of Narrative Projects, a team dedicated to telling multi-platform stories at the New York Times. Based in London, her most recent book is Call and Response: The Story of Black Lives Matter. She has taught writing at several colleges and universities, including Bowdoin in Maine, Bard College at Simon's Rock, Massachusetts, and the Stanford School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences. Born in Panama and raised in Brooklyn, she writes often about her Afro Latina heritage.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

Action Steps:

• 1) Take a look at the NY Times series: Black History Continued     This series looks at pivotal moments and transformative figures in Black         history.
• 2) Girls Write Now:      Helping girls and young women find their voice through the tool of story.
• 3) Youth Communication:      Two youth run publications, one focusing on economic, gender, and racial         diversity. The other written by kids in the foster care system.

Connect with Veronica:

nytimes.com/pasttense Twitter Instagram

Credits:

Harmonica music courtesy of a friend Production support provided by the National Liberty Museum

Varun Nikore

2020 saw the greatest increase in voter turnout by the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community in history. That turnout powered the vote in key states like Georgia and helped prevent another four years with the former guy.

I wish the fight for our democracy was over but it's clearly not and there are some important lessons to take away from what happened in 2020. 

My guest today is Varun Nikore, president of the AAPI Victory Alliance. Varun and I discuss the history of the AAPI community here and how they have come to play such an important role in determining the outcome of key elections and, consequently, the direction of our country.

Though they have been in this country since its inception and here in large numbers since the late 1800's AAPI people are still often seen as "other", and the hateful and harmful rhetoric around Covid hasn't helped. 

In this wide ranging conversation Varun and I look at the challenges and some of the solutions to problems confronting AAPI people here, including those recently resettled from Afghanistan.

This conversation was so interesting and it gave me things to do to help bring justice to this marginalized group of people. 

Listen, learn, and then take action. 

Together we can build the world we want to live in.

About Varun:

My guest today Varun Nikore has for more than 30 years been involved in national state and local politics as a campaign strategist, fundraiser and policy advisor and AAPI leader. In 1998, he was appointed to serve in the Clinton administration. He is the founder and past president of the Indian American Leadership Initiative, which is the largest Indian American network of Democrats in the United States. In 2008, Varun served as a transportation policy adviser for President Obama under Obama for America. He is the current president of AAPI victory fund and executive director of AAPI Victory Alliance.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

Action Items:

Get their weekly newsletter If you can make a financial donation to support their work  Follow their weekly calls to action 

Credits:

Harmonica music courtesy of a friend Production support provided by the National Liberty Museum

Nicole Hockley

In the wake of the murders at Sandy Hook Elementary, where 20 children (6 and 7 years of age) and six educators were killed on December 14, 2012, some of the grieving parents joined together to do what they could to prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again and Sandy Hook Promise (SHP) was born.

Nicole Hockley's six year old son, Dylan, was among those killed and now she, and others at Sandy Hook Promise, works to give educators and students the tools they need to recognize the warning signs and prevent violence from occurring. 

SHP's Know the Signs program offers both students and educators training in how to be more socially inclusive and connected to one another. Research has shown that social isolation is one of the predictors of violence and teaching both kids and adults to be aware of this and how to combat it, particularly in the wake of the pandemic, is a critical piece of school gun violence prevention.

This conversation was one of those that I will never forget. Hearing Nicole's take on the impact of school shootings on kids, whether they've experienced a school shooting or not, was truly sobering. I also found myself uplifted by the reach of this program and the impact of the work that SHP is doing. 

Among other things we talk about in this conversation are two Public Service Announcements that SHP has done. Please take a few moments and watch them, they give us insight into the experience too many of our kids are having. Teenage Dream, which is set to the lighthearted lyrics of Katy Perry's song, and Back to School Essentials are hard to watch and it's so important that we do watch and then take action.

About Nicole:

Nicole Hockley is co-founder and managing director of Sandy Hook Promise where she oversees organizational strategy, marketing, and development of the acclaimed Know the Signs violence prevention programs. Under her leadership, the Sandy Hook Promise is effectively turning tragedy into transformation, averting multiple school shooting plots, teen suicides, and countless other acts of violence in schools across the country.

For a Written Transcript of this conversation click here.

Action Steps:

1) Learn the signs of someone in crisis. Go to sandyhookpromise.org to download the free brochure with a wide range of signs to look for. Then if you see those signs take them seriously, act on them, get help. 2) If you're a parent or involved with schools make sure that mental health supports are a priority. 3) Vote for politicians that are running on gun violence prevention platforms. Vote for funding for programs that are going to help reduce gun violence. And use your voice. Those in charge need to hear from you.

Connect with Nicole:

In the midst of this awakening, in the larger community, to the systemic injustices in our society we've heard a lot about "wokeness". What if instead of people having to get woke in adulthood we raised children who were aware of and sensitive to social justice issues from the beginning?

Imagine if, instead of coming to this work as adults, we had all come to it as children. What might the world look like if we didn't have to fight for the rights of people of color, of LGBTQIA+ people, for or a sustainable environment, to mention just a few causes, because we'd been educated early about what the inequities were and learned ways to address them and, most importantly, not perpetuate injustice in our own lives?

In this conversation Shelby Kretz and I talked about making social justice an everyday part of the education that our children receive in school and at home. People talk about, "hearts and minds" all the time. What if we could support open hearts and minds from the beginning? Think of how much further along we would be as a society. 

Shelby and her team at Little Justice Leaders work to do exactly that. Part of breaking the cycle of racism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression is making sure those attitudes never take root. 

This conversation gave me so much hope for the future. I think it will do the same for you.

About Shelby:

Shelby Kretz is an educational researcher at UCLA and creator of Little Justice Leaders subscription box. Little Justice Leaders is a monthly box for parents and teachers of elementary school students, which provides resources each month to learn about a new topic of social justice.

For a written transcript of this conversation please click here.

Action Steps: 1) Start having conversations with the kids in your life about justice issues. 2) Do your part to normalize the teaching of social justice in schools.           a) As a parent or educator you could advocate at your kid's school for social         justice education.           b) Lobbying your school board and legislators around this issue.            c) Connect with them on Instagram @littlejusticeleaders where they have free resources that will help you and the kids in your life as you do this work

Resources:

Little Justice Leaders Blog: Here you will find ideas and guidance for engaging with the children in your life around social justice.

Connect:

On Instagram: @littlejusticeleaders Little Justice Leaders website

Credits:

Harmonica music courtesy of a friend

Deborah Tuerkheimer

In the past couple of years we have watched as, finally, powerful men who are also sexual predators have been brought to some form of justice. Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, Charlie Rose, and Matt Lauer among the most prominent. What we learned from watching their downfall is how very hard it is to have these men held to account. 

Author Deborah Tuerkheimer and I talk about her book Credible: Why We Doubt Accusers and Protect Abusers and the systems and beliefs that create this reality. 

I've had a lot of meaningful conversations over the years of doing this podcast and I can honestly say that I think this is one of the most important. Increasing the number of abusers held to account and changing the dynamic of how accusers are treated is on all of us. Talking with Deborah showed me some of my own knowledge gaps around sexual assault and put into high relief how pervasive some of our thought patterns about abuse are.

I left the conversation feeling energized and more aware of ways to change these patterns. We all know women who have been sexually assaulted, we ourselves may be among them. To change these patterns, in society and ourselves, we have to be aware of them. 

Listen to this conversation and then please take action. 

About Deborah:

Author of the book Credible: Why We Doubt Accusers and Protect Abusers Deborah Tuerkheimer is a professor at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. She earned her undergraduate degree from Harvard College and her law degree from Yale Law School. Tuerkheimer served for five years as an Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District Attorney's Office, where she specialized in domestic violence and child abuse prosecution. 

For a written transcript of this conversation please click here. 

Action Steps:

1) See that judging credibility is a power, it is a mighty power, and that the ways in which we confer credibility or dismiss people who come to us can impact that person in deep and lasting ways. 2) We can rewire ourselves to be more fair when we decide who to believe and who to blame and whether to care. 3) There are policies in your schools, in your workplaces, in your states, that are flawed, and that reflect these forces that we've been talking about, the credibility discount in particular. And so there are lots of ways that we can improve those formal rules and those formal policies and procedures to be more just and more fair. Pick one policy and work to make it just and fair, then move on to the next and keep going.

Resources:

This truly remarkable book is available everywhere so please support your local bookseller. Jeff Bezos has enough money.

Connect with Deborah: https://www.deborahtuerkheimer.com

Credits: Harmonica music courtesy of a friend

Emily Ladau

Here's a number for you, 1 billion. One billion people is the estimated number of disabled people in the world. One billion. One in 8 people on the planet. That means that each of us knows someone, likely many someones, with a disability whether visible or hidden. Yet disability is a subject that most of us give little or no thought to.

Disability activist Emily Ladau joined me on the podcast to talk about Demystifying Disability, which is also the title of her new book. Emily and I talked about how to normalize disability as simply another part of the human experience. We spoke about the impact of intersecting marginalized identities and how diverse the disability community is.

At the end of our talk I knew a lot more than I had before and increased my comfort level in how to talk about disability with members of both the disability and non disabled communities. 

One billion people. Maybe we should be paying more attention to this than we typically do.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

About Emily:

Emily Ladau is an author and disability rights activist whose career began at the age of 10, when she appeared on several episodes of Sesame Street to educate children about her life with a physical disability. Her writing has been published in outlets including The New York Times, SELF, Salon, Vice, and HuffPost and her first book, Demystifying Disability, was published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House, in September 2021.

Emily's Action Items:

1) Listen to, learn from, and amplify the voices of the disabled 2) Know when to pass the mic 3) Take the time to get to know and understand the disability experience

Resources:

Demystifying Disability by Emily Ladau

Connect with Emily:

Website Facebook Twitter Instagram LinkedIn

Credits: Harmonica music courtesy of a friend

The stories that we don't hear impact us as much as those that we do. We just don't realize that there's something missing. Under the leadership of director Lynden Harris the North Carolina based co-creative collective company, Hidden Voices, brings to light stories that we don't even realize we need to hear. 

In this conversation Lynden and I talk about her book RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW: Life Stories from America's Death Row and the theatre project that grew from those stories. She talks about walking into a maximum security prison and what it was like to co-create this project with men on death row, to give voice to their stories. 

We also talk about many of the other hidden stories that she and her company bring to our collective awareness. As importantly Lynden shares the process that she and her company use to find these stories that would otherwise go unheard. 

Listening to Lynden made me challenge my assumptions about death row inmates in specific but other people as well. Lynden made me ask questions rather than make assumptions and that was amazing. 

This conversation inspired me in so many ways and I think this taste of exploring some of the Hidden Voices of our world will leave you feeling the same.

For a written transcript of this episode click here.

About Lynden:

Lynden Harris is the founder of Hidden Voices, a radically inclusive, participatory and co-creative collective committed to a more just and compassionate world. For 20 years, Lynden has collaborated with underrepresented communities to create award winning works, combining narrative performance mapping, music, digital media, and interactive exhibits.

A founding cultural agent for the US Department of Arts and Culture, Lynden is a Blade of Grass fellow, a recipient of the Ann Atwater Theatre Award, and the 2020, North Carolina Playwriting Fellow. She is the editor of RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW: Life Stories from America's Death Row.

Lynden's Action Steps: 1) If you have 10 minutes send a copy of RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW to your state representative, to a senator, a judge, faith leader, an educator, an attorney, because these men's stories can be used for everything from an organizing tool to conversation starters for book clubs. 2) If you have half an hour a month consider writing to a prisoner. You can do a google search for pen pal organizations. Lynden reminds us that you may literally be someone's only contact with the free world.  3) If you have more time  consider sharing your talents and skills with a local facility. There was a study done that estimated that 75% of adult prisoners are illiterate, and 85% of juveniles. So if you have literacy skills that you can share, or cooking, or finance or art, and considering that most people living inside prisons have experienced great trauma in their lives, if you teach yoga, if you teach mindfulness, I've a restorative circle keeper, any of these sorts of things are offerings that a lot of institutions will allow.

Resources:

Connect with Lynden:

Credits:

Harmonica music courtesy of a friend

Most of us are aware of the toll that this pandemic has taken on us in terms of anxiety and fear around illness, physical safety, societal breakdown, and economic security to name but a few things. And while we may understand that we've been, and continue to be, under enormous pressure we may not know how best to navigate these very real challenges. LMFT Anjuli Sherin has written a book, Joyous Resilience: A Path to Individual Healing and Collective Thriving in an Inequitable World, that shows us the way to healing for not only ourselves but our communities as well.

Anjuli and I talked about where we find ourselves and how best to navigate this time in which so many of us are experiencing real trauma. We discuss what Anjuli calls the cycle of suffering and how to build the resilience we need to break free from that cycle. Spoiler alert, breaking that cycle has everything to do with thriving.

Anjuli argues that even though we live in a very individualistic society that is not how we function when we're actually thriving. Anjuli breaks down what we need to do in order to thrive as individuals and as members of broader communities.

I found this conversation to be validating of feelings I've had both during pandemic time and before. It also gave me more tools for dealing with what can feel like an onslaught of tragedies. 

Have a listen and find yourself energized and better able to break free of the cycle of suffering so that you can make your contribution to the world. 

About Anjuli Sherin:

Anjuli Sherin is a Pakistani American Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist specializing in trauma recovery, resilience, building and cultivating joy. She has 15 years of practice working with immigrant South Asian, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and LGBTQI plus populations. In addition to awards for academic excellence and community service, Sherin has been featured in O Magazine as a finalist for the O Magazine White House leadership project. Her new book is Joyous Resilience: A Path to Individual Healing and Collective Thriving in an Inequitable World.

For a written transcript of this conversation go here.

Action Steps: 1) Cultivate a profoundly nurturing voice within yourself 2) Bust the myth that you have to do it alone 3) Tie your pain about something to a larger movement engaged in that work so that you are working with others and can be buoyed by a community

Resources:

Joyous Resilience: A Path to Individual Healing and Collective Thriving in an Inequitable World.

Connect with Anjuli:

Credits: Harmonica music courtesy of a friend

Alex Zamalin

Most of us are brought up to be polite. We are told, by parents and educators, to mind our manners, to wait our turn, to be civil.

Director of the African American Studies Program and Assistant Professor, Political Science at Mercy College Alex Zamalin pushes back against the narrative that what our society needs now is more civil discourse.

In his fascinating book, Against Civility: The Hidden Racism in Our Obsession with Civility, Zamalin argues that civility has been, and continues to be, a tool used against those advocating for justice, equity, and liberation. The opposite of civility is not violence, though we would be led to think it is.

From Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells, Frederick Douglass, to Dr. King and the activists of today Zamalin talks about the ways in which civility has been weaponized against the African American community.

This book had me sitting in my apartment cheering as I read about all the ways that Black people have refused to allow the narrative to become about civility rather than rights, rather than justice.

This conversation left me energized. We can stand for justice or we can concern ourselves with civility. The fight for justice cannot co-exist with the ways in which civility is understood by those seeking to maintain the current power structure.

Listen to this conversation and then think about the ways in which civility has been weaponized and how to get out from under that oppressive system. I think you're going to find yourself nodding in agreement as you listen and maybe even change the way you pursue social justice. 

Action Steps: 1)  Refrain from tone policing 2)  Educate yourself on the perspective of those who face racism on a daily basis. 3)  Be unapologetic in your anti-racism work. Find the organizations in your community doing good work that you care about and collaborate with them.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Against Civility: The Hidden Racism in Our Obsession with Civility by Alex Zamalin

Credits: Harmonica music courtesy of a friend

Dr. Manuel Pastor

Okay my California peeps, you get to gloat. This fascinating interview with Dr. Manuel Pastor makes it abundantly clear that the rest of us have a lot to learn from the Golden State.

About Dr. Pastor:

Dr. Manuel Pastor, director of the Equity Research Institute at USC, weaves together stats about the US's economic inequality, highlighting racial divides and immigrant-influenced demographic changes. His expertise comes from a decades-long career analyzing California's demographic changes and the multi-racial movement organizing that transformed its once anti-immigrant attitude to the inclusive, progressive state we know today. As the rest of the country follows a similar path, Dr. Pastor believes California’s story can serve as a roadmap for the nation.

For a written transcript of this conversation go here.

Action Steps:

1) Learn and apply the lessons of California to where you live 2) Learn to talk about race and racism every day 3) Continue to listen to Stepping Into Truth for good ideas for your local organizing

Resources:

State of Resistance: What California's Dizzying Descent and Remarkable Resurgence Mean for America's Future by Manuel Pastor

Connect with Dr. Pastor: https://twitter.com/prof_MPastor/ https://twitter.com/ERI_USC https://dornsife.usc.edu/eri/manuel-pastor/

Credits: Harmonica music courtesy of a friend

Alesha Monteiro

When someone is incarcerated there are impacts that land far beyond those to the incarcerated person. People without partners, children without parents, communities without those who may fill critical roles, and the elderly without a caregiver to name just a few. 

The truth is that it's rare that we even think about the people left behind. My guest, Alesha Monteiro, knows exactly what it's like to have an incarcerated spouse. She knows the isolation, the shame, and the ripples of impact that are too often ignored.

With all of this Alesha is very fortunate. She found a community of women experiencing what she is, Essie Justice, and in that community found a place of welcome, support, and understanding. 

In this conversation Alesha and I talk about what life is like for those with someone on the inside and what she believes we need to do to address our broken criminal justice system.

The impacts of mass incarceration affect all of us whether we know an incarcerated person or not. At the very least, our tax dollars are going to support this inequitable, flawed system when they could be better spent in many other places.

Have a listen and deepen your understanding of what mass incarceration and the way our justice system works (or doesn't) means for all of us. 

About Alesha:

Alesha Monteiro is a social justice advocate, and a dedicated member of the Essie Justice Group, a black feminist organization that supports and uplifts the experiences and solutions of women with incarcerated loved ones. Alesha is a prison abolitionist who believes that there is a very different, much more humane way to respond to the consequences of actions that hurt people.

Alesha's Action Steps: 1) Learn the message and push the message. Educate yourself on what is happening in these systems and then work to change that. 2) Donate your time, money, or both to local and statewide groups working in this arena. 3) If you know someone with an incarcerated person in their life, check in on them.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

Resources:

Essie Justice

Connect with Alesha:

https://www.facebook.com/aleshamonteiro https://twitter.com/AleshaMonteiro https://www.linkedin.com/in/alesha-monteiro-avid-advocate/ https://alesha-advocates.org/

Rebecca Grace and John Gray

I can't believe that I've been doing this podcast since 2018! This season I have some remarkable people as guests on the show. Season 4 starts with Rebecca Grace and John Gray of Complete Picture.

Imagine that someone you love has been convicted of a non-violent felony and is awaiting sentencing. Typically the sentencing judge gets a dry document that talks about what is likely the worst thing this individual has ever done and that's all. That information is what they base their decision on. 

Based on their own experience of John's prison term for a drug felony, they decided that they needed to find a way of showing that those awaiting sentencing were far more than the worst thing they had done, and Complete Picture was born.

Rebecca, John and their crew of formerly incarcerated people go into the homes of those awaiting sentencing and create a film that shows the scope of the individual, the complete picture. Presenting a judge with a full perspective makes all the difference as sentences have been reduced and even commuted.

This conversation brought me to tears. It can be so easy to harshly judge those who have been convicted of a crime. John and Rebecca reconnect us with the humanity of these people and, by extension, our own.

Have a listen.

For a written transcript of this conversation go here.

Action Steps: 1. Listen to peoples’ stories with curiosity rather than judgement. 2. If you are able, make a donation to completepicture.org. 3. If you have skills that would be useful to the work Rebecca and John are doing call them at 323.683.5689.

Connect with Complete Picture: www.completepicture.org https://www.instagram.com/completepictureproject/

Drew Willey

Imagine going to law school with the intention of becoming a tax attorney and then doing an internship with the Texas Innocence Project and completely scrapping your previous plan. Meet Drew Willey.

Some time back I was fortunate to be in a group studying Joel Goza's book, America's Unholy Ghosts with Drew Willey. Drew and his wife Jessica founded Restoring Justice to provide needed legal services to the indigent population of Houston. 

How Drew went from studying to be a tax attorney to fighting for the rights of those caught in the legal system and most in need of help is itself fascinating. But even more interesting is what Drew has to share about how the system actually works, what the needs of his clients and so many others, actually are, and ways that we call can be of help.

That our criminal justice system is broken is not news. What most of us don't know are the specific ways in which the rights of individuals are violated every day. Drew and his dedicated team are modeling ways to restore justice that we can replicate and expand upon.

I left this conversation with Drew both angry at the system and encouraged and inspired by the work that the people at Restoring Justice are doing each day.

Have a listen and then pass this conversation along and, if you can, take Drew's action suggestions and let's make the difference we can.

For a written transcript of this conversation go here.

About Drew:

Alongside his wife, Jessica, Drew Willey founded Restoring Justice. Drew left a career as an accountant to attend law school at the University of Houston Law Center. An internship with the Texas Innocence Network showed him firsthand how the legal system dehumanizes poor people, people of color, and those with mental health conditions. 

Drew became a criminal defense attorney, primarily working on representation of the indigent. This work eventually led Drew to found Restoring Justice to not only provide high-quality, holistic counsel to those who need it the most, but also find ways to expose, disrupt, and fix the systemic racism and discrimination in our criminal justice system. 

Drew’s work as a public defender and as the founder of Restoring Justice has been featured in publications like The New York Times, Texas Monthly, Texas Tribune, and the Houston Chronicle.

Connect with Drew and the Restoring Justice 

Restoring Justice

Clint Borgen

When Clint Borgen was a sophomore in college the war in Kosovo broke out. In 3 months the fighting had killed 10,000 people and displaced 800,000. Borgen decided that he needed to do something so he found a group to volunteer with and went to the region. That experience changed the direction of his life.

Being a witness to war and the impacts that it had on the populace made him aware of how little it actually takes to improve the situation of people living as refugees. He also got to see where the US did and didn't step in to help people in these situations. 

He recognized that as the world's global superpower the US has the capacity to direct the conversation about what is happening and from there, funding and support to people and regions in crisis. 

He decided that what he would do was essentially act as a lobbyist for poor people and try to get addressing global poverty on the agenda for members of Congress. He came home and founded the Borgen Project and has been working on behalf of the world's poor ever since. 

I learned a lot from this conversation including how little it can actually take to get an issue on the radar of a member of Congress and how small actions in this arena can have an outsized impact.

If you think that what you do doesn't have make a difference, listen to Clint and find out how much power you actually have. Then, let's go out and change the world.

About Clint:

Clint Borgen is the founder and president of The Borgen Project, an organization working to bring U.S political attention to global poverty. Borgen works nationally with congressional leaders to build support for legislation that improves conditions for people in developing nations. He's widely regarded as one of the leading poverty reduction campaigners in the United States.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

Connect with Clint and the Borgen Project: The Borgen Project On Twitter

Credits: Harmonica music courtesy of a friend

Resmaa Menakem   

The week of April 19, 2021 was brutal. People around the world, but especially here in the U.S., were waiting on a verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial. But then there were other killings that same week of Black bodies by police.

It was almost too much to process. But this conversation with healer, therapist, and NYT best selling author Resmaa Menakem gave me a deeper perspective. 

Resmaa and I spoke a few hours before the verdict in the  trial came down. We talked about George Floyd, we talked about other Black bodies murdered by police. We also spoke about trauma, Black trauma, white trauma, and the trauma that is held in the bodies of those in blue.

We spoke about white body supremacy and what we all need to do to heal that for the sake of all people. We spoke about the role of community in the healing process and how we all need people who not only care for us but hold us to account.

In the context of the trial of the murderer of George Floyd hanging over us, this conversation was especially powerful. After speaking with Resmaa I had a more comprehensive direction for future action and I believe you will too.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

Resmaa, Menakem, MSW, LICSW, SEP, is a healer, therapist and NYTimes bestselling author of My Grandmother’s Hands. Resmaa Menakem is a visionary Justice Leadership coach, organizational strategist and master trainer. To help Justice leaders really realize their potential in the areas of Equity & Race, Resmaa created cultural somatics, which utilizes the Body & Resilience as mechanisms for growth.

Resources mentioned in this episode: My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem, available wherever you buy your books Resmaa’s Wyser App 

Connect with Resmaa: Website

Credits: Harmonica music courtesy of a friend

Tammy Tai & Greg Ball

Did you know that Boston played a major role in the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? I didn't. Turns out Boston was where he got his PhD, studied with his mentor Howard Thurman, and met Coretta Scott.

Clearly, Boston was a significant place in both their lives. In 2022 a sculpture will be installed on the Boston Common in honor of them both. But that is just one part of what is happening. 

King Boston, an organization dedicated to uplifting the role that Boston played in their lives, is creating numerous initiatives and programs with the goal of continuing and expanding the work that they were both so dedicated to.

In this conversation I speak with Tammy Tai and Greg Ball of King Boston about Martin and Coretta King as well as about what their vision is for how they can move Boston from being one of the most racist cities in the country to a city that honors and lives out the vision of the Kings.

In this conversation Tammy and Greg also give us insight into Dr. King as he truly was rather than the incomplete, and perhaps more palatable version for some, that most are familiar with. 

I loved talking with them, I love what they are part of, and I think that anyone who holds Dr. and Mrs. King up as models and icons owes it to themselves to hear what King Boston is doing. 

For a written transcript of this conversation go here.

Three Action Steps:

1. Connect with them at KingBoston.org (especially if you live nearby, get involved with their initiatives).

2. Spread the word about the work they are doing.

3. Financially support their work if you can.

Resources: King Boston

Connect with Tammy and Greg:

Connect with Tammy on LinkedIn

Connect with Tammy at King Boston

Connect with Greg on LinkedIn

Connect with Greg at King Boston

Roderick Nunn

The United States has approximately 5% of the world's population but accounts for about 25% of those incarcerated. The statistics on re-incarceration are, honestly, awful.

We know what happens when people are released from prison with no structure in place to help them successfully reenter society. How might it be different if instead of just letting people out and leaving them on their own we had systems in place that helped them find their way?

Well, Concordance Academy does exactly that and Rod Nunn, Executive Vice President, Head of Education and Employment, joins me to talk about the ways in which our system is failing the formerly incarcerated and how we can fix this broken system.

The costs of failing in this arena are often hidden from view for many of us but they are real and we all pay the price, if in no other way than financially, when the system fails. 

This conversation inspired me to educate myself and to do my part, as we as a country grapple with our criminal justice system, to recognize that, for former felons, incarceration isn't the end of the story. The decisions that we, as a community make, can dramatically impact how the story plays out.

Rod's 3 Action Steps 1) Share the message in your circles of influence that individuals with criminal records, these justice involved adults that we're talking about, they do in fact, become good high performing employees in the workplace, solid, productive citizens. 2) Stay informed with what's happening in public policy in your state, in your community. I would point you to the prison policy initiative as a great resource for that.  3) Visit Concordance Academy, to learn more about us. In particular our first chance campaign, which is a national campaign that is allowing us the ability to expand what we do and other places around the country. Our goal is to be in 10 cities by 2025.

For a written transcript of this conversation go here.

In this conversation award winning filmmaker Kerra Bolton and I discuss telling Black stories, and the challenges of doing so, including her latest project which will have her diving sunken slave ships. We also talk about her life as an expat and some of the surprising moments that come, like when she realized that she was the oppressor. 

I also learn about restorative practices as they are being used in a Detroit school.

Another rich conversation for you. Enjoy!

To donate to help Kerra get her film made go here.

For a written transcript of this conversation go here.

Leslie Kern

When I first saw the title of Leslie Kern's book, Feminist City: Claiming Space in a Man-Made World, I was intrigued. Then I started reading it and I was fascinated. In this book Kern talks about things that are so much a part of the norm that we often don't notice them, until we do. For instance, have you ever thought about the way that public transit is perfectly designed for the way most men work but not at all for the way a lot of women work? 

What about the ways that women engage with the issue of safety, particularly in cities? The words we say to our female friends as we go our separate ways at night, "Text me when you get home", come to mind. Or how about the ways in which suburban living reinforces and perpetuates stereotypical gender roles?

Honestly, this book and talking with Leslie made me look at so many things differently than I had before. Eye-opening doesn't begin to cover it. I loved talking with her so much. Have a listen, read her book, and spread the word.

For a written transcript of this episode click here.

Hari Ziyad

In this episode I got to speak with the author of the upcoming memoir Black Boy Out of Time, Hari Ziyad. Hari uses his experience of growing up queer with a Hare Krishna mother and Muslim father to illuminate the experience of being outside. As an outsider, both as a consequence of being queer but also as a Black boy in a world that has little space outside of set roles for Black children Hari dissects some of the impacts that our carceral system has on children of color.

Talking with Hari made me braver about sharing more of my own story. Hari brings rigor to the discussion of our systems with a grace and sensitivity that creates space for all of us to more fully own our stories.

I'm really glad that I got to speak with them and think you're going to find what they had to say fascinating.

For a written transcript of this conversation go here.

Learn more about Hari at www.hariziyad.com

Season 3  Episode 15

In this episode I talk with Tharaka Sriram who has merged her values of the preservation of the oceans with women's justice issues and more. Tharaka and I discuss the overlap between the damage we're doing to our oceans and domestic violence. 

She discusses the necessity for more women, particularly women of color, to be part of the conversation around ocean preservation and the preservation of a way of life for many Indigenous peoples. 

She also challenges some assumptions that many of us have about the relationship that those who live by, and depend on, the ocean have with it. As well as the impact of plastic pollution on women especially.

Whether you're an ocean lover or not, this is an important conversation about the health of our planet. Speaking with Tharaka has given me a lot to think about and will change some of the ways in which I engage with the ocean and the creatures that call it home.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

Tharaka mentions a number of things you might want to follow up on. Here are some links.

International Collective for the Support of Fishworkers  (ICSF)

Yemaya is the ICSF newsletter on gender and fisheries

To read more about Tharaka's work as a Marine Ambassador go here.

This conversation, talking about badass women and the possibilities before us, gave me hope for the future and inspiration to keep going. I hope it does the same for you.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

Xander Schultz

Season 3   Episode 14

How best can we support the work of those on the front lines of social justice? That’s a question that I’ve heard a lot. Xander Schultz, and those he works with, have come up with multiple effective and, often, clever ways to advance the causes that are most important to them.

In this inspiring, engaging, and impactful conversation Xander and I explore some of the ways to address the critical issues of our time. From Defeat By Tweet to creating spaces where refugees can find some moments of joy, Xander guides us to actions that we might not have thought of. Especially take note of what Xander says at the 23:49 mark. It’s really important.

I’m pretty sure that this conversation will get your mental gears turning and inspire you to come up with some creative ways of making the impact you want to make. 

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

Ari Honarvar

Season 3   Episode 13

She grew up in repressive and war torn Iran, then writer and activist Ari Honarvar came to the United States. In this timely conversation Ari and I talk about intersectionality and bringing joy to those stranded at the US border. Ari and I also talk about what it's like to be from a war torn country and some of the disturbing parallels to where we are in the United States right now.

What I loved about this conversation is that Ari not only shows us that finding joy is possible in the worst of circumstances, she reminds us that spreading joy is the best way to experience it for ourselves.

Some organizations that Ari is involved with that you should check out are

Gente Unida (full disclosure, I'm on the board), Floyd Rights, and Musical Ambassadors of Peace. 

Season 3  Episode 12

I have never said, “You have to listen to this episode!”. I am telling you, you have to listen to this episode.

In this remarkable conversation Joel Goza, author of America's Unholy Ghosts: The Racist Roots of Our Faith and Politics, and I talk about the deep roots of the structural and systemic racism that plagues the United States. Drawing lines between people and events that predate the founding of the U.S. and taking a deep look at the complexity of Dr. King, Joel brings clarity to the discussion of where we are, how we got here, and what we need to do going forward.

I’ve had a lot of conversations about this subject and this is, without doubt, one of the most impactful discussions I’ve ever had. To say that I loved this conversation is such an understatement. Joel is wise and, most importantly, walks his talk.

Season 3  Episode 11

As we work towards the goals of freedom and social justice one of the things that is most important is that we listen to and center the voices of young people. They are the ones who will have to live with the consequences of our actions, and our inactions.

Ruby Smith-Diaz and I discuss how she uses art to engage, empower, and inspire young people to use their voices and their creativity in service of their needs, dreams, and rights.

Beyond that Ruby and I discuss body image from the perspective of racial equity.

It was a fascinating and expanding conversation and I think you’re going to love it.

Season 3  Episode 10

Anjali Enjeti and I had this great conversation all the way back in June. We talked about the election, about Black Lives Matter, about the role of race in American Literature and more.

Given that the election is over it might seem odd to even think about it now but this conversation will expand how you see the way that voting plays into sustaining systemic racism which matters so much because there are more elections to come and the efforts to make voting harder are constantly being ramped up.

But my favorite part of the conversation is talking with Anjali about shifts that we’re seeing in our engagement with the whole subject of race and how we can make our stand for anti racism broader and deeper in our lives. Also, we discuss the problems with To Kill a Mockingbird and other American classics.

Have a listen without the tension of wondering who is going to win the Presidential race and find a deeper understanding of where we are and what needs to be done.

Season 3  Episode 9

It's 2020 and that means that there is almost no way to be living in the United States and not have experienced some sort of trauma. Lives and jobs upended and lost, our politics are out of control, systemic racism front and center, it's been a brutal year. 

Somatic practician and activist Staci K. Haines takes on this critical subject in her remarkable book, The Politics of Trauma. In our conversation Staci and I talk about the implications of power both for those without it and with it, the systemic trauma of racism and so much more.

Season 3 Episode 8

In this episode organizer and activist Grace Pai and I discuss the divisions between Blacks and Asian Americans, how Coronavirus is impacting the Asian American community, and the potential that lives in cross racial collaborations. 

Grace is the Director of Organizing at Asian Americans Advancing Justice Chicago. Her years of community organizing have given Grace a perspective that is especially important in this fraught time.

This conversation opened my eyes to elements of the struggle for freedom for all of us that I hadn't been aware of. I think you'll find it as important, engaging, and informative as I did.

Season 3  Episode 7

One of the joys of childhood for a lot of girls, me included, was being a tomboy when I was a child. I ran around with a pack of boys and girls and we played with abandon.

Does this sound familiar? Was that you or a friend of yours? In this episode I speak with author Lisa Selin Davis. Selin Davis has written a book that not only looks at the general idea of being a tomboy but also at the deep racism that lies at the heart of the 19th century practice of encouraging girls to be tomboys.

Tomboy-ism isn't just a way of being in the world, it has implications that underpin our society as a whole and the dynamics that define our understanding of gender roles. If you have were a tomboy, have one in your life, or are curious about how racism and tomboy-ism are connected, have a listen. It's fascinating...

Season 3  Episode 6

In this episode I speak with actress and writer Kim Sykes who is the artistic director for Girl Be Heard an organization dedicated to elevating the voices of girls, young women, transfeminine, and gender nonconforming, and gender fluid individuals . 

These  are the future and Girl Be Heard is dedicated to building the activists and changemakers who will be running the world in years to come.

Kim and I talk about the impact it has on them to write and perform their stories, to use the arts to explore their experiences, to find their voice, to be heard. 

In a world that still has rules for how we behave based on gender taking back the power of telling their own stories and envisioning their own futures is powerful medicine. 

This conversation gave me so much hope for the generation coming up now. It also made me think about what my responsibility as an ancestor is. I hope it does the same for you.

Season 3 Episode 5

Before Ahmaud Arbery, Elijah McLain, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Michael Brown there was Wayne Jones. Mr. Jones was a schizophrenic, unhoused Black man living in West Virginia when a random encounter with the police resulted in Mr. Jones being shot 22 times.

In this conversation I speak with Christopher Brown, the attorney who took the Jones family's case, where the police had successfully argued qualified immunity, all the way to the Fourth Circuit court of Appeals. There he did something almost never accomplished, he won. 

In this moment of heightened attention on interactions between police and the Black community this conversation could not be more important.

In addition to talking about this specific case Christopher has some really excellent, concrete suggestions for how we change this system. Listen, and please, pass this episode along to everyone you know. 

Season 3  Episode 4

In a conversation that predates the pandemic Nikki Patin and I talked about what it takes to change both public perception and policy as it comes to rape culture.

Using her experience as a rape crisis counselor and in her current position as Community Engagement Director at Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE) she helps bring healing to individuals and changes to laws that impact survivors of sexual assault.

With writing workshops and Share the Mic nights that give survivors a forum for telling their stories Nikki lets survivors guide the direction of their healing. 

This conversation inspired me to look at some of the assumptions that I had around the subject and also to look at how I engage in my advocacy around this subject.

Nikki is amazing and I think that you're going to love this episode.

Monique Davis

Season 3  Episode 3

In this conversation Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer at the Center for Art  and Public Exchange at the Mississippi Museum of Art Monique Davis and I discuss how art can be used to build bridges in our communities as well as be used as a tool to dismantle White Supremacy.

When Whiteness is the yardstick by which all is measured it takes a reckoning to establish a new way of measuring what is good, fair, considered to be success, and beauty. Monique and I talk about looking at art through a new lens, a lens that doesn't immediately center European art.

We also talk about how to engage the local community in events that are designed to bring awareness to the inequities that exist in our world while encouraging conversations that begin to bridge the divides between us.

Mississippi may seem like an unlikely place for this to be happening but listen to Monique and you may decide that it's the perfect place and a great model for conversations in other venues, maybe even one in your city or town. 

For a written transcript of this episode click here.

Season 3  Episode 2

In this fun conversation Badass Cross Stitch founder, Shannon Downey, and I talk about how to bring a lovely, subversive twist to the art of cross stitching. Really, it (and lots of other creative pursuits) can be a venue for taking down white supremacy. 

Shannon tells me how she came up with this idea, about the impact it's had, and the how she's now taking this on the road. Yep, even during a pandemic this project can travel.

Shannon's favorite quote is from Mariame Kaba, "Weird times call for weird solutions" and this solution meets our weird time perfectly.

Have a listen and if you take up cross stitching afterwards, definitely let me know.

For a written transcript of this episode click here.

Season 3 Episode 1

Welcome to Season 3! I'm so excited for the season to come. I've got some brilliant guests coming up this season and to start I've got someone whose work is in public health. We may as well start in the realm of one of the two crises facing the world right now.

In this episode public health professional Nicole Vick and I talk about how our public health system is failing us and what needs to happen to make it work for all Americans. We also discuss Black maternal and infant mortality and the implicit bias that leads to disastrous outcomes. 

I share my own experience of bias by medical professionals and Nicole tells us what she thinks needs to happen. 

For a written transcript of this episode click here.

Season 2   Episode 21

In this episode futurist Chet Sisk and I discuss what this pandemic is revealing about our societies. We talk about black swans, the African philosophy of Ubuntu, and some of the changes this event will likely bring about. This was a fascinating conversation and a perfect end to Season 2 of the podcast.

For a written transcript of this episode click here.

Season 2   Episode 20

In this Conversation During a Pandemic author Betsy Greer and I discuss the ways in which our crafts can be tools of activism. How craft can be a source connection and solace, especially in a difficult time, and why all activism doesn't, and shouldn't, look the same.

For a written transcript of this episode click here.

Season 2   Episode 19

In this conversation political operative Arnetia Fogg Dupree and I talk about the urgency of electing Black women to political office and how we can stay connected during a pandemic. In this stressful time this conversation filled me with hope and belief in a brighter future on the other side of this.

For a written transcript of this episode click here.

Season 2  Episode 18

In this conversation Run For Something co-founder Amanda Litman (if she looks familiar you may have seen her on tv) and I talk about the importance of those local races that most of us often don't think about. Amanda also shares her point of view on the whole “lesser of two evils” argument.

We also talk about why you might be someone who should consider running for something and how her amazing organization helps young, progressive candidates. Even if that doesn't describe you, I'm definitely not under 40, Amanda gives us guidance on what we can do to help.

For a written transcript of this episode click here.

Gaelynn Lea

Season 2  Episode 17

In this conversation NPR Tiny Desk Concert winner Gaelynn Lea and I talk about her disability activism, politics, music, and more. This conversation made me think about things like our culture's ideas about beauty, for one, in entirely new ways.

Music, activism, politics, Gaelynn weaves all these together for a discussion that will likely expand your thinking on a whole lot of things. I loved talking with Gaelynn, I think you're going to love hearing what she has to say.

For a written transcript of this episode click here.

Rosalie Fish

Season 2   Episode 16

In this remarkable conversation 19 year old activist Rosalie Fish and I discuss the current epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

A member of the Cowlitz tribe, Rosalie comes to this subject with deep personal knowledge and an unshakeable commitment to giving a voice to these women.

This was a hard conversation for many reasons, not the least of which is that no one should have to be fighting this battle, certainly not at 19. But these women need a voice and Rosalie gives these missing and murdered women the attention they deserve and asks that we all do the same.

I had known of this situation before, but talking with Rosalie gave me an understanding I didn't previously have. I think she's amazing. I think you'll agree.

For a written transcript of this episode click here.

Season 2   Episode 15

In this episode I talk with Kat Calvin, founder of Project ID and Spread the Vote about why her organization focuses on getting ID for the millions of Americans who don't have any.

This goes so far beyond what I was expecting when I got into this conversation. I had no idea about some of the things people can't access without identification. Things that make just doing daily life really hard.

Have a listen! It's equal parts fascinating and horrifying.

For a written transcript of this episode click here.

Don Estill

Season 2   Episode 14

In this beautiful and moving conversation filmmaker Don Estill talks about why he was compelled to make this documentary. He speaks of the women who inspired him directly and talks about the multitude of ways that Black women are amazing.

The voices of Black Women  are often misunderstood and overlooked. She Speaks shines a light on the depth and richness of these voices and showcases how and why Black Women are the future.

This is an interview that moved me deeply. I hope you feel the same.

NOTE: Don is currently in talks to secure the rest of the financing for She Speaks so there are no clips currently available. I’ll keep you posted on his progress with getting this important film made.

For a written transcript of this episode click here.

Renee Bracey Sherman

Season 2   Episode 13

In this episode abortion rights activist Renee Bracey Sherman and I talk about why it’s so important that abortions stories are heard. We also talk about the deep bias that’s at the heart of the debate and the disproportionate impact on people of color.

Renee made me think about aspects of this issue that I hadn’t considered before.

Join us and expand your perspective on reproductive rights.

For a written transcript of this episode click here.

Richarda Abrams

Season 2   Episode 12

In this episode actor Richarda Abrams and I discuss her award winning one woman show, First By Faith: The Life of Mary McLeod Bethune. We also talk about the ways in which each of us can contribute to the greater good in our own way and why the Arts are so important in a healthy society. Richarda's one-woman show about black educator and activist Bethune has lessons for us in this moment when it can feel hard to see a way though. As we enter a new decade this episode will inspire you to think about the arc of time, your place in that arc, and the contribution you wish to make to the world.

For a written transcript of this episode click here.

Lauren Duca

Season 2   Episode 11

In this episode Lauren Duca, author of How to Start a Revolution: Young People and the Future of American Politics, and I talk about what changed after the 2016 election. We talk about how many young people experienced a political awakening and the shift that has engendered. You’ve probably heard the term military industrial complex. But have you heard about the political-industrial complex?

We all hear that young people are the future, well of course they are. Lauren and I talk about the future that young people are trying to create and how we all, regardless of age, can be participants in democracy. The way the founding fathers intended. Best of all, Lauren gives us suggestions as to how we can make a difference without quitting our day jobs.

For a written transcript of this episode click here.

Rebecca Farnum

Season 2   Episode 10

In this episode London based Rebecca Farnum and I discuss a range of social justice issues from Volunteer-tourism’s ups and downs to gender based violence in North Africa. This conversation will definitely get your activist juices flowing if you're feeling stuck. If you're already in motion you'll also find inspiration here.

For a written transcript of this episode click here.

I think you’re gonna love this deep conversation.

For a written transcript of this episode click here.

For a written transcript of this episode click here.

As soon as she saw what was happening Grace stopped her car, got out, started recording and approached the young man, Anthony Williams. The officers had their weapons pointed at Williams and McKinnon knew that she needed to somehow defuse the situation.

She calmly approached Williams and started talking to him, telling him that he needed to comply with the officers instructions and that this wasn’t worth dying over. At one point McKinnon was between Williams and the officers. The officers told her that Williams was armed with knives but McKinnon never saw one.

Eventually she was able to convince him to get down on the ground as the officer instructed. Once he was under arrest McKinnon was told to leave by police. Williams was homeless, sleeping in Union Station since the death of his mother from cancer a couple of years earlier.

We are raised to admire those who act heroically. We are also raised to believe that they are very different from ourselves. But Grace McKinnon is proof that heroism is a choice. A choice to get involved rather than stay on the sidelines.

Renitta Shannon

Season 2   Episode 5

In this episode I talk with Georgia State Representative Renitta Shannon about the accelerating and ongoing assault on reproductive rights and the efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade.

This conversation with Renitta inspired me to do more interviews on the subject of abortion rights so keep an eye out for more on this critically important subject.

Craig has written a wonderful children’s book that tackles our stereotypes around gender roles. In a world where we see evidence of toxic masculinity every day paying attention to how we are engaging with our boys is critical to gender equality, ending the cycle of violence against women, and raising boys who grow up to truly respect women and themselves.

Too often the conversation about this happens only among women but that's not going to get it done. To change the dynamic we need men and women on board. If you have children, if you know children, this subject matters.

* We had some audio issues with this episode. You can clearly hear the conversation but there is some echo from time to time. I apologize for that but the conversation is so rich I didn’t want to deprive you of Jena’s wisdom and heart.