If you’ve been on LinkedIn recently, it’s likely that someone you know has liked something that our next guest has written - because her posts are just THAT GOOD. But it wasn’t just her LinkedIn activism that made us want to sit down with her today - it was some impactful articles that she wrote, including one for Cosmopolitan in 2019 and one for the Harvard Business Review in 2021, that made us excited to talk about something that we haven’t really touched on, on the podcast to date: colorism.

If you’re sitting there asking yourself, what is colorism, or what does that have to do with race, systemic racism, and how we look at people - then marketing and advertising, as we’ve known it to always exist in the United States, has largely been doing its job. But that doesn’t mean it’s the right job - in fact, today, we’re going to talk all about why it’s so important to understand colorism as a fundamental piece of our systems that affect us all (like racism), and also the very personal impact that it can have on people. We’re here to learn in 2022, and to keep asking those questions that make us think deeper and challenge what we’ve always been told.

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One thing that we’ve found to be true, from discussions around the book, to how to have uncomfortable conversations around the dinner or holiday tables, to sharing the stories that we are so lucky to be able to get to do on this podcast - it all comes back to how this work, the hard work of inclusion, anti-racism, and how to make lasting change, has to start first from within. We have to see each other as humans first, and find those commonalities so that we can then address our differences. Cancel culture isn’t working out. We need bridges in order to be able to see that new world.

This skill of looking within - it’s something that we talk about so much with our kids and their learning but something that we, as adults, largely brush to the side as one of those nebulous “nice to haves”. But that’s where we go wrong. We need empathy now more than ever, and today’s guest, Syah, is here to show us how to approach conversations - and indeed, all the spheres of influence that we each hold - with that empathy that we need to make intentional, lasting change. There were light bulb moments for both of us throughout this podcast, and we’d love to hear if any came up for you all as well.

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One of the questions that often has come up around our recent publication of our book (leave us a review on Amazon!) is what it was like to write the book during the end of 2020. And one of the things that always sticks out to us is that the problems, the racism, the treatment of non White people in this country that we wrote about in great detail throughout the book, didn’t get fixed in 2020, or 2021. In fact, every single chapter that we wrote in the second and third sections of the book has reoccurred numerous times over since we wrote the book. We’re not in some post racial world here. We didn’t fix racism because people suddenly realized that it was still happening sometime in the summer of 2020.

And our next guest knows that all too well. Tamara Winfrey-Harris wrote The Sisters Are Alright in 2015, and just released a second edition to this book this year. Not because racism is over, or we figured out intersectional feminism, or that we’re even all on the same page - not at all. The second edition includes so much more information about the stereotypes and experiences of Black women in America, what we need to know when it comes to intersectional feminism, interracial friendships, and simply co-existing with and respecting everyone. In the end, the sisters are alright. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t have a ton of work to do - so start by listening in and reflecting on your own perceptions, experiences, and things YOU can do differently.

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Our next guest is not only the author of a book we both can’t wait to read - Decolonizing Wellness - but also talks specifically to those individuals who are at the intersection of BIPOC and LGBTQ identities. When you think about bodies, beauty, and self-care, that’s often a group that gets lost, not only in popular consciousness but also in media portrayals of what is considered desirable or attractive. And, when you’re struggling to be seen, or fit in, or even survive - this can be devastating.

This was yet again one of those conversations that we didn’t want to end, and each of us walked away with different ways to think about not only our own bodies, but what we put in them, how we interact with those around us with regard to wellness - especially kids, and ways in which we can better support and understand the struggle of marginalized individuals when it comes to preconceived notions of health and beauty.

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When we sat down to talk with our next two guests, we were already big fans. They had presented as part of the Embodied Social Justice certificate course that we had taken together this summer, and their theme was clear: how we end racism. In one generation.

So, if your immediate reaction is one of incredulity, then maybe you need to hear this episode more than you think. Because their method is not one of hammering hard facts into people’s heads - it’s an approach based primarily on love, compassion, and our shared humanity. We talk in-depth about the conversations that can bring seemingly opposite people together, even when issues of politics and race would normally divide them. (And - if you’re looking for more tips on how to HAVE those uncomfortable conversations that may be happening in the next couple of weeks around your own holiday tables, we’ve got those details in depth next week!). At the end of our chat, we realized that this was the conversation we all, collectively, need to have, if we’re really serious about moving the needle when it comes to racism.

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We first heard about our guest today when we were all participating in the Edelweiss Book Fest as Editors’ Picks and couldn’t get her, or her book, out of our heads. While “abolition” has been a word largely associated with slavery, it has taken on a new meaning when it comes to the police in America. Yes, we know - this word is scary. Police reform can seem daunting. But Derecka Purnell not only understands that, but she has a framework for how we need to be thinking about this process, and what new structures can be built in its place.

Listen in to hear more about becoming abolitionists, the lack of history of White resistance, Derecka’s own personal thought journey, and so much more. We really enjoyed this conversation - and learned so much - and hope you do too.

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When we first thought about talking to our guest John Tateishi today, we thought about diving into the reparations process that he helped lead for Japanese survivors of the internment camps on American soil - especially as a great follow-up to our conversation with cameron whitten about reparations for slavery. Being biracial Japanese/White women, growing up in the United States meant that the history of internment camps, reparations, and the treatment of Japanese Americans as the “other” were things that we didn’t necessarily learn about in school, but knew through our communities. We thought we couldn’t speak to a better person about this than someone who had been deeply and critically involved in the Japanese American reparations process from the start.

What we didn’t expect, however, was the personal history lesson that we got - from what it was like in Manzanar, to coming back to postwar Los Angeles, to what it means to be an American. You won’t want to miss this conversation - in fact, we had to cut it short when we wanted to talk to John for several more hours. Get ready to learn everything you didn’t learn in school today.

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When you hear the word “reparations” - what do you think? If you’re like us, it’s probably something you sort of thought about in theory, but realize there’s so much to understand that you want to hide. It’s not an easy word with an easy answer or a clear path forward, nor is it uncomplicated.

Fortunately, we love to get complicated AND messy on this podcast, and so that’s why we’re thrilled today to have cameron whitten, the CEO of the racial justice nonprofit Brown Hope and Co-Founder of the Black Resilience Fund on today to talk about reparations, H.R. 40, Portland, and answer all of the questions you may have thought of - or even some that you have not - about reparations.

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