Decolonize Yourself

In this episode, Cárol Mejía, MSW, helps us to reorient our minds and spirits by evoking the powerful metaphor of water and by reviving our sense of wonder. The work of decolonizing social work not only includes "dream[ing] up new processes alongside communities that we belong to, dream[ing] up new solutions that eliminate social work's ties to the carceral system" but also restoring our powers of self-actualization. Through her evocation of the ocean, Cárol opens up new possibilities, new orientations, as she employs water to disrupt white supremacist capitalist patriarchal understandings of time, power, relationships, and healing. In so doing, she asks us to relinquish the impulse to box people in and impose our interpretations, meanings, and expectations onto others. Be moved by the wise, water-like quality of Cárol's spirit, as you soak in her wisdom and brilliance.Resources:Homecoming: Overcome Fear and Trauma to Reclaim Your Whole, Authentic Selfby Thema Bryant Dr. Britney Cooper: The Racial Politics of TimeRunaway Slave Syndrome DefinedThe New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness byMichelle Alexander Power, Resistance, and Liberation in Therapy with Survivors of Trauma: To Have Our Hearts Broken by Taiwo AfuapeAberrations in Black: Toward a Queer of Color Critique by Roderick A. FergusonA Good Cry: What We Learn from Tears and Laughter by Nikki GiovanniA Burst of Light and Other Essays by Audre Lorde (self-care quote)"They're looking at me. But I'm looking at them" - quote by Agnès Varda

Aditi Mayer, a sustainable fashion and labor rights activist, reminds us that "a return to Indigenous wisdom is the first step towards decolonization" (Green Dreamer podcast, Episode 253). We get a sense of what this "return to Indigenous wisdom" looks like, as public health researcher Abaki Beck shares her journey of decolonization in this episode. A member of the Blackfeet and Red River Metis, Beck calls us to recognize Native knowledge as legitimate and to share power (not just space) with Native people. In so doing, she offers a key tenant of decolonization: that the solutions to systemic oppression are found in communities most harmed by those systems.  Put another way, Native communities don't hold the problems; they hold the solutions.Resources:Abaki Beck's Website (learn more about her here!)"Hey Nicki Minaj, Pocahontas was a rape survivor, not a sex symbol," (Bitch Media's top read story in 2017)As We Have Always Done by Leanne Simpson

In this episode, dancer, choreographer, and artist Chitra Vairavan speaks with SooJin about how her experience with racism and caste discrimination as a Tamil, non-Brahmin artist spurred her to create alternative practices rooted in deep listening and self-love. These principles serve as the foundation of what she calls the "decolonized spiritual," as well as her own creative liberation practice. For her, we decolonize ourselves to heal ourselves, to love ourselves, to reclaim and take back what was taken from us in the process of colonization. Listen and learn as Chitra calls us to embrace difference and "unbelonging" in a world that is constantly pressuring us to belong and assimilate into whiteness.Resources:"Deep Listening: Creating from Memories and Speaking through Dance" "I am loved and beloved" - quote by Zy, spiritual healer and artist

In this episode, Alexs Pate, writer, author of Amistad, founder of the Innocent Classroom, and CEO of Innocent Technologies, joins SooJin to share his journey of removing the "guilts" - the negative stereotypes and expectations that white supremacist society forces upon people of color, specifically Black men - from his psyche and way of life. He talks about how unburdening himself of these "guilts" has helped him reclaim his own internal freedom. And he discusses the various ways he marks his progress on the decolonization journey. They also discuss their mutual love of Frantz Fanon and how Fanon's book Black Skin, White Masks  jumpstarted their commitment to decolonization.  These gems from  Fanon reflect the main themes of this episode: "I recognize that I have..one duty alone: that of not renouncing my freedom through my choices"; "I am endlessly creating myself"; "No attempt must be made to encase man for it is his destiny to be free";  "I am my own foundation."

In the inaugural episode of Decolonize Yourself, host Dr. SooJin Pate shares her journey of decolonization: what prompted it, what motivated her to commit to decolonization, and some of the initial steps she took to decolonize her mind. She discusses some of the primary tools and weapons of colonization, how transnational adoption is a form of colonization, and the role Howard University played in helping to jumpstart her decolonization process. 

Welcome to Decolonize Yourself, a podcast on how to decolonize your mind, body, spirit, and relationships. My name is Dr. SooJin Pate, and I'm your host. Listen to learn more about who I am, why I'm starting this podcast, and why the work of decolonization is integral to our individual and collective healing.