Vocal about it

We’re starting fresh into 2020 and in this newest episode, we’re all about embracing identity politics. As women of color and black women, our identities are political whether we want it or not. Still, when we’re taking advocacy for our lives in our own hands, „identity politics“ is weaponized against us. Why tho is actually nobody coming up with „the harm of identity politics“ when a rich, straight, white cis-head elite is doing politics in their interest and their interest alone? Who is that afraid of identity politics and why? How do some want to try and prevent us from taking matters into our own hands and play by our own rules? Where does this kind of thinking (really) come from? How have we overcome it and practice to unapologetically and loudly be ourselves? All this and more in our newest episode! On our journey on decolonizing our minds, we have come to the conclusion that we find it reductive to celebrate „women only“ as those binaries are rooted in colonial thought - and as of now, start to celebrate the non-binary. We start with celebrating the Nigerian- non-binary trans author Akwaeke Emezi, author of the highly acclaimed novel „Freshwater“ and their newest book, the YA novel „Pet“ that is dealing with a world where adults deny that monsters still exist - because they can’t see them it’s an intriguing lesson on how the evil might not always look like you might expect it to and how dangerous it is to forget that monsters can make themselves appear neutral. Get your hands on this book and follow @azemezi on Twitter. Read about her impressive journey here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/20/akwaeke-emezi-interview-freshwater In the light of the recent assault of Cláudia Simões by the Portuguese police, in front of her 8-year-old daughter - we celebrate Black Portuguese Women who have been denouncing police brutality against black bodies and institutional racism for years and who always find the strength to speak up and show up, as well as the ones who survive institutional violence and have to live with the trauma. Appreciation shout out to: -Beatriz Gomes Dias- politician, professor and activist of Djass, association of people of African descent ( read about their work against racism in Portugal: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44965631) -Carla Fernandes from Afrolis. The portugese-speaking lovers can check out her work here: https://radioafrolis.com/sobre/ (for the German-speaking community, an article about Carla Fernanden amazing work: https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/das-afrikanische-lissabon-5-5-radio-fuer-mehr-afrika-in.795.de.html?dram:article_id=418751) -Ana Fernandes from Plataforma negra -Francisca Van Dunem - Ministry of justice - read and watch her story here: http://africaneuropeanarratives.eu/en/testimonies/conversation-with-francisca-van-dunen In this article, the violent assault against Cláudia Simões is described in detail. Trigger warning: assault/ violent racism/police brutality: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1219651207465250817.html

The end of the year period is a great one to reflect, have some chill me-time and read. We want to inspire our sisters with some amazing readings by Black Women and Women of color who have inspired us, lifted our spirits, made us cry and just won a special place in our bookshelves: -Children of blood and bone by Tomi Adeyemi -Plantations Memories by Grada Kilomba -The hate you give by Angie Thomas -Chronicles of Black Feminism by Djamila Ribeiro -The bluest eye by Toni Morrison -The Art of Discarding by Nagisa Tatsumi -Kindred by Octavia Butler Thanks a million for following us and supporting our work throughout this year lovers!! We love you loads and can't wait to continue this journey with y'all in 2020!

In our newest episode, we tackle anti-blackness among people of color. White supremacy planted anti-blackness in all our minds - so it’s present even among the ones that experience racism themselves. Still, this is often considered a taboo and we are here to break it. It is as our auntie Andre Lorde puts it: “It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” Audre Lorde In order to do that, we are taking a deep look inside and talk about our own journey when it comes to anti-black sentiment and why we are now talking about women of color and black women. We need to acknowledge the particular place of anti-blackness in our societies and non-black POC need to sit down and do the work to be strong allies. Your sisters got you covered here tho: Keep on the tip of your toes till the end of the episode where we provide you with strategies and practices to tackle anti-blackness. The women of color and black women we celebrate in this episode: Thaís Muniz - Antropology researcher, creative soul and lady boss of ‘Turbante-se’, Thaís is an Afro-Brazilian designer based in Dublin who created a holistic project around headwrap-wearing for Black Women: the project’s goal is to research, promote and connect the history and ancestry of turban-wearing. Follow this amazing sister on Instagram @thaismunizthais and support her work by talking about ‘Turbante-se’ around you and liking it on all social media! Sunanda Mesquita, a queer Femme of Color with Indian and Swiss roots, living and working in Vienna on art spaces for Black artists and Artists of Color as they very rarely get access to art spaces in this very white city. Together with Jaqueline Ejiji, she co-founded WE DEY x SPACE – a permanent self-organised art and community space focusing on healing and art. Sunanda co-created an amazing list of resources to tackle anti-blackness that is for POC only This „tackling anti-blackness“* resources were created in a collective of non Black QTIBIPoCs. They hope that the list will grow in the future, adding different resources in various languages and media- interested PoC can drop an email to we.dey.in@gmail.com with links that you wish to include or critique you have towards the content and lets make this list grow bigger and better together! The black woman in your life. The one who is always there when you need her, knowing exactly what to do, saying exactly the right things, knowing what it takes to heal and knowing how to plot delicious revenge against any injustice against you. You don’t do this enough so get your phone right now, or even better take ehr out to dinner and say thank you, she’s worth it. Tell her she’s beautiful, tell she is allowed to not be strong for once, tell her that she deserves a break, tell her she is enough, that she is oh so much more than enough, that you for once have her back and that you will come at her enemies with the heat of a thousand suns so that she can unwind and work her black girl magic. This is for you.

For this new season opening, we celebrate the relationships and communities which lift us up, discuss the importance of chosen family in our political lives and share our brand new energy with you Zozo Ntokazi Mposula - an amazing and inspiring creator from South-African descent living in Copenhagen, founder of My beautiful people: a platform that celebrates Black people, their culture, their hair, their beauty, their talent. She will be hosting a event on October 5th about Black Motherhood. Check out mybeautifulp.com/ and follow her on insta @_mybeautiful_people/ >Brunette Matinda, Brussels-based Kemetic yoga teacher and founder of AfroYoga: an amazing platform that offers inclusive yoga classes every week in Brussels and also on-demand private classes for groups. Do check out afroyoga.be for more info, follow AfroYoga on Facebook and Instagram and show up every Monday at 6.15pm rue de l’Atelier 51 for the most beautiful and peaceful energy. >Gal dem founder Liv Little: created the platform at the age of 21 when she was tired of being asked as the only black woman in university to share her views as a representative of all marginalised minorities - in "a sea of white voices". Gal dem is a community medium, committed to telling the stories of women and non-binary people of colour. They publish an online and print magazine, addressing inequality and misrepresentation in the industry through platforming the creative and editorial work of their community. If you want to become a contributor to gal dem, you can pitch your articles, that are even paid! Check out their page: gal-dem.com/about/ and follow Liv Little on twitter: @livlittle -Solmaz Khorsand, an amazing Austrian journalist of Iranian descent who wrote an article about how broken the UK is (for our german-speaking listeners, here you go: www.republik.ch/2019/09/10/wie-ka…t-grossbritannien) In this piece, people of color including the founders of gal dem spoke as political commentators with agency who have a deep insight into what’s going on in society. To see people of color as experts is still so rare and uncommon that German media add a disclaimer to clarify that the perspective is one that is „only of POC“ - so when POC perspectives are seen, it has be to explicitly marked as different. major eyesroll Check out Solmaz’ brilliant work and enjoy the unapologetic energy she carries as there is no need to be modest. Because Solmaz kicks ass: She started journalistic career with 17, she was the first woman to write an editorial in the history of the oldest Austrian newspaper and most of the time, the only woman of color in the newsrooms. So, read her pieces, follow her on twitter and prepare yourself for amazing stories: @solmazkhorsand

The world is burning, the news is depressing, politics is trying to divide us - we've had enough! Fear no more: 'cause we are back! This autumn, your favorite sisters of color are back to bring you the kind of energy we all need so badly in these times of late capitalism. Stay tuned!

This episode is about the presence of colonialism in the classroom and how to tackle it. With our brilliant guest Nozizwe Dube, a law student who lived half of her life in Simbabwe, we compare how schools in Simbabwe, France and Austria are organized around race. We unpack how rooting out people of color to serve white interest is a global phenomenon and how colonial structures continue to be powerful in education. Nozizwe is providing us with insight about the importance of universities in the process of decolonizing the mind and what it takes to decolonize academic institutions in the framework of her inclusion project "Undivided" on her campus at Leuven's university. WOC we celebrate in this episode: Dr. Jasmine Abdulcadir very inspiring Swiss obstetrician and gynecologist. She is responsible for the first outpatient clinic for women and girls living with FGM/C of the Geneva University Hospitals, which provides health education, prevention, counseling, culturally sensitive surgical and psychosexual care. Do check her TEDxTalk on countering myths about female genital mutilation: bit.ly/2QNmjZG Vanessa Spanbauer, Austrian journalist and editor in chief of "Fresh", Austrian black lifestyle magazine, editorial staff member of the feminist magazine an.schläge and working for Zara, an initiative advocating against racial discriminations and online hate. As a historian, she is also dealing with the topic of black people in Austria from a historical perspective. Follow her on Insta and Twitter: @VanSista Kimberlé Crenshaw, Professor of Law and civil rights advocate who developed and coined the theory of "intersectionality". A pioneer and leading scholar of critical race theory, she spent more than 30 years studying civil rights, race, and racism. Check out her podcast "Intersectionality matters" here: http://aapf.org/podcast And listen to her TED talk about the urgency of intersectionality: www.ted.com/talks/kimberle_cren…f_intersectionality

In this episode we're in conversation with the brilliant Sarah Chandler - Senior Policy advisor for the European Network Against Racism. In the context of the upcoming European Elections, we talk ab out the dramatic lack of People of color in the European Institutions, how to decolonise #BrusselsSoWhite and how to practice serious self-care when racism is your daily job. Do read Sarah’s insightful piece on the Guardian about EU’s race problem => bit.ly/2VLtPVX ***Here are the inspiring and talend Women of COlor we calebrate in this epsisode*** -Melissa Rodrigues, Artist and talented sister from cabo-verdian descent living in Porto - Portugal She’s a graduate of Anthropology and studied contemporary dance and Performing Arts. Melissa takes an active role in anti-racist activism, and intersectional feminist campaigns such as “Chá das Pretas”. Melissa has a performance schedule on May 25th at the Feminist Festival of Lisbon – head there if you’re around! bit.ly/2VL6u6P -Juliana Santos Wahlgren, Senior Advocacy Officer at ENAR. Intersectional Feminst, anti-racist and Anti-Bolsonaro activist, Juliana cares and acts about supporting oppressed communities in Brussels and beyond. -Co-editors of the amazing essay collection "To exist is to resist - Black feminism in Europe" 1) Akwugo Emejulo, professor at the department of sociology at Warwick university who worked in grassroots community organizing before academia. One of her current research projects "Women of Colour Resist" examines how women of color organise and mobilise in illiberal Europe. follow her on Twitter: @AkwugoEmejulu 2) Francesca Sobande, a doctor at Cardiff university. At the core of her academic focus is identity, ideology and intersecting inequalities. She approaches her work from a black feminist positioning.

This episode is all about the grind and the hustle - the struggle is real for WOC in the workplace. We shed light on how we have to navigate through this space that clearly isn't built for us, how we are expected to deliver extra work and are seen as rude if we don't and how basic white people will try and steal our thunder WOC WE CELEBRATE In this episode we celebrate Othega Uwagba, author of „Little Black Book“, which is a curation of career advice for creative women working inspired by her own experience navigating through this working life as a young black woman- whether you start as a freelancer, want to improve your public speaking game or negotiate a pay raise, this book is a must-read! Uwagba also started a platform called „Women who“ to connect and inspire working women everywhere, for women who want to strive and make a change. Follow @womenwho on Insta, Twitter & FB! Marie Dasylva, empowerment coach for WOC in France working in racist environments provides survival techniques and killer strategies to practice self-care, deal with racist colleagues and stay sane in majority-white work place. Follow her on Twitter @napilicaio and check her weekly advice for WOC to survive in their work place on BBC Africa: https://twitter.com/bbcafrique/status/996416727637544962?lang=en -Maja-Ajmia, aspiring movie director - this young Belgian sister wants to decolonise the cinema industry and end the stereotypical representation of women from North-African descent in movies. Follow her work on insta @tartelet_harissa And for the French speaking listeners, check out this video about colonial Algerian cinema: http://whitetees.be/2019/04/17/et-si-on-parlait-du-cinema-colonial-algerien/

After a short break, your favorite sisters of color are back to crush some fragile egos: Following popular demand, this episode is about white tears. We are going to touch on the power of crying to get away with racism, how white fragility can destroy friendships, how privileged people use emotional pressure to evade accountability and the importance of getting over yourself After the terrible white supremacist terrorist attack on praying muslims in Christchurch, we want to send strength and celebrate our muslim sisters of color. The first one is Sarah Zouak, French entrepreneur and founder of the magazine Lallab, that passes the mic on to muslim women to make their voices heard in the media. The magazine proposes a new representation of Muslim women in France and is vocal about the many oppressions of sexism and racism that muslim women face. The values of Lallab are feminism, solidarity and compassion. Check this intersectional project out here: www.lallab.org/author/sarah-zouak/ The second WOC we celebrate is Leila Ali Elmi, a Swedish lawmaker and the first hijab-wearing member of parliament in Sweden. As a woman of color from Somalian descent, she „speaks for the suburb, not about it or to it“. In highly segregated Sweden where refugees find it particularly hard to assimilate due to cultural isolation, Leila Ali Elmi wants people of minorities who feel disregarded to see that there are people who fight for human rights, freedom and democracy. Read this inspiring interview in The Guardian www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/…den-swing-right and follow her on Twitter: twitter.com/leilaalielmi?lang=de Number three: You heard it here first, Ronya Othmann, a 25 year old yezidi woman living and studying in Leipzig, is about to be the rising star of literature in Germany. She is winning literary awards, is currently writing a novel and we are certain that we will hear a lot about her. Read her splendid text about the exile of her yezidi family in Der Spiegel: www.spiegel.de/spiegel/literatur…/d-157029983.html For our German speaking followers, read Ronya Othmann being vocal about racism in the literary scene: www.zeit.de/kultur/literatur/20…autoren-integration Follow her on Insta and Twitter @OthmannRonya , where her bio says: writing and crying - which is a beautiful match with our current episode.

What happens when women of color face sexual harassment? In this episode we go through the various aspects and impacts of sexual harassment at the intersection of racism and sexism. Perpetrators strategically go for marginalised women for a reason: they most probably won’t be believed even if they gather the courage to speak up, they’ll face backlash from their community if the harasser is from the same race, and they’ll have to carry major emotional load along the way which will make them weaker. Here are the phenomenal women of color celebrated in this episode: -Marielle Franco, a Brazilian, black, lesbian politician and feminist activist who was assassinated on march 14th 2018. A rising political star from the favela, she was outspoken on police violence in Rio and an unapologetic advocate for black women who are strongly underrepresented in Brazil’s politics. Her assassination that has been unsolved until today, was meant as an intimidation but mobilized more afrobrazilian women than ever to run for congress and regional parliaments. Marielle Franco’s widow Monica Benicio continues her fight till today. Check out the documentary about their lives and fights: Marielle and Monica: The LGBT activists resisting Bolsonaro’s Brazil bit.ly/2v6THAS -Anousha Nzume, among many other dope things: author of the critically acclaimed book “Hello white people” and host of the podcast “Dipsaus” for and by women of color in the Netherlands. Make sure to pop by her website and go through her inspiring work: bit.ly/2ICEvDc and follow her on Twitter @anoushanzume -Jay Ann Lopez, creator of UK-based Black Girls Gamers: a platform created as a safe space in 2015, void of the sexism and racism widely experienced by black girls in gaming. Check the website and read more on her story here: bit.ly/2Paqqhy

Racist bias within the medical industry can litterally kill women of color. Today we're vocal about the different stereotypes-based expectations, discriminations and behaviors that impact us, our sisters and brothers of color from a very young age on a sports field up to an hospital bed during adulthood. Below are the inspiring Women of color we celebrate in this episode with links to their work: -Jelena Jovanović, an impressive anti-gypsism activist who's also a Policy and research coordinator for the European Roma Grassroots Organisations Network in Brussels - get her book 'The Romani Women's Movement' here: bit.ly/2oBBg4d -Rokhaya Diallo, very vocal and inspiring French activist, journalist, writer, TV presenter, Podcast host and movie director. Here is her TEDxTalk that Sara mentions: bit.ly/2SlFtdn -Koko Hubara, amazing Finnish media creator, Editor in Chief of 'Ruskeat Tytötthe' - first media for brown people by brown people in Finland. Take a look at the English version of this ultra cool platform: bit.ly/2UOIH5R -Cécile Kashetu Kyenge, Italian politician, Member of the Parliament - Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, as an Italian black woman she's prone to a violent amount of racism which she has decide to tackle upfront. Read this insightful Guardian piece on her story: bit.ly/2RT1R8D

In this episode, we welcome our very first guest, queer activist Seden Anlar, and talk about what it’s like to deal with racism and homophobia at the same time. We touch on the notion of how some people like to get a little taste of our everyday's reality, just to go back to the perceived "normal" afterwards. We discuss what it means when living contrary to multiple social norms and how freeing a coming out can be. The women of color we celebrate in this episode: Dee Rees, director of the breathtaking movie Pariah. This partly autobiographical movie is a piece about a queer black teenager and her difficult coming out in a very conservative surrounding, how much is at stake when coming out can have and how freeing it can be to choose a different life. Janelle Monae, American soul and funk singer who had her glorious coming out in the Rolling Stone last year “Being a queer black woman in America, someone who has been in relationships with both men and women – I consider myself to be a free-ass motherfucker. www.rollingstone.com/music/music-fe…erself-629204/ The amazing belgian DJane Rokia Bamba to whose incredible music you can dance to for seven hours easily: @rokia-bamba-mennessier She is the official djane for the Brussels Massimadi, an afro LGBTIQ+ festival around movies www.facebook.com/MassimadiBruxell…k6HbKF8dXgXCamCQ Sweden based Andrea David Kronlund who founded a magazine serving Afro-Scandinavian fresh since 2016, called Krull magazine krullmag.com. Krull magazine is a creative digital platform and the preeminent, lifestyle publication for black culture Sweden. It brings together alternative perspectives of black culture to change perception, break stereotypes and create a diversity of voices.

In this episode we talk about the stigma of mental health issues: we’re standing up for vulnerability, encourage people to talk openly about what’s going on in their minds and hearts and want them to know that it’s okay to see a therapist. For women of color that is: one who gets our struggle. We touch on the intersection of race and mental health, deconstruct the stereotype of the strong woman of color, we also open up about how certain people tend to exploit our supposedly "inner sense of listening and problem-solving" and the importance of having strong boundaries in this world. We’re celebrating these phenomenal WOC in these episode: -The ingenious: Noah Sow, afro-german artist, lecturer, producer and author of the groundbreaking book Deutschland Schwarz Weiß. She has been involved in anti-racism and empowerment work for many years. Noah Sow offers diverse workshops such as community empowerment sessions for burned out activists and online seminars on how to successfully organize anti-racist events. Do check out her blog: bit.ly/2sdd3Ta -Parissima Taheri-Maynard, Vienna based psychologist who saw the urgent need for specific psychological service people of color - and, as women of color do, decided to fill the gap herself and just created her own thing. With her project "Wir sind auch Wien" (we too are Vienna), she creates a space free of prejudice and stigma that includes the experiences of minorities in psychological discourse. Have a look at the platform here: bit.ly/2AyXyK1 -Yasmin Benoit, young alternative model and aromantic asexuality activist who is vocal about how the LGBTIQ+ community is often white-washed and exclusive of people like herself who are women of color and identify as asexual. Follow her on Instagram: bit.ly/2SL11wg -Azra Tabassum, Bangladeshi-British student whose beautiful and powerful poetry we fell in love with - get her poetry book here: bit.ly/2sfZ3s1

Women of color and sex: how racism creeps into our beds? In the 4th episode of Vocal About It, we talk about how we unavoidably face fetishization at some point of our dating life, We also touch on why making research and decolonize your approach as a partner to a WOC is highly important. Today we celebrate these fantastic Women of Color: - Elif Kücük and Poliana Baumgarten, the two superb film director behind the Black Lives Matter in Germany documentary: bit.ly/2Ga52bH -French musical duo Ibeyi consisting of twin sisters Lisa-Kaindé Diaz and Naomi Diaz - check them out and support their work: bit.ly/2C1bGg9 -Nikita Dhawan,Professor of Political Science and Gender Studies who describes herself as a queer and decolonize feminist of color - among other dope conferences and panels she attends, have a look at this lecture on The Dilemma of Postcolonial Critique: bit.ly/2Uzimcu

What it's like to travel and live abroad as a woman of color? Do we enjoy travelling alone? How do we feel about living alone for the first time? In this third episode we discuss our love for travelling, the impact of our skin color on how people abroad perceive us and how much we cherish personal freedom and the coocoon kingdoms we created for ourselves in the heart of European capital. We celebrate great Women of color today: -Beatriz Gomes Dias, Portuguese activist and president of Djass - association of Afro-Portuguese who’s fighting for a memorial monument in Lisbon. Read her contribution in this Politico piece about Portugal facing its colonial past: www.politico.eu/article/portugal-…nfronts-its-past/ -Katharina Oguntoye, Afro-German activist, historian, poet and author of the great book “Showing our colours”. Read the latest VICE (Germany) focus on her inspiring story: www.vice.com/de/article/evq3xe/…schen-wahrgenommen -Wanuri Kahui, Kenyan movie director, part of the new generation of African storytellers and co-founder of AfroBubblegum. Check out her website: www.wanurikahiu.com/ and go watch her tremendous movie ‘Rafiki’.

Hysterical, unreasonable, crazy - women are consistently bashed when they’re vocal about their disagreements and anger. But why can’t women be angry? In this episode we deconstruct the myth of the angry woman, and how the stereotypes are even heavier and more violent on Women Of Color. We also share tips on how do we deal with our anger and how radical self-care has to be in our lives. Here are the women we celebrate in this episode: -Cecile Djunga, Black Belgian weather presenter who spoke up about the racist comments she constantly receives since day 1, read more about her story here: www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/…eo-tv-presenter -Reni Edo Lodge, author of "Why I no longer talk to white people about race", get her book here: www.amazon.co.uk/Longer-Talking-W…ut/dp/140887055X -Sukina Douglas, amazingly talented British poet and performer - follow her on Facebook and read more about her work here: www.bruzz.be/en/literature/suki…-hijabi-2018-03-22

In the first episode we talk about the importance of positive representation and how confidence and representation are closely connected. Do you have friends/lovers of color? Pay attention to the section on allyship and the crucial role of active listening. Sisterhood of WOC gives us life and we share how key this is to our survival in sometimes very white surroundings.

A podcast by @sarahas_san & @sarah_diedro celebrating women of color in Europe and featuring real talks about their lives as two WOC living in Brussels.