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Town lose again at home. We break down the defeat and discuss our limitations and whether its a return to the norm? We have conclusive proof that Rodgers is a much better player than Tharme and we talk about our night in London at the Football Content Awards.Our Black and White Friday sale has also begun! Get discounted prints on our Etsy shop!POD SHOP Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our Black community is under seige on some many levels... It's very important to understand how we are being attacked... I truly believe if we understood The White Nationalist Movement From A Survival Standpoint We could defend our community more effectively... --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/virtual-hustle-radio/support

And that's the thing: The world, as chaotic and torn as it is right now, needs a little resurrection—needs people like you and me to get up and bring new life to folks who feel like everybody else has given up on them. LGBTQ kids are dying, waiting for someone to care about them. Traumatized refugees are languishing in camps, waiting for someone to notice them. Our Black neighbors are literally dying in jail, waiting for someone to realize that we seem to live in a system designed not to deliver but to thwart justice. Single parents are trapped in low-paying jobs, waiting for a few people to stand up with them and say that you can't live on $7.25 an hour. Muslims, who live right next to us in fear, waiting for people like you and me to wrap our arms around them and treat them like siblings.

Our Black pastor friend who doesn't like to be called African-American, has asked us to help share his upcoming conference, All Lives Matter. It may cause a controversy on our upcoming radio program.Support the show (http://www.saltandlightministry.com)

It's Monday! So that means we welcome you to another episode of Diapers & haircutz. Big Los is out this week so you have Marcel and Drew again in the brewdio. Marcel asks Drew questions on the pressures of starting a family. Our Black history fact this week will be Neil deGrasse Tyson. Also, don't forget about the Beer and cigar of the week brought to you by VyV. *Follow us on FB, IG and Twitter @dnhpodcast or email us at dnhpodcast2019@gmail.com check out our sponsor VyV a resveratrol and CBD super supplement. Use code DnHpod15 for 15% off your purchase at takeVyV. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/diapersnhaircutz/message

Dr. Stephen Liu, associate professor of medicine and director of Thoracic Oncology and Developmental Therapeutics at the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, highlights key abstracts in lung cancer featured at the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting.   Transcript:  ASCO Daily News: Welcome to the ASCO Daily News Podcast. I'm Geraldine Carroll, a reporter for the ASCO Daily News. My guest today is Dr. Stephen Liu. He is an associate professor of medicine and the director of thoracic oncology and developmental therapeutics at the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Liu joins me to highlight advances in lung cancer featured at the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting. Dr. Liu has served in a consulting or advisory role for Genentech, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca, among other organizations. His full disclosures and those relating to all episodes of the podcast are available on our transcripts at ASCO.org/podcasts. Dr. Liu, it's great to have you on the podcast today. Dr. Stephen Liu: Thanks for having me. ASCO Daily News: Dr. Liu, a lot of people were talking about the IMpower010 study during the annual meeting. That's abstract 8500, an interim analysis that showed really promising results for patients with resected non-small cell lung cancer. Can you tell us about this practice-changing study? Dr. Stephen Liu: Well, IMpower010 was a global randomized phase III trial, and I think this really was one of the highlights of the ASCO Annual Meeting from a lung cancer standpoint. As a reminder, our current standard of care is cisplatin-based chemotherapy for patients with resected stage II to III non-small cell lung cancer and for select patients with stage IB. We know from decades of experienced multiple phase III trials, large meta-analyses, that the risk of recurrence is quite high for resected stage II/III lung cancer. And the use of up to four cycles of cisplatin-based chemotherapy does lead to an improvement in survival, and that's our standard of care. That survival improvement, however, is modest, with an absolute improvement and 5-year survival of about 5%. And so we've been trying to improve outcomes in this setting for quite some time. We know from last year's ASCO that the subset of patients whose tumor harbors an EGFR mutation received some benefit from disease-free survival with the use of adjuvant osimertinib. IMpower010 presented at this year's ASCO by Dr. Heather Wakelee looks at the use of immunotherapy as a complementary adjuvant therapy. And we knew from press release that this study had met its primary endpoint. This was our first chance to look at the data first-hand and really see how it would impact practice. And I think the data were quite impressive. It's a fairly simple design. This study included patients with completely resected stage IB to IIIA non-small cell lung cancer, either histology. Note that this used AJCC version 7, and so the stage IB that were included had a size of at least four centimeters, and that's the subset that seems to derive the most benefit from chemotherapy. Now patients received cisplatin-based chemotherapy one to four cycles first. And those who received at least one cycle of chemotherapy were then randomly assigned 1 to 1 to receive 1 year of atezolizumab, PD-L1 inhibitor, or best supportive care. This was a large study, over 1,000 patients randomly assigned. It began enrollment in 2014. So it did include some EGFR and some ALK when maybe we didn't know quite as much about including those patients in these studies, but the EGFR was about 12%, the ALK was 3%. Some were unknown EGFR and ALK status, but these were likely the squamous histology, as those numbers line up. The PD-L1 testing, importantly, was done by the VENTANA SP263 assay, looking at tumor cell expression only, which is a fairly straightforward assay. And what we saw after a median follow up of almost 3 years was that in the primary high-risk population stage II to IIIA resected non-small cell lung cancer with the PD-L1 expression of at least 1%, the use of adjuvant atezolizumab significantly improved disease-free survival. And the hazard ratio there was 0.66. If we look at the 2-year disease-free survival (DFS) rate, it improved from 61% with best supportive care to 75%, and at 3-year DFS from 48% to 60%. So an improvement in the 3-year DFS rate and a hazard ratio of 0.66. The fourth plot showed that signal was greater in node-positive. As expected, no signal in that ALK subset, though it was small. But this is a pretty substantial improvement in disease-free survival. When we look at these Kaplan-Meier curves, they split immediately, really right at the first scan. And when we look at a study like this, this phase III trial, it reminds us how poor our current standard is; how many patients do suffer relapse and recurrence and death from this potentially curable cancer. Atezolizumab clearly improving outcomes in this subset. We then saw analyses of the resected stage II to III across PD-L1 strata, so positive and negative. And there the hazard ratio, as expected, less impressive, 0.79. If we look at the forest plot there, the hazard ratio for PD-L1 high, using that 50% cutoff we're used to, was substantial at 0.43. So overall, the DFS and PD-L1 positive 0.66 and the PD-L1 high 0.43. So no report on the PD-L1 low, which is what we're waiting for, that one at 49%, presumably not as impressive as 0.66. And we'll wait for those data to come out. But PD-L1 positive, a clear benefit. PD-L1 high, a substantial benefit. That's really where the formal analyses stopped. The stage IB to IIIA overall population was too immature for analysis, and overall survival was not yet formally tested. This will take a few years to breathe out. They did provide an early look at overall survival. And in that stage II to IIIA PD-L1 positive, there was the right trend, with a hazard ratio of 0.77, though not statistically significant. We did see these curves start to come apart at about 12 to 18 months, which is what you would expect if this study ultimately would lead out to be positive. We do want to wait for OS results. But one has to wonder, is a DFS benefit this substantial enough to change practice? And atezolizumab not yet approved in this setting, but the trial did meet its primary endpoint. And to me, for PD-L1 positive, and certainly for PD-L1 high, I do think these data aren't practice- changing. ASCO Daily News: Absolutely. Well, another trial that attracted a lot of attention was the CheckMate-816 trial. That's Abstract 8503. What can you tell us about the surgical outcome data reported in CheckMate-816? Dr. Stephen Liu: So CheckMate- 816 was a randomized phase III trial that looked at neoadjuvant therapy. So this also focused on resectable lung cancer. This is an area where we hope for cure, but for some of the more advanced stages, we don't necessarily expect it. Much room for improvement. We saw the IMpower010 data showing adjuvant immunotherapy improved DFS. Here we're looking at the neoadjuvant space. And at AACR in 2021, Dr. Patrick Forde presented some of the early PCR results. And that showed the pathologic complete response rates with neoadjuvant nivolumab plus chemotherapy for three cycles was superior to chemotherapy alone for three cycles. So the addition of nivolumab to chemotherapy improved the pathological CR rate from 2% to 24%. Really astounding. What Dr. Jonathan Spicer presented at ASCO 2021 were the surgical outcomes from that study. And we see that adding immunotherapy to chemotherapy significantly improves the pathologic CR rate. Does it come at a cost? Does it lead to more surgical complications? This is always a concern with neoadjuvant therapies. We've got someone in our clinic with a resectable lung cancer. If we mismanage that patient, we may lose the window for resection. So we always worry about delayed surgeries, canceled surgeries, more complicated surgeries. There have anecdotally been reports of increased perihilar fibrosis after neoadjuvant immunotherapy. Wouldn't that lead to longer, more complicated surgeries? And what we saw, frankly, was a bit surprising, for me. Surgery consistently easier, better in the experimental arm really across the board. The rates of going to surgery, completing surgery, 83% with nivolumab/chemotherapy, versus 75% with chemotherapy. So more patients going to surgery, fewer canceled surgeries. If we look at the type of surgery, minimally invasive surgery rates 30% with nivolumab/chemotherapy, [and] 22% with chemotherapy alone. Conversion to open thoracotomy was more common in the chemotherapy alone at 16%, the additional nivolumab 11%. And the complete R0 resection was achieved in 83% with nivolumab/chemotherapy, 78% with chemotherapy alone. Adverse events delayed surgery in six patients getting nivolumab and chemotherapy. It's important to watch that. But it was nine patients in getting chemotherapy alone. And if we look at the duration of surgery, and certainly there are many confounders in a statistic like this, but the surgery was shorter with nivolumab, certainly not lengthening the surgery. 184 minutes for nivolumab/chemotherapy, 217 [minutes] with chemotherapy alone. So these data are very reassuring to someone with a potentially resectable cancer. And I think that when I take a step back and look, maybe these results do make sense. Maybe this is what I should have expected. If we give a treatment that is more effective, that is a higher response rate, it works better. Those patients are less likely to have progressive disease, and the surgery should be more straightforward if there's less cancer to resect. So the CheckMate-816 surgical data, we've been waiting for this shoe to drop, and it was very reassuring. Perioperative immunotherapy is going to be an important part in the management of stage II/III non-small cell lung cancer in the years to come. Now going forward, we'll need to compare these adjuvant and neoadjuvant approaches and the relative merits of either strategy, but these results, I thought, were very reassuring. ASCO Daily News: Excellent. Well, moving on to the PACIFIC trial, Abstract 8511, this study reported improvements in 5-year overall survival and progression-free survival for unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer. What are your takeaways from this study? Dr. Stephen Liu: Sure. The PACIFIC study is a randomized phase III trial that's really set our standard of care for unresectable stage III locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer. This is a group where our standard of care, historically, has been concurrent chemoradiation, with the goal of cure, though, unfortunately, not necessarily the expectation, with recurrence rates quite high. We saw years ago the addition of 1 year of durvalumab improved progression-free survival, then ultimately improved overall survival compared to placebo. This was a fairly straightforward study. It enrolled unresectable stage III non--small cell lung cancer after chemoradiation, who did not have evidence of progression after completing therapy, to receive 1 year of durvalumab or placebo, a 2 to 1 randomization. The results markedly positive, leading to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval and really our new standard of care. These are long-term survival data, and it was presented by Dr. David Spigel. These are really important. Immunotherapy, the whole appeal of the strategy is the durability, the induction of memory T cells, meaningful long-term survival. Will this increase the rate of cure really is what we're going for. And when we saw the survival benefit with durvalumab, we knew that we were curing more patients. Long-term follow up is important to make sure that we don't have late recurrences, that we really are curing and not just delaying a recurrence for some patients. And in this analysis, with a 5-year follow up, we see durvalumab improve the median survival from 29 months with chemoradiation alone to 48 months with the addition of durvalumab. That's a hazard ratio of 0.72, 28% reduction in the risk of death, pretty substantial. That 5-year survival rate was 43% versus 33%. And importantly, these were very similar to the 4-year data that were presented by Dr. Corinne Faivre-Finn at World Conference in Lung Cancer, really very little drop off between year 4 and 5. And we refer to that as flattening of the tail, where the events are early, and at some point, they kind of stop happening. It's really what we want to see. While survival is what we hone in on, in an abstract like this, we also need to pay attention to progression-free survival (PFS). And the PFS rate at 5 years was 33% with durvalumab, versus 19% with chemoradiation alone. So 33% with no evidence of progression at 5 years. And if you are cured from lung cancer, then you can't have progression. So one in the three patients with no progression at 5 years, I think, is very reassuring, that PFS hazard ratio of 0.55. So prior to ASCO21, durvalumab was our standard of care. Now we just have longer term follow up to really solidify that choice. These are important data for patients and families to set expectations right, but our clear standard. Still, though, room for improvement in that 5-year PFS rate of 33%. We would like to see that higher, and ongoing strategies hopefully will help push that up. ASCO Daily News: Excellent. Some great survival data in the PACIFIC trial. Well, Abstract 9007 sparked a lot of interest as well. This is an expansion study of patritumab/deruxtecan in patients with EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer. That's a difficult drug to pronounce, so I'm sure you'll do a better job. What can you tell us about this? Dr. Stephen Liu: Well, yeah, all these antibody drug conjugates do have tricky names, and so they are kind of fun to say. So patritumab/deruxtecan is a HER3 antibody drug conjugate. I suspect it will be better known as HER3-DXd, a little easier off the tongue. This was a study that looked at this agent in patients with EGFR-mutant non--small cell lung cancer after TKI therapy. And when we turn our attention to targeted agents, we have really transformative drugs with very wide therapeutic windows, little toxicity, very high efficacy, [and are] really game changers in patients with driver positive non--small cell lung cancer. But as we know, these treatments aren't cures. And we do expect resistance to osimertinib. The third generation TKI has been pretty heterogeneous. And once patients progress in osimertinib, the next standard therapy really is chemotherapy. And there's a bit of a drop off, with more toxicity, [and] less efficacy overall. So this remains an unmet need. Many studies are looking at different strategies there. We've seen the addition of MET inhibitors if MET is amplified for certain subtypes, RET, BRAF, for example, the addition of the targeted agents. This study, Abstract 9007 presented by Dr. Pasi Janne, looked at the HER3-DXd antibody drug conjugate. So patritumab/deruxtecan has a monoclonal antibody targeting HER3, a proprietary linker, and then a topoisomerase 1 warhead. And this was a phase I study that looked at 57 patients with EGFR-mutant lung cancer after TKI therapy mostly, but 90% were coming off of osimertinib. And what we saw, I thought, was very encouraging. This is a small, early study. These are very selective patients. But the response rate here almost 40%, disease control rate 72%, and the median progression-free survival with monotherapy of patritumab/deruxtecan was 8.2 months. These numbers may change as the studies get larger, but there's a clear signal of efficacy for patients who'd received chemotherapy before and then moved on to patritumab/deruxtecan. The response rate didn't really drop off, 37%. So even those that were more heavily pretreated, we're seeing a clear signal with response rates that really are higher than chemotherapy. What was, I think, most important, we saw efficacy of patritumab/deruxtecan across multiple different mechanisms of resistance. And so it wasn't one biomarker select. It really was active, very versatile agent. And really, I think that's what we need. While biomarker-driven resistance will be something we always hone in on and try to focus, we do need something that's much more versatile for rapid implementation. And this is having a lot of potential. [It was] very well tolerated. If we look at treatment-emergent adverse events, only one person stopped from a TEAE. Only 4% stopped due to TEAEs, so very well tolerated treatment. Response was also durable. One response listed was after 4 years of therapy, and so the potential for long-term disease control, long-term responses. So clearly an active drug. This is an area where we need a lot of drug development. Well tolerated, only 4% stopping due to adverse events and a nice signal of activity. Our next steps will be to make this a larger study to look in more patients to really hone in on the mechanisms and where this really is working. Can we widen that therapeutic index? And can we look at combinations? Is there a role to continue TKI with this, maybe for better CNS coverage or activity? That's what we'll see in the years to come. ASCO Daily News: Excellent. Well I'd like to ask you about a trial that you were involved in, the ARROW trial, Abstract 9089. Can you tell us about this impactful study? Dr. Stephen Liu: Yeah, sure. The ARROW trial is a study that I've been a co-investigator on for many years. This was presented by Dr. Giuseppe Curigliano. And this looks at a RET inhibitor called pralsetinib, originally when we first got involved called BLU-667. RET fusions are present in about 1% of non- small cell lung cancer. These are important events, because we know from other studies, such as the immunotarget registry led by Julien Mazieres,  that RET-positive lung cancers don't seem to respond as well to immunotherapy. However, in the past, the kinase inhibitors, the targeted agents we had the targeted RET, weren't very good. They had response rates around 30%, 40%, a lot of toxicity. These are drugs like vandetanib, cabozantinib. With the introduction of selective RET inhibitors, we've seen striking efficacy and much better tolerability. And we now have two approved RET inhibitors in this space--selpercatinib and pralsetinib--both receiving FDA accelerated approval based on their respective single arm studies. What we saw at ASCO 2021 from Dr. Curigliano was an update on the RET fusion positive lung cohort of ARROW. Again, this was a phase I/II trial looking at pralsetinib given at a dose of 400 milligrams by mouth once daily. We look at the patients with RET fusion-positive lung cancer. Now we just have longer follow up and more patients. And overall, the cohort exceeded 200 patients, so 216 patients for a pretty rare driver. And the response rate, 69%, very durable. The duration of response, 22 months. So really solidifying the efficacy and confirming the role in patients with RET fusion-positive lung cancer. If we break those data down a little bit, patients who had prior chemotherapy, which was 125 patients, response rate was 62%. The disease control rate, 91%. These responses are quick. The median time to responses is 1.8 months, so really that first scan. And that's what we see with targeted therapy. And we look at these waterfall plots, and I encourage you to take a peek at that. It's exactly what we want to see, the vast majority of patients, almost all patients, with some reduction and some with a quite substantial reduction. Again, the disease control rate after chemo was 91%. So really, the waterfall plot has that look that we seek for effective targeted therapy. The outcomes were even better in the first-line setting. Response rate originally 79% as first-line therapy. But the way the trial was originally written, it only included frontline patients who weren't eligible for chemotherapy for whatever reason. So that's going to be a more selective cohort. That was changed with an amendment. And once that was removed for people that were eligible for whatever frontline therapy you wanted to give, really our real world first line cohort, the response rate was 88%, disease control rate of 96%. So to think of a response rate in almost 90% of patients really gives us that confidence we want when we have a driver that we detect when we start a new agent. We're very confident that we're going to see efficacy in these drugs, very well tolerated, very few patients stopping due to a adverse event. A disease control rate of 96% in that first-line setting gives me the confidence to really use this in the first-line setting. ASCO Daily News: Absolutely. Well, as you know, the Annual Meeting this year focused on equity in cancer care. And there were a number of studies presented in the lung cancer space. I just wanted to get your thoughts on how this issue was addressed at the Annual Meeting in the lung cancer setting. I'm thinking of Abstract 9005 that looked at racial disparities. What are your thoughts on this issue? Dr. Stephen Liu: Yeah, this was an important abstract, I think. And the theme that Dr. Lori Pierce set of equity really was met by several different abstracts and was a recurrent focus for many important and really overdue discussions. Abstract 9005 was presented by Dr. Debora Bruno, and this really looked at disparities in biomarker testing. And we just talked about advances for EGFR-mutant lung cancer for RET fusion-positive non--mall cell lung cancer. We have many, many more, but we can only offer these agents if we know the target is present. And if we don't do proper biomarker testing, our care will not be optimal. If we don't know the molecular genotype of the cancer, we can't treat it properly. We are just guessing, and we're much more likely to deliver an ineffective therapy. We are potentially making subsequent therapies more dangerous. Knowing the right biomarker is critical to the proper management of non-small cell lung cancer. And if we don't have that, the outcomes will not be as good. The testing really is critical for the management of lung cancer. And what we saw from this abstract was there are disparities in how patients with non-small cell lung cancer are being tested, which simply isn't acceptable. This was a retrospective analysis that looked at Flatiron data, recent data, 2017 to 2020, a large data set, almost 15,000 patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Demographics were 66% white, 9% Black. If we look at biomarker testing specifically, patients who were Black were less likely to be tested, less likely to have proper biomarker testing, 73% versus 76%, less likely to have full next generation sequencing with a 10% difference, and less likely to get tested early. We know that testing really influences treatment from the jump right away. And if we don't have that information, our outcomes won't be as good. Our Black patients weren't being tested properly, weren't being tested in a timely manner. And more data showed that clinical trial participation was also decreased among Black patients, 4% involvement for white patients, 2% with Black patients. And these were actually very similar to what we saw in Abstract 9001 that was presented by Dr. Akinboro from the FDA. And that looked at patients who'd received chemoimmunotherapy. This was a pooled analysis looking at different PD-L1 cohorts. And what was noted on the demographics is that in the phase III registrational landmark studies, Black patients only represented about 2% of patients there as well. So strikingly similar numbers and a gross under-representation. It really is inexcusable and something we need to address. And we need to correct, because this is showing that our care is simply not up to par.  Trial participation is how we move the field, but many cases, especially in lung cancer, a field that moves so quickly, a clinical trial often represents the best possible option. And Black patients simply aren't enrolling in studies. And I think some of the disparities in clinical trial participation likely reflect some of the disparities in clinical trialists. And I think that if we continue to improve diversity in our workforce, in our oncology subspecialty, that'll be an important step into rectifying this. But this is something we need to look at critically. We need to assess all of our processes and think how we can do better today, and not tomorrow. ASCO Daily News: Absolutely. Thank you so much, Dr. Liu, for highlighting these really critical points and sharing your valuable insight on all of these impactful studies in lung cancer. Thank you so much. Dr. Stephen Liu: My pleasure. Thanks for having me. ASCO Daily News: And thank you to our listeners for joining us today. If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.   Disclosures: Dr. Stephen Liu Consulting or Advisory Role: Genentech, Pfizer, Lilly, Bristol-Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca, Takeda, Regeneron, G1 Therapeutics, Guardant Health, Janssen Oncology, MSD Oncology, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Blueprint Medicines, Inivata, PharmaMar, Daiichi Sankyo/UCB Japan, BeiGene, Amgen, Turning Point Therapeutics, Elevation Oncology, and Novartis Research Funding (institution): Genentech/Roche, Pfizer, Bayer, Merck, AstraZeneca, Blueprint Medicines, Lilly, Rain Therapeutics, Alkermes, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Turning Point Therapeutics, RAPT, Merus, Elevation Oncology, and Erasca, Inc Travel, Accommodations, Expenses: AstraZeneca, Roche/Genentech, and MSD Oncology   Disclaimer: The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. This is not a substitute for professional medical care and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of individual conditions. Guests on this podcast express their own opinions, experience, and conclusions. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity, or therapy should not be construed as an ASCO endorsement.

Queen & J. are two womanist race nerds talking liberation, politics, and pop-culture over tea. Drink up! On this episode… Do you kiss your dog in the mouth? Is your cat sitting on the counter while you cook? We’re talking about Black people and pets! Sh!t we do, s!it we don’t do, history on Black animal lovers and more. This week’s hot list: fresh flowers all up and through the crib, CGI that petty in Army of the Dead, Black pet ownership, pet rules, Did your grandparents have pets? Racism in policies for animal ownership because everything is dripping in racism, we pay a future Black vet (animal not military), scammers that play in our faces, and why we not voting for Andrew Yang. EPISODE TIMESTAMPS Libations: 3:28 Donation Libations: 16.58 Affirmations: 22:26 Our Black ass relationship to pets: 23:13 A history of Black people and pet ownership: 1:25:24 Pay a future Black Veterinarian:1:51:04 Give A Damn About the Scam: 1:55:51 Tweet us while you listen! @teawithqj or use #teawithqj and add #podin on Twitter to help others discover Tea with Queen and J. podcast! WEBSITE Teawithqueenandj.com SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter: https://twitter.com/teawithqj @teawithqj Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teawithqj/ @teawithqj Facebook: www.facebook.com/TeawithQueenandJ Tea with Queen and J. Tumblr: teawithqueenandj.tumblr.com TEAMAIL & SPONSOR INQUIRIES teawithqueenandj@gmail.com DONATE Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/teawithqj Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/teawithqj Queen’s Amazon wishlist: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/CXV9ZDWZ3PP9?ref_=wl_share J.’s Amazon wishlist: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1NP09USMPJ0TB?ref=cm_sw_em_r_wl_ip_VEVWdvdDDemm Send us snail mail: Tea with Queen and J. P.O. Box 1617 229 East 85th Street New York, NY 10028 PAY BLACK WOMEN, PAY BLACK PEOPLE Help fund Kristina’s volunteer trip to 6 different wildlife, rescue and conservation facilities around the world as she prepares to be a veterinarian: https://www.gofundme.com/f/kristinas-marine-wildlife-volunteer-adventure?qid=458485adf0381edb353872ed7e0df232&utm_campaign=p_cp_url&utm_medium=os&utm_source=customer MORE ON BLACK FOLKS AND PETS Read Joshunda Sanders article Healing Fraught History of African Americans and Dogs: https://thebark.com/content/healing-fraught-history-african-americans-and-dogs The Root https://www.theroot.com/black-dog-lovers-the-complex-relationship-between-blac-1846366435 Pet Ownership stats https://www.petpoint.com/Portals/Petpoint/pdfs/reportdata/2020/PetPointReport-YTD-2020.pdf NOTES AND EXTRA TEA Listen to Nikeeta break down reparations with us https://soundcloud.com/tea-with-queen-and-j/292-reparations This week’s closing clip features one of comedian Tony Baker’s infamous animal voice overs: https://www.instagram.com/reel/COq-u5uh7Az/?utm_medium=copy_link This episode was created, hosted, and produced by Naima Lewis Muhammad & Janicia Francis with editorial support from Candice Jones Libations to our friend’s Domingo, Tokunbo, and D. Sindayiganza who help keep this show running by paying and supporting Black women. Opening song by Ohene Cornelius Segment Music by Chad Milner

Dear Black Men, we NEED you. we WANT you. we CARE about you. we CHERISH you. Breaking family cycles and traumas. Dying slowly - eating habits, violence, racial ignorance. Our Black children NEED fathers. Our Black mothers NEED sons. Our Black women need husbands! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Our Black patience has been worn thin.  Let's discuss time & privilege, the grace of age, and the reasons why your voice is needed in this fight.     RIP Daunte Wright

Descendants Of Freedom's Journal by, Sophia Lenore Where are our Black voices? Voices of intellectual, financial, and spiritual freedom – for which we bled & fought? Did they just disappear with united Black consciousness and progressive Black thought? Who is writing for us? Where are our Black journalists? Our Black media armies – and brave woke writers that swing their pens like a mighty sword? Where are the descendants of “Freedom's Journal”?  The first Black newspaper launched in the 1820’s – when our voices roared! Who’s ensuring that we’re protected & well represented? Who will personify my voice? Your voice Our voice? While writing stories about Black joy, Black camaraderie and how we uniquely congregate to rejoice! We need and depend on Black writers Black researchers  And Black commentators to fight the multitude of covert wars waged against us.  Our stories & experiences are beautiful and vast – collectively we’ve healed from trauma –and have evolved our past.  So, calling all young Black voices equipped with ready pens – to write stories that highlight Black excellence, perseverance & health awareness en masse - Because we’ve progressed past stories of “The Back of The Bus”. And now we need Black voices that represent Me as We - They as Us. - Pan Africa In this week’s episode, we amplify the voice of Quiana Darden!  Quiana Darden is an elementary school teacher turned full time copywriter. She had established her authority in content marketing by helping multi-million dollar corporations and industry experts with their business content.  She now helps solopreneurs confidently create content with connects and coverts.   In this episode, we conversate about:  Quiana’s journey from side hustle to full time copywriter What does she do if she hits the dreaded “writer’s block” Why it’s important to develop your marketing and strategy systems to run your business Where can you find Quiana Darden?  https://www.quianadarden.com/ https://www.facebook.com/QuianaADarden/ https://www.instagram.com/quianaadarden/ WOC discount code:  MELANATED CONVOS OUR NARRATIVE FROM OUR PERSPECTIVE! Connect with us Click Here To Join The Melanated Conversations Collective Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melanatedconvos/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/melanatedconvos Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melanatedconvos/ https://www.instagram.com/literallyyana/ https://www.instagram.com/terrian4reel/   DON’T MISS AN EPISODE OF MELANATED CONVERSATIONS!   Click here to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts. Click here to subscribe to us on Stitcher. Click here to subscribe to us on Spotify. Click here to subscribe to us on Google Podcasts.    [music: "Fly" Produced by Makaih Beats]    ......................................................................................................................   Are you ready to start your very own podcast? Check out our 70+ page comprehensive guide that walks you through every step to get your show launched and ready for the world.  We’ve taken our professional knowledge and experience in strategy, recording, editing and presenting into this comprehensive guide so you don’t have to spend months making mistakes you can avoid before you get started. Receive full-on support ranging from mindset shifting, content development, technical setup, recording & editing, and ongoing (strategies) after launch. Let's take you from dreaming to streaming so that you can powerfully share your message while achieving your next level of success.   Get your copy at: https://gum.co/launchpad-ebook  

February. A month that signifies so much. Love, Sports, and Black History. This episode, Episode 34: Let Them Hear Us. is an episode that sheds light on the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement; Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi. These three women have worked and continue to work toward change and promote the lives of Black people as social unrest continues to torment the lives of Black people. This month not only shed light on the amazing things our ancestors have done, but to also shed light on how far we've come as a community. We've got a bit further to go, but as long as we continue to fight for our rights as any other person, we can achieve racial equality for our next generations to come. Embrace your color, your pain, beauties (because you have beauties), and make them your own. Our Black is beautiful. We deserve greatness. We deserve to be heard. Lets remember who we've lost and what we've gained. Let's embrace February and let them hear us. Rise on Elements! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kayla-jackson10/support

In this episode, we continue our deconstruction of Shahrazad Ali's, "The Blackwoman's Guide to Understanding The Blackman" with chapter 5, entitled "Education." In this chapter, we learn that our Black men are systematically taught to disown themselves and the Black family. Sister Ali makes it clear that not only is he to relearn new information but that he should also teach his offspring. Our Black men are responsible for teaching our sons. It is his natural right as a man. We are Kiva & Kahawia and we are here to support our Black men.

In this weeks episode Trevor & Josh discuss President Trump's threat to leave America if he loses the election (6:10), Sean "Diddy" Combs plan to create Our Black political party (11:54), Ice Cube's discussions with the Republican party regarding a plan for the improvement of Black America (49:13) and the things couples should consider before getting married (57:50)...

CHRISTIAN DIOR DIOR, WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS! Travis Scott's "Cactus Pack" Meal With McDonald's Telfar Global Bags. Just a few of the brands that are brought up in the 20th episode of Experiencing GhiaLogic. Tap in to see what GhiaLogic has to say about the power of a Black person behind an established brand. We bring these companies so much money and clout because they know our influence and value. That means we need to know our worth too! Our Black is Beautiful and it makes money too... Yeah this Melanin talks McDonalds, Nike, and The GAP!!! Instagram: @GhiaLogicX ghialogic.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ghialogic/support

Zach chats with Aubrey Blanche, the Director of Equitable Design & Impact at Culture Amp, about re-imagining tech and belonging. She discusses her complicated relationship with race and identity, talks about how to effectively combat diversity fatigue, and much more. Click the links in the show notes to connect with Aubrey and check out Culture Amp's anti-racism plan!Connect with Aubrey on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Visit her personal website.Check out Culture Amp's anti-racism plan by clicking here.Donate to the Justice for Breonna Taylor GoFundMe by clicking here.Find out how the CDC suggests you wash your hands by clicking here.Help food banks respond to COVID-19. Learn more at FeedingAmerica.org.Check out our website.Struggling with your Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) work? Kanarys—a Black-founded company—has your back. Regardless of where you are on your DEI journey, we arm you with the insights you need now to take action now. From audits to assessments to data-informed strategy, we'd love to be the partner you have been looking for. Email stacey@kanarys.com or learn more at https://www.kanarys.com/employerTRANSCRIPTZach: What's up, y'all? It's Zach with Living Corporate, and look, you know what we're doing, right? Every single week we're having real talk in a corporate world. And what does that mean? That means we're having authentic conversations that what? Center and do what else? Amplify. Who? Black. And who else? Brown people. I keep on doing this weird call-and-response thing. I guess I'm just really excited. But the point is we're having these conversations, and we typically have them with movers and shakers, and that could be executives to entrepreneurs to social capital investors to activists to elected officials to public servants, authors, you know, whoever. We're talking to everybody. Typically these people are Black and brown, but every now and then we'll have some white or white-presenting folks on the podcast as well, and we're really passionate about that. Our goal is that if you're a Black or brown person or one of the onlys in your workplace that you listen to this and feel affirmed and heard, and if you're not one of those people that you take this opportunity, a rare opportunity, to really hear some frank conversations about, and from the persectives of, Black and brown people about being Black and brown at work, and you can use that information to be a better ally. See what I'm saying? So it helps everybody, and so like I said, every week we have an incredible guest, so let me just put our own collective back at Living Corporate. We've had some incredible guests though, and today's no different. We have Aubrey Blanche. Aubrey Blanche is The Mathpath - that's a math nerd and an empath, which is wild because that's, like, the Dark Side and the Light Side of The Force coming together. She's like a Gray Jedi. Anyway, director of equitable design and impact at Culture Amp and a start-up investor and adviser. Through all of her work, she seeks to question, re-imagine and re-design systems--now, y'all know we're gonna double-click on that in a minute--and practices that surround us to ensure that all people can access equitable opportunities and build a better world. Her work is undergirded--I like that word, "undergirded." Undergirded. Just say that to y'allselves, y'all. Undergirded. Undergirded by her training in social scientific methods and grounded in the fundamental dignity and value of every person. Aubrey, welcome to the show. How are you doing?Aubrey: Hey. Thank you so much for having me. I feel, like, genuinely blown away at the idea that I get to join you, and also your intro makes me want to cry. I just love what you're doing. I love the mission and the vision. And "undergirded" is such a fun word.Zach: It's so great, right? There's certain words that are just really nice to say. "Undergirded." "Plethora."Aubrey: Right? I mean, [I'm a?] deeply over-educated human being, so just occasionally getting to use those silly $17 words that you don't to, but [?].Zach: You don't have to. Erykah Badu once said, "What good do your words do if they don't understand you?" But that's for another conversation, another day. Look, I read your bio, or rather let me be honest--I took out, like, the first 20% of your bio for the sake of this conversation, but what does all of that really mean? Like, what do you actually do?Aubrey: Yeah, what do I do? I feel like what I try to do is crush white supremacy with capitalism, which is confusing conceptually, but really what I think I try to do is harness the privilege that I have and I guess the oppression I've experienced as this very liberal human, and we can talk about what that means, and try to use the privilege that I've had and try to figure out how to scale those out. Like, that's the [?] thing in my soul that I'm trying to do, and right now I happen to do that within the context of technology and investing and finance. What I'm really interested in is learning the rules of systems so that we can begin to evolve those systems so that they begin breaking themselves down where they are harming people.Zach: I like that. I like that a lot. There's a lot of nuance in what you just said, so that's why I'm really excited to get into this. In fact, let's talk a little bit about, like, this moment where we are, right? And before we do that, like, let's zoom in on our interaction about you being on this platform, right?Aubrey: Right. So for folks on the podcast, basically what happened is Zach was awesome and reached out to have me on, and my first sort of response was "Hey, want to be clear that I'm white-passing. I want to make sure that we have sort of BIPOC folks in front of my voice. I'm really happy to speak sort of to my people, but I also want to be respectful of not taking up more space than I need to," and that for me is because--it's really important to me just, like, on a basic, ethical level. Like, we have this moment. It's always been important to listen to those voices, and I've tried to create that space, but it's especially important now because so many people are listening. So I think I'm trying to figure out where my role is in this moment as a woman of color but someone who does have white privilege in so many settings, and then on top of that I'm trans-racially adopted, so there's even more nuance inside that sort of like--Zach: Wow.Aubrey: Yeah, it's a lot.Zach: That is a lot. Okay, so when you say trans-racially adopted, like, your parents are what ethnicity?Aubrey: Yeah. So I'm mixed, and I'm Mexican-American, and as of about a couple weeks ago I found that the other part is Irish. Fun fact - adoption is weird and keeps coming back to you. So my adoptive mother is second-gen American on both sides, Euro-American, and then my adopted father is actually Euro-American and Indigenous. So he's Choctaw and has been an Indigenous legal activist in addition to being sort of corporate counsel, but my dad, what's interesting is despite the fact that I grew up sort of in the Indigenous community and things like that is my dad is also white-passing. So my whole adoptive family looked hella white, but we actually had a really complex sort of racial identity within our family.Zach: I mean--so I think it's important, right? I mean, we're gonna get there in a minute, but... so you operate in this space, right? I know when I first saw your picture I was like--do you watch Steven Universe?Aubrey: I don't.Zach: Okay. So you should check out Steven Universe, 'cause, like, you give me strong Rose Quartz vibes. And it's a compliment. Like, you should look up Rose Quartz. She's great. But you kind of look like a star. Like, you do all these talks and all these things, and so outside looking in it's like--I think you sit in this space that's really interesting. So I'm not gonna profile you, 'cause I've listened to what you actually have to say, but you sit in this space that's, like, you speak about diversity, equity and inclusion, you are white-passing--like, your experience and your identity is much more complex than that, but you sit in this very influential space and it's, like, kind of--what I'm curious about is, considering the space that you've inhabited historically around this work, and when you think about this moment--like, it's kind of like a watershed moment, right? Like, people are really starting to call D&I institutions to account, particularly white women in these spaces and groups. I'm curious, like, is there anything right now that you're more sensitive to? You kind of talked a little bit about you've been thinking about it more. Like, where are you at just emotionally and mentally around this work right now?Aubrey: Yeah. So I think, like, the Overton window of what we can talk about to white people has shifted, and so what I mean by that is my personal philosophy is that I'm someone who was born in a situation that was let's just say much rougher than the one I got adopted into, and something I've always carried with me is--like, the phrase I use to describe it is "Little girls born like me do not sit in rooms and talk to billionaires." It's just a fact. Statistically speaking, there's no reason I should be in the place in the world that I am. And so what I think about is I've moved through these very white supremacist systems, right? Like, I got to survive 'cause I need more SPF than some people, and I've learned how those systems work, but the problem is I always felt really alienated by them because they didn't align with my sense of self, because for a lot of complicated reasons I really have been socialized and racialized as a Latina because of the social context I grew up in, and I didn't actually understand whiteness until I went to college and people stopped being racist to me, and I was like, "Wow, I didn't know that was optional." Truly, and it sounds really silly to someone I think, but just given the specific circumstances of my life that happened. So throughout my 20s as I sort of my grew in my consciousness on this I kind of said, "There are particular spaces I can speak to that people who are darker than me can't," and I own and acknowledge that that is a relic and a fact of a white supremacist system, but it's also still true. So what I try to do, and I will admit imperfectly, which is why I think we need people to keep us accountable to this integrity, is I try to talk to people who are going to listen to me more or I try to say things to shift the Overton window so that when darker people of color say them they receive less abuse. So I recognize when I say something first--and I say first meaning in ths space, not that it's my magical idea, that I'm less likely to just get shit on for it because I look like Karen. And so I think about it like, "Can I be the linebacker for Black women? Can I normalize that idea so that we can make that space less hostile so then I can go, "Now listen to who you should listen to, and let me bring that voice into the room"? So I think that's my dual responsibility, and now because suddenly we're seeing communities actually capable of listening to BIPOC folks without immediately abusing I'm much more careful about where I step back, because I think I have less internal intuition about where the correct action is, and so I'm trying to be more deferential. So that's where I am, but I wouldn't say that I know what I'm doing. I'm figuring it out. Zach: No, that's a really honest answer, and thank you for the context and background. I think your premise, what you started off with in terms of your purpose, is different than most folks. Like, if you ask most people their purpose, like, they're not going to say what their real purpose is, because most folks--painting with a wide brush, but I mean what I'm about to say--most folks' goal is to, by some degree, be white men, right? So, like, their goal is to get as much power as they can. So, like, your whole framing of, like, "I'm gonna block for this other person so that they can have a platform to actually speak, I'm gonna leverage my access and my power and my privilege to then create space for darker-skinned Latinx, for Black women, for other people who are societally, historically in different ways just on their face," no pun intended. Like, that's just not the typical goal, right? So we've talked a little bit about the nuances of your identity and your background, and that's incredible. I'd like to talk more about the concept of being white-presenting while also at the same time being a person of color, right? My challenge, Aubrey, right now is that, like, that "person of color" term is starting to become this, like, junk drawer thing where, like, everybody's a person of color, but we don't really specify or name identity in this work, even now. So, like, that's why with Living Corporate, we don't say "we center marginalized experiences of people of color at work," we say Black and brown because we really want to be explicit with who we're talking about. You know, you brought up being white-presenting. I'd like to hear more about the nuances of, from your perspective, Latinx identity and how you present versus culture and ethnicity, and let's also add, like, the dynamic of how people perceive you.Aubrey: So I think it's something I think about a lot, and I want to bring in another piece of my identity that's been really helpful for me in figuring this stuff out, which is I'm also a queer person. I'm, like, bisexual or pansexual or--I don't know, whatever's something that's definitely not definitely gay and not definitely straight, and I don't really think about it much harder than that, but I have a lot of things that are, like, queer signifiers in terms of my identity but, like, could also just be confused for [alt?] straight people. So again, most of my identities are invisible and liminal, and the way that I think about it is that we talk about that identity construction is a process, and so I can't change that, like, I didn't grow up in a Latin family, for example, and I would never lie about that. Something that was really interesting to me was--I have a friend who's Indigenous who gave me a framework for thinking about this because I've struggled with my legitimacy as, like, part of the Latinx community or how do I relate to this label, "people of color"? I have a complicated set of feelings with that language but think it can be useful in terms of identifying a collective. For me it was really about who I am, and my identity is actually not something that can be challenged. The fact is, right, my lineage comes from people in Mexico, but I also can acknowledge that I have both colonizer and colonized in my DNA, and that is something [I have to?] deal with, but the thing that a friend of mine said that gave me the legitimacy that my identity is real is he said, "I can't accept that the fact that we are pale means we are no longer from our ancestors, otherwise they would have been right that they could [BLEEP] the indigeniety out of us." And that, like, is probably pretty harsh, but for me I was like, "Yeah, you're right. There's an energy. There's a spirit. There's a culture." Now, I, for my own well-being did need to be put in a different family than the one I was originally born into. I've had to connect with and sort of become a part of my culture as an adult, so I've had a little bit of a different experience because of what was important for me. And so I think there's that, but I think to pretend, like, my experience in terms of economics, in terms of the way that I have experienced racism and racialization, are meaningfully different than most or a big portion of the Latinx community, and I think for me that tells me what my role should be. So I'm grateful for the folks who, like, welcome me into the community and don't do the, like, "You're not legitimate 'cause you have a different story," a story that also understands--here's a fun fact - my adoptive mother is the most incredible person I've ever met, absolutely saved my life, and also we know that women of the dominant race, you know, bringing children from the colonized race into their family is [?]. Like, both of those things are true, and so for me I say because I have this almost armor in the systems we live in, my role is to listen to my community and advocate to the majority for it because I can be a translator, because I can move between, and so rather than seeing my ability to play with those systems of oppressions as questions about my legitimacy, I relate to them as in they give me a special role for my activism in the same way I think each of us have a special role in the way that we bring our activism to life in line with our purpose and our unique privileges and oppressions. So yeah, that was really deep for you, but that's my honest answer, and I think I try to hold the humility that, like, I've definitely [BLEEP] up, right? I've definitely done things that were wrong, but I try to surround myself with people who tell me that when it's happening so I can at least try to minimize the way that, you know, my white fragility or my internalized racism or any other -isms aren't impacting the people around me.Zach: I mean, you out here just casually dropping wild bombs. You're doing a phenomenal job. You should continue on this path. Like, stay here. So let's talk a little bit about the culture summit in 2019 that you were at a guest speaker, a keynote speaker [at,] and you talked about diversity fatigue in tech, right? So it's interesting--we're going to continue to nail on this the next few questions, but I feel as if--so the majority has had to be aware or care about Black people for... let's see here, has it been, like, three months? Two-and-a-half months? Like, it's been a handful of months. Like, it hasn't been that long, and people are already talking about being tired. So, like, I'm curious about when you think about the concept of diversity fatigue with, like, white leaders, and especially as you think about it at an organizational level, like, what have you seen work well to manage diversity fatigue?Aubrey: Yeah. I think the thing about it--and this really relates to this idea that I say a lot, which is, like, [BLEEP] D&I, and what I don't actually mean is, like [BLEEP] the goal, and I think they're actually related things. People are tired. Like, I want to sit there and be like, "How dare you get tired?" But I understand how the human nervous system works, so I have to, like, deal with that as a real constraint. But I feel like diversity fatigue is partially happening because everybody's had the same ten diversity talks for five years. They, like, put some money into branding and putting a Black face on their website, and then threw their hands up and said, "Why isn't racism done?" And so when you describe it that way you're like, "Oh, yeah, that was never going to work in the first place." So I think the solution to diversity fatigue, rather than us, like, yelling at people who are tired, which is just going to make them turn off, and I, like, hold in my heart the frustration that we have to do this, right, because people are tired. They've done enough. But again, philosophical versus practical rationalism there. I think it's this move to equitable design that actually I think fights diversity fatigue, because what are people tired of? They're tired of being lectured at. They're tired of not doing. So instead of saying, "We care about D&I," my response is "If you don't have a budget and you don't have a time allocation, I don't care and you don't count," 'cause I'm sorry, your caring didn't help anyone. And that's what equitable design is, right? It's about what saying "What is my plan? What is my process? What is my data about what's broken and what is my idea and my action about how we'll try to fix it?" And when you go with that methodology, suddenly everybody gets a job. So maybe it's--I'm speaking about Culture Amp in this exact moment, our programs, right? Our Black employees' job right now is to attend the mental health program we're offering for them and to take care of themselves. That is their job.Zach: That is so healthy.Aubrey: Right? Like, that is your job right now. In our company anti-racism strategy, our Black [campers?], your job is to take care of yourself. We've made it clear. We've brought in experts. My job is to build the corporate strategy, you know? Our CEO's job is to fully fund the plan. This equitable design idea gives everyone a job, and it's hard to get fatigued with something when you've given people, like, little win breadcrumbs along the way. So I'm not [perfect?], and if folks want to they can check out Culture Amp's anti-racism plan online. We didn't just publish the commitment, we published the operating plan, and at the end of this sort of six-month cycle we'll provide an update for folks because accountability matters. It's real. Cultureamp.com/antiracism if you want to check it out. The pillars are easy, which is support and care, accountability, education, and then access. So for me that's what equitable design is. It's everyone taking a look at the actions that they're already taking in their day and going, "How can I design this to create a more equitable impact?" So maybe you're giving a career coaching to that friend of a friend's kid. Why don't you ask that student to find an underrepresented classmate who you're also gonna give a career coaching conversation to? I'm telling you. I did it last month. When you read a book written by a Black woman, why don't you make sure you go online and write a review for it, because then the algorithm knows that people engage with that book. Right? It's not about always--although certainly if you want to donate to the movement for Black lives and everything I vehemently support you. I think people mistake that, like, activism, that anti-racism, that D&I is something separate from what they're already doing as opposed to a slight edit of the things they're doing. So that's how you overcome fatigue, and I'm totally fine if you as an ally--like, you just did that coaching conversation with someone who would not have had access to an executive before? Like, I'm chill if you pat yourself on the back for that. Go ahead. Like, I know, "ally cookies" or whatever, but if you want to self-high five or you want to tell another one of your friends who isn't marginalized from that group, like, "I did a good thing," and you want a high five from another white person, fine. Cool. If it keeps you motivated and it gets you to do the next 10 things over the next 10 and 100 years, then I'm fully supportive of that. So I guess that's where it is. Like, we fight diversity fatigue by doing things consistently that actually work. Zach: I feel like a large part of this work is massaging white discomfort or trying to figure out ways to, like, Jedi mind trick white folks into caring about Black and brown people. And, like, I hear what you're doing at Culture Amp. The link will be in the show notes, 'cause I just looked at it and it's fire. So it's worth, and I also shared it with a couple of mentors, but I'd like to get your reaction to what I just said and, like, if you agree with that, then, like, is that tenable in today's climate?Aubrey: That's such a good question. I was a little quiet because I was like, "Is it, like, 60% or 80% of the work?" Right? No, I think it absolutely is, and it's the reason that I choose to do this work, because I think something that people don't talk about enough--and I talk about in some communities that I'm building--us white-passing folks are the tactical weapons to solve this particular problem, right? Like, I don't just, like, code switch, although I do that too. I literally identity switch at work minute by minute because I have the unique ability to, like, feel both sides of the coin 'cause I've lived both sides of them, so that's actually a lot of the reason I do the work I do, because I know how much of this is, like, managing white discomfort, and frankly, my face partially manages white discomfort to have discussions about racism and white supremacy. So I think that's true. Now, your next question is really important. Is it tenable or sustainable? I have a complex answer to that. So philosophically my answer to you is no. My deeply practical, science lady answer is it's not an avoidable problem in the short term. So this is a weird theory I'm gonna give you, and it has to do with drug addiction, but I think it's relevant for anti-racism work. So here's a theory I've never spoken online before. So there's something really fascinating about drugs and how they work on the brain, which is that the dosage and the frequency that they hit the brain completely changes the brain's response to it. So, like, small amounts over time create resistance. Large amounts at once tend to cause addiction. I'm vastly oversimplifying, but just work with me. So I'll say people who experience racism--not people of color, but people who experience racism, we basically have been given doses of racial stress throughout our lives, so we now have resilience to it. I'm nto saying it's good. I'm not saying it's ideal. I'm just saying it's sort of a descriptive fact of the world. So white people, we basically have to dose them with enough racial stress in the right ratios at the right time to get them to be able to have these conversations, because what the research is telling us is white fragility is actually, like, people's brains perceiving they're in danger when they're in absolutely no danger whatsoever. Like, that's neuroscience. So philosophically I'm like, "Yeah, it's not sustainable," but we have to think about ways to give people experience through racial stress, white people specifically, so that they're resilient and can have the conversations, and I think that's the process that's happening right now in a broader cultural sense is that white people--I mean, have you seen the New York Times Bestseller list? It looks like my bookshelf. [?] on one of my shelves called "What White America's Reading." So what I'm saying is I think we're in a moment where white people are being dosed with racial stress in a way that they never have been, and so I am saying that, like, we're still probably going to have another--I don't know, I don't want to put a timeline on it. That's a terrible statistician thing to do, but I do think it will change because more white people are educating themselves, and even, like, white people that are in my family that I've never seen talk about racial justice before are, like, texting me and asking me questions. So, like, I'm really hopeful. I know how the 17 million different ways this could go sideways, but I have to hold onto that hope because that's what motivates me to push so hard right now. So I think that there's a real chance that there's enough white people who are like, "Oh, I get some rules now, and I at least know to shut up and listen," that we could build a coalition that's big enough to actually create fundamental structural change. Like, I have to believe that's true because that's what I spend all of my time pushing for.Zach: Right. I mean, I struggle with the ways that this space plays with language. I don't know, like, to a certain extent, Aubrey, like, the language itself becomes like, this test and, like, just becomes very classist, and it becomes really exclusionary, because we're talking in these very, like, esoteric terms that kind of mean whatever, right, and we write long Medium posts about this versus that, but at that same time a lot of folks are still using equity and equality interchangeably. So we really don't understand--when I say we I mean, like, just the common person, not even a D&I expert but just, like, the common person. I do think a word though, when we talk about this space and we talk about achieving belonging at work is, like, redistributing organizational power. I don't often hear the word "power," like, really employed in conversations, particularly around Black engagement, brown people. I don't hear that word. Have you thought about that? Is that significant to you at all?Aubrey: I think I want to add another word in, 'cause I agree with you, right? Getting really esoteric about language, it excludes people who haven't had those discussions about those specific subtle differences. I talk about equity. I actually don't really use the word equality. I don't think about equality that much.Zach: I don't either, but people be throwing--I've seen it. I've seen it, like, some big brands have used the word equality. I'm like, "Why are we--"Aubrey: I'll just give my particular view, and I want to do this without, like, throwing shade, but for me I tend to see people use equality when they're familiar with a lot of the, like, deep social justice theories, because they're articulating the outcome, and equality is the outcome of the process of equity, and the process of equity, by literal definition, is about redistributing power and opportunity, at least in the way that I perceive it. I think the other term that we have to talk about or that I think about a lot, and I can't believe I work at a place where I have, like, advanced, deep conversations with executives about this, is [?] collective organizational justice. I think justice is helpful because there's--I just learned a new type of justice, which is, like, my favorite fact ever, but thinking about, like, what does procedural justice look like, right? Equitable design creates processes that create procedural justice. I think about testimonial justice. So how do I make sure that people's stories have the space to be told in the ways that they need to to respect human dignity and opportunity? And so I think redistributing organizational power is at the core of what I do, so really what I'm doing all day, whether I'm writing a corporate strategy or thinking about what hat I need to wear in a particular conversation, is I'm doing a power analysis of the situation. Like, a good example of this, and I'm gonna put this out there, when I think about power and systemic power, right, one of the most abusive things that exists that most D&I leaders aren't even talking about are forced arbitration agreements. You have just [?] or also class action rights. So by including that in your employment contract to all of the CEOs and leaders listening, what you are saying is "[BLEEP] you and your power. You have absolutely no recourse that is fair if we mess up and harm you," and I truly believe that that's true, because what you're doing is stripping that individual of the way that they might balance their power against the power of a corporation with backers, and that's even ignoring the racial power dynamics or the ableist power dynamics there. So I think we would be so much better served if we talked about power, but then the other important thing I want to bring in--and I realize it's your thing, but I'm gonna ask you a question, which is I don't think that people understand the difference between power with and power over, and it relates to [?] earlier where I almost laughed--not at you, but you said, like, "You're giving up power," and I almost laughed because I don't think by creating space for people I'm giving up power, because my definition of power is "power with," so I believe that when I move out of a particular space, I am gaining power because the collective is gaining power and I'm a part of that collective.Zach: But, see, in that though there's, like, this--I don't know. You have to have a different mindset and premise that you're operating from to even see that as power though, right? Because most people don't--it's a zero-sum game. There's also, like, a very capitalistic mindset to it too. So if you heavily prescribe to historically oppressive systems and you're not necessarily, like--you don't think in communal terms or frames, then you're not going to see it that way. I agree with you though that, like, the idea of power with and power over is--and it's funny, because I didn't know that's what you were going to say. I didn't know that that's what that meant in that context. I thought you meant, like, power with being like--I don't know, I interpreted it differently. I think about the fact that a lot of people don't consider the fact that, like, even if they aren't high in an organization, they still have power by way of their whiteness, and that's not a theoretical power. Like, it's a real power. As an example, let's pretend you and I work at Culture Amp and we are a part of the same team. We have the same job. In fact, I may be senior to you in the organization. The reality is, like, if you wanted to, you could just share a couple of points of feedback to other people around me and I could be fired. Not at Culture Amp, but you know what I mean. You have the societal--you have advantages to where if you say, "You know what? I just don't think Zach is really cutting it," or "I don't really think Zach is that bright," or "I don't think" whatever or "Zach makes me feel uncomfortable" or whatever the case is, right, and so what was a struggle for me is when we talk about power, yes, we're talking about, like, the white executives, or just executives period, like, people who are in positions of organizational authority, but also the people who are not in organizational authority who still can harm Black and brown people who should, on paper, be protected, even by the very pessimistic and harmful rules that that organization has created for its own leadership. Like, they still don't really even participate or benefit from those protections because of the color of their skin or because of a disability or whatever the case may be, you know what I mean?Aubrey: Oh, yeah. Absolutely, and I think that's actually something we don't teach people. I think it's, like, American culture in general is very aggressive. Like, a lot of our cultural values are about control, but we don't actually have a dialogue about it. So those of us on the bottom end of the distribution in any context tend to talk about it, but the people at the top don't, and so yeah, I think people--also because we're in this sort of capitalistic society. I say that as if I'm, like--capitalism is like traffic. I don't like it, but I have to be in it. I got that from Nicole Sanchez. I want to give her a shout-out. She's brilliant. I can only say that she's someone who has guided me and taught me, and I appreciate her wisdom, and I don't even have time to describe how much I think she's great, but I think that's it, that people don't understand power. And also I think there's this weird game in--I think it's everywhere, but, like, American culture lies about it, where the thing is people actually, like, crave power and status, but they have to lie about wanting it, and it comes from our whole lie about, like, "Classes don't exist in America," even though they obviously do. "We're not a classist system." Yeah, we are. I've been on every rung of it. Trust me, I know. At different points in my life.Zach: Right. Let's talk a little bit about--part of your bio I read included the concept of re-imagining systems, right? So I've had on a few guests, and many of them believe that this is a watershed moment for, quote-unquote, D&I, HR culture, like, that whole space. Do you think there's any radical re-imagining that needs to happen today or that really should have happened a while ago but is certainly, like, further mobilized by this moment?Aubrey: Absolutely. I mean, like, the thing is the phrase--it's been repeated to me, like, every week, like, "Never waste a good crisis." Well, what I mean is don't waste the attention on these problems, because attention is what can get you the solutions. So yeah, do I think it's a watershed? Gosh, I hope so. I hope that companies stop doing unconscious training and we have honest conversations about the fact that it was conscious design decisions in organizations that create intentional discrimination and exclusion. I've been saying that to everyone with a C-level title I can talk to. If you're like, "Unconscious bias," I'm like, "It was never unconscious bias. You were just too fragile to hear it. It was conscious failures of leadership."Zach: Listen... I'll never forget--this was some years ago--I was talking to a leader about... and it was literally on my way out, 'cause I left, and I made a risk log as I was leaving. I said, "These are just things you need to know about the project we was on and the people on your team. Here are things that would help you if you just considered the risks." Got on the phone. I had already resigned, so, like, it was, like, my last week, right? So then we're talking and she's like... one of the risk ops on there was--I literally made it so soft. I said "potential unconscious bias," and her response was "I've never had a situation where I've been unconsciously bias." And I said, "Well, by the very nature of the concept you wouldn't know if you had been unconsciously bias, 'cause it's unconscious." So it's wild when you think about, like, the multiple levels of grace and outs that white people provide themselves through diversity and inclusion work. It's just not to me about justice, not about equity, really it's not about Black and brown people at all, it's just about shoring up power and control while kind of, like, protecting yourselves from litigious risk, right? But it's not real.Aubrey: You know what, Zach? You just said the word "risk," and I want to one, yes, +1,000 you, and I want to talk about the way that risk can be re-imagined, and it's a thing I've been saying to lawyers and executives, not just at Culture Amp. Like I said, literally to anyone who will listen, because I figure I have my, like, Hamilton, my [?] energy about this, like, how much [?] can we get in this moment? Which is that we can decide that risk means the company losing business because we have to fire an executive who's an abusive [BLEEP]. Like, violations of human dignity are a risk we cannot bear, and we simply choose, when we identify abusers, to remove them out of our organizations. Like, that's a choice that people can make about the definition of risk. And frankly, even if you're talking in capitalistic terms, if you think about how much companies spend on, like, external legal firms when they get sued for discrimation, it is so much cheaper to fire an executive and hire a new one. Or anyone in the organization, right? If they're not an executive they're even less financially, you know, sort of creating return for the business. So again I go back to this idea of re-imagining. Let's take the words and the concepts and just ask the basic question - "Do we have to do it this way? Is there a better way?" A company could say, "We value people being treated well because we know that treating you well equals better cognition, which equals more innovation, which in this economy, in our business, equals more dollars and revenue." We can choose to act as if that is true, and that choice and that action is what builds the world in which it is true. So I'm saying this, like, I live in an industry where everyone's like, "We're changing the world." I'm like, "You're shooting a rocket into space. Someone did that already." Not to diminish that it's an incredible feat of engineering to get a rocket into space. It's incredible, but it's actually less incredible than being like, "Maybe we should treat our employees like full humans who are deserving of dignity." Like, that doesn't seem that bananas to me.Zach: Well, it doesn't though because you're rejecting white supremacy and patriarchy, like, full-stop.Aubrey: Because it's lame and it diminishes--[?] I could drive, like, what, a Lamborghini because I look white? Like, my soul is not better off. Other beings aren't better off. Sorry, I'm going off on a tangent, but white supremacy diminishes everyone, even those of us who benefit from it. Obviously those of us who benefit should do more work full-stop.Zach: Right. I feel you. I also think it's wack, but that's the reason. So what about this time right now scares you, Aubrey, mathpath, white-presenting woman, complex background. Like, is there anything right now that you feel more in the spotlight or more pressured?Aubrey: The thing that I'm, like, deeply afraid of in this moment, to be specific, is I know what the United States does to people who don't identify as white in history, and I'm afraid that white America won't take the signals that we're deep down the road to genocide seriously enough until we all start dying in higher numbers. That is actually what I'm afraid of, that white people don't think it's urgent enough to burn [BLEEP] down over, because the fact is, like, there are children in cages. This has been happening forever. We have police forces gunning down innocent civilians of all colors, although we know some communities experience that disproportionately. So what scares me? People wanting to lull themselves into a sense of security because they want the world to be better than it is.Zach: Yeah, it's scary. I think about where we are right now and just the death count because of COVID-19, and I think the fact that "defund the police" is still becoming such a--people are still pushing back so hard. I say, "Y'all, the data's right here. They're not solving crime. They're bleeding communities dry because the budgets are way too hard. We are underserved in these other service areas." And yet that's still, like, a radical, crazy idea. We're still pushing back against, like, the idea of reparations. Folks are still sending kids to school, right now, in the middle of a pandemic. Like you said, kids in cages. You're right. It's scary because--I don't know. There's a certain level of awareness that's been really cool to see. Kind of weird, to be frank. As a Black person it's kind of strange. But at the same time I'm looking everything and I'm just like, "Yo, this is--" Just talking about the pandemic alone, like, we haven't even hit the second wave, and so it's just like, "What are we doing?" So I hear you, that's a fear of mine too.Aubrey: That was the honest answer. It wasn't an upper, but [?] all of these things are under people's control, to pay attention, to advocate [?], and that's what I was going to link it to. Like, if that's not the world you want to see, refuse to live in it.Zach: Right, no, 100%. Okay, so let's wrap it up on this one. If you had to give three things executive leaders should be keeping in mind when it comes to engaging and retaining Black talent specifically, and in general a more socially conscious workforce--you think about Gen Z--like, what would those three things be?Aubrey: #1: You need to go to therapy to deal with your own self-esteem, control and power issues. They will absolutely come out in the workplace. #2: You must educate youreslf, and the Google machine is an incredible resource.Zach: And it's free.Aubrey: Free! There are so many people from Gen Z and the Black community that have put their thoughts and life experiences online you do not have to go bother someone who works with you. #3: What you value is not what they value, and they are coming to power. You need to learn how to gracefully evolve with the world. Those would be my most heartfelt pieces of advice to make what is an inevitable transition something that you can participate in and bring into the world as opposed to something you can fight and that will be painful.Zach: That's something that just kind of happens to you, 'cause it's going to happen, right?Aubrey: I mean, like, [?] is destiny. We know where this is going, so you can either be a part of that change and come into that new world or you can kick and scream, but it's coming, and it can either be fun or not fun, and that's really up to you.Zach: I mean, first of all, this has been fire. We haven't done sound effects in a while, but I still have them. Sound Man gonna put 'em in right here. And a Flex bomb too. There you go. Okay. So this has been incredible. You know what? I'm calling it right here. Aubrey Blanche, you are a friend of the show. Culture Amp, y'all are welcome here any time. This is not an ad. Culture Amp, what's up?Aubrey: Thank you for creating this space. I'm really grateful for this space to get to unpack these things. I guess my hope is other folks who have some life stories similar to mine get some wisdom and inspiration out of it so that they can do something that makes the world more incredible. So thank you so much for creating this space. I'm really grateful.Zach: Look, I appreciate you. This is great. Y'all, this has been Zach with the Living Corporate podcast. You know what we do. We have these conversations every single Tuesday, and then on Thursdays we have Tristan's Tips, and on Saturdays we have See It to Be It with Amy C. Waninger. So we have, like, a whole network really on one platform. You just have to check in when you check in, okay? But look, that's been us. Check us out. We're all over Beyonce's internet. Just type in Living Corporate. We'll pop up. I'm not gonna go through all the domains. We got all of 'em except for livingcorporate.com. We have all the other ones, so just type us in and you'll see us over there. Until next time, this has been Zach. You've been listening to Aubrey Blanche, leader, mover, shaker. 'Til next time, y'all. Peace.

Listen to @TCC_Laura talk with Carlynn Nichols, our Chief Clinical Officer about why we created "Crisis to Connection: An Imperative for Our Black Boys." https://bit.ly/1234567 #TCCRealTalk PLS Share Detroit is re-emerging as a city of opportunity, unless you’re a Black boy. Our Black boys are in crisis. We know because we’ve been working with Black boys, and Detroit children for more than 90 years. Black boys are disproportionately affected by implicit bias, racism, and a lack of trauma-informed community support systems. They experience trauma at a much higher rate than their white counterparts. This disparity creates unimaginable challenges and keeps them from living their dreams and becoming the amazing people they were born to be. Without effective, trauma-informed interventions, Black boys in Detroit are more likely receive in-school suspensions, out-of-school suspensions, and expulsions. More likely to not graduate high school. More likely to be incarcerated. These aren’t bad boys. They’re traumatized boys. The Children’s Center is dedicated to changing this all-too-common narrative for our Black boys. Connecting them and their families to trauma-informed community supports, so they can live their dreams. That’s why The Children's Center created the Crisis to Connection Imperative. Together with community partners, we will address the systems and structures that impact the lives of Black boys in Detroit. This imperative is designed in three phases over six years. Listen in as Laura talks with Carlynn Nichols, Chief Clinical Officer at The Children's Center in Detroit talk about this critically important initiative.

this week i sent $$$ to Project Ete sen.https://www.projectetesen.org/“In this specific time of COVID and continued Black resistance, it is more important than ever for us to take the intentional time to ask, "How are you?”. Our Black therapists have been asking and holding our big and complicated responses to this question without much reprieve over the past several months and will continue to do so. Black providers that hold the hearts, spirits, and bodies of our community members deserve to have this question asked of them too. Black providers need to be held in their need for rest, reflection, and recovery.Black therapists, specifically, have been voicing challenges in feeling able to take breaks from supporting others, even when they are in need of rest and self-care. We want to help remove some of the financial barrier of taking needed time to rest and support our fellow Black providers in making the needed space to take care of themselves. We are asking Black therapists, “how are you?”“DOWNLOAD RECORDINGsubscribe to the podcast here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/5432fun(intro by omar)PATSY’S RATS "IS IT ALRIGHT?” IS IT ALRIGHT? 7"Hello Ocho “Meatus” The Slippery Hand EPLexie “Youngster” Record Time!Watcher “Theme From Cats” Taman ShudFight Rosa Fight! “Class War” Rotten EPWay Worse “ODE” s/t demoMorbid Opera “Liar” CollectionDead Sally “Blow Up The Sun” EEEP!Movies “with a friend” I Rushed OutHellier Ulysses “Destroy What Destroys You” Ullyses HellierThe Ben Varian Approach “Cut The Lake In Half” Live at NeumosSweeping Exits “Star” Glitter & Bloodfemmaggots “POSITIVITY” femmaggotsThe Cherry Tops “eighty”

In this episode I am highlighting: JaCoi James of The Black Women's Wall Street. Here's more info about The Black Women's Wall Street: Black Women's Wall Street, Inc. was formed in 2018 by women who each had a unique, yet powerful background. Each of these ladies recognized the greatness in each other and felt that there needed to be an organization put in place that would honor the black women for her strength, courage, intelligence and beauty. Too many times to count, there have been repeated instances, stories told by other Black women who have dreams of starting their own businesses yet are crippled by either fear, lack of knowledge or lack of support from those around them. Interestingly enough, there is history of Black businesses thriving and supporting each other in what was once known as Black Wall Street. Black Wall Street, formerly known as The Greenwood Neighborhood, was in Tulsa, Oklahoma back in 1905. Blacks during this time created a self-sufficient and prosperous business district which included a grocery store, barbershop, doctor's office and real estate agents. They even had their own school and newspaper! After a race riot that broke out in 1921, many of the businesses and homes were destroyed which after an attempt to rebuild, Black Wall Street never regained the strength and prestige it once had. For Black Women's Wall Street, Inc., we not only look to rebuild the community of businesses and support of what Black Wall Street once was but we want to do it on a slightly unique scale. Our Black women have been the strength that others have borrowed from and now, not only as women, but as Black women, we are requiring a seat at the table. We have grand ideas, formal education, husbands, children and elderly parents who look to us as nurturers, educators and providers in our homes. We are multi-talented with the brains to be CEO's in our homes, hearts the size of Texas and beauty that is often emulated. Black Women's Wall Street is on a mission to strengthen, encourage, train, support and empower women to not only create their own businesses but to be self-sustaining past the 3-5 year decline of most startup businesses. We look to create a community of women who want more and will fight to have more so that we can build a legacy and create wealth for our families for generations to come. When Black women fight for any cause, we fight for issues that benefit everyone and all communities! ​Black Women's Wall Street, Inc is a proud member of The Mansfield Area Chamber of Commerce and Arlington Black Chamber of Commerce. ​Connect with this amazing women entrepreneur and continue to GO BE GREAT! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/warkry/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/warkry/support

Our Black hair speaks volumes about our lives, and can be a source of joy or pain. Featuring music inspired by “I am not my hair" by India.Arie. Illustrations by Ashley Floréal. Original music by Janaé E. This series is brought to you by the California Medical Association, the California Health Care Foundation, The California Wellness Foundation, and donations from our listeners. Learn more and support us at thenocturnists.com. Thank you!

Our Black and Brown in America series continues with two mothers of daughters. Listen as Ginain Grayes and LaToya Hayes discuss their fears as they raise daughters in America. How do they deal with their girls' questions on race, the murder of black men and women and the future they hope for as their daughters grow up in America?

In this episode we talk about: The Black lives matter struggle continues. J. Cole has some words for Noname. Black people are turning up dead. Our Black lives don't matter to Arsenal. Why always Steve?   “To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time. ”― James Baldwin Intro: Apollo Fresh - JoJo Pose Outro: Vybz Kartel - Not Ok Rate the podcast and leave a review on whatever podcast listening app you are using. It helps us a lot, in terms of hearing your opinions and allowing people who might like the show see it advertised to them. Your thoughts on how we can improve are appreciated. Hit us up on our email, itsavibepodcast@gmail.com and the social media networks below.  Twitter: @itsavibepodcast Instagram: @itsavibepodcast   You can find Aaron on: Instagram - @aj_blast Twitter - @Aj_Blaster PSN - AJ_Blaster   You can find Steven on: Twitter - @MidnightSwami Instagram - @DaMidnightSwami PSN - DaMidnightSwami    You can find Keiron on: Instagram – @rano_300_

A huge thanks to Club Kwench for hosting us! If you missed the Victoria BLM Rally, it was an incredible event. Our guests today are none other than the great Pamphinette Buisa, Vanessa Simon and Asiyah Robinson. We stand with them. "We will never understand but we will stand with you."Isolation is at the heart of racism. Until we are equal, we will be separated. We all need and deserve a place to belong.Confidence comes from a place of belief and truth deep within.Vulnerability is crucial in being able to share your voice.Dave Chappelle's post George Floyd tribute is powerful. "I didn't have to speak up because the streets were crying out."Not racist is not a thing. You're either racist or anti-racist. Part of the problem or part of the solution. Check out Ibram Kendi's amazing book on "How To Be An Anti Racist."Being not racist is NOT enough. Be Anti-Racist.Canada is just like everywhere else. Racism is alive and not well.For more information on micro-aggressionsApologizing and being polite can be an obstacle to real dialogue. "Silence is Violence." "Hurt People hurt people."Deflection of Responsibility - don't wait for someone else to step up and do what is right! We are individuals in a collective society so we must look out for others and stand up for each other. You have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable if you hope to move forward and make a difference.Vic Sees. Vic Hears. Fists Up. Equality means its OURS. If you're concerned about the COVID-19 threat at the BLM Rallies, consider this: Our Black brothers and sisters have lived with a far more deadly pandemic for centuries. If you're curious about the origin of Black Lives Matter. BLM exists in the hearts and minds of everyone. It can never be closed or destroyed. That is why it ultimately is a movement of Hope."All Lives can't matter until Black Lives Matter. We're asking for human rights. We're asking for the right to live." "When we're divided, it's easy to conquer. When we're unified, movements can happen. We're calling you to action, to step up and stand up for someone else. We're calling you to action to invest in this community.""We're not doing all the work for you. We're letting you know what you need to do and you need to decided how far you can take it. We're looking for educated allies.""What can you do? Start with your skill and expertise and use your current position to make change."Resources for Change: Once we know better, we can do better."We're so rain soaked in racism, we don't even know it until someone hands us an umbrella." Ibram Kendi. Here's your Umbrella. Start Here. Documentary: Netflix's 13th DocumentaryBooks: How to be An Anti Racist,  White Fragility.Why do we think the things we think and where is it coming from?Success is the process and journey we take to achieve the outcome we desire.Success won't happen unless the next generation continues the work and builds off us.Progress is impossible without conversation.  Don't play it safe. Nobody got to the end of their life and said, "oh, I'm so glad I played it safe."This is the beginning. What happens next is up to us. A HUGE thank you to Coco Jones for donating her original painting of Nipsey Hussle who was tragically murdured in 2019. Please bid on this work of art HERE and all monies will go to the Black In BC Community Support Fund for COVID-19. 

This meditation podcast is designed for my white brothers and sisters. For white people wanting to take authentic action to be an anti-racist and create a more inclusive, equitable world.  You may be feeling frozen, notice fears of not wanting to say the wrong thing, fear of being a follower or even feeling so overwhelmed you don't even know where to start! Wherever you are on the spectrum, it is important to take action. The journey to becoming a true ally to the Black community is just that, a journey. There is a lot of unlearning and learning we most do. Taking authentic action is key because that is where you will see sustainable change on the path to ally-ship. And authentic action will feel empowering versus draining.  Our world needs us to show up. Our Black communities need us to be showing up. My hope is that this meditation creates a safe space for you to reflect and connect how you want to be showing up in the world.

The world is in a state of change right now. Our Black brothers and sisters across the globe have been terrorized by authorities for decades, centuries even, and over these past weeks the tension boiled over with the cold-blooded murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd at the hands of police officers. Hip Hop is a culture created by African Americans so we wanted to ensure we covered these recent events and shine some light on what's happening in North America and beyond. While the #BlackLivesMatter portion was the bulk of the episode, we touched on the first gospel #Verzuz from the weekend and ran through some new releases, along with looking at Phonte's question as to whether Joe Rogan's Spotify deal will cause artists to require a fee to appear on podcasts. Stay safe, y'all. ARTISTS: Contact info@illnotestudios.com for the production/mixing/mastering opportunity. Theme tune produced by Notion. Purchase beats: notionbeats.com Follow the team everywhere: @TheMovementFam @CeeFor @Notionbaby

Our Black lives matter and we need to speak for those who can't. Join Quinc and Garv as they venture into the harsh reality of racism and privilege in light of the death of Ahmaud Arbrey, shedding the light on what we fear as black men and what we hope all of us can learn from this.

In this episode I highlight some of the things that our black men have to deal with on the outside and on the inside. Our Black men are mentally uncalibrated and they are not loved properly. Our black men are misunderstood And they are hurting on a different level that people cannot see we have to have some changes around here this is not everything but I highlight quite a few things and I’ll continue to touch bases on these points

JaCoi James Author of The Single Mother's Path to Wealth joins our show today and opens up about resilience and stick-to-itiveness. This fireside chat was truly amazing to be a part of as I walked away inspired, encouraged and with feelings of fortitude. JaCoi owns and operates a small business consulting practice: J&K Solutions in addition to serving as President of Black Women's Wall Street. Black Women's Wall Street Mission: To empower Black women who aspire to become business owners by equipping them with startup business training, financial literacy and education so they can impact local and global communities. Believe It. Build It. Own It. Black Women's Wall Street was formed in 2018 by women who each had a unique, yet powerful background. Each of these ladies recognized the greatness in each other and felt that there needed to be an organization put in place that would honor the black women for her strength, courage, intelligence and beauty. Too many times to count, there have been repeated instances, stories told by other Black women who have dreams of starting their own businesses yet are crippled by either fear, lack of knowledge or lack of support from those around them. Interestingly enough, there is history of Black businesses thriving and supporting each other in what was once known as Black Wall Street. Black Wall Street, formerly known as The Greenwood Neighborhood, was in Tulsa, Oklahoma back in 1905. Blacks during this time created a self-sufficient and prosperous business district which included a grocery store, barbershop, doctor's office and real estate agents. They even had their own school and newspaper! After a race riot that broke out in 1921, many of the businesses and homes were destroyed which after an attempt to rebuild, Black Wall Street never regained the strength and prestige it once had. For Black Women's Wall Street, we not only look to rebuild the community of businesses and support of what Black Wall Street once was but we want to do it on a slightly unique scale. Our Black women have been the strength that others have borrowed from and now not only as women, but as Black women, we are requiring a seat at the table. We have grand ideas, formal education, husbands, children and elderly parents who look to us as nurturers, educators and providers in our homes. We are multi-talented with the brains to be CEOs in our homes, hearts the size of Texas and beauty that is often emulated. Black Women's Wall Street is on a mission to strengthen, encourage, train, support and empower women to not only create their own businesses but to be self-sustaining past the 3-5 year decline of most startup businesses. We look to create a community of women who want more and will fight to have more so that we can build a legacy and create wealth for our families for generations to come. When Black women fight for any cause, we fight for issues that benefit everyone and all communities! Black Women's Wall Street, Inc. dba BWWS, Inc. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/warkry/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/warkry/support

A Girl's Trip like no other!  Essence Fest 2018 showed up and showed out in it's 24th year, breaking records while reminding everyone...Our Black is Beautiful.  Black women from around the world came together in celebration of one another.  The Festival Girls give you just a taste of the chocolatey goodness you missed out on.

Listen to Stephanie Lahart as she encourages young Black men to value their education. She offers a lot of inspiring food-for-thought about having self-respect, college tips, working hard and genuinely applying yourself in school, doing research, and MORE. Stephanie Lahart words-of-wisdom is geared to empower African American male youth to work hard in school, the importance of studying to gain knowledge, doing their homework/classroom curriculum, participate in classroom activities, and much more! This podcast episode is inspiring, encouraging, and motivational! Motivating young Black males to succeed in life and to do great things! Our Black boys do NOT have to fail silently in school… They just need people that genuinely care about them succeeding, proper education, encouragement, support, and resources. We’ve got to do our part to make sure that they succeed and that they have the necessary tools to excel in school and college. We can’t afford to let our young Black Kings give up! The amount of young Black men that drop out of school is alarming. Our young Black men are innovative, smart, intelligent, creative, and SO much more! Note: If you’re a parent, and/or guardian, teacher, school counselor, mentor, etc… I encourage you to be mindful of what you see. We’ve got to be genuinely involved if we want our children to succeed. What can we do? Ask them how they’re doing in school. Ask to see their schoolwork and homework. Check their grades… Review their report card and discuss their grades with them. Have open communication with their teachers. Make sure that they’re studying at home the way that they’re supposed to be. Talk to your children! Ask them what they like about school and what they don’t like. Are they being bullied by other students? What kind of relationships do they have with their teachers. Are they getting the help that they need at school? If your child is struggling, get them the extra help that they need. Teach them to have self-respect and self-discipline. You get my point… Be involved on EVERY level… It’s imperative! We have an obligation to mold, shape, and give them proper guidance… Are you doing your part? Are you giving them your VERY best? Are you helping them to achieve greatness, or are you hindering them, too? Young Black male youth matter, and they need to know that we care!

Our Black lives STILL matter! Politics as usual (1:22) Baby 'Tendo (5:27) Lemonade is a popular drink (8:23) Was Jesus really a carpenter? (11:46) Our daddies (24:00) The state of Black America (37:08) You got a game? (1:31:18) Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter @ swnpodcast! Be sure to check out our website, ThisIsSWN.com!!! This episode is sponsored by Power In One! Visit PIOclothing.com and enter discount code SAYWHATNOW at checkout to receive 15% off!