On Whiteness

A conversation with systemic racism in the realm of maternal and infant health with two women who have experienced it firsthand and have made it their mission to help others.

Kimberly Novod is the founder and executive director of Saul's Light Foundation, an organization founded by Kimberly and her husband after the death of their son when he was 20 days old due to complications from prematurity. Saul's Light offers support and services to NICU families including: NICU family funds to assist families with nonmedical costs, the establishment of “Little Libraries" in NICUs to provide books for parents to share with their babies, the donation of CuddleCots to allow families to spend more quality time with their baby who has died, and a peer support program for NICU and bereaved families to connect with others who have previously gone through a similar journey. You can find out more about Saul's Light on its website.


Demetrice Smith is a dually trained Certified Nurse Midwife and Family Nurse Practitioner. She is currently pursuing her Doctor of Nursing Practice with a specialization in Educational Leadership. She and her husband have 3 earthly babies and 4 angel babies, and her experience with pregnancy loss allows her to truly connect with her clients. You can find her at The Melanated Midwife.

Dianne Morales is an Afro-Latina single mother who is running to become the mayor of New York City. Dianne would not only be the first Latina mayor of NYC, but also the first female mayor. Her vision for her city is one in which all people are not just surviving, but thriving. As she says, "New York City doesn’t work until it works for everyone."

In this conversation, we talk about her mission to center the voices of those most affected by our society's failures, about how our systems were inherently built to oppress and must be reimagined, and how that strategy could radically alter the America we have today— not just in NYC, but in all of our communities.

You can learn more about Dianne on her website.

A story about pain and the search for a diagnosis, about trauma and the way it affects our bodies, about women and anxiety, and about the intersection of all of these complex parts.

Cyndie Randall is a writer, poet, and therapist whose work can be found in various print and online journals. Visit cyndierandall.com for a list of publications and for more info. You can also connect with Cyndie through her Facebook page or on Twitter.

Recommended resources for further learning: 

• For more information on POTS and Dysautonomia, visit Dysautonomia International.
• For more information on trauma and its effects on our body, see The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
• For more information on Sigmund Freud and incestuous abuse as referenced in this interview, see Father-Daughter Incest by Judith Lewis Herman.

Shane Claiborne is a prominent speaker, activist, and best-selling author.  Shane worked with Mother Teresa in Calcutta, and founded The Simple Way in Philadelphia.  He heads up Red Letter Christians, a movement of folks who are committed to living "as if Jesus meant the things he said."

Shane shares with us about how he believes whiteness has affected the theology of American Christians and what to do about it.

Find out more about Shane on his website and his Twitter. 

Recommended resources for further learning: 

• Lisa Sharon Harper's Talk: White Blessing and The Very Good Gospel
• The Cross and the Lynching Tree by Dr. James Cone
• Red Letter Christians Resources

Dr. Ayaz Virji is the author of the book Love Thy Neighbor: A Muslim Doctor's Struggle for Home in Rural America. He is also a practicing family physician and bariatric physician who now splits his time between Dawson, MN and Abu Dhabi.

Ayaz shares with us his story of learning to love his neighbor in the wake of the 2016 election of Donald Trump and how he learned to bridge the divide of politics and religion to try to bring true understanding and empathy.

You can purchase his book and follow him on Twitter.

Munchie Morgan Clement is a writer, business owner, and the founder of Someone Else's Sarah, a resource in addiction and suicide awareness and education, in memory of her sister, Sarah Keturah Marvel. The focus is to bring hope to "someone else's Sarah." You can find her on her website or on Facebook.

Recommended resources for further learning: 

Books:

• Beautiful Boy by David Sheff
• Tweak by Nic Sheff
• Clean by David Sheff
• In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté
• Unbroken Brain by Maia Szalavitz
• Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari
• Dreamland by Sam Quinones 
• Everything Is Horrible and Wonderful by Stephanie Wittels Wachs
• Tragedy + Time by Adam Cayton-Holland

Jen Fry is a social justice educator who trains organizations, institutions, and businesses through an antiracist lens on issues of race, inclusion, intersectionality, diversity, and equity. She runs JenFryTalks, a social justice education firm that uses conversation to educate and empower those within athletics through an anti-racist lens on issues of race, inclusion, intersectionality, diversity, and equity.

Jen shares with us today how to go beyond allyship and how to be a co-conspirator to people of color in our homes, our work, and even on social media.

Definitions of Race with Sources: Courtesy of Jen Fry, jenfrytalks.com

• Race: A socially constructed system to classify humans based off of phenotypical characteristics, like skin color, hair texture, and bone texture. Source: Is Everyone Really Equal?: An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education (Multicultural Education Series)
• Racism: Racism is a system in which one race maintains supremacy over another race through a set of attitudes, behaviors, social structures, and institutional power. Source: Barbara Love, 1994. Understanding Internalized Oppression    
• Whiteness: The academic term used to capture the all-encompassing dimensions of White privilege, dominance, and assumed superiority in society. These dimensions include: ideological, institutional, social, cultural, historical, political, and interpersonal. Source: Is Everyone Really Equal?: An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education (Multicultural Education Series)
• Anti-Racism: Anti-racism is the active process of identifying and eliminating racism by changing systems, organizational structures, policies and practices and attitudes, so that power is redistributed and shared equitably. Source: NAC International Perspective: Women and Global Solidarity

Recommended resources for further learning: 

Books:

• I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown
• White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
• Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad
• How to be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
• The Very Good Gospel by Lisa Sharon Harper
• So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
• Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Tears We Cannot Stop by Michael Eric Dyson
• Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall
• Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper
• The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
• Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Renni Eddo-Lodge

Websites/Articles:

• Jen Fry’s Resource Page
• Austin Channing Brown’s The Next Question Show
• Unpacking White Feminism by Rachel Cargle
• Seeing White Podcast by Scene On Radio
• 1619 Podcast by NYT
• CodeSwitch by NPR
• Intersectionality Matters Podcast
• The Secret Lives of Black Women Podcast

To learn more about Jen’s work or to hire her, please visit her on Instagram, Twitter, her website, or text DISRUPT to 55-444 that will sign you up for Victoria’s updates.

One disease. Two families. Several different outcomes. Victoria Strong and Amy Medina share their experiences with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Type 1 and how putting hope into action can change a disease forever.

Links from today's episode:

• Read more of Victoria's story, learn about the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation, or shop Victoria's clothing brand at www.nevergiveup.org. 
• Learn more about Amy Medina and her family at their CaringBridge site.
• Learn more about SMA here.

Dr. Victoria Farris is a disrupter, a truth teller, and a justice seeker, and through her 12+ years of a experience as a higher education professional, she has developed framework for effective allyship that outlines an action-based guide for disrupting racism on individual, group, and organizational levels. Victoria shares with us both her personal experience and growth as well as the product of her research, explaining how white people can disrupt and dismantle systemic racism.

Definitions of Race with Sources: Courtesy of Jen Fry, jenfrytalks.com

• Race: A socially constructed system to classify humans based off of phenotypical characteristics, like skin color, hair texture, and bone texture. Source: Is Everyone Really Equal?: An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education (Multicultural Education Series)
• Racism: Racism is a system in which one race maintains supremacy over another race through a set of attitudes, behaviors, social structures, and institutional power. Source: Barbara Love, 1994. Understanding Internalized Oppression    
• Whiteness: The academic term used to capture the all-encompassing dimensions of White privilege, dominance, and assumed superiority in society. These dimensions include: ideological, institutional, social, cultural, historical, political, and interpersonal. Source: Is Everyone Really Equal?: An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education (Multicultural Education Series)
• Anti-Racism: Anti-racism is the active process of identifying and eliminating racism by changing systems, organizational structures, policies and practices and attitudes, so that power is redistributed and shared equitably. Source: NAC International Perspective: Women and Global Solidarity

Recommended resources for further learning: 

Books:

• I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown
• White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
• Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad
• How to be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
• The Very Good Gospel by Lisa Sharon Harper
• So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
• Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Tears We Cannot Stop by Michael Eric Dyson
• Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall
• Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper
• The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
• Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Renni Eddo-Lodge

Websites/Articles:

• Jen Fry’s Resource Page
• Austin Channing Brown’s The Next Question Show
• Unpacking White Feminism by Rachel Cargle
• Seeing White Podcast by Scene On Radio
• 1619 Podcast by NYT
• CodeSwitch by NPR
• Intersectionality Matters Podcast
• The Secret Lives of Black Women Podcast

To learn more about Victoria’s work, to join her book club, or to sign up for a workshop, please visit her on Instagram, Twitter, her website, or text DISRUPT to 55-444 that will sign you up for Victoria’s updates.

Haley Moss is an advocate, author, artist, attorney and openly autistic. She talks about what her experience has been with her disability and how she has gone on to push for more neurodiversity in society. 

Links from today's episode:

• Haley's website for all her advocacy work. https://haleymoss.net/
• An article Haley recommended about Neurodiversity as a competitive advantage.
• Drexel University has done comprehensive research on the factors that influence the life of those on the autism spectrum. Haley's referenced their findings in her work. You can learn more here.