Us with Dr. Crystallee Crain - Critical Conversations On The Challenges and Opportunities Of Our Times

Meet Sandhya Rani Jha. 

Sandhya Jha (they/them) is an anti-oppression consultant who particularly loves helping organizations get Diversity/Equity/Inclusion teams off the ground. Sandhya is the founder and former executive director of the Oakland Peace Center, a collective of 40 organizations working to create equity, access, and dignity as the means of creating peace in Oakland and the Bay Area. An ordained pastor with a master’s in public policy, Sandhya is comfortable in the pulpit, on the picket line, or hanging out with friends and friends-to-be over a good cup of tea and a good story. Sandhya’s fifth book with Chalice Press, Rebels, Despots, and Saints, will release on MLK Day 2023.

What others have said about them?

“They dealt with issues of differences, tolerance, and respect in a gentle and inspiring way. She helped us to tell our stories and listen to the stories of our sisters.”

“I greatly value her contributions and activism among the South Asian diaspora communities on social justice issues, particularly as it relates to cross-cultural communication, racial, gender, and sexual rights.”

https://sandhyajha.com/

Rhodes believes in the power of authenticity at work. He loves putting this belief into practice by helping leaders – and those on their way to joining them – build belonging at work. Learn more about Rhodes’ background here.

With two decades of change management experience, Rhodes helps leaders from broad range of sectors including government agencies, non-profit organizations, and corporations advance their diversity, equity, and inclusion commitments by building psychological safety, trust and belonging in their organizations.

“Graceful leadership comes from a place of confidence and humility. Combine those qualities with passion and a deep understanding of the needs of LGBTQ young people navigating the challenges of poverty and you have Rhodes. I’ve learned so much from watching Rhodes lead my Agency, helping us improve our services for LGBTQ communities.”— Gladys Carrión, Esq., Commissioner, NYC Administration for Children’s Services

“As one of the nation’s smartest experts on transgender policy matters, Rhodes offers an important perspective to ensure that the needs and concerns of transgender and gender non-conforming people are appropriately represented. Through his work, he’s helped implement life-saving policies by connecting key stakeholders with concrete practices to improve the well-being of transgender and gender non-conforming people.”— Mara Keisling, Executive Director, The National Center for Transgender Equality

Meet Andréa Raquel, a history maker - show stopper and starter, and all-around beautiful human. 

I’ve been so blessed to have met her and I’m glad to share her light with my listeners.

Today we are tapping into what it means to be a person in the world right now, the ethos that guides us, and how we intend and sometimes unintentionally lead in our communities. Sometimes when we say community we think of physical spaces.  I think that notion has changed over time, but more acutely in these past few years when physical space is shared differently and our perception of space, proximity to others, and how we choose to be in spaces is at the forefront of our minds and hearts.  To guide us in this thought experiment I’d like to introduce you to my sister Andrea Raquel.

I’m so glad to bring on four amazing guests who have dedicated their wisdom and time to researching and understanding health disparities and ways to increase equity in care, research, and overall access.  Today the topic we are tapping into an important conversation on health as a human right. It only feels right to acknowledge that on Friday, June 24th - the Supreme Court ruling on Dobbs v Jackson overturned the right to abortion that was in place since Roe v Wade was decided. Many of us have been realing with the impact of this monumental change. Reproductive justice advocates, and people all over the world are watching this regression of rights and looking for some answers.

In a statement posted last week by the Black Women’s Health Imperative they wrote:

“....as Black women and gender expansive people, we are under attack at every turn, with neither the courts or Congress coming to our aid. Our voting rights have been eviscerated. Our right to raise our families without fear is nonexistent. Now our hard-fought right to bodily autonomy has been stripped from us. We shoulder all the burdens of citizenship without the most basic benefits.”

We are lucky to discuss some of the issues that need to be highlighted as we enter into this new era, with already stark dispartiies and inequality in a health care system for comunities of color and in particular black and brown bodies. To unpack some of these realities, we have Dr Jeannette Wade, Dr Nasra Abubakar, Dr Sharon Parker, and Dr Helyne Frederick.

Guest Information is below:

• Dr Jeannette Wade - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeannette-wade-phd-918a4628/ 
• Dr Nasra Abubakar - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nasra-abubakar-ph-d-89346a106/ 
• Dr Helyne Frederick- https://www.linkedin.com/in/helyne-ingrid-f-2896159/ 
• Dr Sharon Parker - https://www.linkedin.com/in/parkersdr/

Kim is the Creative Director and Stylist for Elizabeth in Pearls, which is named after her grandmothers Elizabeth - also known as grandmommy - and Pearl - also known as Ma Pearl. 

As the Founder of Elizabeth In Pearls, she creates uncommon jewelry and art that speak uplifting stories and messages.  I’m hoping today we can talk about some of those uplifting messages and the roots of her creative process. I brought Kim on the show to talk about her creative process, and interest in helping people find their own style throughout their journey and how they reflect themselves back to the world.

Learn more at www.elizabethinpearls.com.

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Elisha Hall, the African American Engagement Director with Compassion and Choices, and Joel Simone Maldanado, who is a recent addition to the Board of Directors and a licensed funeral director, insurance agent, and sacred grief practitioner.

Compassion and Choices is an organization dedicated to improving care, expanding options, and empowering everyone to chart their end-of-life journey. The tricky part for people is that we can’t predict or know when our journey and our life will end. I’ve always felt that we should not only have full autonomy over our lives but also the final chapters of our journeys. To me, it's an issue of importance for people of any age and background. We will all face these concerns in our lifetime, more than once, for others and eventually for ourselves.

Learn more about Compassion & Choices at www.compassionandchoices.org. Learn more about Joel's works at www.thegravewoman.com. 

What does Compassion & Choices do?

Dementia End-of-Life Care

We're working to transform how people die with dementia to ensure people are aware, empowered and supported in getting the care they want – or do not want – should dementia take hold.

Healthcare Equity at the End of Life

Compassion & Choices is working in partnership with 

our Leadership Councils and partner organizations to address inequities in end-of-life care and planning.

Medical Aid in Dying

Compassion & Choices is leading efforts to authorize, implement and defend medical aid in dying so all terminally ill people who are eligible will have access to the full range of end-of-life care options.

Voluntarily Stop Eating and Drinking

Compassion & Choices is working to raise awareness about the option of voluntarily stopping eating and drinking.

Gigi Traore is the newly appointed Mayor of Newburgh Heights, Ohio. She is the first black mayor of this town. Gigi is also the Founder & Principal Consultant with G3 MANAGEMENT Firm.

For over a decade G3 MANAGEMENT Firm has provided strategic development, management, and sustainable solutions to clients in Midwest states. Professionally, Gigi has over 20 years of experience in politics, nonprofit, and business as an elected official, political operative, nonprofit executive, board member, and business owner.

We talk about leadership, legacy, and political changes in the country and in Ohio.

As reported in the IOM Interim report - The International Observer Mission, sponsored by the ICHRP, found that the May 9 Philippine National Elections were marred by a higher level of failure of the electronic voting systems than ever before, along with a higher level of blatant vote-buying, disturbing levels of red-tagging and a number of incidents of violence. 

According to the IOM report, the election did not meet the standard of “free and fair” because of voters having restricted access to reliable information, access to the voting places without intimidation, and a credible vote counting system. The results gave the Marcos-Duterte team a massive victory that has been met with widespread skepticism and a growing protest. 

Violations against the people of the Philippines include political killings, shootings, abductions, death threats, political arrests, harassment and surveillance of candidates and supporters, very large-scale red tagging, widespread vote-buying, media manipulation and repression, fake news and harassment of journalists by the Marcos campaign.

____

Today we have the National Coordinator of ICHRP, Drew Miller, and ICHRP members Laila Macfoy and Mack Miller.

Importance of activism, managing ourselves in these tumultuous political times and the good news is that people want to heal!

Watch/Listen at https://www.facebook.com/transformationtalkradio/live_videos/

I’m so glad to bring on four amazing guests who have dedicated their wisdom and time to researching and understanding health disparities and ways to increase equity in care, research, and overall access.  Today the topic we are tapping into an important conversation on health as a human right. It only feels right to acknowledge that on Friday, June 24th - the Supreme Court ruling on Dobbs v Jackson overturned the right to abortion that was in place since Roe v Wade was decided. Many of us have been realing with the impact of this monumental change. Reproductive justice advocates, and people all over the world are watching this regression of rights and looking for some answers.

In a statement posted last week by the Black Women’s Health Imperative they wrote:

“....as Black women and gender expansive people, we are under attack at every turn, with neither the courts or Congress coming to our aid. Our voting rights have been eviscerated. Our right to raise our families without fear is nonexistent. Now our hard-fought right to bodily autonomy has been stripped from us. We shoulder all the burdens of citizenship without the most basic benefits.”

We are lucky to discuss some of the issues that need to be highlighted as we enter into this new era, with already stark dispartiies and inequality in a health care system for comunities of color and in particular black and brown bodies. To unpack some of these realities, we have Dr Jeannette Wade, Dr Nasra Abubakar, Dr Sharon Parker, and Dr Helyne Frederick.

Guest Information is below:

• Dr Jeannette Wade - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeannette-wade-phd-918a4628/ 
• Dr Nasra Abubakar - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nasra-abubakar-ph-d-89346a106/ 
• Dr Helyne Frederick- https://www.linkedin.com/in/helyne-ingrid-f-2896159/ 
• Dr Sharon Parker - https://www.linkedin.com/in/parkersdr/

Today we have a very special guest with us, Beth Santos - the founder and CEO of Wanderful. Beth and I met at the first-ever Wanderfest event in New Orleans in March of this year. She was so supportive and her team created an environment where I felt like I had found my tribe. 

For me, travel has been a major part of my identity, and that's why I resonate so much with Beth. Since I was a teenager I’ve had the joy of the world being my greatest teacher, a tool for my own healing, and a resource for personal and professional growth. 

Stay with us for the next hour as Beth and I talk about travel and leadership.

With a background in international development, thoughtful community building, and social enterprise, Beth Santos is out to change the landscape of travel for women worldwide. In 2009, while cruising her blue motorcycle through the streets of São Tomé and Príncipe, Beth created the first iteration of Wanderful as a travel blog aimed to explore the diverse and shared experiences of women traveling the world. Today, Wanderful has exploded to an international community and social network with the active participation of over 40,000 women and gender-diverse people of all ages and backgrounds. This is manifested through an active membership community, chapter events in over 50 global cities worldwide, and annual community events and trips.

In 2014, Beth created the WITS Travel Creator + Brand Summit, the leading event for women and gender diverse travel creators, entrepreneurs, and industry to use their voices to champion change in the travel industry, now hosted annually on two continents This event has earned international acclaim and attracted top talent in the travel industry and beyond, leading to the 2019 creation of the Bessie Awards — an award ceremony to honor women of impact in the travel space. In combatting social inequity and encouraging people to travel thoughtfully, Wanderful is the creator of the Moving Forward Anti-Racism Town Hall for the Travel Industry, recognized in Business Insider and Phocuswire, as well as the first Anti-Oppression Toolkit for Travel + Culture Creators.

In 2022, Wanderful launched Wanderfest, the first major outdoor travel festival by and for women, hailed by Fodor’s Travel as the new festival to add to your radar.

Wanderful has been recognized in top publications such as Skift, Lonely Planet, the Boston Globe, the South China Morning Post, Forbes, Business Insider and the Chicago Tribune.

Beth has been recognized in Business Insider as one of 17 changemakers transforming the hospitality industry, in Conde Nast Traveller as one of 12 inspiring people to follow for International Women’s Day,  in TimeOut as one of 10 people shaping the future of Boston, as well as a BostInno 50 on Fire, a Chicago Scholars 35 Under 35 Young Leader Making an Impact, a Zell Fellow (a prestigious fellowship for entrepreneurs pursuing their MBA), and an alumna of the Babson WIN Lab. She was recognized by the Obama Administration as one of the top 100 travel bloggers in the US. In 2022, she was named Godmother of the Azamara Onward.

She is a dynamic keynote speaker, an entrepreneurship and marketing consultant for the travel + tourism industry, and a supportive coach who thrives on helping people build lasting, impactful communities.

For today's episode, I’m honored to speak with long time trailblazer President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe - Kevin Killer. I met Kevin in 2006 when we were both Young People For fellows, a project of People for the American Way. Since then I’ve watched his world expand and his commitment deepen as he works to bolster the gifts of his tribe while advocating for access in the halls of power of the American government. 

As we spend time with President Kevin Killer, we will explore topics of leadership, democracy, and hope. Kevin Killer, an enrolled member and President of the Oglala Sioux tribe, served 10 years in the South Dakota legislature, representing a district that includes the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He is a co-founder of Advance Native Political Leadership, which seeks to train the next generation of Native leaders to run, manage, and lead successful campaigns at all levels of government. He recently completed his fellowship with the Open Society Foundation Leadership in Government program working on Truth and Healing in Native communities in the United States. 

He attended Lakota College and was the first Tribal College Fellow of a progressive youth leadership development organization, Young People For (YP4). Killer expanded Young People For's tribal college network into an independent, Native-led organization called the Native Youth Leadership Alliance (NYLA) in 2009. Killer serves on the board of the People for the American Way Foundation, and past service includes, the National Indian Education Association, the Lakota College Board of Trustees, the Young Elected Officials Network, the Quad Caucus, and the National Caucus Native American State Legislators. He was a 2015 Bush Fellow.

Department of Interior Renaming

Department of Interior Indian Burial Sites

International solidarity is not a new notion for me as an activist and as a person who identifies as a global citizen. I’ve had a long interest in how we identify what self determination and governance means to us. I’m curious about how people use or misuse power in the name of a government or in the name of “the people”. I want to see a world where people have the right to choose how they are governed and how they are able to

Because of this, I traveled to the Philippines and spent time in Manila (the capitol) and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanoa to get a historical perspective on the importance of this years (2022) presidential election and beyond.

During this episode you will hear from education leaders, government leaders, and others who have witnessed the changes and often tumultuous social and political changes. These brave leaders will discuss their country and how the U.S. imperial relationship impacts the livelihood of people in the Philippines.

Stay with us for the next hour and learn about the relationship between the U.S. and the Philippines, tap into the importance of the May 9th election, and what the results may mean for the people of the Philippines.

I’m your host, Dr Crystallee Crain and this is US on Transformation Talk Radio.

Kari Fulton is an award-winning Environmental and Climate Justice, organizer, writer, and historian. She has worked with various domestic and global coalitions to coordinate campaigns and national conferences including Power Shift, the largest youth climate summits in the United States and the People’s Climate March. 

Fulton has trained and engaged students and communities on Climate and Environmental Justice across the United States and the world. Her work has been featured in various media outlets including Black Entertainment Television (BET), Teen Vogue, Essence Magazine, and Chinese Cable Television America (CCTV). Fulton is a mother, a bike enthusiast, and a graduate of Howard University and Georgetown University.

www.checktheweather.net

Dr Darlene Hall is a black lesbian psychologist with strong social justice. Born on the same day as the legendary bell hooks, Dr Hall is unwavering in her commitment to mental and physical health, eliminating oppression and improving life chances. Dr Hall has 25 years experience in the mental health field as a direct service provider in community mental health, nonprofit, and private practice settings working with communities that are diverse, underserved, and disenfranchised, including low income, people of color, women, the LGBTQIA community, children and youth. Dr Hall has a thriving psychotherapy practice and a consultancy - called Intersections consulting where she provides training, coaching, facilitation, technical assistance and much more.

I have brought Darlene on the show to share with us her analysis and perspectives on the impacts of oppression on our mental health and to discuss potential strategies to heal ourselves.

I, like many others, understand how we can be directly and indirectly impacted by the “isms” of the world. Over a decade ago I ran a violence prevention certificate program for practitioners in Oakland, and I used to tell my students that the things that happen to us don’t define us. I remind myself about our internal strength and ancestral knowledge of what we know and how we got that knowledge.

In this episode Dr Hall and I discuss the connections between stress, trauma, and systems of oppression.

I have never been a fan of the old saying - money makes the world go round. There's a reason for that. Money has been developed as a tool to barter and name a value for items and services. The tool is used by people, but rarely does it benefit everyone. 

As we know, we live in a capitalist society where profit over people generally rules the day. One of the things I love about doing this show is bringing people to my listeners that believe in a different world. 

Se-ah-dom Edmo - the Executive Director of Seeding Justice Foundation believes that everyone plays a role in creating and sustaining this world. By building community, living our values, and working together towards this vision, they participate in the creation of justice and inspire hope for the future.

With the racial wealth gap growing, and the rights of our communities and our environment under constant attack – we need a better solutions. At Seeding Justice, they’ve reimagined Donor-Advised Funds with a new program where donors and community benefit and they are spear-heading charitable reform efforts to increase community engagement.

Learn more at https://www.seedingjustice.org/donor-in-movement-funds/.

We are all sitting with the reality that a year ago there was a violent insurrection at the U.S. capitol where white supremacists and supporters of the 45th president tried to overturn the 2020 election. While this was not the first or last time there has been a harsh reckoning for the racialized violence that is happening in this country, it was the first time we saw a massive scale action against the capitol and democracy in the 21st century. To make some sense of it all I’m bringing two guests to talk about the intersections of these issues. The impact it’s having on our lives and our experience of democracy.