A poem and reflection on the American Dream inspired by the Jan 2021 attack on the US capitol. 

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Da Vinci. Jobs. Kardashian. Kahlo. There are people we are drawn to and people we respect. In both cases, we sometimes forget to ask...why?

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1:41 - The Service with Something for Everyone 

4:15 - Netflix, the tech company 

9:19 - Netflix, the media company 

16:22  - The First Global TV Network

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An ad on YouTube struck a chord with me recently.

Over scenes of broken families, dilapidated homes, and kids with exposed ribs, a soft voice pleaded.

Most people might have been drawn to the bleakness of the environment. But I was more focused on something else. The people. Almost every person in the video I watched had dark skin.

I think the reason the video resonated with me so deeply is because it reminded me a lot of the African donation campaigns that used to consume TV ad space before 2010. Just like this video, the slow dramatic music and brutal scenes are meant to get your attention. But was the similarity of the situations that these two very different people face just a coincidence…or was there more to this?

That question led me into an exploration of what it means to be black around the world; the relationship between color and class; and the origins of the similarities that stood out to me across cultures.

The new book, Afro-Diffusion, is the result of that search. I was introduced to so many communities that were fully assimilated into their local cultures but still had connections to their African heritage. I never knew there were Afro-Iranians, Afro-Colombians, or Afro-Indians. So, I had to document it.

Today on the podcast, we are going to do something a little different.

My friend Veronica and I have had multiple conversations around race and identity so I wanted to bring her on as someone who might understand the complexities better than I do. She is a Belizean who is mixed with Indian and Dutch but was born in Europe before coming to the states.

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A strong dollar and fragile international relations pose larger questions.

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To help you make sense of small developments within big stories.

Social movements are one of the most powerful tools for meaningful change. By looking through the lens of public opinion, we can better understand how movements evolve. 

This is a general framework to understand how social changes gain support; and how moments turn into movements.

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