Audio Nuggets: Mining For Gold

Welcome to the cypher! We took a break, and now we are back to experience the rhythm of the cypher. We want to thank our loyal listeners for your grace during these tough times. This month's pause was conducive to our overall health. Audio Nuggets is grateful to be joined by a fellow titan, dear friend, and comrade, Valerie Chafograck for Episode 38: Embodied Liberation. 

WE NEEDED THIS!

Valerie Chafograck is an Afro-Caribbean woman born in France and moved to this country in 1990. Her love affair with dance and embodiment combined with her commitment to collective liberation fuels her radical imagination and creativity.  An embodiment facilitator, devoted to decolonizing the body and promote liberation in the body, this inspired Valerie to create Movement Liberation in 2019--a California based healing justice non-profit, blending conscious dance, somatic and social justice perspectives to curate workshops and retreats for Black bodies and bodies of culture.

This conversation occurs just days after the execution of Marcellus Williams in Missouri. The episode begins with uncovering the pattern of Black annihilation, and how centering love for Black bodies will facilitate healing.

The conversation deepens as Valerie describes somatic and embodiment practices for the audience, describing embodiment as love, learning to stay in the body, reclaiming the body, and nurturing the body. Valerie reminds listeners to quiet, slow down, pay attention to the parts of us that need tending and celebration, and weave mindfulness in our daily practice. 

Valerie shares the gifts of conscious dance on the dance floor at Movement Liberation--the importance of ritual, the beauty of being BIG and full, tapping into our born dignity, and following our ancestry for inspiration. All in a way that is unapologetic! Collective care is where it's AT!

To learn more about Valerie and to experience a class or workshop, visit @ Movement Liberation (movement-liberation.com)

This show is part of the SafeCamp Audio podcast network. Learn more at SafeCampAudio.org.

Welcome to Audio Nuggets! In the cypher, we give ourselves rooted permission to tell a collective story of the principled struggle for liberation. We are excited to be joined with a co-struggler and friend, Imani Worthy, for Episode 37: Care and Repair--One Mandate for Freedom.

Imani is a community organizer and proud Black mother, hailing from the vibrant Bronx, New York. In 2019, Imani co-founded Black Families Love and Unite, an organization with a mission to unite Black and brown families while holding the institutions that perpetuate harm accountable.

This episode is grounded in the necessity for reparations for families who have been impacted by the violence of family policing. There has been very little done to make a mass acknowledgement of the atrocities and harms of family policing that linger and persist. Reparations must take on as many forms necessary to address all that was stolen, proportional to the violation, and should be community-based so that communities can provide the communal aid and care that is necessary for healing. 

As growing abolitionists, this conversation is one of liberation and freedom. You will witness the beautiful presence of a critical connection, the practice of being in right relationship with one another, and embracing the “mess” that happens in the cocoon of transformation. And together, we disentangle accountability from punishment.

To learn more about Imani Worthy and the organizing efforts at Black Families Love and Unite, you can visit their website at Black Families Love and Unite.

This show is part of the SafeCamp Audio podcast network. Learn more at SafeCampAudio.org.

Welcome to Audio Nuggets! We are excited to experience the true rhythm of the cypher with our guest Angela Tucker for Episode 36: Transracial Adoption—Believable Lies.
 
Angela Tucker is the CEO of the Adoptee Mentoring Society, cultural commentator, podcast host, inspiring speaker, the author of “You Should Be Grateful:” Stories of Race, Identity and Transracial Adoption. Angela is also the subject of the documentary Closure, chronicling the search for her biological family. 

In this episode, Angela gifts the audience with her deep political analysis of being a Black transracial adoptee in these Americas--what she describes as “the Blackest experience of all”. The believable lies have always been told, yet she always believed something different in her body. Angela shares her smile and energy as she gifts us with the journey of finding her beautiful birth mother family in Tennessee, and the conversation deepens to explore the historical context of forced Black family separation.

Angela is re-claiming her humanity and seeking freedom with transracial adoptees at the Adoptee Mentoring Society, as they tell their stories-- stories that are different from the believable lies they were brainwashed to believe, as they are becoming rooted in truth, love, and community. We are honored to share the cypher with Angela, a Queen who holds it down in the name of FREEDOM!
You can learn more about Angela and her work @ Angela Tucker
"You Should Be Grateful: Stories of Race, Identity, and Transracial Adoption" can be purchased here: You Should Be Grateful: Stories of Race, Identity, and Transracial Adoption a book by Angela Tucker (bookshop.org)

You can watch the documentary Closure here: Closure (vhx.tv)

This show is part of the SafeCamp Audio podcast network. Learn more at SafeCampAudio.org.

Welcome to the cypher, right here on Audio Nuggets! On Audio Nuggets we strive to bend the arc of non-linear modes through conversations that tug and pull from the best of who we are. We give ourselves rooted permission to tell a collective story of the principled struggle for liberation. We are filled with joy and honored to be joined by Myah Overstreet for Episode 35: To Be Invisible—A True Narrative.

Myah Overstreet is a filmmaker and journalist. Her area of focus is on the intersection of culture and racial injustices among marginalized communities. She is dedicated to amplifying bold, untold stories. Just two weeks ago, Myah’s documentary “To Be Invisible” was published on The New Yorker site. The film follows the journey of Alexis and Kelley as they demand the return of their children from the family police in North Carolina.

Shining light and love on Black women was always what Myah wanted to focus her work on. In this episode, we unpack Myah’s journey to using film and journalism to tell the true narrative of reproductive justice rights of Black women, and the policing of bodies--the story that is not talked about. Myah shares the evolution of the film and how she joined with mothers and activists in the movement to abolish family policing to tell the story. Myah brings life and love to the film to magnify what’s been hidden. Every story that is told in this true narrative is getting us closer to a new world!

This show is part of the SafeCamp Audio podcast network. Learn more at SafeCampAudio.org.

We are back in the cypher, right here on Audio Nuggets!  We are honored to be joined by Miriam Mack, a co-struggler and friend, for Episode 34: Critical Connections--THE Imperative.

Miriam Mack is the Policy Director for The Bronx Defenders’ Family Defense Practice, and an advocate and activist for racial and reproductive justice. The Bronx Defenders are actively redefining public defense by challenging the dominant narrative of save and rescue, as they root themselves in the principled and broader struggle for freedom.  

This conversation unpacks the beauty of base-building in the movement to abolish carcerality and systemic violence, right relationships, and the critical connections that are our driving force in practicing new worlds. We grapple with what happens if we're harmed, and Miriam reminds listeners of the deep and very real urgency for imagining and building. Listen to be captivated!

This show is part of the SafeCamp Audio podcast network. Learn more at SafeCampAudio.org.

We are right back in the cypher, on Audio Nuggets with Khafre Jay in Episode 33: Hip Hop Culture & Organizing For Health.

Khafre Jay is a change-maker, hip hop artist, and community organizer who is practicing new worlds. 

Hip hop is art. Hip hop is poetry. Hip hop is a cornerstone of our stories. Hip hop is the MOST effective organizing force that we have. Hip Hop is culture!

In this episode, we hear from Khafre about his abolitionism and how he's leveraging Hip Hop as communal health.

This King has range, wisdom and a sharp political analysis. Be prepared to break intellectual laziness as we chop it up. 

To learn more about Khafre Jay and ways to support Drip Fest, you can visit his website  Hip Hop Organizer | Khafre Jay and subscribe to the newsletter Unapologetic Black, watch his Ted Talk Performance by Hip Hop for Change | Khafre Jay | TEDxSausalito (youtube.com) and follow on IG @khafrejay.

This show is part of the SafeCamp Audio podcast network. Learn more at SafeCampAudio.org.

Welcome to the cypher! On Audio Nuggets, we give ourselves rooted permission to tell a collective story of the principled struggle for liberation and freedom. We are honored to welcome Joyce James to the cypher for Episode 32: In The Fight to Undo Racism.

Joyce James has been leading and supporting anti-racism and justice in multiple systems and institutions across the country for almost three decades. 

In this episode, respect is given by Joyce and MFG to The People's Institute for Survival and Beyond (PISAB) for the education and political analysis they have gifted so many with through their principles, teachings, and organizing.

Joyce unravels the narratives about people that we have bought into, and the lies we have been taught. Through good teaching and teachers, Joyce illustrates the cornerstone fact; racism is so deeply embedded in all of our systems and institutions, that to truly undo this racism, means a lifetime commitment to the fight.  We are grateful to march alongside Joyce and so many others who embody justice and liberation for the people, on the long road to freedom!

This show is part of the SafeCamp Audio podcast network. Learn more at SafeCampAudio.org.

Welcome to the cypher! Audio Nuggets is grateful and blessed to bring you Episode 31: Singing My Song with April Lee.

April is a leader, community activist, advocate, artist, poet and believer of freedom. April is a lover of her people and her community. 

April hips the audience to the political analysis that we can SEE the truth of the destruction that the family policing system causes Black families and communities. April is here to share that freedom seeking looks like singing her song--LIBERATION! 

April gifts Black parents with the wisdom to question everything, educate yourself, know your rights... because you are not the problem, but rather part of the solution. Don't believe the hype. Don't believe the lie!

And before we leave...April drops "True Insight" as an expression of her full humanity, power, and liberation. She sings her song!

This show is part of the SafeCamp Audio podcast network. Learn more at SafeCampAudio.org.

We are back in the cypher with our anchor #4 for FREEDOM in Black History ’24.  We are joined by Aubrey Edwards-Luce for Episode 30: Dreaming Sanctuary.

In Dreaming Sanctuary, Aubrey moves us to become filled. Filled with dreaming; filled with an energy to chase the vision of freedom, filled with a drive to nurture connections with others, and truly filled with a desire to love all people. Sanctuary is best defined as a place where someone or something can be protected or safe from being chased or hunted; to live and be protected. Aubrey illustrates that there is safety and sanctuary in relationships that are knitted through love and give us an opportunity to see and lean into full humanity. Aubrey’s contributions to freedoms are palpable with how she leads by listening, and how she shows up in love by building a culture of truth-telling in her ecosystem.

Throughout this February, the cypher has brought you Radically Practical with jasmine Sankofa, Loyalty to Truth with Dawn Blagrove, Notes For Freedom with Dr. Jessica Pryce and Dreaming Sanctuary with Aubrey Edwards-Luce; 4 Black women, 4 for Freedom. They have all made clear the distinction necessary for freedom and liberation as a lifestyle, not only a goal.

This show is part of the SafeCamp Audio podcast network. Learn more at SafeCampAudio.org.

Audio Nuggets is back in the cypher and expanding Black History with #3 for FREEDOM. Episode 29: Notes For Freedom with Dr. Jessica Pryce will push you to embrace a reckoning.   

For over 15 years, Dr. Pryce has worked with multiple angles in child protection, encompassing direct practice, academia, policymaking and research.  

This episode unpacks just a few of Dr. Pryce's contributions to freedom and liberation through her writing and memoir that is set to be released as we commemorate 60 years of civil rights legislation for Black bodies.  

Broken: Notes of a Former Caseworker; Transforming Child Protective Services, is a former caseworker’s searing, clear-eyed investigation of the child welfare system—from foster care to incarceration—that exposes the deep-rooted biases shaping the system, witnessed through the lives of several Black families.

Dr. Pryce graces the audience with truth-telling vulnerability, wisdom, and the story of her personal journey of witnessing the humanness in Black parents.  

After Dr. Jessica Pryce, Aubrey Edwards-Luce will anchor us with Dreaming of Sanctuary. 

This show is part of the SafeCamp Audio podcast network. Learn more at SafeCampAudio.org.