Young people are often lectured by older generations on why we should vote and blamed for undesired election outcomes. But what is the true benefit of voting in a system that consistently does not work for marginalized communities, and how should we navigate it when the candidates and ballot measures aren't good enough? Join Kési Felton, Founder of Better to Speak, in episode one of The Podcast as we explore those topics and the journey of the Black vote more broadly.

----

Find Better to Speak

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

www.bettertospeak.org

Sources:

Selma, Alabama Marches (1965)- Historic Footage

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations

Netflix’s limited series ‘Self Made’ starring Octavia Spencer as Madam C.J. Walker ignited social media dialogue around the role of entertainment media in telling Black stories with historical accuracy. While the series introduced a wider audience to Madam Walker’s story and inspired some to learn more about her off-screen, historians -- including Walker’s great-great-granddaughter A’Lelia Bundles -- were left disappointed by sensationalized storylines.

In the season one finale of Better to Speak: The Podcast Kési Felton, host and founder of BTS, interviews Bundles -- journalist, author, historian, and Walker Family archivist -- on her journey as a Black storyteller and her work to bring the truth of Madam Walker’s life to the forefront. 

--

Find Better to Speak

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

www.bettertospeak.org

 

Find A’Lelia Bundles

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

www.aleliabundles.com 

--

 

Sources and Additional Information:

A’Lelia Bundles’s Op-Ed: Netflix’s ‘Self Made’ Suffers from Self-Inflicted Wounds

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations

Black Lives Matter protests and stay-at-home quarantine mandates gave folks the opportunity to listen, learn, and take action. Trends like #BlackOutTuesday showed that more people were paying attention to the issue of systemic racism. However, as those trends fade, so has the work to dismantle racism -- with some settling for the title of “not racist.” 

But in the words of Dr. Ibram Kendi, “The opposite of ‘racist’ isn’t ‘not racist.’ It is ‘antiracist.’” Well, what exactly does it mean to be an antiracist? 

The President’s ban on federal antiracism training and his refusal to condemn white supremacy in the first Presidential debate against Joe Biden doesn’t offer much hope for what could become of the racial reckoning currently happening across the United States. But that doesn’t negate the opportunity we all have to do the work in our communities and personal relationships.

In the second to last episode of the season, host and founder of Better to Speak Kési Felton chats with Christine Platt, who currently serves as the Managing Director for American University’s Antiracist Research and Policy Center in Washington, D.C. Platt discusses the specific work of the Antiracism Center, as well as the work listeners can do offline to commit to the work of antiracism.

--

Find Better to Speak

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

www.bettertospeak.org

 

Find the Antiracist Research and Policy Center @ American University

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

www.american.edu/centers/antiracism

--

 

Sources and Additional Information:

COVER ART: Photo by Joan Villalon on Unsplash

Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University

Read How to Be an Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations

While environmental racism disproportionately impacts Black and brown communities, we are also the same people who are excluded from conversations on how to save our planet and create more sustainable communities.

Rachel Clark is working to change that narrative through her organization Waves of Change HBCU, Inc. which started on the campus of Howard University. Through community service events and education, she aims to position HBCU students and institutions as the leading voices in the fight to end environmental racism and address climate change.

Rachel joins Kési Felton, founder of Better to Speak and fellow Howard Bison, to discuss environmental justice and how Waves of Change HBCU is working to address it with HBCU students leading the way.

--

Find Better to Speak

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

www.bettertospeak.org

 

Find Waves of Change HBCU

Instagram

Apply to start a Waves of Change chapter at your HBCU

--

Sources and Additional Information:

COVER ART: The EPA chose this county for a toxic dump because its residents were ‘few, black, and poor’

What is environmental racism? | World Economic Forum

Race is the biggest indicator in the US of whether you live near toxic waste | QZ 

10 egregious examples of environmental racism in the US | Insider 

The Former Prisoners Fighting California’s Wildfires | The Marshall Project

What wildfires in Brazil, Siberia, and the US West have in common | Vox 

Early findings grim on the health of Flint kids after water crisis | CBS News 

Easing fires not as simple as climate change vs. forest work | AP News

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations

This week we speak with Marilynn Winn, executive director of ATL-based Women On the Rise GA which was founded in 2013 for formerly-incarcerated women of color and women targeted and/or impacted by the criminal legal system. 

This episode is a follow-up to “Abolition, Art, and Activism” where we spoke with Chicago activist ThoughtPoet about the organization BYP100 and the movement for police abolition. 

Marilynn Winn joins host and Better to Speak founder Kési Felton to discuss the aftermath of the murders of Ahmaud Arbery and Rayshard Brooks in Georgia, the importance of Black women’s leadership in this movement, and how community members can better support folks who are currently or formerly incarcerated.

--

Find Better to Speak

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

www.bettertospeak.org

 

Find Women On the Rise

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

www.womenontherisega.org

--

Sources:

Is Prison Necessary? Ruth Wilson Gilmore Might Change Your Mind | NY Times

Facts about crime in the U.S. | Pew Research Center

Communities Over Cages: Close the Jail ATL Campaign

 

Additional Resources: 

CHANGE: A World Without Prisons (featuring Ruth Wilson Gilmore and Mariame Kaba) | CUNY Graduate Center- Center for the Study of Women and Society

Are Prisons Obsolete? (PDF) | Angela Y. Davis

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations

September signifies National Suicide Awareness and Prevention Month. However, dialogue around mental health in the Black community specifically is still stigmatized, suicide rates among Black youth continue to rise, and especially in the midst of the “dual pandemic”-- of systemic racism and COVID-19-- how are we working to address Black mental health and the various social factors that negatively impact it?

Jardin Dogan, M.Ed., Ed.S.-- Ph.D. candidate and creator of @BlkFolxTherapy on Instagram-- joins Better to Speak founder Kési Felton to discuss the intersections of racial trauma and mental wellness, with the goal of providing listeners with tangible healthy coping mechanisms to heal and build self-knowledge.

--

Find Better to Speak

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

www.bettertospeak.org

 

Find Jardin and Black Folx Therapy

Instagram

www.jardindogan.com

--

Sources:

Books by Dr. Janet Helms

Books by Dr. Linda James Meyers

Additional Resources via BetterToSpeak.org

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations

In honor of the 63 years that have passed since The Little Rock Nine first integrated Central High School in Arkansas, this week's episode of The Podcast explores the idea of transforming education from a site of oppression to one of liberation for Black students.

Better to Speak founder Kési Felton is joined by Evalaurene Jean-Charles, founder of digital content platform and podcast Black On Black Education, to discuss their work to support Black students and how that looks in the context of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and calls for the dismantling of systemic racism.

--

Find Better to Speak

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

www.bettertospeak.org

Find Black On Black Education

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

www.blackonblackeducation.com

--

Sources:

Little Rock Nine

This Day in History: September 4th- The Little Rock Nine

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations

Defunding and abolishing the police has become part of mainstream dialogue since George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis in May. This topic, though older than most folks recognize, has caused a lot on controversy for many reasons in local communities as well as nationally as we inch closer and closer to the Presidential election in November.

On this week's episode of the podcast, host and founder of BTS Kési Felton explores what it means to abolish the police and brings on Chris "ThoughtPoet" Brown-- photographer, writer, and BYP100 Chicago member-- to go deeper into the topic, discuss his connection between art and activism, as well as the work BYP100 is doing on the ground to educate and organize folks around defunding and ultimately abolishing the police in their founding city of Chicago and elsewhere in the country.

Cover art photo courtesy of ThoughtPoet

----

Sources:

The History of Police In Creating Social Order In The U.S. | NPR | 6.5.2020

Are Prisons Obsolete? (PDF) | Angela Y. Davis

Mentioned Links and Additional Resources:

Abolish Policing, Not Just the Police | Haymarket Books (Event/ Panel with Mariame Kaba, Maya Schenwar, and Victoria Law)

Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police | Mariame Kaba | NY Times

Defunding Vs. Abolishing The Police Explained In 6 Minutes | Joseph Capehart | BuzzFeedVideo

Organizations: BYP100, Assata's Daughters, Let Us Breathe Collective, Good Kids Mad City

----

Find Better to Speak

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

www.bettertospeak.org

Find ThoughtPoet

Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

www.thoughtpoetsopinion.com

Find BYP100

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

www.byp100.org

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations

"Naps help you wake up to the truth of who you are."

A perfect and succinct quote from this week's interview with The Nap Bishop-- founder and curator of The Nap Ministry, Tricia Hersey. In this week's episode of The Podcast, Better to Speak's founder Kési Felton chats with Tricia to discuss the impacts of grind culture on Black folks and the act of "rest as resistance."

----

Find Better to Speak

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

www.bettertospeak.org

Find The Nap Ministry

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

www.thenapministry.wordpress.com

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations

How does one find their voice in the movement? What is a "political home" and what does it mean to have one?

After a three-month hiatus, Better to Speak: The Podcast returns! Founder Kési Felton is joined by Angela Saxton of Bet On Us and the Working Families Party to discuss tangible next steps for young Black folks to find a political home in the movement for Black liberation.

----

Find Better to Speak

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

www.bettertospeak.org

Find Bet On Us/Working Families Party:

Twitter | Facebook (Working Families Party)

www.betonus.org

www.workingfamilies.org

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations