Black & Blonde

Two amazing humans navigate the grey as they talk about justice - restorative or retributive. Can restorative justice help to bridge inequalities and help us see the humanity in one another? Is traditional justice accountability? Is forgiveness necessary. We wrestle with a lot of questions in our first episode of the new year. As always, it's not black and white.

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Two humans navigate the grey as they wrap up 2021 with some final thoughts. We challenge our listeners to think of their own 2021 year in review, as it pertains to their own racial consciousness. Three things that have been key to us this year - learning, intentionality, and consistency. See you in 2022!

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Two amazing humans navigate the grey as they discuss racism and how we might conquer it by changing the action. Our episode was inspired by the Ted Talk, "How to Deconstruct Racism One Headline at a Time" by Bartunde Thurston. In his Ted Talk, Thurston discusses the often invisible burden of living while black. He breaks down the structure of racism as - subject, action, target, activity. We talk about the impact of this on our everyday lives and what we might do to start to change the action.

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Two amazing humans navigate the grey as they talk about microaggressions. It took us awhile to get to this topic, perhaps because they are so prevalent in our everyday lives. We talk about that unconscious (or sometimes conscious) bias that unintentionally (or intentionally) presents itself in interactions with individuals from marginalized groups. Oh, and check out our Insta bio for a link to vote in the Twin Cities Collective Best of Awards. Thank you for all who  voted and continue to support the little pod that could!

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Two amazing humans navigate the grey as they talk about how we might go about normalizing conversations about race. Instead of making conversations about race an event, a professional development session, or a courageous conversations, can't we just make these conversations as normal as talking about the weather? It's not that simple and we aren't being flippant, but conversations about race, until race isn't an issue in our society, should not have be events. The should just be. How many conversations about race are you having in your life?

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Two amazing humans navigate the grey as they discuss the verdict in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. We challenge listeners to think about where they were, what they felt, and how they responded when they heard the verdict. As always, we challenge listeners to look outside of their 20% and find the 60% that they might be able to influence. In this long game, we always have a sphere of influence. Being intentional, practicing conversations, and self-awareness are some of the keys. In today's society, it can also be easy to get caught in victory blindness. We must recognize that the work will always be there and we can always join the movement for change.

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Two amazing humans navigate the grey as they final talk about Black Lives Matter. It's taken us 55 episodes to make this a specific topic. Maybe it should have been done sooner, maybe not. But after the recent events in this country, we are reminded of (not that we needed a reminder) of the importance of being able to understand the importance of being able to say "Black Lives Matter." The phrase has become divisive, but the sentiment is so important. It is necessary and it is a way to continue to remind ourselves of the work we have to do. Perhaps our conversation is messy, but these conversations often are.

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Two amazing humans navigate the gray as they discuss the long game of stopping the reproduction of racism. The concept came to us from an episode of the Small Business Revolution which featured one of our favorites, the Minnesota Spokesman Recorder. In the episode, they highlight the idea of the long game. The world isn't going to change overnight. We have to continue the fight everyday. In this episode, we tackle that concept - short game or long game? The answer isn't black and white.

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Two amazing humans navigate the gray as they discuss the concept of acting white. Too often, the world asks people of color to do the "white thing" because that's considered the norm. Even if people of color were to fit into the white norm, they will still be behind the curve, because that is how our society is built. Our systems are designed to uphold whiteness, so acting white will never be enough. We challenge our listeners to ask a different question - instead of "Why don't they just..." ask "How might we?"

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Two amazing humans navigate the grey as they wrestle with "the fuller story" of our country's history. We talk about the concept of statues, monuments, and who we honor. When should a statue come down? Should it? How do we tell a fuller story about our history? This concept came to us from a news story out of Franklin, TN. The city fought a battle around removing a confederate statue, and instead of doing so, erected a statue of a black soldier. It presents an interesting question about just how aware are we of the names around us. And, as always, what do we do about it?

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