Equity Rising

Tucked inside a mostly residential neighborhood on Beacon Hill in Seattle is NURTURING ROOTS, a Black-owned and operated urban farm founded by NYEMA CLARK to create healthy food, healthy activities, and healthy ways for people to reconnect with each other and the environment. 

In EPISODE TWO of SEASON TWO, Trae and Nyema talk about equity, change, and the evolution of this beautiful and now self-sustaining community resource through the lens of history and lineage, and the future that is to come.

“Someone else had their hand in this,” Nyema tells Trae. “There is a deep connection with my ancestors, and me pausing and saying, ‘Why am I living? How can I be proud of myself?’” 

The farm, its produce, its stewards, and its visitors show her the answers every season. 

Find out more about Nurturing Roots and get involved in upcoming events.

Follow Nurturing Roots on Instagram and Facebook, and sign this important petition related to Black farming liberation.

Nurturing Roots Partnership Director and Avole Coffee Business Development Director Gavin Amos gives us this week’s Chime In.  

In 1966, six all-black cavalry and infantry regiments were created by the Army Organization Act. They came to be known as Buffalo Soldiers, and director and producer DRU HOLLEY tells their story in Buffalo Soldiers of the Pacific Northwest.

In this SEASON TWO OPENER, Trae talks to Dru not only about his important film, but about how he works to increase exposure, opportunities, and equity within the film industry. A native of Denver, CO, Dru graduated from the Art Institute of Colorado where he specialized in video broadcasting. He recently relocated to the Portland area, so he and Trae also get into the on-the-ground movement there as well.

Find out more about Buffalo Soldiers of the Pacific Northwest.

Black Bald Films LLC is Dru’s production company.

This Week’s Chime In is from Iana Amauba, a frequent collaborator of Dru’s andfreelance animator in Portland, Oregon. Check out her work on her website.

In this powerful conclusion to a season of global connections, Trae comes full circle with a rich and instructive conversation with Aaron Dixon, founder and former captain of Seattle’s Black Panther Party. Now living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Aaron is truly a living legend. His memories of ‘60s-era organizing—where you never knew, from one day to the next, whether you’d see your comrades again; where families were torn apart and new ones were built—show us where we come from, and how far we have yet to go. After a lifetime of radical activism, youth organizing, regional politics, and more, Aaron says that mostly what he does now is witness. He listens to and encourages the new leaders of the movement, allowing them to find their way to the actions that this modern world demands. We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to learn from this dedicated and accomplished leader as we close out Season One. 

And special bonus - this week’s Chime In features Trae’s mom, Tracie Holiday-Robinson!

This episode was produced by Linnea Ingalls & Julia Drachman and edited by Josh Berl.

Even if all you know is the name—Extimité—of the French-language podcast that Anthony Vincent co-hosts with afrofeminist Douce Dibondo, you know a lot about this West Indies native. Extimité is like intimacy, he explains to Trae—but an exterior intimacy; an intimacy with the world. After studying literature at La Sorbonne and beginning his career in fashion journalism, Anthony was galvanized by the 2016 murder of Adama Traoré in Paris, and shifted his attention to include police brutality, queerphobia, and more. Examining racism, sexism, ableism, and colonialism through the lens of the fashion industry, Anthony and his community are eager to illuminate and repair the darker side of the postcard-perfect Paris ideal. This week’s Chime In features Meysha and Skylar Wilkerson. This episode was produced by Linnea Ingalls & Julia Drachman and edited by Josh Berl.

Find Anthony on Instagram at @anthonyvnct and Extimité at @extimitelepodcast

From Seattle, Australia can seem a world away. But in so many ways, Rhianna’s experience as a Torres Strait Islander living on Aboriginal land feels deeply familiar. She and Trae have both spent much of their careers in mainstream media, having to suppress their own cultural identities in order to fit in and get ahead. But now, Rhianna is turning that on its head with her new role as Head of Audio and Podcasts at Indigenous X (short for “Indigenous Excellence”). Along with her team at Indigenous X, Rhianna is reimagining a world that values what Indigenous, community-based reporting can bring. Trae and Rhianna connect on how the U.S. and Australia are synced, from their histories of colonization, the Black Panther Party across the globe, and the fight to end Bla(c)k deaths in custody in Australia. This week’s Chime In features Cashayla Rodgers. This episode was produced by Linnea Ingalls & Julia Drachman and edited by Josh Berl.

In this special bonus episode, we bring you the voices of three athletes in Ultimate Frisbee. Jay, Colton, and Austin generously provide us with a window into the life of a POC athlete in a sport steeped in white culture. Through the specificity of each of their stories, we were reminded that the project of equity is one that permeates every aspect of our lives. Whether you’re on the field or in the boardroom, we’re sure you’ll relate to the issues these young athletes describe: the codification of white professionalism, performative wokeness, and the untrained biases that are so painfully ingrained in our culture. In their thoughtful and loving critiques of Ultimate Frisbee culture, all three athletes give us reason to be hopeful about the shifting tides within athletics and beyond. This episode was produced by Lili Gu & Julia Drachman, and edited by Josh Berl.

What do you know about equity in athletics—and more specifically: in the niche, relatively new, and initially very white pocket of Ultimate Frisbee? From this very specific point of reference, Shanye Crawford, founder and CEO of Disc Diversity, talks with Trae about the unique opportunities to foster change on and around the playing field. As she organizes an all-Black tour for Fall of 2021, Shanye says that, “rather than looking to see what has been done, I intend to use Ultimate Frisbee to establish the athletic standard for equity.” This week’s Chime In features J'Lynn Matthews, Colton Green, and Austin Hegmon. This episode was produced by Lili Gu, Linnea Ingalls & Julia Drachman and edited by Josh Berl.

“If you look at the history of cannabis prohibition, you see cannabis being used as a tool of oppression and the communities being targeted are the Black and brown communities.” Starting from this place, BIPOCANN founder and longtime cannabis expert Ernest Toney leads strategy, education, and business operations for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in the legal cannabis industry. In this episode, Ernest talks to Trae about how he works interpersonally within his network to help newcomers and up-and-comers succeed—thereby taking back that imbalance of power. Using a business-to-business approach, and leveraging new legislation as well as any social equity programs that exist, Ernest believes that successful enterprise and strategic partnerships are key to increasing visibility, representation, and equity. This week’s Chime In features Elijah Lewis. This episode was produced by Lili Gu, Linnea Ingalls & Julia Drachman and edited by Josh Berl.

Here to remind us that art and “the arts” are badly in need of decolonization, Creative Acts’ Executive Director Sabra Williams facilitates creative expression within communities experiencing the effects of incarceration. Her passionate and informed stance on corporate ills and human transformation dovetails with her dedication to using art in both practical and groundbreaking ways. In Sabra’s world, this means that everything from funding, planning, and policy change to casting and directing should be driven not by the status quo systems of white supremacy but by exploration and imagination. And, most importantly, it means centering the hearts and minds of those who have been harmed by poverty, gun violence, and the prison state. “I’ve never seen social justice and the arts as separate,” Sabra tells Trae in this powerful conversation. After hearing this episode, you won’t see them as separate either. This week’s Chime In features Cashayla Rodgers. This episode was produced by Linnea Ingalls & Julia Drachman and edited by Josh Berl.

Self-determination was one of Malcom X’s key principles, and it’s a driving force behind Atlanta-based Community Movement Builders. Episode 6 brings you into the mind of founder and board president Kamau Franklin, who’s spent the last twenty years building systems and support for youth education, sustainable urban development, and more.  “If we feed people, we’re also going to tell them why they don’t have food,” Kamau told Trae as they spoke together intimately and openly during Trae’s recent visit to Atlanta. Kamau is also an advocate of unity without uniformity, and this is an invigorating discussion for all who believe that Black people have the power to govern their own destiny, to serve themselves, and to own their communities—whatever that might look like for them. *Please note that Equity Rising will be on a short break through the holidays after this episode. We look forward to reconnecting in 2021.

This week’s Chime In features Cashayla Rodgers. This episode was produced by Linnea Ingalls & Julia Drachman and edited by Josh Berl.