Her Story Speaks

Karen González is seeking to see and love her neighbors as God does. She is a speaker, writer, and immigrant advocate, who herself immigrated from Guatemala as a child.

Jessica Goudeau’s life was forever changed in 2007 when she volunteered and met a group of Burmese refugees. Since then she has spent more than a decade working with refugees in Austin, TX. As an author and activist, Jessica has a passion to ethically and authentically bring the stories of people who have become vulnerable because of war, persecution, and oppressive systems that keep them from being able to speak out to an audience that needs to hear who they really are and what really happened.

Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes is a clinical psychologist, public theologian, and minister whose work focuses upon healing the legacies of racial and gender oppression. She earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Miami and her Masters of Divinity from Duke Divinity School and  is currently an associate professor at Mercer University.  In my conversation today Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes shares her story of growing up as a Black girl in the south with an early awareness of racism. She shares about her faith journey and her passion to fight for justice when she was still young. Much of our conversion focuses on the crucial need to bring the voices of black women forward. As Chanequa says, “If we truly hope to work towards racial reconciliation, the perspectives of women of color must be moved from margin to center.”

Nikole Lim is a speaker, educator, and consultant on leveraging dignity through the restorative art of storytelling. She is the founder and international director of Freely In Hope, a nonprofit organization dedicated to equipping survivors and advocates to lead in ending sexual violence through their rewritten stories. With a background in photography and film making, Nikole has the ability to see the world through paradox which provides surprising insight into our world full of pain and joy, brokenness and beauty, despair and hope, suffering and love. Liberation is Here shares her story with honest introspection—capturing empowering and heart-wrenching stories that have transcended into her experience.

Lettie Shumate is a Black woman, historian, anti-racism educator, and racial justice advocate with a passion for breaking down and sharing true History. In this episode Lettie shares the real story behind the 19th amendment and who actually got the right to vote when it was passed. She also breaks down  the racist history of many of the early white women suffragists and perhaps most importantly we talk about the Black women suffragists that history often ignores.

Author and speaker Cara Meredith grew up in a colorless world. From childhood, she didn't think issues of race had anything to do with her, and she was ignorant of many of the racial realities (including individual and systemic racism) in America today. A colorblind rhetoric had been stamped across her education, world view, and Christian theology.That all changed Cara met and fell in love with the son of black icon, James Meredith. After she married and their family grew to include two mixed-race sons, Cara knew she would never see the world through a colorless lens again.

In this episode of the HerStory Speaks podcast, Osheta Moore, Marcie Walker and Cara Meredith join me for an honest conversation about peacemaking, racial reconciliation and friendships between Black and white women. Toward the end of the episode they share what is bringing them joy right now and what they are reading. You don’t want to miss this truth telling episode mixed with hard topics and some light hearted fun along the way.

Patrice Gopo was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska and she is the child of Jamaican immigrants. Drawing on her experiences, Patrice enjoys exploring racial identity formation, race relations, and the search for a sense of belonging. Her essays have appeared in a variety of publications, including Catapult, Creative Nonfiction, and online in The New York Times and The Washington Post. Her essay collection, All the Colors We Will See, was a Fall 2018 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection. When she’s not writing, Patrice enjoys speaking to groups about the power of personal storytelling. She believes sharing personal stories help us both see our commonalities and honor our differences. These actions ultimately can contribute to a more equitable and just society. Patrice lives with her family in North Carolina.

We are revisiting an episode from the fall of 2019. Emmy Kegler is the pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, a small servant-hearted neighborhood congregation in Northeast Minneapolis focused on feeding the hungry and community outreach. Emmy has a Master’s in Divinity from Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minn., and is an ordained pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.  She was raised in the Episcopal Church and spent some time in evangelical and non-denominational traditions before finding her home in the ELCA. Her first book, One Coin Found: How God’s Love Stretches to the Margins, tells her story as a queer Christian called to ordained ministry and how it formed her relationship with Scripture.

Marcie Walker  joins me again for our monthly chat. In this episode we talk about all things U.S. monuments and memorials and the recent controversies to take them down. Marcie gives her wisdom and insight from a biblical, historical and justice perspective. We end our convo with a message of hope and encouragement that even in these times of racial tensions and pandemic, there are still glimmers of hope and joy that can be found.