Strong Enough

Part 1 in our Black Twitter/Black Perfect series. This episode is all about Wakanda, the new black respectability, and black art talk.

On this episode of Strong Enough, we gathered four creators of color to talk about family functions and other social obligations on our first ever roundtable!

Jalen, 23, African-American man

Jalen is an actor here in Chicago. Originally from Camden, Mississippi.

Feli, 24, Latina Woman

Felicita is a creater of a blog and movement called Gordita's Way. She is Chicago made, born and raised.

Desirée, 24,  Artist still finding her ground

Desirée is a Chicago transplant from Arizona. She works with film photography and writes poetry. She, also, co-hosts a podcast called The Black Girl Report.

José, 24, Queer Cuban Filipino

Jose is a barista and a screenwriter with an overpriced semi-related college degree from some school in Chicago.

This bonus episode covers the topic of gentrification by looking at its affects on Pilsen, a lower west-side neighborhood of Chicago.

A Pilsen resident himself, Javi spoke with two community members actively working to educate the public and sustain the neighborhood.

Martha, CPS Teacher and Executive Board Member of Pilsen Alliance

A Pilsen resident since her early childhood in the 1970s, Martha has fought to gain much needed resources for the community. She even put her own body on the line when her failing health influenced the closure of two coal plants located near Pilsen and Little Village.

Miguel, 32, Latinx and Educator

A Midwest migrant for most of his childhood, Miguel moved back to Chicago after his graduate studies to teach. He has since dedicated his time to fighting against gentrification with activist organizations on Chicago's south and southwest side.

What started as a misguided senior project turned into a full fledged podcast! Strong Enough centers on mental health, and how race, gender, sexuality, and certain generational differences affect how Millennials of color go about the world.

Thank you to Maria and Javi for sharing their story with us, and a big thanks to Fringe Character for letting us use their joint "Sword of Omens" off their latest album Mint.

For more information visit radicalcolors.com/strongenough

This documentary-style episode of Strong Enough tells the story of four different poc from the Chicagoland area. 

This documentary-style episode tells the story of four different poc from the Chicagoland area. 

Vanesa, 25, First-generation Mexican-American

As a Latina from the suburbs, Vanesa’s story complicates what it means to be brown at a low-performing school and challenges the stereotype that suburbia is wealthy and white.

Silas, 23, Gay Black Man

From a red state native to a blue state transplant, Silas explains just how much public policies can devastate communities of color, regardless of how “liberal” our city politicians are.

Caray, 24, Queer Black Woman & Mr. Neal, “A Man Still Living” (Caray’s dad)

Mr. Neal is the product of the Great Migration. Caray is the product of switching between all white spaces to all black spaces. Together, they describe the generational differences of growing up in Chicago.

I teamed up with Javi to explore the intersections of race, class, and geography.