Patty has a special guest today to discuss racial justice and inclusivity, and what it means to live in the United States today.
Iyabo shares a bit about her life. She’s bi-racial and grew up in Nigeria until age 16 when she came to the US. She explains that she didn’t know she was black, until she moved to America.
She considers herself a recovering attorney. Hear why she changed careers and the motivation to make a big change. She went to Seminary and realized that her theological background (she explains she’s not a preacher) and legal experience gave her a foundation for the work she does now.
Patty asked Iyabo to explain how she came to understand God and spirituality. She found Christianity from television evangelists when she lived in Nigeria. It’s a fascinating story of personal faith.
Iyabo explains why she doesn’t agree with what is often taken for Christianity in the US. She is a “radical inclusionist”. Each person was created in the image of the Divine and therefore she says that each of us has intrinsic value deserving of love and inclusion.
Ownership is an illusion. This discussion helps to understand why concepts like freedom and citizenry can’t be “owned” but must be embodied. Ownership is often used to attempt to control or dictate to others. Iyabo explains how to recognize how to move from owning to empowerment.
She explains that we need to embrace shared power. We care about those in our community to have less and we understand that we are not in competition with one another.
How can we see others as human if we are so tied up in our identity that we can’t admit when we are wrong, or when we don’t know something?
Patty shares that large social issues like homelessness are sometimes misattributed by the law of attraction. Example: if you are homeless, it’s because you “attracted” it into your life. She and Iyabo talk about how that’s not the case and the shift around what it means to “attract” things in your life.
Understanding your identity will lead you to understand your privilege. Iyabo explains that there are multiple types of privilege and identifying your own will help you understand how it impacts the way that you interact with others.
This episode provides great context for understanding better ways to connect with those who have different life experiences. Her examples are something we can all relate to and learn from.
How can we make the system work for all of us? It’s a great way to think about what we can do to make an impact in our personal place in the world.
About Iyabo Onipede
Iyabo Onipede is a facilitator, speaker, and consultant who curates deep dives into the heart of inclusion, equity, and racial justice. She is an effective community builder and seasoned equity consultant with a commitment to creating spaces of belonging.
Iyabo's work opens pathways for organizations to build just and equitable environments through education, experiential and guided self-reflections and the facilitation of challenging exchanges. Her high-touch customized workshops use compassion, storytelling, and education for participants to shift identities into mutuality and accountability while creating and sustaining spaces of belonging.
A self-described “recovering attorney,” she obtained a Master of Divinity from Candler School of Theology at Emory University after a 20-year legal career. Contact Iyabo at [email protected]. You can support iyabo’s writing on deconstructing oppression in our culture with compassion by becoming a paid subscriber at https://iyabo.substack.com/
Resources:
Liminal Space with Iyabo
Website
Email
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