The Unpacked Project

"What has been your experience when you talk about racism with people from your same background?" 

That answer is going to vary if you're Black or white. 

Join us as we share our personal experiences from the lens of a Black and white friendship, discuss the need for safe Black spaces, race based caucus work within companies, and the need to decenter whiteness.

Is cancel culture punishment or accountability? 

"When you think of cancel culture, it's a very individual thing, right? It takes something that one person said or one person did and it cancels that person, and it doesn't do anything to change the system of what's happening." -Noelle DeLaCruz

While it works in some cases, in others it leaves no room for learning, growth or repair. And sometimes it's just an approach used when someone doesn't like what you have to say...it's happened to us!

Listen in as we discuss various views on this (somewhat) newly held tactic as we cover freedom of speech vs. hate speech, the responsibility of social media outlets, and the affects of shaming and blaming compared to using restorative practices to learn and move forward.

Join us as Brian C. Johnson, author of Our Fair Share, stops in to discuss solutions around moving towards and more economically just country. 

Our wealth gap in America between the richest and poorest families more than doubled from 1989 to 2016, which isn't surprising when you learn that the highest earning 20% of US households have continuously brought in a larger share of the countries TOTAL income over the past 50 years. 

"We are living in a period of economic inequality that we haven't seen in a century. This isn't our parents level of inequality, it's not our grandparents level of inequality, this is almost unprecedented inequality if we look back over the past 100 years." -Brian C. Johnson

The Black to white income gap isn't new news either, the difference in median houeshold income between these groups has grown from $23,819 in 1970 to roughly $33,000 in 2018.

And in 2019, Fortune 500 CEO's who earned approximately $14.8 million on average, included just 5 Black and 17 Latinx people - less than 5% of the total.

The rich just keep getting richer here in America.

A simple solution is "The Citizen's Dividend", the belief that every business should take a share of their yearly profits and pay it out to Americans, so that everyone gets a check. Now wouldn't that be amazing.

"If we continue on the path we're on today, we might be accelerating our own extinction." -Vanessa Machado Oliveira 

In this episode we discuss the overarching story of power and privilege here in the global US North how we are outgrowing modernity and our world, and overall approach for change rooted in Indigenous values and practices. 

Vanessa, a Latinx Professor at the University of British Columbia and founding member of Gesturing Towards the Colonial Futures Collective, which is an international network of indigenous communities, also shares the 5 E's:  

Exceptionalism 

Exaltation 

Expansion of entitlements 

Emancipation (now Externalization) 

Enmeshment

Essentially making up a framework to utilize when looking at our most oppressed or marginalized populations in regard to modernity, the use of this framework can literally save lives she says. 

And while everything Vanessa shares may not be THEE answer in moving forward, it's a hell of a lot better than what we've got now. 

Listen and join in the conversation. 

Transcription

For more between episode content, follow us on Instagram @the_unpackedproject or TikTok @theunpackedproject 

In Rinku Sen's recent blog post “Systems Language for Narrative Change”, she shares, “People and their stories about the world shape the systems we build and use...Distancing people from systems also distances people from their power. We accept dominant narratives if the stories they tell and challenges they present seem insurmountable.” 

Rinku is Executive Director of Narrative Initiative, and writer and social justice strategist. She is formerly the Executive Director of Race Forward and was Publisher of their award-winning news site Colorlines, and was also the architect of the Shattered Families report, which identified the number of kids in foster care whose parents had been deported. She continues to explore the necessity of using an intersectional lens when engaging in political and narrative change work.

Her books Stir it Up and The Accidental American theorize a model of community organizing that integrates a political analysis of race, gender, class, poverty, sexuality, and other systems. 

Under Rinku's leadership, organizations such as Race Forward have engaged in some really powerful campaigns such as Drop the i-Word. She discusses that work and the successes and challenges of running these campaigns. 

Join the conversation to hear Rinku elaborate on the importance in helping people realize their cultural power to effect change on societal systems.

***Hey Listeners!! We have an exciting announcement before today's episode. In recognition of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we are partnering with The House of Ester, a local nonprofit, to fundraise for Hope Family Services, a domestic violence shelter in Bradenton, FL. We are asking for new or gently used purses, feminine products, and personal items that women need when they are unhoused. The purses will be filled with the supplies that we collect and will be donated on Christmas Eve. Please head over to our website www.theunpackedproject.com to view the Amazon Wishlist or make a monetary donation. Thank you!!!***

Between social media algorithms and confirmation bias, our world becomes very small and insulated. This may feel comfortable, but it can be dangerous. 

As we have discussed, harmful rhetoric and false narratives have a damaging effect particularly for oppressed communities. The stories that are told involve messaging tactics from all sides. When we internalize these messages, we feed our biases. Ultimately, this impacts how we interact and understand one another.  

So how can we break this cycle? 

Join us today to learn simple techniques that will allow you to meaningfully decipher media content rather than being a passive consumer of information.  

Let's challenge ourselves and have a little fun! Join Noelle and Miranda as they play Two Truths and Lie to test if they can identify fake headlines. You don't want to miss this!

From celebrating 1K followers on Instagram to introducing a new "Game Time" segment, Miranda and Noelle (yea that's us) are back!  In our last episode, we learned so much about misinformation and disinformation and ways that in-group and out-group identifications are formed and maintained. 

This week, we're discussing the impact of media on our personal lives and the various types of media bias that infiltrate our information systems-from he news, social media, and even our own self talk. Think you can catch bias? 

And join us for a game of LCR (Left Center Right - Unpacked style) and see if you can identify how various news outlets slant similar information!  

And as always, Come Unpack With Us!

Samantha Owens, Regional Director at Over Zero with the U.S branch joins us to unpack the differences between hate speech, dangerous speech, mis and disinformation, and how certain messages have played a major role in the hate crimes and identity-based violence we continue to see within our society. 

Sam expands on specific narrative patterns that not only target out-groups or 'others', but also build and maintain an in-group identity, and the impact such hateful rhetoric has had on marginalized communities. 

Listen in to learn what we can and should be doing as responsible media consumers once we become aware of the messaging tactics we are consuming. You don't want to miss it!