Truth Be Told: Time to Thrive

What does sexual freedom really look like? This week we interrogate the messages we’ve internalized about sex and we ask ourselves: Can we decolonize our sex lives to aid in the larger quest towards liberation for us all?
To help us unpack some of the layers we called on Ev’Yan Whitney – a sexuality doula, author, and sensualist – who helps people better understand their core desires, needs, and how to put into action what they feel.
The hosts of the Inner Hoe Uprising podcast also help us explore this topic by providing a few burning questions they’ve been sitting with. Author, essayist, and digital activist Sherronda J. Brown rounds out our convo by bringing deep clarity to the identity of asexuality and pushes back on the idea that the act of sex is what makes us human.
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How do we raise Black children who feel free? One way, according to conscious parenting coach Yolanda Williams, is for caregivers to first deal with their own childhood trauma. Williams sat down with Tonya to offer some actionable tips on how to raise “free-thinking Black children” - and stop the tradition of spanking as a form of discipline. We gained so much insight from Yolanda in this episode and you will too. Click here to access Yolanda’s “Be Intentional Checklist.”
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In our society, Black parents may breathe a bit easier at night knowing their children are safe and accounted for. But when a tragedy takes that breath away, how do you persevere? What does it take to keep going after a painful loss? 

Perseverance is defined as the continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition. This week, Tonya travels to Seattle to speak with Ayanna Brown, a mother who has done just that. In 2010, Ayanna and her family endured the heart-wrenching loss of her son, Alajawan Brown, who was murdered by gun violence in a case of mistaken identity. 

In this intimate and thought-provoking conversation, Ayanna takes us through how she converts hate into love, reveals that anger once fueled her, and shares a vulnerable truth –– that she is just now learning who she is. The ways in which Ayanna propels herself forward each day can inspire us all to persevere.  

We wrap up this powerful episode with the author of “Grief is Love: Living With Loss,” Marisa Renee Lee. Marisa shares insights on why we need to give ourselves permission to grieve more.
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Black men have it hard in America. 

And by and large, Black women have felt an obligation to show up, love, and support them. Is it too much to ask that they show up for us?

That’s the topic we’re taking on this week with writer and cultural critic Jamilah Lemieux. She recently wrote a piece for Vanity Fair where she coined the term “the Black Ass Lie,” pointing out the harm that comes from the ongoing narrative that straight Black men have it the worst in our society. She believes this lie is to the detriment of Black women, queer and trans people.

In this raw and unfiltered conversation, Jamilah unpacks the layers of obligation Black women have to Black men with writer and professor Kiese Laymon. We explore the use of the b-word used to rhetorically destroy Black women — and what holding Black cishet men accountable actually looks like.
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For many of us, the church is a place of refuge. It’s where we first experience community and an understanding of love. But real talk: what do you do as a non binary person if the place that made you, doesn’t exactly accept who you are?
That’s the dilemma from our very own editor James T. Green, who explores their identity and faith with renowned writer and poet, Nikki Giovanni. In this conversation, Nikki shares some of her most intimate truths with James, including her own challenges with the institution of the Black church.
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It’s 2022 and we’re taking on two of the most urgent questions of our time: What does liberation look like for Black Americans? And what does it mean to be free? 

Season 3, which premieres on February 17th, offers a compelling sonic exploration into what liberation looks, sounds, and feels like for Black Americans with some of the greatest thinkers of our time. Host Tonya Mosley takes us on a deeply personal exploration — peeling back the layers of how Black Americans are liberating ourselves from the expectations of a colonized existence to help us live richer, fuller, more free lives. 

Meet our production team and take a sneak peek listen!
New episodes drop every Thursday beginning February 17, 2022.

It’s been a long time. We shouldn’t have left you, but Truth Be Told is back!

To ground you for the premiere of season three, our host, Tonya Mosley is popping in to share a personal reflection of two near-drowning experiences, once at 8-years old and the other on the day of the insurrection; January 6, 2021.

Through wisdom from the greatest thinkers of our time, Truth Be Told explores what it means to grow and thrive as a Black person in America. 

We’re the friend you call after a long day, the one who gets it.

New episodes drop February 2022.

The days are shorter, colder and 2020 isn’t over. Like you, we’re looking for inspiration to sustain us, so we turned to Shannon Lee and Arianna Davis who are passing on the teachings of great icons Bruce Lee and Frida Kahlo — timeless figures that we continually learn from decades after their deaths. 

Episode transcript here: shorturl.at/ryzAR

What’s the world you’re fighting for? We posed this question to some of the most dynamic young voices of our time, including musician Alex Aiono and Good Call NYC founder Jelani Anglin who joined Tonya Mosley to talk about fighting for social justice in the midst of a pandemic and an election year unlike any other.

Episode transcript here: shorturl.at/erzE4

What happens when two badass Black journalists get together to talk about the stakes of this presidential election? Real talk, that’s what happens. On this episode of Truth Be Told, Tonya Mosley checks in with veteran journalist Farai Chideya who believes the fate of this nation depends on women of color -- all it needs is for everyone else to get out of the way.

Episode transcript here: shorturl.at/fjuI1