More and more people are discussing the potential fall of democracy in the US as the 2022 mid-term elections creep ever closer. However, those conversations often happen in a vacuum, seemingly disconnected from issues of equity and inclusion. During this episode, Jess and Fiona tie it all together. They highlight how the varied attacks on our democracy are really about the attempts of some to hold on to power at all costs to prevent equitably sharing power with those currently living at the margins of society. We hope you join us for this lively and sometimes snarky discussion! Potential title- More Than "Democracy" Is At Risk!

Special guests, Zoe Flowers and Cassie Whitebread, join Jess and Fiona to invite you to our upcoming healing retreat. During this episode, we discuss why it is crucial that we prioritize our well-being in order to sustain the work. We cannot dismantle oppression when we are burnt out!

Learn more about our racial healing retreat at https://healingequityunited.com/healing-retreat.

Mixed-race individuals (folks whose parents or ancestors are of more than one ethnicity and/or race) have a unique experience in processing and claiming their identity as compared to monoracial individuals. In this episode, Fiona and Cassie discuss the struggles that mixed-race people face because they do not fall neatly into our society's socially constructed boxes for race and ethnicity. They discuss how we as mixed-race folks can strive to fully embrace their identity and how monoracial loved ones can support mixed-race people in their identity-processing journey.

Monday, April 4th

In today's episode, Jess and Fiona discuss Ketanji Brown Jackson's nomination to the Supreme Court.  If approved, she would become the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court. But why is it taking so long for the Supreme Court to be composed of justices who reflect the growing diversity of our nation?  Join us as we strategize how to spur and sustain a seismic demographic shift of the nation's highest court.

As co-conspirators and aspiring allies we often ask ourselves what we would do to interrupt every day acts of racism and oppression.  Unfortunately, the HEU team recently had opportunities to find out.  During today's informal conversation, Jess and Fiona discuss how they responded to racialized acts of oppression and the emotional impact of such encounters.

Two huge verdicts came through last month - that of Kyle Rittenhouse and also for the three white men who murdered Ahmaud Arbery. What do these verdicts mean for white America and for BIPOC folks? What have we learned (if anything)? What do we need to do to move towards justice and accountability? 

Is your nonprofit ready to do away with traditional hierarchy? How can shared leadership models work while still being a part of the harmful nonprofit industrial complex? During this episode, Healing Equity United speaks with special guest Cassie Whitebread about the shared leadership model at her nonprofit, Seattle Works. Cassie shares about why her team decided to distribute leadership, the benefits and challenges, and some crucial characteristics that team members need to buy into in order for this model to work.

To learn more about Seattle Works visit https://www.seattleworks.org/

What does the "checklist" of becoming an anti-racist organization include? Fiona and Jess discuss the "checklist" of items and why we need to move beyond performative actions to really embrace the internal work that all of us need to do to embrace a culture that is anti-racist.

Nonprofit human resources has origins rooted in racism and the enslavement of Black people in the South. In this episode, Jess and Fiona discuss how we move beyond the oppressive systems and structures that have been developed to actually look at equity and inclusion in nonprofit HR (aka people and culture).

What is racial trauma, how has it manifested over the past year, and what are the impacts? There's a saying that "hurt people, hurt people." In this episode, Fiona & Jess talk about how racial trauma shows up in nonprofits and in leadership while discussing the important work that ALL of us need to do to incorporate racial healing and care into our lives.  Without individual and collective healing, ongoing systemic injustice and oppression can lead to compounded emotional harm. And unfortunately, our race-based traumas can sometimes lead to division within the BIPOC community.