Better to Speak: The Podcast: Recent Episodes
Kési Felton
Better to Speak: The Podcast is a bi-weekly conversation with Kési Felton, founder of Better to Speak, that explores sociopolitical issues affecting Black people through the lens of young Black storytellers and changemakers.
About Better to Speak
Better to Speak is a community media platform that works with young Black storytellers and changemakers to – in the words of Audre Lorde's 1984 essay featured in "Sister Outsider" – transform silence into language and action.
Learn More + Take Action: www.bettertospeak.org
Since 2016, Cameroon has been engaged in a civil war between its Anglophone and Francophone populations, specifically between Ambazonian nationalists and the Cameroonian government.
In this episode of The Podcast, Makunde Martin – executive director of Justice for Cameroon, a digital organizing platform focused on supporting on-the-ground efforts and engaging young Cameroonians and Black folks throughout the diaspora – provides an overview of the historical context of the Anglophone crisis and speaks to how more people can get involved.
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Stay Connected with Better to Speak
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Stay Connected with Justice for Cameroon
Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook
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Learn More + Take Action:
- Apply to volunteer with J4C:https://forms.gle/R6vscmezvo76cDDx6
- READ: Civil War in Cameroon Is Escalating
- READ: The environment is the silent casualty in the Cameroon Anglophone crisis
Click to sign up for Better to Speak’s email newsletter
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
“Am I worthy Of belonging? Am I loved just as I am? Am I safe to exist without worry? How do Black women return to our truest selves in systems that answer "no" to these three questions?”
Join Better to Speak for its first author interview with Chichi Agorom, who wrote The Enneagram for Black Liberation to reframe an age-old human development system to explore how Black people, especially Black women, use our personality types as armor against systems of supremacy.
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Stay Connected with Better to Speak
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Stay Connected with Chichi
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Learn More + Take Action:
Click to sign up for Better to Speak’s email newsletter
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
At the time of this interview in 2022, we recognized 70 years since the start of the infamous Brown v. Board of Education case in the Supreme Court and celebrated the anniversary of its ultimate decision to rule segregation in U.S. schools as unconstitutional.
In this episode of The Podcast, Kési is joined by Jade Jacobs and Dr. Linda Tillman – the Coordinator of Media and Communications and Advisory Board member, respectively, for the Black Education Research Center (BERC) at Columbia University’s Teacher’s College.
The group discusses the history and legacy of Brown v. Board, which most notably impacted the pipeline of training and job opportunities for Black educators – leaving the American education system still failing Black students, families and communities at large. We also dive into BERC’s efforts to address these issues through culturally-sensitive research
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Stay Connected with Better to Speak
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Stay Connected with BERC
Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram
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Learn More + Take Action:
- Black Education in the Wake of COVID-19 and Systemic Racism – Report by BERC
- Register for BERC’s upcoming virtual events
- Connect with BERC through this interest form
- Sources + References:
- Learn more about Brown v. Board (Source: History Channel)
- Why Black Teachers Walk Away
- America's Leaky Pipeline for Teachers of Color
- Lessons in Collective Leadership from Black History: Brown v. Board of Education by Mia Henry
Click to sign up for Better to Speak’s email newsletter
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
Join Better to Speak’s founder Kési Felton, and Elizabeth Bolarinwa, creator of the Project Alafia Initiative, for a discussion on culturally competent public health content and learn how young Black folks looking to work in public or community health can create change in the spaces they occupy.
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Find Better to Speak
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Find Liz + Project Alafia
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Learn More + Take Action:
- SHARE Research Study: Stopping the Spread of HIV/AIDS through Research and Engagement
- SHARE Research Study on Instagram
- MOTHER Lab
- M.O.T.H.E.R. Lab on Instagram
Click to sign up for Better to Speak’s email newsletter
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
Before the year ends, take a look at Better to Speak’s second annual report to reflect on our progress and impact in 2022!
Listen to the opening letter of this year’s annual report written and read by Better to Speak’s founder, Kési Felton.
In the full PDF Report, you can expect to see…
- A recap of our 2022 Strategic Goals
- Program + project recaps
- Cash flow statement
- A preview of our goals for 2023!
READ MORE HERE: www.bettertospeak.org/annualreport-22
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
This episode is a REPLAY in honor of ADHD Awareness Month.
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The Duke Center for Girls & Women with ADHD works to enable women and girls with ADHD, as well as their families, providers and communities – to better understand the unique needs of girls and women with ADHD. The Duke Center aims to help individuals seek and receive appropriate treatment, find supportive communities, and reach their full potential by closing key information and resource gaps.
Check out Kési’s conversation with Amina Sesay, Project Coordinator at the Duke Center, as they discuss the lack of information about how Black women and girls experience ADHD, the Duke Center's current projects, and how you can get involved!
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Find Better to Speak
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www.bettertospeak.org
Find the Duke Center for Girls & Women with ADHD
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn
www.adhdgirlsandwomen.org
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Learn More + Take Action :
- What I Wish You Knew: A letter to my younger myself about our ADHD – by Kési Felton on Medium
- Translating ADHD Podcast
- Sistas with ADHD
- Women & ADHD Podcast
- Adulting with ADHD
- “Let’s TikTalk About It” featured creator: Tiffany Lindley (@epiphanylane)
- Epiphany Lane Counseling
- Four Steps Towards Better Serving Black and Brown Girls with ADHD – Duke Center for Girls & Women with ADHD
- CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder)
- ADDitude Magazine – Self-Tests for ADHD, ODD, Autism, OCD, Learning Disabilities
- NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness)
Click to sign up for Better to Speak’s email newsletter
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
This episode is a REPLAY in honor of ADHD Awareness Month.
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The first question every one of our guests answers is “What’s your story? How did you get to where you are today?”
In the Season 3 premiere of Better to Speak: The Podcast, Kési (host and founder of Better to Speak) explores her own personal story on the show for the first time.
This episode is dedicated to Audre Lorde (February 18, 1934 - November 17, 1992), whose works including “A Litany for Survival,” “Transforming Silence Into Language and Action,” and “Your Silence Will Not Protect You” continue to guide Better to Speak’s mission and vision as its north star.
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Find Better to Speak:
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
www.bettertospeak.org
Find Kési:
Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram
www.kesifelton.com
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Episode Sources:
- What I Wish You Knew: A letter to my younger myself about our ADHD
- Neurodivergents: Justice Warriors
- "To Be Young, Gifted & Black" performed by Nina Simone
Click to sign up for Better to Speak’s email newsletter
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
NAL Media is disrupting the media industry with its new app, Brij. Brij connects creative professionals in the media industry to new connections and opportunities and democratizing pathways to success for marginalized creatives.
Listen to learn more about co-founders Clarke Williams and Naomi Lilly, and their goals to transform networking and mentorship in the media industry as we traditionally know it.
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Find Better to Speak
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www.bettertospeak.org
Find NAL Media + Brij
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www.nal-media.com
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Learn More + Take Action:
- Download the Brij app for iOS today!
- Learn more and donate to #Since2017, Better to Speak’s first-ever grassroots fundraiser, to support and sustain our Black youth and young adult-led community media programming including Better to Speak: The Podcast: www.bettertospeak.org/since2017
Click to sign up for Better to Speak’s email newsletter
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
NAL Media is disrupting the media industry with its new app, Brij. Brij connects creative professionals in the media industry to new connections and opportunities and democratizing pathways to success for marginalized creatives.
Listen to learn more about co-founders Clarke Williams and Naomi Lilly, and their goals to transform networking and mentorship in the media industry as we traditionally know it.
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Find Better to Speak
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
www.bettertospeak.org
Find NAL Media + Brij
Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook
www.nal-media.com
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Learn More + Take Action:
- Download the Brij app for iOS today!
- Learn more and donate to #Since2017, Better to Speak’s first-ever grassroots fundraiser, to support and sustain our Black youth and young adult-led community media programming including Better to Speak: The Podcast: www.bettertospeak.org/since2017
Click to sign up for Better to Speak’s email newsletter
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
This June, we’re Celebrating Black History and Culture – specifically in honor of Black Music Month, Caribbean Heritage Month, as well as Pride Month.
To further explore this, we spoke with Melly and Kae, co-founders of Eight88 Studios – an interdisciplinary production company, about their work to serve independent artists through a Queer Black Feminist lens.
They offer artist management, currently managing three independent music artists as they journey through the beginning of their careers, video production and graphic design services, and are cultivating a working environment rooted in the holistic care of all artists: from the stories they tell, to the people who tell them, to the processes they curate.
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Find Better to Speak
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www.bettertospeak.org
Find Eight88 Studios
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Learn More + Take Action:
- Black Queer Feminism – Mecca Jamilah Sullivan
- Mecca Jamilah Sullivan
- EXODUS by Melly
- eight88's Inquiry Form
- Melly on Instagram
- Kae on Instagram
Click to sign up for Better to Speak’s email newsletter
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
This June, we’re Celebrating Black History and Culture – specifically in honor of Black Music Month, Caribbean Heritage Month, as well as Pride Month.
To further explore this, we spoke with Melly and Kae, co-founders of Eight88 Studios – an interdisciplinary production company, about their work to serve independent artists through a Queer Black Feminist lens.
They offer artist management, currently managing three independent music artists as they journey through the beginning of their careers, video production and graphic design services, and are cultivating a working environment rooted in the holistic care of all artists: from the stories they tell, to the people who tell them, to the processes they curate.
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Find Better to Speak
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
www.bettertospeak.org
Find Eight88 Studios
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Learn More + Take Action:
- Black Queer Feminism – Mecca Jamilah Sullivan
- Mecca Jamilah Sullivan
- EXODUS by Melly
- eight88's Inquiry Form
- Melly on Instagram
- Kae on Instagram
Click to sign up for Better to Speak’s email newsletter
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
Better to Speak is excited to announce our participation in the second-annual Mental Health Action Day held on Thursday, May 19 with more than 1,600 other leading organizations and leaders.
Our intention as a partner organization for Mental Health Action Day 2022 will be to encourage Black youth and young adults, as well as other Black folks, to take their first steps towards mental health action with a focus on collectivism and connection.
In this episode of The Podcast, we spoke to Jada Wesson, who is addressing those concepts through her Instagram page @BlvkPsych, to dig deeper into how various social systems impact Black mental wellness and how Black youth and young adults can learn more to not just better understand our mental health on a personal level, but a collective one.
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Find Better to Speak
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www.bettertospeak.org
Find Jada & BLVKPSYCH
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Learn More + Take Action:
- Better to Speak Joins Second National Mental Health Action Day to Transform #SilenceIntoAction for Black Mental Wellness
- Black Mental Health (@blvkpsych) – Instagram
- Break Away from Hustle Culture
- Black Folk Mental Health: Generational Trauma, Traditions & Truth – Jelan Agnew
- 'It's Life or Death': The Mental Health Crisis Among US Teens - The New York Times
- Black Youth Suicide: Investigation of Current Trends and Precipitating Circumstances - Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
- Black Fatigue: How Racism Erodes the Mind, Body & Spirit
- Willow Weep for Me: A Black Woman's Journey Through Depression
- You Aren't Lazy. You Just Need To Slow Down
- Laziness Does Not Exist – Devon Price, Ph.D.
- “Let’s TikTalk About It” featured creator: @4TheeHotties (original content from Nike's 'Nike Training Club' app)
Click to sign up for Better to Speak’s email newsletter
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
The Duke Center for Girls & Women with ADHD works to enable women and girls with ADHD, as well as their families, providers and communities – to better understand the unique needs of girls and women with ADHD. By closing key information and resource gaps, the Duke Center aims to help individuals seek and receive appropriate treatment, find supportive communities, and reach their full potential.
Check out Kési’s conversation with Amina Sesay, Project Coordinator at the Duke Center, as they discuss the lack of information about how Black women and girls experience ADHD, the Duke Center's current projects, and how you can get involved!
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Find Better to Speak
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
www.bettertospeak.org
Find the Duke Center for Girls & Women with ADHD
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn
www.adhdgirlsandwomen.org
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Learn More + Take Action :
- What I Wish You Knew: A letter to my younger myself about our ADHD – by Kési Felton on Medium
- Translating ADHD Podcast
- Sistas with ADHD
- Women & ADHD Podcast
- Adulting with ADHD
- “Let’s TikTalk About It” featured creator: Tiffany Lindley (@epiphanylane)
- Epiphany Lane Counseling
- Four Steps Towards Better Serving Black and Brown Girls with ADHD – Duke Center for Girls & Women with ADHD
- CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder)
- ADDitude Magazine – Self-Tests for ADHD, ODD, Autism, OCD, Learning Disabilities
- NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness)
Click to sign up for Better to Speak’s email newsletter
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
In this episode of Better to Speak: The Podcast, Kési (host and founder of Better to Speak) interviews Monet Lewis-Timmons, a Ph.D. candidate and African American Public Humanities (AAPHI) Fellow at the University of Delaware.
Monet’s research focuses on Black women in the archive from the late 19th century to the early 20th century and uncovers the fragments of these archives to reveal the complexities of Black women's lives to make a larger intervention about Black women’s lived experiences across space and time.
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Find Better to Speak
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www.bettertospeak.org
Find Monet
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Learn More + Take Action :
- “I Am An American!' The Authorship and Activism of Alice Dunbar-Nelson,” Digital exhibit co-curated with Jesse Erickson and the Rosenbach Museum
- Episode 3: Alice Dunbar-Nelson as a Queer Icon: A Conversation with 'I Am An American!' Co-curator Monet Timmons
- "Building Black Women's Archives: Talking with Monet Lewis-Timmons," Podcast with the Rose Library at Emory University
- “Let’s TikTalk About It” featured creator: Rosetta Richardson (TikTok: @mamarichardson74, CashApp: $moneygrandmama)
Click to sign up for Better to Speak’s email newsletter
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
The first question every one of our guests answers is “What’s your story? How did you get to where you are today?”
In the Season 3 premiere of Better to Speak: The Podcast, Kési (host and founder of Better to Speak) explores her own personal story on the show for the first time.
This episode is dedicated to Audre Lorde (February 18, 1934 - November 17, 1992), whose works including “A Litany for Survival,” “Transforming Silence Into Language and Action,” and “Your Silence Will Not Protect You” continue to guide Better to Speak’s mission and vision as its north star.
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Find Better to Speak:
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
www.bettertospeak.org
Find Kési:
Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram
www.kesifelton.com
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Episode Sources:
- BTS Hiatus Announcement Post
- What I Wish You Knew: A letter to my younger myself about our ADHD
- Neurodivergents: Justice Warriors
- "To Be Young, Gifted & Black" performed by Nina Simone
Additional Resources:
- Click to sign up for Better to Speak’s email newsletter
- Click to explore Better to Speak’s 2021 Annual Report
- Get paid to write with BTS in 2022!
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
Political and advocacy communications directly impact how Black communities perceive, understand, and navigate political issues and spaces. However, across media industries including communications, marketing, advertising, public relations, and even journalism, Black professionals still roughly make up less than 10 percent in each field.
In this conversation with Elisabeth Bellevue, an alumna of Lincoln University and young professional studying political communications in her graduate program, listeners will:
- Hear about Elisabeth’s lived experience as a young Haitian woman and how that has influenced her politics
- Get the basics about political communications concepts and strategies like agenda-setting
- Gain insight on how young Black leaders and community organizations can benefit from political communications skills in grassroots organizing
Find Better to Speak
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www.bettertospeak.org
Find Elisabeth
Twitter | Website
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Sources and Additional Resources:
Black Alliance for Peace
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
In the refreshed and revamped iteration of Better to Speak: The Period Project, Kesi is joined by Asia Brown, co-founder of 601 for Period Equity, and Lena Vann, founder of The Black Period Project. They are two young Black women who are HBCU students and founders of respective community organizations working to bring awareness to period inequity in the South and elsewhere. Listen in on the discussion to get their insights on how to better support Black menstruators, develop a gender-inclusive perspective of menstrual rights, and understand the larger societal issues that impact period injustice.
To support Better to Speak: The Period Project, head to bettertospeak.org/periodproject to learn more about the campaign and donate or donate by clicking the link in the bottom of the show notes. That way you can donate through Red Circle who hosts this podcast. All of the funds raised, regardless of how you donate, will be split equally between 601 for Period Equity and The Black Period Project.
Find Better to Speak
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www.bettertospeak.org
Find 601 for Period Equity
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
www.601forperiodequity.com
Find The Black Period Project
www.blackperiodproject.org
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Sources and Additional Resources:
Period Poverty Pamphlet
Tax Free. Period.
Period Taboo and Menstrual Cups in the Black Community
Period Trauma Disproportionately Affects Black Menstruators
Why we need genderless 'feminine hygiene products'
No, Acknowledging That All Genders Can Menstruate Doesn't “Erase Women”
What It's Like to Get Your Period When You're a Trans Male
Boys Who Bleed: Why Gender-Neutral Language Matters
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
Misinformation and disinformation played and continue to play key roles in Black folks’ lives, historically our interactions with the media, in elections and with elected officials, and while navigating public health crises like the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Continuing season two’s Volume One: The Power of Storytelling – this conversation with Jessica Ann Mitchell Aiwuyor dives into the specifics of how misinformation targets Black communities, the effects, and how Black folks can individually and collectively combat it.
Find Better to Speak
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www.bettertospeak.org
Find NBCI Trust
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www.nbcit.org
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Sources and Additional Resources:
NBCI Trust Juneteenth Town Hall – https://nbcit.org/juneteenth/
Black Scholars Form Effort to Fight Trolls, Disinformation | Afro
Black And Latino Voters Flooded With Disinformation In Election's Final Days
The Black Press and Disinformation on Facebook
NBCI Trust Resources – https://nbcit.org/resources/
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
How can Black stories be uplifted to empower and honor Black history and humanity, rather than Black trauma and pain? How can Black storytellers remain connected to those histories while simultaneously drafting our collective and personal Black futures?
These are all questions that Angela Ford, Founder and Executive Director of The Obsidian Collection, aims to address through archives of Black journalism and photographs.
Season two’s Volume One – The Power of Storytelling – aims to cover how stories, words, and information are powerful tools to cultivate power in the Black community and for Black people in our individual journies. Learn more about The Obsidian Collection’s work to do just that in episode 17 of Better to Speak: The Podcast.
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Find Better to Speak
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www.bettertospeak.org
Find The Obsidian Collection
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
www.theobsidiancollection.org
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Sources and Additional Information:
Reporters of Color Are Declaring Independence - The Obsidian Collection Newsroom
Part one: A brief history of Black-owned news media (June 8, 2020) - The Obsidian Collection Newsroom
The Chicago Defender's New Headquarters - The Obsidian Collection Archives — Google Arts & Culture
Chicago Defender, influential African American newspaper, ceasing print publication - Chicago Tribune
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
Researchers and education advocates have shared that by the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, many students will be at least half a grade level behind. This statistic only worsens for students of color – particularly Black, Latinx and Indigenous students – and students in low income, rural, and/or public schools.
This “COVID Slide” threatens to exacerbate already-existing educational inequities and keeps marginalized students at a disadvantage. Reading Partners, an early literacy non-profit, aims to mitigate this inequities through one-on-one literacy tutoring to underserved students – a mission that has only been solidified since the onset of the pandemic.
Reading Partners’ CEO Adeola Whitney joins Kesi Felton, founder of Better to Speak, for the first interview of season two of The Podcast. Here, they discuss COVID slide and the power of community and literacy to mitigate its affects.
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Find Better to Speak
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www.bettertospeak.org
Find Reading Partners
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www.readingpartners.org
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Sources and Additional Resources:
When Covid-19 closed schools, Black, Hispanic and poor kids took biggest hit in math, reading
Mind the gap: COVID-19 is widening racial disparities in learning, so students need help and a chance to catch up
Report: Steeper COVID slide expected in math than reading
Just-in-Time vs. Just-in-Case Scaffolding: How to Foster Productive Perseverance
Become a Reading Partners volunteer:
https://readingpartners.org/volunteer/
LEARN MORE AND DONATE: Better to Speak: The Book Drive (March 8-31)
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
Audre Lorde. The self-described “Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet.” Gamba Adisa. She who makes her meaning known. Today, February 18 is her 87th birthday, and because the entire premise of Better to Speak was created from her words – we want to take a moment to honor her life and legacy, and also use this space to announce season two of Better to Speak: The Podcast as well as “Better to Speak: The Organization” and our intentions for 2021.
Learn more and take the pledge: www.bettertospeak.org/power
Better to Speak: The Podcast is back for a special episode on the #EndSARS movement and youth leadership in the global movement for Black lives. Featuring writer and feminist Naomi Ndifon and #EndSARSDMV organizer Seun Babalola.
“Nigerian youth are rediscovering their power, picking up the mantle of the cultural & political resistance that in the past helped snatch the country back from the jaws of military dictatorship" (source).
The ongoing End SARS movement in Nigeria, aimed at dismantling the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (also known as SARS), has been spearheaded primarily by Nigerian youth - and especially by Nigerian women and the LGBTQ community. Due to that fact, we want to dedicate this special episode to discuss youth activism to end police brutality across the diaspora, from #EndSARS in Nigeria to Black Lives Matter in the United States. As Seun put it: “The Black Liberation Movement is global and intersectional.”
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Find Better to Speak
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www.bettertospeak.org
Find Naomi
Twitter | Instagram
Find Seun
Twitter | Instagram
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Sources and Additional Information:
Naomi/Black Women Radicals IG Live - #ENDSARS: Why Transnational Black Feminist Solidarity Matters
Nigerian Women vs SARS: A Coalition Against Police Brutality by Naomi
The Nigerian protests are about much more than police violence
EndSARSTeachin: Video Recording | Resource List | End SARS Teach-in Fund
Pan-African Activist Sunday School- Every Sunday for the Rest of November (hosted by Black Alliance for Peace)
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
Young people are often lectured by older generations on why we should vote and blamed for undesired election outcomes. But what is the true benefit of voting in a system that consistently does not work for marginalized communities, and how should we navigate it when the candidates and ballot measures aren't good enough? Join Kési Felton, Founder of Better to Speak, in episode one of The Podcast as we explore those topics and the journey of the Black vote more broadly.
Find Better to Speak
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www.bettertospeak.org
Sources:
Selma, Alabama Marches (1965)- Historic Footage
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
Netflix’s limited series ‘Self Made’ starring Octavia Spencer as Madam C.J. Walker ignited social media dialogue around the role of entertainment media in telling Black stories with historical accuracy. While the series introduced a wider audience to Madam Walker’s story and inspired some to learn more about her off-screen, historians -- including Walker’s great-great-granddaughter A’Lelia Bundles -- were left disappointed by sensationalized storylines.
In the season one finale of Better to Speak: The Podcast Kési Felton, host and founder of BTS, interviews Bundles -- journalist, author, historian, and Walker Family archivist -- on her journey as a Black storyteller and her work to bring the truth of Madam Walker’s life to the forefront.
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Find Better to Speak
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www.bettertospeak.org
Find A’Lelia Bundles
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www.aleliabundles.com
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Sources and Additional Information:
A’Lelia Bundles’s Op-Ed: Netflix’s ‘Self Made’ Suffers from Self-Inflicted Wounds
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
Black Lives Matter protests and stay-at-home quarantine mandates gave folks the opportunity to listen, learn, and take action. Trends like #BlackOutTuesday showed that more people were paying attention to the issue of systemic racism. However, as those trends fade, so has the work to dismantle racism -- with some settling for the title of “not racist.”
But in the words of Dr. Ibram Kendi, “The opposite of ‘racist’ isn’t ‘not racist.’ It is ‘antiracist.’” Well, what exactly does it mean to be an antiracist?
The President’s ban on federal antiracism training and his refusal to condemn white supremacy in the first Presidential debate against Joe Biden doesn’t offer much hope for what could become of the racial reckoning currently happening across the United States. But that doesn’t negate the opportunity we all have to do the work in our communities and personal relationships.
In the second to last episode of the season, host and founder of Better to Speak Kési Felton chats with Christine Platt, who currently serves as the Managing Director for American University’s Antiracist Research and Policy Center in Washington, D.C. Platt discusses the specific work of the Antiracism Center, as well as the work listeners can do offline to commit to the work of antiracism.
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Find Better to Speak
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www.bettertospeak.org
Find the Antiracist Research and Policy Center @ American University
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www.american.edu/centers/antiracism
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Sources and Additional Information:
COVER ART: Photo byJoan Villalon onUnsplash
Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University
Read How to Be an Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
While environmental racism disproportionately impacts Black and brown communities, we are also the same people who are excluded from conversations on how to save our planet and create more sustainable communities.
Rachel Clark is working to change that narrative through her organization Waves of Change HBCU, Inc. which started on the campus of Howard University. Through community service events and education, she aims to position HBCU students and institutions as the leading voices in the fight to end environmental racism and address climate change.
Rachel joins Kési Felton, founder of Better to Speak and fellow Howard Bison, to discuss environmental justice and how Waves of Change HBCU is working to address it with HBCU students leading the way.
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Find Better to Speak
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www.bettertospeak.org
Find Waves of Change HBCU
Apply to start a Waves of Change chapter at your HBCU
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Sources and Additional Information:
COVER ART: The EPA chose this county for a toxic dump because its residents were ‘few, black, and poor’
What is environmental racism? | World Economic Forum
Race is the biggest indicator in the US of whether you live near toxic waste | QZ
10 egregious examples of environmental racism in the US | Insider
The Former Prisoners Fighting California’s Wildfires | The Marshall Project
What wildfires in Brazil, Siberia, and the US West have in common | Vox
Early findings grim on the health of Flint kids after water crisis | CBS News
Easing fires not as simple as climate change vs. forest work | AP News
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This week we speak with Marilynn Winn, executive director of ATL-based Women On the Rise GA which was founded in 2013 for formerly-incarcerated women of color and women targeted and/or impacted by the criminal legal system.
This episode is a follow-up to “Abolition, Art, and Activism” where we spoke with Chicago activist ThoughtPoet about the organization BYP100 and the movement for police abolition.
Marilynn Winn joins host and Better to Speak founder Kési Felton to discuss the aftermath of the murders of Ahmaud Arbery and Rayshard Brooks in Georgia, the importance of Black women’s leadership in this movement, and how community members can better support folks who are currently or formerly incarcerated.
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Find Better to Speak
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www.bettertospeak.org
Find Women On the Rise
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www.womenontherisega.org
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Sources:
Is Prison Necessary? Ruth Wilson Gilmore Might Change Your Mind | NY Times
Facts about crime in the U.S. | Pew Research Center
Communities Over Cages: Close the Jail ATL Campaign
Additional Resources:
CHANGE: A World Without Prisons (featuring Ruth Wilson Gilmore and Mariame Kaba) | CUNY Graduate Center- Center for the Study of Women and Society
Are Prisons Obsolete? (PDF) | Angela Y. Davis
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
September signifies National Suicide Awareness and Prevention Month. However, dialogue around mental health in the Black community specifically is still stigmatized, suicide rates among Black youth continue to rise, and especially in the midst of the “dual pandemic”-- of systemic racism and COVID-19-- how are we working to address Black mental health and the various social factors that negatively impact it?
Jardin Dogan, M.Ed., Ed.S.-- Ph.D. candidate and creator of @BlkFolxTherapy on Instagram-- joins Better to Speak founder Kési Felton to discuss the intersections of racial trauma and mental wellness, with the goal of providing listeners with tangible healthy coping mechanisms to heal and build self-knowledge.
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Find Better to Speak
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www.bettertospeak.org
Find Jardin and Black Folx Therapy
www.jardindogan.com
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Sources:
Books by Dr. Janet Helms
Books by Dr. Linda James Meyers
Additional Resources via BetterToSpeak.org
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
In honor of the 63 years that have passed since The Little Rock Nine first integrated Central High School in Arkansas, this week's episode of The Podcast explores the idea of transforming education from a site of oppression to one of liberation for Black students.
Better to Speak founder Kési Felton is joined by Evalaurene Jean-Charles, founder of digital content platform and podcast Black On Black Education, to discuss their work to support Black students and how that looks in the context of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and calls for the dismantling of systemic racism.
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Find Better to Speak
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Find Black On Black Education
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www.blackonblackeducation.com
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Sources:
Little Rock Nine
This Day in History: September 4th- The Little Rock Nine
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Defunding and abolishing the police has become part of mainstream dialogue since George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis in May. This topic, though older than most folks recognize, has caused a lot on controversy for many reasons in local communities as well as nationally as we inch closer and closer to the Presidential election in November.
On this week's episode of the podcast, host and founder of BTS Kési Felton explores what it means to abolish the police and brings on Chris "ThoughtPoet" Brown-- photographer, writer, and BYP100 Chicago member-- to go deeper into the topic, discuss his connection between art and activism, as well as the work BYP100 is doing on the ground to educate and organize folks around defunding and ultimately abolishing the police in their founding city of Chicago and elsewhere in the country.
Cover art photo courtesy of ThoughtPoet
Sources:
The History of Police In Creating Social Order In The U.S. | NPR | 6.5.2020
Are Prisons Obsolete?(PDF) | Angela Y. Davis
Mentioned Links and Additional Resources:
Abolish Policing, Not Just the Police | Haymarket Books (Event/ Panel with Mariame Kaba, Maya Schenwar, and Victoria Law)
Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police | Mariame Kaba | NY Times
Defunding Vs. Abolishing The Police Explained In 6 Minutes | Joseph Capehart | BuzzFeedVideo
Organizations: BYP100, Assata's Daughters, Let Us Breathe Collective, Good Kids Mad City
Find Better to Speak
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www.bettertospeak.org
Find ThoughtPoet
Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram
www.thoughtpoetsopinion.com
Find BYP100
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www.byp100.org
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
"Naps help you wake up to the truth of who you are."
A perfect and succinct quote from this week's interview with The Nap Bishop-- founder and curator of The Nap Ministry, Tricia Hersey. In this week's episode of The Podcast, Better to Speak's founder Kési Felton chats with Tricia to discuss the impacts of grind culture on Black folks and the act of "rest as resistance."
Find Better to Speak
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www.bettertospeak.org
Find The Nap Ministry
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www.thenapministry.wordpress.com
How does one find their voice in the movement? What is a "political home" and what does it mean to have one?
After a three-month hiatus, Better to Speak: The Podcast returns! Founder Kési Felton is joined by Angela Saxton of Bet On Us and the Working Families Party to discuss tangible next steps for young Black folks to find a political home in the movement for Black liberation.
Find Better to Speak
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www.bettertospeak.org
Find Bet On Us/Working Families Party:
Twitter | Facebook (Working Families Party)
www.betonus.org
www.workingfamilies.org
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
Join us for our special two-part edition of Better to Speak: The Podcast as we discuss the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.
In part two, host and founder of Better to Speak Kési Felton discusses the political implications of the coronavirus pandemic, and is joined by Mercilla Ryan-Harris, a public health professional and co-founder of BLK HLTH, to discuss the specific impacts of the pandemic on the Black community.
Find BLK HLTH:
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www.blkhlth.com
Find Better to Speak:
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www.bettertospeak.org
Mentioned Links:
Racism: The most dangerous 'pre-existing condition' | Al-Jazeera
Five ways the criminal justice system could slow the pandemic | Prison Policy Initiative
Bill Summary: Rent and Mortgage Cancellation Act (HR-6515)
Better to Speak's COVID-19 Community Resource Guide
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
Join us for our special two-part edition of Better to Speak: The Podcast as we discuss the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.
In part one, host and founder of Better to Speak Kési Felton talks with Tassika Lisa Lloyd, award-winning digital communications expert and sociologist, to get a better idea of the factors that are specifically affecting young people's ability to fully understand the gravity of the coronavirus pandemic and adhere to "social distancing" recommendations and guidelines (the messaging of which may not be as effective as we've been lead to believe).
Find Tassika:
Twitter | Instagram
https://tassika.com/
Find Better to Speak:
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www.bettertospeak.org
Mentioned Links:
Tassika's Twitter thread on Collectivism and COVID-19
Better to Speak's COVID-19 Community Resource Guide
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
Young people are often lectured by older generations on why we should vote and blamed for undesired election outcomes. But what is the true benefit of voting in a system that consistently does not work for marginalized communities, and how should we navigate it when the candidates and ballot measures aren't good enough? Join Kési Felton, Founder of Better to Speak, in episode one of The Podcast as we explore those topics and the journey of the Black vote more broadly.
Find Better to Speak
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www.bettertospeak.org
Sources:
Selma, Alabama Marches (1965)- Historic Footage
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations
What should we really mean when we discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion in politics? Join Kési Felton, Founder of Better to Speak, in the first official reboot episode of The Podcast as we discuss how we can do better to ensure more of us feel like our stories are heard and represented in this upcoming election.
Find Better to Speak
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www.bettertospeak.org
Sources:
Caucus vs. Primary: What's the Difference? (USA Today)
CAMPAIGN 2020: DNC Chair Tom Perez Defends Lack of Diversity on Debate Stage (The Hill)
Julián Castro on Iowa and the Order of Primary Elections (NBC News via Twitter)
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/better-to-speak-the-podcast/donations