Circle up, we're talking about the importance of protecting trans folks as we see this ascent of fascism. We're not throwing anybody off the bus. International Transgender Day of Visibility is more important than ever, so please do a quick online search and get involved. Watch the After Class Discussion! Follow Benjamin Faye on Bluesky Follow Benja…

Should we bypass misinformation? How is Palestine connected to racism? What the difference between gender and race if they're both constructs? You've got questions, Tori and Benji got... thoughts! Join us! Support the show! Research on bypassing misinfo Follow Benjamin Faye on Bluesky Follow Benjamin Faye on Instagram Follow Tori on Bluesky Follow …

In honor of Women's History Month, Benji and Tori join up to discuss the life and legacy of Sojourner Truth. From escaping slavery to delivering her iconic "Ain’t I a Woman?" speech, Truth’s words and actions challenged societal norms and fought for equality. Want Ad-Free Early Episodes? Support the show! Follow Benjamin Faye on Bluesky Follow Benj…

Millions of Americans cannot work or vote because they lack identification. Kat Calvin is here to change that. Join Tori and Benji for an encouraging conversation about how we can make a material difference in the lives of our neighbors by advocating for identification. Connect with Kat on her website. Buy Kat’s book from an Indie Bookshop! Support…

Final week of (official) Black History Month and we are having a party I mean episode for the epic badass Fannie Lou Hamer. If you are able, please consider supporting the show or just follow us over on Patreon as social media gets more toxic and fashy. Follow Benji on Bluesky Follow Tori on Bluesky

We hold this truth to be self-evident: the US government lacks the moral authority to dictate who can and can't get married. But like, how did we get here? This week we're talking about how Black folks convinced the government to let us marry whoever TF we want AND helped lay the groundwork for marriage equality across the board. Turns out, our lib…

For Black History Month we're changing the format! (Hate it? Love it? Let us know! ) And, we do a review of the Black Panther Party's 10 Point Program and well... the math checks out. SUPPORT THE SHOW FOR BLACK HISTORY MONTH Follow Andrew Seidel's new show! Follow Benji on IG Follow Benji on Bluesky Follow the show on IG Follow Tori on Bluesky…

LIVE EVENT! Reclaiming Freedom: Civil Rights Tactics for Resisting Authoritarianism (email [email protected] for scholarships!) PATRON DRIVE! We need your support to keep making the show. You can chip in as little as a $5 to help us keep the show going. We're celebrating Black History Month by learning about some Black folks who deserve a little …

We're starting Black History Month early this year with a big announcement! Benjamin Faye is officially joining the podcast as a co-host! This week we are talking about the importance of holding on to our hope while authoritarianism is on the rise. We get a lil vulnerable, sharing from our own personal journeys, struggles, and some practices for st…

You aren't alone! Benji and I wanted to share some reflections on the inauguration this week without any spiraling or doomcasting. We talk about the importance of caring for our emotional health (even the feelings that aren't great) and of course, caring for our nervous systems so we can care for our communities. Support the show + get early, ad-fr…

Poverty has such a measurable impact on your nervous system that we can see it in brain scans, yet we don't often talk about what those impacts look like. Benjamin Faye is back on the show to unpack some of the ways that poverty changes our brain chemistry, alters expectations, and increases struggles for self-regulation. And we discuss what healin…

Benji is back on the show to discuss his experience with homelessness and the systemic barriers that lead to millions of Americans falling through the cracks. Benji shares personal stories, insights into the realities of life trying to find shelter on a day to day basis, and his perspective on what real change could look like. Join us for a powerfu…

Had Prop on the show to talk about surviving *gestures vaguely at everything*, what we owe to each other, and how we can reduce harmful impacts on our families, communities, and the world. We also discuss the little steps we can take to make a difference when the world is on fire, how going "off the grid" isn't the answer, and life after capitalism…

Strong communities are essential to surviving authoritarian flare-ups but how do we do that? Today Scott Okamoto and Benjamin Faye join me to discuss what strong community can look like and how to build community while minimizing risk of harm. Benji's Bluesky Benji's Instagram Scott's Bluesky Scott's Instagram Tuesday Night Cafe Scott's Book! Suppo…

“As we recognize that humans are human, and worthy of human rights, conservative white america is dying this slow demographic death and rebelling.” Why is it that the exact arguments used against trans people and DEI were being used in defense of slavery in pre emancipation America? I reached out to Andrew Seidel to discuss this patter because he w…

CW ⚠️: this episode contains references to suicide and diets. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis in the US or Canada you can dial 988 to get support. Fan fave Andre Henry is back to talk about the practice of building resilience in the context of supremacist culture. Honestly, this conversation had me tearing up in places, and yet left …

Why is it that the same arguments used to defend slavery are being used to dehumanize trans people? Why is it that there's no way for most white evangelicals to separate their faith and their nationalism? Why is the Constitution conflated with the Bible? Corey and Tori try to disentangle Christianity from Americanism You can find Corey on IG: @exis…

Today we are taking a crack at ye olde Prager "University" meme about the first Black US representatives, which correctly points out that they were all Republicans and incorrectly implies that their party affiliation mattered for much, then or now. Turns out, they were woke too! Don't tell Dennis! LINKS Benji's Insta: ⁠@heythereBenji⁠ Benji's Twitt…

I've been wanting to try a new format for the show for a while so I took a stab at it this week with Janice Lagata of God Has Not Given. We talk about the fascinating true story of Mary Richards Bowser, a Union spy who was also enslaved. I would LOVE to know what you think about this format, mainly because if you all hate it, I don't want to keep t…

Benjamin Faye joins the show to talk about how grit and resilience mean different things depending on your position in society. Resilience isn't an unlimited resource. The science and experience tell us that is an impossible demand to make on people, doubly so for those who do not have their basic needs met. Benji's Insta: @heythereBenji Benji's Tw…

This episode I'm talking to Jessica Dulaney who is the communications director for the Coalition for Responsible Home Education. Being Black and homeschooled felt incredibly isolating to me. Growing up, I never once met another Black child who was being homeschooled that I wasn't biologically related to, so being able to connect with Jessica online…

Personal and political violence are nothing new but examining who is allowed to engage in violence and who isn't is essential to understanding the power dynamics we've built the world on. "They do it so we should to" is colonizer logic and I think we can do better than that when it comes to race, racism, and understanding why people feel threatened…

We spend a lot of time talking about the effects of whiteness on people of color but it's important to talk about the impact whiteness has on white people. As a construct, whiteness can only benefit some white people. And even the people who benefit materially are harmed in terms of connection, sympathy, and the demand that you reject your own cult…

What does it look like when we start dismantling systems of oppression that benefit a small number of people at the expense of everyone else? Black and Indigenous folks are regularly accused of reverse racism for things that are merely offenses, not systematic harm. But to your nervous system, the opposite of systemic racism is probably going to fe…

If you've ever wondered what to say to someone whose response to another cop committing murder is "shoulda complied", I got you covered. Turns out our bodies are programmed to protect us from danger. Weird, right? And even more shocking: that self-protection programming your nervous system is running? Yeah that's not under voluntary control. In thi…

Why do people protest things that are objectively good for themselves and their neighbors? Let's look at protests through the lens of evolutionary biology, nervous system responses, politics, nd power dynamics. History has shown us that protests are a predictable result of burning through all the official channels to create change and getting nowhe…

Today we're talking about rest, sleep, and play, and how they are all integral to self-regulation. Humans don't come fully loaded with equal amounts of self-regulation that some people just choose to use and others don't. Making good decisions isn't the default that some nonwhite people just happened to miss out on. The environment you were raised …

Welcome back to White Homework! I want to break down some of the common racist myths that exist in western culture. This week: DRUGS! Let's use address one of the most common racist tropes in US culture: conflating problematic drug use with Black people. Data shows racial groups largely use recreational drugs at the same levels but you certainly wo…

If you've listened to the last two episodes with Andre, you know I've been wrestling with what it looks like to respect all people while also acknowledging that power disparities have an impact on how we engage with harm. I say it all the time, but I want safety and security for all people, even if they disagree with my politics. Like most of you, …

When we see injustice in the world and want to fix it, how do you keep from becoming the thing you hate? I can't stop thinking about this so I invited Andre Henry back to discuss how we create a better world without, as Audre Lord puts it, the master's tools. I can't stop thinking about the issue of moral responses to violence. Where, to ask the co…

There are a lot of ways to protest and trying to figure out what the appropriate violence is feels overwhelmingly difficult. When the state is inherently violent, how are people committed to non-violence supposed to respond? Capitalism, the law, personal property are all values in American culture all have more value than nonwhite Americans. As Dr.…

Thanks all for your generosity and patience as I'm getting stuff situated over here!! I had a conversation with Corey Leak about how we left white Jesus and moved into a space that is committed to material equity. We need creative imagination to create a world where no one is a commodity, no one is a product, no one is just the labor they produce. …

This week, I had a conversation with Dr. Bradley Onishi. Brad is a professor of religious studies at Skidmore College, and the host of the podcast Straight White American Jesus. I think it would be safe to say - and I've told Brad this several times - that I am a little bit of a fangirl. As someone who grew up in white evangelical spaces, I'm kind …

Hey y'all! Had a great conversation with Blake Chastain several months ago about the slow merging of evangelicalism and nationalism. We're currently watching evangelicalism in the US move from being a religious or spiritual identifier to a political identifier. For those of us who grew up in white evangelical spaces this isn't surprising. After the…

Taking a little break from our "racism doesn't exist" series to talk to Jo Luehmann about justice, joy, liberation, and accountability. I reached out to her originally because I am obsessed with her work around decolonizing theology. As a nonbeliever, we have nothing (to my knowledge) on the matters of joy and liberation for all people. But these a…

Alice joins me to talk about the abundance data proving the rampant discrimination in hiring and employment. "There are way too many Black men named Steve." I yell out into the universe while lecturing people about... name shaming? Apologies I'm still working on this. Workplace Discrimination Is Illegal (But Still Happening) Discrimination Hasn't G…

OMG WE HAVE A NEW FORMAT!! I'm really excited. I mean, it's possible that we COMPLETELY bombed it but at some point we'll get it under control and it'll be a good thing. Get ready to talk about housing discrimination (and javalinas and Black pioneers in Oregon and a million swears) with Alice and me. My notes are from the following sources. Smithso…

Happy Black History Month! This week we're starting a new series! We're calling this one "Racism Doesn't Exist" since so many white Americans believe that racism ended with MLK. So we're diving into the data and examining the disparities that exist between white people and Black people in every area of society. This week we're talking about the tre…

Contrary to popular belief, Black Americans are more socially conservative on average, than their white peers. We are more likely to believe in God, attend church regularly, and most of us believe that hard work is it takes to succeed. Shocker, huh? Alice Hamilton joins Tori to discuss the difference between Black conservatism and Black conservativ…

Alice and Tori talk about how we are learning how respect sex workers and protect them from both dangerous people and dangerous policies. Executive Producers Jeffrey Martin Nate Frazier Producer Jillian Cohan Martin Audio Producer and Editor Nash Propst Artwork by Slade Sundar www.sladesundar.com Music by K.Solis…

Alice Hamilton and I sat down to discuss the attempted takeover of the Capitol in DC. A note of caution: language is terribly important. Alice and I use the term "coup" as a catchall throughout this episode to refer to the events that occurred in Washington DC on January 6th, 2021. With that said, I don't know how precise it is to refer to this eve…

Alice and I decided to tackle something that's become a huge part of the national narrative: why have cops at all? We have pretty clear data that policing does not work. Policing is a net negative for communities, but it's also bad for the officers themselves. "Slavery didn't work either. It costs money. It costs lives. We have all this information…

Tori is joined by Alice Hamilton to discuss the reclamation of Black humanity in a country founded on white supremacist values. They discuss the ways that whiteness collides with Black bodies through assumptions, dehumanization, infantilization, lionizing, othering, and more.

Tori is joined by Alice Hamilton and Hailee Evelyn Greene to discuss the ways that purity culture plays out for Black girls in predominantly white spaces. Executive Producers Jeffrey Martin Nate Frazier Producer Jillian Cohan Martin Audio Producer and Editor Nash Propst Artwork by Slade Sundar www.sladesundar.com Music by K.Solis…

Tori and Alice discuss Trump's executive orders targeting Black women's work. Executive Producers Jeffrey Martin Nate Frazier Producer Jillian Cohan Martin Audio Producer and Editor Nash Propst Artwork by Slade Sundar www.sladesundar.com Music by K.Solis

Tori and Alice dig into American history and the fact that the United States was never intended to be a democracy and can't operate as a functional democracy because of that. The article discussed in the episode Executive Producers Jeffrey Martin Nate Frazier Producer Jillian Cohan Martin Audio Producer and Editor Nash Propst Artwork by Slade Sunda…

Alice joins Tori to talk about the ways the pro-life movement has been fueled by racism. Last week at the RNC, Abby Johnson spoke. She released a video a few months ago where she claimed that police would justified racially profiling her son because, she claimed, Black people commit more violent crimes. This made me realize all the ways in which th…

Tori is joined by Alice Hamilton to talk about what the heck white privilege really means and how privilege interacts with cancel culture. Executive Producers Jeffrey Martin Nate Frazier Producer Jillian Cohan Martin Audio Producer and Editor Nash Propst Artwork Slade Sundar www.sladesundar.com Music by K.Solis…

Tori is joined by hip hop artist Propaganda to talk about power dynamics, rejecting force and violence, and choosing collaborative problem solving within a white supremacist framework. Executive Producers Jeffrey Martin Nate Frazier Producer Jillian Cohan Martin Audio Producer and Editor Nash Propst Artwork Slade Sundar www.sladesundar.com Music by…

This episode Tori talks to Steve Zakauni about Black generosity, anti-Black tropes, and all of the white assumptions that come up during national Black grief. Executive Producers Jeffrey Martin Nate Frazier Producer Jillian Cohan Martin Audio Producer and Editor Nash Propst Artwork Slade Sundar www.sladesundar.com Music by K.Solis…