Racial Healing Podcast Josh Singh

As a child, I disowned my Indian heritage due to the racism in my neighborhood and my appearance. In 2000, I traveled to India to meet my family and claim my heritage for the first time. I also met and became close with my family. After this I began identifying as biracial. I became an expert in Biracial Identity - teaching classes, conducting research, and leading organizations. My identity today is fluid. Often I have painful encounters with Indian people who test my authenticity as an Indian person.

Dr. Darnell Motley is a Black Psychologist. Dr. Motley shares how differently he is perceived now that he is a professional with a PhD versus when he was a poor kid growing up in Gary, Indiana.  He also describes how when interacting with White strangers, Dr. Motley's entire self is one-dimensionalized into one characteristic - his Blackness. Friends and colleagues have also tried to use his Blackness to absolve them from having committed microaggressions. Dr. Motley also talks about his rage - over what happened to Christopher Cooper, for example, as well as his latent rage that is always present.

Raju

Diane Tran Weinberg shares her family's immigration story of escaping the dangers of Vietnam in October 1978. Diane contrasts her experience of growing up in relative comfort in Irvine, CA with her two elder sisters who were born in Vietnam and made the harrowing journey to the US. Diane also shares about microagressions (like being asked where she's from), how she feels in all White spaces, and her own internalized racism. 

Chris Rooney shares his experience of visiting his hometown of Minneapolis during and after the uprisings immediately following the murder of George Floyd. Chris compares the discrepancy between what actually happened in Minneapolis and how the uprisings were covered in the media.  He also shares a harrowing story of having a police officer pointing a shotgun at his forehead when he was age 17 and drinking at a high school party. 

René & Peter share their experiences of being gay, Asian men. Both men share their struggle to find self-acceptance around their sexuality, having grown up in cultures in which heterosexuality is the only acceptable way to love. René describes finding healing through yoga and meditation while Peter describes finding healing in therapy and in a community of men called the Mankind Project, where he learned that there are many ways of being a worthwhile man.