Up With Community Nico Chin

As a racial justice practitioner, I am highly interested in making white supremacy culture visible and pursuing the antigens. Early this month, I had a chance to sit down and uncover Dr. Okun’s racial justice and equity journey and share her wisdom. We’ll explore: ❋How she thinks of the concept of white supremacy culture for those who’s haven’t been introduced to it before? ❋What is her goal to offer the White Supremacy Culture website + how she hope to see communities using it for racial justice in organizing and building? How did she formulate the concept?❋What’s the reason the white supremacy culture tries to make us feel fear on a very personal level?❋Why should we stop weaponizing the tools we have?Tema Okun has spent over 30 years working with and for organizations, schools, and community-based institutions as a trainer, facilitator, teacher, and mentor focused on issues of racial justice and equity. She got her start at Grassroots Leadership with a strong team including James Williams, Cathy Howell, and Kamau Marcharia. For 12 years she worked with the late and beloved Kenneth Jones at ChangeWork and then for another decade with Michelle Johnson and many brilliant colleagues at DismantlingRacismWorks. Dr. Okun currently co-leads the Teaching for Equity Fellows Program at Duke University, which works with faculty seeking to develop stronger skills both teaching about race and racism and across lines of race, class, and gender. She also facilitates and supports leaders and organizations with colleagues at Teach.Equity.Now. housed at the Pauli Murray Center in Durham, NC. Tema was a member of the Educational Leadership faculty at National Louis University in Chicago and has taught undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral level students in educational leadership and education. She is the author of the award-winning The Emperor Has No Clothes: Teaching About Race and Racism to People Who Don’t Want to Know (2010, IAP) and the widely used article White Supremacy Culture. She launched a website based on a revision and update of the article in May 2021: www.white supremacy culture.info. She publishes regularly on the pedagogy of racial and social justice. Tema is a member of the Bhumisphara Sangha under the leadership of Lama Rod Owens. She is an artist, a poet, and a writer. She lives in Carrboro NC where she is fortunate to reside among beloved community. Her current project is deepening her ability to love her neighbor as herself. She is finding the instruction easy and the follow through challenging, given how we live in a culture that is afraid to help us do either or both.White Supremacy Culture Website: https://www.whitesupremacyculture.infoTema's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tema-okun-0a14311a1/ Our podcast and videos are made possible by our supporters on PayPal and Patreon. I want to thank Carol Wishcamper for your support. You too can broaden the impact of our conversations here. Please consider supporting us on Patreon–and getting some cool perks–by visiting Patreon.com/upwithcommunity or making a one-time donation on PayPal by visiting our site at upwithcommunity.org/support..Want more inspiration each month? Sign up for our personal, monthly letter with videos, resources and reflections for moving from ideas to action: http://eepurl.com/NKUnvIdeas To Action Field Guide: https://upwithcommunity.org/turn-idea...Up With Community Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/UpWithCommunityVisit our website - https://www.upwithcommunity.orgFollow UWC on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/upwithcommu...Like UWC on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/UpWithCommun...Follow me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/nicomchin

Alexandra Brodsky joins Unearthing today to talk about her new book, Sexual Justice: Supporting Victims, Ensuring Due Process, and Resisting the Conservative Backlash. Values and principles that can guide how institutions handle allegations of wrongdoing by their members. How do we address accusations of sexual harm that the accused denies? Where is dignity for all in the process without a lack of accountability and justice for all?Alexandra is a civil rights lawyer and founder of Know Your IX, an organization devoted to ending gender violence in schools.Alexandra’s Twitter Profile: https://twitter.com/azbrodsky Sexual Justice: Supporting Victims, Ensuring Due Process, and Resisting the Conservative Backlash by Alexandra Brodsky: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250262547Our podcast and videos are made possible by our supporters on PayPal and Patreon. I want to thank Carol Wishcamper for your support. You too can broaden the impact of our conversations here. Please consider supporting us on Patreon–and getting some cool perks–by visiting Patreon.com/upwithcommunity or making a one-time donation on PayPal by visiting our site at upwithcommunity.org/support..Want more inspiration each month? Sign up for our personal, monthly letter with videos, resources and reflections for moving from ideas to action: http://eepurl.com/NKUnvIdeas To Action Field Guide: https://upwithcommunity.org/turn-ideas-into-action/Up With Community Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/UpWithCommunityVisit our website - https://www.upwithcommunity.orgFollow UWC on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/upwithcommunity/Like UWC on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/UpWithCommunity/Follow me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/nicomchin

Passive house standards are calling us to help address climate change to make more resilient buildings that are healthier for us. In this episode of Unearthing, Naomi shares her story of how she got into the passive house industry + how she’d like to see communities in Maine benefit from it.Naomi Beal is the Executive Director and founding member of passivhausMAINE and a founding board member of the North American Passive House Network. Naomi embraces the challenge of developing phME into a sustainable organization through local, national and international partnerships. Naomi believes Maine’s economic development can be fostered through a framework of building efficiency and innovative and traditional wood products. She lives in South Freeport, ME.passivhausMAINE Website: https://www.passivhausmaine.org passivhausMAINE Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/passivhausMAINE/passivhausMAINE Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/passivhausmaine/ US Architects Declare Climate, Justice, and Biodiversity Emergency: https://us.architectsdeclare.com Our podcast and videos are made possible by our supporters on PayPal and Patreon. I want to thank Carol Wishcamper for your support. You too can broaden the impact of our conversations here. Please consider supporting us on Patreon–and getting some cool perks–by visiting Patreon.com/upwithcommunity or making a one-time donation on PayPal by visiting our site at upwithcommunity.org/support..Want more inspiration each month? Sign up for our personal, monthly letter with videos, resources and reflections for moving from ideas to action: http://eepurl.com/NKUnvIdeas To Action Field Guide: https://upwithcommunity.org/turn-ideas-into-action/Up With Community Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/UpWithCommunityVisit our website - https://www.upwithcommunity.orgFollow UWC on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/upwithcommunity/Like UWC on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/UpWithCommunity/Follow me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/nicomchin

There is hope for economic justice in America.That hope begins with having more explicit conversations about the ties that bond us, and building economic systems that bring us together, rather than tear us apart.I was grateful for the chance to sit down with friend and author, Brian Johnson, to hear more about his new book: Our Fair Share. Brian shares his proposal for a Citizen Dividend that can transform how we connect to each other and our economy.We’ll explore: what brought him to this idea, what experiences drove him while writing, and how communities can use his ideas in action. Brian C. Johnson has spent a career in social justice across the country. He currently serves as the CEO of Equality Illinois, the statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization for Illinois. Prior to this role, he has served as a first grade teacher in Baton Rouge, a public school leader in Hollywood, a political candidate in Los Angeles, and the head of a community organizing team working in two dozen cities across the country. His book Our Fair Share: How One Small Change Can Create a More Equitable American Economy brings his fresh view on our country's values as it seeks to help tackle economic inequality in America. Brian’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/iamtherealbcj Brian’s Website: https://www.briancjohnson.org Our podcast and videos are made possible by our supporters on PayPal and Patreon. I want to thank Carol Wishcamper for your support. You too can broaden the impact of our conversations here. Please consider supporting us on Patreon–and getting some cool perks–by visiting Patreon.com/upwithcommunity or making a one-time donation on PayPal by visiting our site at upwithcommunity.org/support..Want more inspiration each month? Sign up for our personal, monthly letter with videos, resources and reflections for moving from ideas to action: http://eepurl.com/NKUnvIdeas To Action Field Guide: https://upwithcommunity.org/turn-ideas-into-action/Up With Community Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/UpWithCommunityVisit our website - https://www.upwithcommunity.orgFollow UWC on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/upwithcommunity/Like UWC on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/UpWithCommunity/Follow me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/nicomchin

What is white resiliency? What are some ways to build + develop it? What does the characteristics of white resiliency include? What is the application or connections of racial resiliency to other identities in the world? How resiliency is connected to the greater liberation?Today we’re talking about a tool I’ve been using extensively since the first day I found it: The White Resiliency Framework. Craig has lots to teach us about entering into the conversations about racism without defensiveness, denial and centering ourselves.Check out Building White Resiliency by Craig White: https://www.nonprofitmaine.org/wp-content/uploads/Building-White-Resiliency.pdfCraig White is the founder and principal of Craig White Consulting, working with schools, nonprofits and foundations around the US to offer racial equity training and consulting, give voice to marginalized groups and shine a light on issues of equity and underrepresentation. In addition, Craig serves as the Supportive Schools Director and Special Projects Advisor for the Campaign for Southern Equity, where he provides training, policy guidance, and assessment services to assist Southern schools in becoming more inclusive and welcoming for students of every sexual and gender identity. He also advises and advocates on other LGBTQ youth-related issues and policies.Craig is an adjunct faculty member in the education program at Warren Wilson College and serves as a co-leader of the Leadership Learning Exchange for Equity, a program of the Maine Community Foundation. Craig graduated from Brown University before getting a master's degree in social work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a William C. Friday Fellow for Human Relations through the Wildacres Leadership Initiative. He has lived with his family in the Asheville, NC area since 1999. Our podcast and videos are made possible by our supporters on PayPal and Patreon. I want to thank Carol Wishcamper for your support. You too can broaden the impact of our conversations here. Please consider supporting us on Patreon–and getting some cool perks–by visiting Patreon.com/upwithcommunity or making a one-time donation on PayPal by visiting our site at upwithcommunity.org/support..Want more inspiration each month? Sign up for our personal, monthly letter with videos, resources and reflections for moving from ideas to action: http://eepurl.com/NKUnvIdeas To Action Field Guide: https://upwithcommunity.org/turn-ideas-into-action/Up With Community Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/UpWithCommunityVisit our website - https://www.upwithcommunity.orgFollow UWC on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/upwithcommunity/Like UWC on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/UpWithCommunity/Follow me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/nicomchin

Hi friends. Welcome to Unearthing: Our chats with organizers, leaders, and teachers about the powerful tools they’ve created to build justice. I’m Nico Chin, founder of Up With Community in Lewiston, Maine. We help people learn better together. In season one, Brass Tacks, I interviewed change makers to understand their achievements and challenges. In this season, Unearthing, and it'll be a little different. We're taking pieces of media and mining them for key insights. We’ll chat with the creators of these tools to explore why they created them, how they are being used in the world, and how you might use them in your work. Our podcast and videos are made possible by our supporters on PayPal and Patreon. I want to thank Carol Wishcamper for your support. You too can broaden the impact of our conversations here. Please consider supporting us on Patreon–and getting some cool perks–by visiting Patreon.com/upwithcommunity or making a one-time donation on PayPal by visiting our site at upwithcommunity.org/support. Let’s get into it!For the inaugural episode of our second season, Unearthing, my husband Ben and I will be diving deeper into topics relevant to organizing and organizations: How they self structure, whether and how they adapt to crises, how they scale, why they shrink, and what practices they utilize to carry out their missions, among a lot of other nuanced tidbits of history and learning. Today, we're looking at organizations as living organisms.Support the Maine People's Alliance: https://www.mainepeoplesalliance.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=2.Want more inspiration each month? Sign up for our personal, monthly letter with videos, resources and reflections for moving from ideas to action: http://eepurl.com/NKUnvIdeas To Action Field Guide: https://upwithcommunity.org/turn-ideas-into-action/Up With Community Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/UpWithCommunityVisit our website - https://www.upwithcommunity.orgFollow UWC on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/upwithcommunity/Like UWC on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/UpWithCommunity/Follow me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/nicomchin