Since the war in Ukraine began in February, we’ve heard reports of terrible atrocities. Mass graves uncovered, the entire port city of Mariupal besieged for months which has led to a humanitarian crisis. Women and children injured or killed during strikes on residential areas.

As I listened to reports in late February, I heard several prominent reporters openly noting their horror and surprise that we were witnessing such tragedies in a “civilized”country. Lets dig into this idea of “civilized” and “uncivilized” countries and how its roots in White supremacy influence our reactions to current world conflicts.

Tell us what you think about What Would it Take!  Link to podcast survey. 

In this episode of the what would it take podcast, we’re going to explore the concept of reparations.
Why are they necessary? Who should they go to? And what would reparations practically look like?
If you’re still listening, then you must be wondering “what would it take, to repair the harm that
has been done?”. Listen on to find out.

Resources from this episode

• https://www.brookings.edu/policy2020/bigideas/why-we-need-reparations-for-black-americans/
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/09/29/the-cost-of-slavery-reparations-is-now-within-the-boundaries-of-the-politically-acceptable/
  https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/06/01/tulsa-race-massacres-silence-schools/
• https://eji.org/reports/lynching-in-america/
• https://abcnews.go.com/Business/america-owes-reparations-pay/story?id=72863094
• https://reparationscomm.org/reparations-plan/

In this episode Ben is joined Reverend Chesla. She is dedicated to helping people develop healthy, liberating, loving relationships with the divine, themselves and others. She serves as a hospice chaplain, a wedding officiant, a couples therapist, as well as a sexuality educator. Learn more about Reverend Chesla at https://www.revchesla.com/.

For a lot of people, especially those that grew up in more conservative christian environments, conversations about sex come with a lot of baggage. We were told that our bodies, aka our flesh, was at war with the spirit and therefore we should resist the flesh. So we spend years suppressing, resisting and even demonizing our own desires thinking it’s the right thing to do. But what if that wasn’t true?

Throughout the modern Christian spaces, abstinence only has been the most promoted as the way to teach sex education. In this episode we will unpack the ramifications of abstinence only and how it is not only insufficient, but that it can leave young people dangerously uniformed. Our churches and faith communities hold responsibility here and we can do better. Listen in.

Kimberly Crenshaw coined the term intersectionality which is a metaphor she created to discuss the overlapping systems of oppression that impact Black women. In today’s episode we will explore other examples of intersectional revolutionaries and their work and how we can all work towards the liberation of Black women and nonconforming people. Listen in.

In this episode we remember Black ingenuity, Black greatness, and Black potential. Listen in as we celebrate Black History Month.

Resources
1) History of Seneca Village

2) More on Seneca Village

3) Black Communities Under Water

4) Black Wall Streets

In this episode, Ben and Kibler explore the history of Indigenous people in North American and explore both the genocide that is still happening and the amazing resilience of native communities. Kibler identifies herself as  a mother, daughter, wife, auntie, niece, cousin, and “homegirl” to many biological and chosen family members. She is an urban Ndee, German Jew, Queer Femme, 2Spirit writer, teacher, and business owner. Learn more about Kibler on her website Decolonize & Thrive. 

Links to sources

• https://apachelanguage.org/projects/
• https://www.csvanw.org/mmiw
• https://7genfund.org/our-work/land-defenders-water-protectors/#:~:text=The%20Land%20Defenders%20and%20Water,Free%2C%20Prior%20and%20Informed%20Consent.
• https://linktr.ee/postpartumhealinglodge?fbclid=IwAR17csobfMva6J4mNxPLR5OxetnARU6i1rLBZG001g9m5c5sw5WxgSLyTMQ

Climate change scientists told us that severe weather would happen more frequently as weather patterns changed, and they were right. I’m not optimistic about the world my child will live in when he’s 33. Luckily, there are brilliant minds wrestling with these problems and giving us reasons to be hopeful. We’ll unpack why in today’s episode. Today we’re asking, What Would It Take to save the planet? Listen to find out.

Links to resources from this episode:

• https://www.fws.gov/refuges/airquality/effects.html
• https://www.rff.org/publications/reports/climateinsights2020-policies-and-politics/
• https://open.spotify.com/episode/0qaS3Rk8I9Sjlz5OOOCElx?si=324f4ba40dac4aaf
• https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%206%3A26&version=ESV
• https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/02/climate/new-york-rain-floods-climate-change.html
• https://www.texastribune.org/2021/03/15/texas-winter-storm-deaths/
• https://www.vox.com/22265119/biden-climate-change-renewable-energy-clean-electricity-standard-congress
• https://drawdown.org/solutions/table-of-solutions
• https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vS30vR8zChP03PfKowbeIKgikTtrNn0Wefs7sIjy-sVUAroXizvZ4nFdPS27FvNqGpr396YcYRrdr3J/pub
• https://disasterphilanthropy.org/disaster/2019-australian-wildfires/

To celebrate season one of the What would it take? podcast. Host Ben, and AW staffers Dani and Juan talk about the work, the topics, and hopes for the season two.