How western Europe really broke bad in its understanding of humanity’s place in the natural world, from the Crusades to capitalism. Part 2 of our series, The Repair, on the climate crisis.
By host and producer John Biewen, with co-host Amy Westervelt. Interviews with Charisse Burden-Stelly, Kate Rigby, Enrique Salmón, and David Pecusa.
The series editor is Cheryl Devall. Music by Lili Haydn, Chris Westlake, Kim Carroll, Cora Miron, Alex Weston, Lesley Barber, and Fabian Almazan. Music consulting by Joe Augustine of Narrative Music. Season 5 is supported by Scene on Radio listener-donors, and by the International Women’s Media Foundation.
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choicesPart 1 of our series on the climate emergency. How did we drive ourselves into the ecological ditch? And, crucially, who is this ‘we’? Our story starts with … Genesis.
By host and producer John Biewen, with co-host Amy Westervelt. Interviews with David Pecusa, Bina Nir, and Kate Rigby.
The series editor is Cheryl Devall. Music by Lili Haydn, Kim Carroll, Chris Westlake, Alex Weston, and Cora Miron. Music consulting by Joe Augustine of Narrative Music. Season 5 is supported by Scene on Radio listener-donors, and by the International Women’s Media Foundation.
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choicesThis season will explore the cultural roots of our current ecological emergency, and the deep changes Western society will need to make to save the Earth and our species. Through interviews with historians and other experts, The Repair will trace the evolution of the West’s colonizing, extractive culture, and how we in the rich Global North drove humanity into the ecological ditch. We’ll hear from producers in countries that did not create the crisis, yet got hit early and hard. Finally, with help from leading thinkers and activists, Biewen and Westervelt will look at potential solutions—the repair.
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choicesIn this conversation on race, I’m joined by Jeff Le, to talk about anti-Asian hate. He has been featured in Political magazine, The New York Times USA Today, and the Washington Post.
Jeff shares his personal experience with being a victim of anti-Asian hate and no one offering any help. “Last March we were completely overwhelmed with the lockdown with the COVID-19. But there was a second thing going on at the same time, not just from public health in pandemic issue, but also there was a real hate issue. January, February, when there was rhetoric about the Kung Flu- the China virus, there was some scapegoating."
If you think about American history, and you look at Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the country, there's been a long-standing history of xenophobia and discrimination. Chinese Americans and Japanese Americans have been here since the 1850s.Building railroads going across the country to California, for example, Japanese Americans, really setting up shop in the Bay Area, for example, face significant discrimination. That is something that's been around for quite some time. And if you fast forward if you look at American history there have been instances where, whenever there are issues in the world that affect Asia and the United States, there has been a direct moment of disdain, disagreement, and unfortunately acts of hate and violence that have happened. I was traveling for my last work trip before the pandemic really laid in. And I was walking through an airport. I needed to get to San Francisco, and a woman came up to me, spit on my face. And she told me to go back where I came from."
"And as a proud Californian I wanted to tell her yes, I'm excited to go back to California, very much miss Mexican food. Unfortunately, she meant it in a more literal way. She meant, you know, based on what you Look, I know you're not from here, go back to China. Essentially. I'm Vietnamese American. That's a separate issue. But I was scapegoated, specifically for the virus, spit on in front of people in a public place that was federally regulated. Being spit on is something that's really debasing ,demeaning, dehumanizing, but that's not the issue. The issue is, and this is the conversations I know you've been leading. It's about creating environments that allow for that to happen. And unfortunately, there were about a dozen people who saw what happened. And not a single one of them did anything.”
Key topics covered:
• The history of discrimination against Asians in the US
• The Chinese Exclusionary Act
• The internment of Japanese-Americans during World War Two.
• How his parents who are Vietnamese-Americans started a chicken farm in Georgia, build relationships with neighbors only to be accused of being responsible for COVID 19
• The relationship between the US relationship with China, anti-Asian hate, and blame for COVID 19
• Relationship between mental health and attacks against Asians
• Role of white supremacy in anti-Asian hate and physical attacks against Asians
• The fear that Asian Pacific Islanders are living with, particularly the elderly
• The murder of Vincent Chin in Detroit
• History of unity amongst People of Color
• Asian support of Black Lives Matter
• How he has been verbally harassed in his neighborhood
• The importance of being an active ally and not a silent bystander
If you like what you hear on this show, please go to RaceConvo.com and download more episodes. Please share the show with at least one or two other people. Help us get our message across about spreading love across the globe, and stopping hate. If you would like to bring me to your organization to facilitate a panel or conversation on race or consult with you on inclusive leadership, please contact me at Simmalieberman.com. You can hit me up on Twitter, @theinclusionist or Instagram @simma.lieberman, or find me on LinkedIn.
Jeff Le Bio
Jeff Le has had a career at the highest levels of public policy and politics at the state, federal and international levels. A recognized thought leader in political advocacy and representation, his analysis and opinion-writing has been featured in POLITICO Magazine, The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, FOX News, The Hill, Washingtonian, Roll Call, Bustle, Forbes, and local and regional newspapers in 30 states. During the height of the #StopAsianHate movement, Jeff penned an opinion piece that received national attention in POLITICO Magazine called I Thought I Knew How to Succeed as an Asian in U.S. Politics. Boy, Was I Wrong. that highlighted his experiences in workplace discrimination in politics and racism throughout his life.
Jeff is now an executive leader in technology where he is Vice President of Public Policy and External Affairs for Rhino, a fintech startup working to give renters everywhere greater financial freedom through affordable insurance options. Prior to joining Rhino, Jeff was U.S. State and Local Public Policy Lead for VMware, a digital technology and infrastructure company, and managed the company’s gubernatorial, state, county, and local relationships across all 50 states and Canada. Jeff focused on emerging technology policy, including privacy, 5G, broadband, cyber, sustainability, workforce development, diversity and inclusion, education, and IT modernization.
In this episode on “Every Day Conversations on Race for Everyday People, “ I’m joined by Karen Fleshman and Commissioner Karen Clopton who are KINOS- Karen in Name Only.
Karen Clopton shares her experience growing up Compton, in South Central Los Angeles when it was a middle-class Black neighborhood. She was adopted by her maternal grandparents. Her paternal grandmother was from Scotland.
Her maternal grandfather and his family were raised in Arkansas and worked on the plantation, where his parents had been enslaved. When he was five, there was a white massacre of Black sharecroppers who were meeting to organize a union to sell their crops. Violence and lynchings of Black people caused her grandfather to flee Arkansas and be part of the Great Migration in 1939. They went to Los Angeles.
Her paternal grandfather fled Tennessee in 1920 because his father was lynched for allegedly looking at a white woman.
Karen Fleshman is the founder of Racy Conversations. Their mission is to inspire the anti-racist generation. She moved to the SF Bay Area in 2014 and was fixated on Ferguson and was really affected when the police officer Darren Wilson was not indicted for killing Mike Brown.
During this conversation on race, we talk about the real history of the US, colonialism and slavery, as well as the white massacres of Black people in 1919, 1927 and 1954.
We also discuss the racial purity laws from 1641 to 1967 with “Loving vs Virginia,” when inter-racial marriage was illegal. Even though those laws were no longer in place, the mindset stayed the same, and was ingrained from generation to generation amongst White people who made those racist laws.
Listen to this episode and hear the advice that Karen Fleshman and Commissioner Karen Clopton provide to fight racism and to have productive conversations on race.
Guest Bio
Karen Fleshman is the founder of Racy Conversations and is a racial equity trainer and government accountability activist striving to build and support a community of people committed to love, learning, accountability, and action on race in America. She is the author of the book White Women, We Need to Talk: Doing Our Part to End Racism
Karen Clopton is an award-winning trailblazer. Karen Valentia Clopton brings deep knowledge, demonstrated operational expertise, and non-partisan insight into the political and regulatory arenas. She has served in top leadership, board, and executive roles in both governmental and non-governmental organizations across many regulated industries. General Counsel and Vice President of Access and Inclusion for Incendio International, Inc.
Sonia Lewis joins me on this conversation on race to talk about race, racism, inequity and critical race theory in education. She is a consultant and speaker in diversity, race and education.
Key topics:
If you like this episode of “Everyday Conversations on Race for Everyday People,” please share it with two other people. Help us disrupt the way people talk about race in order to stop hate, eliminate fear of differences and spread love across the globe. Remember to subscribe to the show.
Conversations across race are sometimes hard but always necessary for the health of our organizations. If you understand the importance of creating organizations where everyone feels included and people are creative across differences, contact us now. Simma@SimmaLieberman.com
We’re here for you.
Sonia Lewis Bio
She has been described as fearless and unflinching; driven by the integrity of hard work; a dreamer and problem solver; and a bully to the bullies with power and influence. Sonia Lewis co-founded ASCRIBE Educational Consulting on February 13, 2009, while sitting in a booth at Stage Coach Restaurant in Sacramento, CA, while having birthday brunch with a friend. They wrote a mission and vision statement on napkins. Sonia channeled how supported she felt at age 7 when she daringly challenged liberty and justice for all. Core to her dream for ASCRIBE was to lean on equity and resources for the most marginalized in community. A former high school Social Studies teacher and Program Director, Sonia took a leap of faith into the world of entrepreneurship. She is a visionary and isn't willing to accept the norm, as the standard we are forced to accept.