These podcasts offer inspiration and lessons in black history that will help you to better understand your role in the fight against systemic racism in America and the UK today.
The flurry of media coverage, hashtags and viral videos that have followed the unjust death of George Floyd on May 25th can make figuring out how to help difficult.
But there are many different ways to give support. Firstly, signing petitions and donating to groups like the NAACP, or Stop Hate UK. Secondly, by educating yourself and those around you.
As Michelle Obama said on Saturday evening, “It’s up to all of us — black, white, everyone — to do the honest work of rooting racism out. It starts with self-examination and listening to those whose lives are different from our own.”
Through interviews with public figures, artists, professionals and politicians, these podcasts not only highlight the oppression, prejudices and legal injustices that black people have faced for centuries, but use inspirational stories to show what we can all do to make long lasting change.
She’s Got Drive, with Shirley McAlpine
@shirleymcalpine_
Author, speaker and leadership expert, Shirley McAlpine, uses her 28 years as a life coach to share lessons from women with ‘drive’. This podcast, where black women talk about success and how they achieved it, is encouraging listeners to keep asking questions.
Shirley took to Instagram Live this week saying, “We don’t have to be perfect, but we do need be willing to engage in what’s happening and do a temperature reading of the experiences of people in this moment — consider how hard it is for so many of them. We need to take care of the communities that we are part of and that we lead.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CA015TaJMhV/
Listen to the most recent episode of She’s Got Drive, here and get in touch, here.
Oprah Winfrey’s Your Life in Focus
Follow on Instagram @oprah
This week’s Your Life in Focus podcast was planned to discuss adapting and how we have done so during this pandemic and health crisis. But after addressing her nation’s severe state of unrest, Oprah is asking, “how do we adapt and evolve in this time of social injustice?
“There can’t be a moving forward until there is an acknowledgement of what has occurred and continues to occur systemically in this country”, she said on social media. “So you take your outrage and you use it.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CA0xax2Bfu5/
Hear her selection of personal interviews that feature thought-leaders, best-selling authors, spiritual luminaries, as well as health and wellness experts. All designed to guide you through life’s big questions and help bring you one step closer to understanding yourself and those around you.
Listen to Your Life in Focus, here and learn more at oprah.com.
About Race, with Reni Eddo-Lodge
Follow on Instagram @renieddolodge
From the author of bestselling book, Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race comes a podcast that takes the conversation one step further. Featuring key voices from the last few decades of anti-racist activism, About Race looks at recent history that lead to the politics of today.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9hy5UThKQ3/
Reni’s podcasts are no longer running, but the archives will at no point become irrelevant. Use the nine-part series to learn about the history of racism and white privilege in the UK.
Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Stance
Follow on Instagram and Twitter @stancepodcast
Nominated for Best Current Affairs Podcast in the British Podcast Awards, Stance is an independent, interview-based arts and culture cast run by journalist and curator Chrystal Genesis. Chrystal speaks to people of all races, ages, genders and sexualities to open conversations that may otherwise go unheard.
“This is so much more painful than we’d imagined, but we are ready,” the Stance team said in an Instagram post for #blackouttuesday today. Develop your understanding of the multi-cultural world that surrounds us by tuning in on the first of every month at stancepodcast.com.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B838sJmFliA/
Listen to episode 38, Black in the Time of Corona, here.
In Good Company, with Otegha Uwagba
Follow on Instagram @oteghauwagba
Full of practical advice, fresh ideas and interviews with smart and successful women, Otegha Uwagba’s (a writer, speaker and consultant) In Good Company centres on working women with points to make about the good and the bad in life and business.
“I think everyone can agree that at this time, we need community and connection more than ever. Words and stories that bind us; not divide us.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_Ptu47HZrO/
Listen on Apple Music and Spotify.
For those who’d like to take action, you can help the #BlackLivesMatter cause by signing the Colors of Change petition, here, or donating to the Minneapolis Freedom Fund, here.
