Not About You

“I strongly believe that what is true for me doesn’t necessarily mean that the opposite is false for another person.” Enzi Tanner is a Community Safety Organizer at Jewish Community Action(JCA). He's also a licensed social worker who has spent the past two decades focused on police brutality & police violence. In this episode, Enzi talks about the ways being a Black, trans, disabled, Jew impacts the way he thinks about public safety & how he shows up in community. You can listen to Enzi's podcast, "Kuumba Hineni," here: LISTEN You can donate to JCA here: GIVE MONEY!

“Why are you Korean-American and from Minnesota?” Naomi Ko is a Filmmaker, Writer, Actor, Comedy Maker, a Sundance Fellow & Bush Fellow. She is a co-founder of APIA MN Film Collective + Funny Asian Women Kollective (FAWK). She gets on a Zoom call with Levi to talk about perceptions inside and outside of Asian-American communities. They talk comedy, creativity, dating, H-Mart, and being an asshole. Naomi would love it if you supported Red Canary Song

Resmaa Menakem released a racialized trauma e-course in 2019 to work in concert with 'My Grandmother's Hands.' This is a reissue of his appearance in 2018 with a brief new opening about the e-course. “For 400 years you have not had to address this.” - Resmaa Menakem Resmaa Menakem talks about his work and the goals of his book 'My Grandmother's Hands,' including the healing needed around racialized trauma, the different approaches needed for different bodies, and whose responsibility it is to engage with the work of racial and social justice. Resmaa Menakem MSW, LICSW, S.E.P. has appeared on both The Oprah Winfrey Show and Dr. Phil as an expert on conflict and violence. He has served as director of counseling services for the Tubman Family Alliance; as behavioral health director for African American Family Services in Minneapolis; and as a Cultural Somatics consultant for the Minneapolis Police Department. As a Community Care Counselor, he managed the wellness and counseling services for civilians on fifty-three US military bases in Afghanistan. Resmaa currently teaches workshops on Cultural Somatics for audiences of African Americans, European Americans, and police officers. He is also a therapist in private practice in Minneapolis. MY GRANDMOTHER'S HANDS The first self-discovery book to examine white body supremacy in America from the perspective of trauma and body-centered psychology. American Gods slave ship scene: https://vimeo.com/217950394 Professor Mahmoud El-Kati: http://www.mahmoudelkati.com/

“When white people make roses, they’re just f***ing roses!” On this episode, TK Dutes talks about code switching, producing radio, what it means to be professional and the realities of living your dream. Keisha TK Dutes is a graduate of CUNY Brooklyn College with a degree in TV/Radio. Throughout her college career, she found her niche in college radio stations and began honing her personality as an energetic, opinionated, funny programmer and thorough interviewer. Listen to TK's radio show 'TK in The AM' live on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays: http://bondfireradio.com/tk-in-the-am TK is the producer of Buzzfeed's 'Thirst Aid Kit' You can hire TK as an event host, an interviewer, a moderator, an audio producer and she even teaches audio production classes. Check out TastyKeish dot net for details!

“There’s a big difference between lived equality and legal equality.” Nancy has been locally and nationally recognized for her role as owner and CEO of Clockwork. She is co-author of “Interactive Project Management: Pixels, People, and Process” (New Riders, 2012) and author of the upcoming book, “How to Win at Business by Being Nice to Humans.” She serves as the Chair Emeritus of the National Board of Directors of the Family Equality Council, is on the Board of Trustees at Minnesota Public Radio, is on the Open Twin Cities Advisory Board, is on the Amplified Voices Board, and is a member of the advisory board for the innovative entrepreneurial conference, Giant Steps. She is also a member of the Women’s Presidents Organization and was the Emcee for the Women’s March MN in 2017. https://www.nancylyons.com/

“Health is not a moral imperative.” On this episode, fat feminist Cat Polivoda delves into body positivity, fat advocacy and what it takes to run her own business. She also talks about being a joyous person and explains what happens when we conflate thinness with health. Cat Polivoda owns Cake Plus-Size Resale - a body positive, plus-size thrift shop in Minneapolis, MN. Focused on fostering a shop space and local community centered on radical self love and size-acceptance, she is dedicated to making plus-size fashion more accessible and affordable. Cat also co-hosts Matter of Fat - a new podcast through KFAI Community Radio! In this body positive podcast with Midwest sensibilities Cat & her co-host/producer Saraya highlight voices from our community with a lens on body size, body positivity, & fat liberation. You can listen here!

“Just because it’s journalism doesn’t mean it has to be unattractive. It can feel good, too.” Filiberto Nolasco Gomez grew up in a working-class Mexican community in Eastern Los Angeles. On this episode of the podcast, he talks about how much his name means to him and how challenging it seems to be for folks to pronounce it correctly. He also talks about citizenship, the real work of being a journalist, what music means to him and how masculinity operates as a means of survival and sometimes a barrier to connection. Filiberto is the editor of Workday Minnesota, a publication focused on telling the real stories of Minnesota's working people. He also writes and produces a podcast about music and culture called El Hauteque.

This is a 3 minute sample with clips from a few episodes of Not About You. Check it out, share it, and then subscribe and listen to all of the episodes!

“For 400 years you have not had to address this.” - Resmaa Menakem Resmaa Menakem talks about his work and the goals of his book 'My Grandmother's Hands,' including the healing needed around racialized trauma, the different approaches needed for different bodies, and whose responsibility it is to engage with the work of racial and social justice. Resmaa Menakem MSW, LICSW, S.E.P. has appeared on both The Oprah Winfrey Show and Dr. Phil as an expert on conflict and violence. He has served as director of counseling services for the Tubman Family Alliance; as behavioral health director for African American Family Services in Minneapolis; and as a Cultural Somatics consultant for the Minneapolis Police Department. As a Community Care Counselor, he managed the wellness and counseling services for civilians on fifty-three US military bases in Afghanistan. Resmaa currently teaches workshops on Cultural Somatics for audiences of African Americans, European Americans, and police officers. He is also a therapist in private practice in Minneapolis. MY GRANDMOTHER'S HANDS The first self-discovery book to examine white body supremacy in America from the perspective of trauma and body-centered psychology. American Gods slave ship scene: https://vimeo.com/217950394 Professor Mahmoud El-Kati: http://www.mahmoudelkati.com/

“My Thai-ness or sense of Thai identity is not up for anyone else to quantify based on how white I seem.” Tricia Heuring talks about being "racially ambiguous" and "automatically American." She shares her culture shock from arriving in the US at 18 having learned about her own American culture largely through television and American cultural items she had access to growing up in Egypt, Thailand, and Saudi Arabia. And Tricia shares how her lived experiences have given her a unique perspective as a curator and community organizer. Tricia Heuring is a curator, arts organizer, and educator living in Minneapolis. A mixed-race, multi-cultural American, she was born in Thailand and spent formidable years in Hawaii, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. While setting down roots in the Twin Cities over the past 15 + years, she’s instigated various platforms for cultural production and creative communities. Since finding her forte in visual art, she has become an advocate for curatorial practices that re-frame the role of the gatekeeper to instead, facilitate equity and inclusivity in the art world. She practices this philosophy at Public Functionary, a Northeast Minneapolis based alternative art space she co-founded in 2012. Public Functionary has been called “a fantastic gift to a great art city” by New York Magazine’s senior art critic, Jerry Saltz and “a beacon of hope for the local indie art scene” by the Star Tribune. Heuring holds a B.A from Macalester College and an M.A. from St. Mary’s University of Minnesota. She currently teaches arts leaders as an adjunct in the arts management graduate program at St. Mary’s. Heuring serves on board of the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council and was recognized with a “40 under 40” award from the Twin Cities Business Journal.

This episode features Ashley Fairbanks talking about growing up poor, being Anishinaabe and whether or not there’s a right way to be native. Ashley talks about the relationship between art and activism and she shares where her confidence comes from. Ashley Fairbanks is an Anishinaabe artist, organizer, and digital strategist. As an interdisciplinary designer, Ashley works with a cohort of artists that do racial justice popular education and organizing, seeking ways to creatively innovate social-change work. She's a founding member and artistic director of the ROVE project, a united effort of Rhymesayers Entertainment, community organizers, and artists utilizing hip hop to impact our electoral process. Twitter: @ziibiing Facebook: facebook.com/ziibiing Website: ziibiing.com

Carin Mrotz presented this Yom Kippur sermon in Minneapolis at the Shir Tikvah Synagogue in 2017 The text as prepared for delivery: In preparing, I asked my self: What do I want to say to you. What do I need you to know, today, on Yom Kippur. And who am I to tell you? I think about that a lot – who am I in relation to this congregation, this community. I’m the director of an organization that serves this community, and also asks a lot of you. And I’m a member of this congregation. It can be hard to hold some of these those roles at the same time. I’m a board member, and sometimes when I usher at Shabbat, I find myself only talking to people about JCA. Or while I’m sitting in the library reading while my kids are in religious school. It can be hard to know how to just BE in the congregation and not feel that I’m working. Sometimes Jewish becomes such a thing that I do that I forget how it feels to just be. So rather than fight all of that, I’m just going to step into it here, and be all of those things here with you. And I look out and see JCA members, board members, and staff. I see the doctor who delivered my son, I look into the choir and see the nurse midwife who delivered my daughter. And I see both of my children here, squirming their way through the adult service just to hear mom speak. I see my husband, who isn’t Jewish, who in making a family with me threw his lot in with mine and joined our community wholeheartedly. I’m accountable to so many of you in this room. We’re accountable to each other. That can feel like a tremendous responsibility, but also, today, on our holiest day and one of not just atonement but forgiveness, it feels like a blessing. And I’m going to talk to you about racial justice and resistance, and our community’s flawed inheritance. But I’ll start with Cain and Abel. To recap, for those who don’t remember or who haven’t yet read, or who just like a good story, Cain and Abel were the sons of Adam and Eve after they were cast out of Eden. They had sisters, too, but they were obviously perfect and never did anything wrong, since I can’t think of any other reason the text isn’t about them. Cain is the first birth in the Torah. The first person born to another person. To people who were cursed. His brother Abel follows. They are given roles: Cain tills the soil and Abel tends the flock. The soil Cain tills is, of course, cursed. God cursed the soil before he was even born. When he and his brother approach God with offerings, his is disappointing. Of course it is. Abel has the fattest sheep and Cain has fruit grown from cursed soil. And God accepts Abel’s offering and rebuffs Cain’s. God turns his back on Cain, and furious, Cain kills his brother. The first man born in the Torah becomes the first murderer. He makes his brother the first death. I think it means something that the first man born to a person in the Torah takes the first life. I think his humanity is important. In social justice work, we draw heavily, or lean heavily on the concept of b’tselem elohim, the idea that we’re all made in the image of God. We are all made equally from the divine and are all uniquely valuable. It’s a powerful way to describe what connects us as humans. We use it to build empathy – with victims of police violence, with undocumented immigrants. It’s the way we put words to what we hope we all would just feel – that everyone is valuable, not matter how they got here, no matter what they do. It’s how we articulate what connects us to people we’ve never even met, why we care what happens to them. There’s nothing about being made in the image of God that means we’re perfect. Cain is messy and flawed and his brother bears that burden and loses his life. And they are both made in the image of God. There is so much responsibility in being human and we’re going to hurt each other. We’re going to make mistakes because we were designed to. Cain meets Abel in a field, ready to argue, and he kills him. And God comes to...

This episode features three conversations about how white folks can engage with themselves and the world in response to racism and anti-semitism. This is a response to the events in Charlottesville on August 12, 2017, as well as so many other things happening in the United States. These conversations were recorded in September of 2017. The guests featured on this episode are: Emily Krumberger Brendan Kelly Laney McKee This episode concludes with a performance of "How to explain white supremacy to a white supremacist" by Guante.

“No one is obligated to be an educator about their identity.” Artist Rebecca Kling talks about issues surrounding gender, bathroom use and anti trans activism. She talks about being a transgender activist and educator. Rebecca unpacks the idea of reciprocity and whether someone is or isn't obligated to teach about their identity. She shares personal stories of traveling as a performer and advocate and how that's influenced her understanding of how progress is made. Rebecca also talks about ways to understand trans issues and the many ways to be an ally. Rebecca Kling is a Washington, D.C. based transgender artist and educator who explores gender and identity through solo performance pieces and educational workshops. Her multidisciplinary performances incorporate conversational storytelling, personal narrative, humor, and more. Kling takes the position that sharing accessible queer narrative with a wide audience is a form of activism, and that understanding combats bigotry.

“It is difficult to dismantle a system that is invisible to you.” Bharti Wahi talks about frequently dealing with the question, "what are you?" and where that question comes from. She talks about growing up in rural Minnesota with immigrant parents from Canada and Southeast Asia. Bharti talks about systemic oppression and the challenges in the way of changing systems. She talks about the myth that brown people don't live in the middle of the country and about being angry but staying hopeful and focused. As the Executive Director of Children’s Defense Fund–Minnesota office Bharti Wahi brings 20 years of professional experience as an advocate in the nonprofit world and more than a decade of experience in education. Prior to joining Children’s Defense Fund, Ms. Wahi spent three years with Greater Twin Cities United Way where she oversaw several grant portfolios related to early childhood education, two-generation interventions and literacy. Previously, she led the Children and Family Program for the Minnesota Literacy Council for five years, building the home visiting program and overseeing two early learning centers. As an active community member Ms. Wahi serves on the Board of Directors of the Hale-Field Schools Foundation and Women Organizing Women. In addition she sits on the McKnight Foundation’s PreK-Third Grade Design Team and is currently serving on the Minnesota Department of Education’s ESSA Accountability Advisory Committee and the Department of Human Services Parent Aware Advisory Council. Ms. Wahi holds a Bachelor of Arts from the Saint Catherine University and a Master of Arts in public policy and nonprofit management from the University of Chicago.

"People are trying to figure out how to categorize you and I think that's just a human thing." 'Pogi' talks about being an actor of color and how that makes him wonder about parts he does or doesn't get. He talks about people assume he speaks Spanish because of how he looks even though he's a Filipino-American. He talks about identifying outside of the typical "racial binary" and about being a part of a family that has ongoing immigration into the US. Eric 'Pogi' Sumangil is a two-time recipient of the Playwrights' Center's Many Voices Fellowship. His full-length plays include The Duties and Responsibilities of Being a Sidekick and Kicking The Gong Around. His play, The Debutante's Ball, was produced in 2015 by History Theatre in partnership with Mu Performing Arts. He is a proud member of Actor’s Equity Association, and a co-founder of The Unit Collective, a collective of emerging playwrights of color. He is a recipient of a 2002 Excellence in the Arts award from the Fil-Minnesotan Association, and once got his name on a plaque for eating a 3-pound steak.

PH Copeland shares her experience as a Pan-African woman from North Minneapolis building power through community organizing. She shares about the way larger women are treated and talked to, the way people attempt to complement and connect that can lead to unintended harm. And she talks about the large and small ways people can dismantle oppressive systems.

"I have decided I don't care enough to be normal." On this episode, Jess Banks talks about tracing her inability to ignore injustice back to childhood and how that set her apart from her family. She shares openly her struggles with chronic pain and what it's like to being a parent with autism raising a child with autism. Jess also talks about why she shows up to her activism work, what she gets from being a part of movements and what it means to her to be a part of a community. Jess Banks is a wife, mom, professor, historian, gamer, crafter, activist, autistic, UU. Jess is office manager at Atlas Games.

“If it has to get aggressive in a way of defending myself or others, I’m absolutely okay with that.” Why does representation matter on film, in art and in life? Documentary filmmaker, film programmer and arts advocate Kareem Tabsch answers this question and so many others. Kareem talks about being a first generation American to Lebanese and Latino parents, growing up in Miami and getting his first exposure to film and movies via PBS. Kareem Tabsch is the co-founder and co-director of Miami's largest art house cinema, an Award winning documentary filmmaker and an Arts Advocate who strongly believes in the power of the arts, particularly film, to enrich lives and revitalize communities.

"I took the word 'cripple' and I've been swinging it around sort of like a bull in a china shop." Timothy Iverson talks about his early life with Cerebral Palsy that required many surgeries and now means he walks with crutches. He talks about the process of going to a special school and then being "mainstreamed" in a way that was meant to be positive but didn't necessarily have positive results. He also talks about the way people treat folks with physical disabilities, how he's come to own hurtful labels and why his tenacity isn't a choice so much as a requirement. Plus, Timmy talks about being a gay man and dealing with the idea that people with physical disabilities don't have sex. He shares openly about the realities of the similarities he sees in how gay people are treated and how people with physical disabilities are treated. Timothy Iverson is an IT expert, a frequent participant in the Renaissance Festival, a huge part of CONvergence, a graphic designer and a huge nerd. He's also very funny. You can connect with Timmy on Twitter @iversonimage