“Psychiatrist. Behavioral Scientist. Healer. Author. Activist.…and now Ancestral Warrior for Black Children.” -from the Black Mental Health Alliance Board President, Jonathan Shepherd, MD, yesterday: “These words describe Dr. Patricia A. Newton (better known as Nana Dr. Akosua Akyaa), her tremendous impact on mental health professionals around the world and the field of Black mental health, and…
Category: Iconic Voices: The Real Work
Guest posts that embody specific medicine of authenticity and soul.
“Slippage, a Provocation” by Sharan Strange
To call oneself African (here) means, simply, the rejection of a view of self as mired in double consciousness. It is to imagine (or know—or avow, finally) one’s consciousness as that of the African’s untainted by the European encounter. …
Your Prayers are Now Empty – A Parable — FAKEQUITY
You prayed “Help us end this racial strife. Help us find peace.” What I heard between your prayers was “help me go back to my version of normal, where I can feel ‘safe.’” Your safety is not my concern. You are safe. You are safely isolated from the experiences of others. But if you must […]…
What Is It Like Being Black in America with Mental Illness and How Do We Treat It? Nia Patterson with Alishia McCullough
The Body Trauma Podcast is a project created by Nia Patterson. She is a beautiful, original recovering woman of color. Learn more about her, and support her work via Patreon, at TheFriendINeverWanted.com, and listen to her here in her most recent interview with #AmplifyMelanatedVoices cofounder and therapist, Alishia McCullough (@blackandembodied, IG) on What Is It…
COVID19 — Signs of Going Back (to normal) — FAKEQUITY
By Carrie Basas with additions from Erin While we still haven’t cut our own hair, mastered that new coffee drink, or become extroverts, we are seeing those around us look for signs that we will go back soon– to work, date nights, graduations, and shearing of our COVID19 locks. Many people are seeking some reassurance […]…
Dark into Light: The Mother Earth Delegation of United Indigenous Nations of the North
I am reminded as I write this of the two most meaningful applications that I know of faith. The first, that faith doesn’t mean I know where I’m headed. It just means that I trust that I’ll get there safely. The second, that faith isn’t faith unless fear is present. Without the presence of fearing…
What Can We Do to Weaken Privilege? by Elise M. Edwards
What Can We Do to Weaken Privilege? by Elise M. Edwards What Can We Do to Weaken Privilege? by Elise M. Edwards — Read on feminismandreligion.com/2019/06/14/what-can-we-do-to-weaken-privilege-by-elise-m-edwards/ These are conditions built into our culture that some groups receive which benefit them to the detriment of others. Making privilege visible means naming it and calling it out. Wage…
Harmonia Rosales
Only showed up on my radar over the wknd, admittedly tho i’ve been wayyy off grid the last year…visit her site, here, or read more, here https://www.wetheurban.com/blog/2018/5/2/artist-harmonia-rosales-reimagines-classic-works-with-black-femininity
Gas-lighting on Al Franken(stein)’s Street by LaChelle Schilling —
I will add my #metoo, but don’t feel like going into details. I will just say that in light of my past experience and Al Franken’s statement of apology, I’m realizing why some of us don’t tell at an even deeper level. This is Al Franken’s statement: “I’ve met tens of thousands of people and […]…
Jared Yates Sexton. “They’ll stand by a man everyone agrees is a serial predator.”
“With Trump’s base showing strong preferences for authoritarianism, and continuing to support a serial predator of children, it’s time to look this problem in its face. This isn’t a political problem. This is a societal issue, a major major existential problem with who we are and how we view the world. This is no longer…