Episode 01: Season Premiere: “It’s 12:01 For Our Racial Justice Movements” with Eric K. Ward

On the Season 3 premiere of Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast, Western States Center Executive Director and Race Forward Senior Fellow Eric Ward joins us to ground and center us, and you, our listeners, in our racial justice work!

Update: Hiba is back from sabbatical, and now Chevon is taking her well-deserved time off, and in the meantime, Dennis is back to fill in!

Hiba and Dennis open the episode with a short recap of recent happenings –– the Delta COVID-19 variant, Climate Change/flooding in NYC, the ongoing fight over critical race theory being taught in schools, and refugee resettlement efforts triggered by global events.

Holding all this, Dennis and Eric have a conversation inspired by Grace Lee Boggs’ quote “what time is it in the clock of the world”, and what it means for the hurdles we are facing as racial justice practitioners.

Eric also discusses the urgent work of racial equity, how work towards a multiracial democracy is the alternative to the spread of white nationalism, the case study of the city of Portland, and extremist backlash and insurgencies, and how we can use that backlash as fuel to carry us forward in our work to “12:02AM”.

Resources (by order of mention)

Here's Why The Gap in COVID-19 Vaccines Continues to Widen (via Colorlines)

https://bit.ly/3EkrHvR

Overlapping Disasters Expose Harsh Climate Reality: The U.S. Is Not Ready (via The New York Times)
https://nyti.ms/3992pSX

IPCC 2021 report: How bad will climate change get? (via Vox)

https://bit.ly/3ll7kGc

How the Scare Over Critical Race Theory Will Hurt Black Children (via Colorlines)

https://bit.ly/3CkPmut

The battle for Mekelle: Ethiopia’s civil war over Tigray goes on – in pictures (via The Guardian)
https://bit.ly/3hxHo9m

Inside the effort to resettle thousands of Afghans in the United States (via CNN)
https://cnn.it/396mvNQ

Guide To Counter-Narrating The Attacks On Critical Race Theory (via Race Forward)

https://bit.ly/3tKCg6H

Eric K. Ward

Western States Center
www.westernstatescenter.org

“Skin in the Game: How Antisemitism Animates White Nationalism.” (via Political Research Associates)
https://bit.ly/3lJhzV9

“The Struggle That Unites Us.” (via Oregon Humanities)
https://bit.ly/3hB2jrZ

Twitter
www.twitter.com/bulldogshadow

Instagram
www.instagram.com/bulldog_shadow

Bulldog Shadow (Spotify)

About Race Forward:

Race Forward catalyzes movement building for racial justice. In partnership with communities, organizations, and sectors, we build strategies to advance racial justice in our policies, institutions, and culture. Race Forward imagines a just, multiracial, democratic society, free from oppression and exploitation, in which people of color thrive with power and purpose.

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Executive Producers:

Hendel Leiva, Cheryl Cato Blakemore

Associate Producer/ Editor:

Kendy Solis