In this episode of From Woke to Work, Kamala talks about sympathy and why it matters that on your way to actually taking action to reject a racist world order, you actually spend some time feeling bad. If the state-sanctioned death of your fellow citizens does not deeply disturb you, there is likely something else going on.
Listen as she unpacks sympathy with Crystal Marie, a Marketer and writer who has worked with major brands and who loves writing about everyone’s favorite uncomfortable topics: faith, politics, race, relationships, and current events.
Jump straight into:
(03:11) - Why having sympathy can change someone’s life - “It's one of those things that you want to believe that is just human nature”.
(09:58) - How do Crystal Marie processes the grief around anti-blackness - “I think someone said something about, black lives matter being so divisive. And I said, is it a bad divide though?”.
(15:23) - About Tamir Rice’s murder - “My immediate thought was maybe I heard the story wrong. Maybe I'm missing some key information. Maybe the story is being painted in an exaggerated, like yellow journalism type way”.
(23:43) - On Social Media and how unsympathetic people can be - “How can you, as an ally leveraging sympathy, think about how you can create space for a black person in your life to take a mental break?”.
(29:14) - Push others on reflecting about white supremacy - “It's the frame of, how would you feel if this thing happened to your child? Or to someone that you know, someone in your life.”
(33:12) - If you approach your friends for help, do it without creating emotional weight - “How dare you to hold this banner of care? When, when someone that, you know, came to you and had a very polite conversation with you about it, and it didn't matter”.
(40:35) - FAQ (Frequently Ally Questions): Why is it wrong to say “All Lives Matter”? - “First off, there's no such thing as a blue life because you can take a uniform off. My husband, my son, myself... I can't take off my Brown skin”
Thanks for tuning in! Don’t forget to follow Kamala on Instagram to learn more. Subscribe, rate and share this podcast so more people can find it, let’s spread the word!
From Woke to Work is a show produced and hosted by Kamala Avila-Salmon in partnership with Julian Lewis and TJ Bonaventura at StudioPod. Edited at Nodalab, art by Tommy Gomez, and music produced by davecantrap.
