QUICK EPISODE OVERVIEW

April and Tracie unpack the notion that everyone is racist, naming the trauma and the cost of racism. Their conversation delves deep into the American investment in systemic racism and the human and environmental effects of systems of oppression.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. When April says, “Everyone is racist” and that she thinks of it as a neutral reality, how does that make you feel? Explore the feelings that come up, particularly any defensive reactions. 

2. April and Traice discuss what the United States of America will need to do in order to confront the horrors of its past and present in order to create a sustainable and just future. What do acts of restorative justice look like, on the individual and societal level? 

3. Part of confronting the past that April and Tracie reference is learning our collective history. How have I learned about the history of racial injustice in America? From my family? From lived experience? From school? What has been left out? How can I fill in the gaps that may exist? 

4. April and Tracie dream about the world as it should be. What would a society look like that prioritized and treated all humans and their potential as necessary to the future of our planet? 

5. Tracie references Langston Hughes’ poem, “America”, where he says, "America never was America for me." All of us have intersecting identities where some are privileged and some are not in our American society. Thinking about the complexity of your identity, when has America not been “for you”? What are the ways in which America HAS been “for you”?

INSIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE

COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS?

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