Kindness Is Authenticity: Why True History Matters | Brian Keith Harris II

In the first ever full episode of the 'Kindness Is' podcast Kaitlin had the pleasure of speaking with author, artistic director, creator, and much more: Brian Keith Harris II. The discussion centered around the importance of teaching accurate history, being your authentic and true self, the importance of representation specifically for Black and brown children, and much much more.Full transcriptQUOTES"Movement has the power and the potential to heal""When we allow young people...to become aware of their body.... we have space to become mindful...as we are feeling our bodies, we then begin a process of reflecting on the things that brought us the most pain...we're able to release some of those things. Movement has the power and potential to heal and the power and potential to bring us peace. "I felt a sense of hopelessness as I was sitting in class. How can I, as an educator, bring hope and joy to our children knowing that they're going to encounter a level of racism or supremacy in their lives and maybe not be able to deal with it?…or will not receive certain opportunities because of it.""We see that the history of black and brown people, in this country starts with enslavement...It starts with black and brown people being less than. And the danger with us starting the history of black and brown people there is that our children will begin to see themselves and their history through the lenses of enslavement that is not often empowering""When we begin to share with our children, The positive aspects of their history and their culture. They begin to be empowered and inspired and therefore they're able to accomplish their own dreams and achievements.""when you have a healthy sense of who you are, there's nothing that anyone can tell you. that that can deter that or that can break that""The danger of us not sharing the totality of black history is that not only will our children, black and brown, see themselves as less than, but other children will as well. And they will walk through this life believing that their race, their culture ,is superior because of the narratives that are shared about other cultures, which oftentimes is always casted in a less than light.""I think sometimes what happens is that, by design, if you start with enslavement then that keeps that idea of there being a dominant race.""Advocate by coming together, mobilizing and creating spaces, whatever those spaces look like creating those spaces for children to continue learning the truth.""Kindness is the ability to see, celebrate, and affirm others as their full and authentic selves."Connect with us on social media:'Kindness Is' Podcast InstagramKind Cotton InstagramKind Cotton TikTok