the Unlearning Channel

Here is the second half of the discussion between host MelVee X and fellow BLAC members, Ariam Wolde-Giorgis and Tyson Bankert, when they address the ultimate panel, final question: how can we help?

Join MelVee X for this conversation with fellow members from the Black Leadership Alliance Council (BLAC), Ariam Wolde-Giorgis and Tyson Bankert, as they discuss anti-Blackness, sharing Black spaces, and what community care looks and feels like. This is the first half of two episodes, funded by CommunityWise Resource Centre.

In this special episode of The Unlearning Channel, MelVee speaks with Tyra Erskine and Carissa on the urgency of this moment and what it means for Black people locally and globally.

What do you do when you witness acts of racism in your work or community spaces? How do you respond? In the seventh episode of the Unlearning Channel, Mel Vee and Jaqs Gallos Aquines dive into the challenging and fraught world of bystander intervention. In particular, we look bystander intervention at anti-racist workshops in the non-profit and arts sectors. They are joined by Thulasy Lettner, the equity coordinator of CommunityWise Resource Centre. The intrepid trio tackle the emotional toll of responding to racism in anti-racism workshops, what is the role of organizations to ensuring the well-being of facilitators they hire and how can racialized people take care of ourselves in these situations and more. LInks: AROC Tools & Resources: http://communitywise.net/aroc 5 D's: https://www.ihollaback.org/resources/bystander-resources Implicit Bias & Microaggressions with Dr. Derald Wing Sue (Verbal, Nonverbal & Environmental): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrw6Bf5weTM

In unsettling times, filled with increasing divisions, racially charged attacks and other forms of hatred, it is imperative to understand hate speech: what is it, the impacts of hate speech and why you should be concerned. In episode six of the Unlearning Channel, Mel Vee and Jaqs shed some light on the subject by exploring hate speech within the law and why hate speech law matters. You don’t want to miss this.

Addressing Internalized racism is a key part of understanding how a white supremacy has framed our self-images in harmful ways. Awareness of its causes is a powerful tool to undo its harms and rebuild self-perception.

Inuk Artist Jade Nasogaluak Carpenter (Kablusiak) tackles the difficult question of what is cultural appropriation. With renewed debates regarding the use and misuse of culture in the arts and music, Nasogaluak Carpenter brings brevity and clarity to the discussion. She addresses specifically how cultural appropriation impacts the Indigenous community and marginalized communities more generally.

Decolonization is a journey of personal and collective unlearning that must be undertaken by any organization that is hoping to be more racially equitable. It is work we all need to do, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, racialized and non-racialized, to be able to work together equitably. Today, Jaqs Gallos Aquines and Mel Vee will talk to Dr. EJ David about the colonial mentality in the Filipino diaspora, decolonization, and his book, Brown Skin, White Minds, as well as his book to be released October 28, 2017, The Psychology of Oppression, co-written with Annie O. Derthick.

Evans Yellow Old Woman, an Indigenous queer Two-spirit social worker and community activist, enthralls and captivates with his passionate dismissal of the myth of colonization being a past process and stresses how the continued process of colonization is integral to our understanding of Canada or Turtle Island. Yellow Old Woman discusses the importance of women, queer and femme folks to Indigenous resistance and how the most marginalized voices in different communities are heavily relied upon for change and how we all need to be responsible for changing society. Hosted and produced by Jaqs Gallos Aquines and Mel Vee.

In this episode, Jaqs Gallos Aquines and Mel Vee speak with Thulasy Lettner, equity framework coordinator at Community Wise Resource Centre about the Anti-racist Organizational Change Committee on equitable practices in the non-profit sector in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Treaty 7 territory.