s1e1: black lives matter with darian patterson & DIVINE MAHARAJ

We sit down with fellow dancers Darian Patterson and Divine Maharaj for a difficult yet necessary discussion on the Black Lives Matter movement. We have a casual yet candid discussion on the recent tragedy of George Floyd, growing up Black, and experiencing racism in 2020.  Our guests share insight on setting intentions, resources for educating yourself, and taking action to help propel the Black Lives Matter movement. Despite the dire situation propelled by current events, we discuss the positivity in the community and share hopes for a better future. 

In this episode, we explore: 
00:37    Introduction
02:34    Life interrupted: How this has affected Darian & Divine
06:30    Momentum in the Black Lives Movement: It’s Time for Change    
07:51    Experiencing racism in 2020
13:22    Organizations, petitions, and other actionable recommendations from Darian & Divine (links included below)
23:07    Unlearning and Relearning: Resources to educate ourselves.  Recommendations from Darian & Divine (links below)
25:20    Taking action and starting the discussion
34:33    Call to Action for our listeners! Check your intentions
36:14    What’s the right way to support the BLM movement?
44:07    Don’t just talk about it… be about it
45:16    Highlighting positivity in our communities and hope for a better future. 
49:34    Dancing in quarantine
51:38    Closing Remarks

This episode's guests:

• Follow Darian Patterson on Instagram 
• Follow Divine Maharaj on Instagram 

Learn more about: 

• National Police Accountability Project 
• Black Visions Collective 
• Campaign Zero 
• The Innocence Project 
• Search for and sign the petitions discussed in this episode. Change.org has created a section specifically for Black Lives Matter petitions.

Support local Black owned Businesses in San Diego, CA and Washington, DC  

Darian’s Google Doc of resources

Book recommendations: 

• “White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism” by Robin DiAngelo
• “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America” by Richard Rothstein

Documentary recommendations: 

• “13th” available on Netflix
• “When They See Us” available on Netflix
• “12 Years a Slave” available on Amazon Prime and iTunes
• “Just Mercy” available on Amazon Prime

Special thanks to Jane Banares for creating our Co-Lab Podcast artwork!

The conversation continues over on Instagram and TikTok