In this Soul-Centered Conversation, I am talking with decolonial scholar and Bay Area DJ and entrepreneur, Jose Arias, about healing Black and Brown relationships. Jose was born in San Francisco to a Salvadorian father and white-identified mother from the Mid-West. He identifies as a son of El Salvador and the Bay Area. This mix of backgrounds, as a decolonial scholar and as someone of Latin American and American descent, made him the perfect person for this conversation. Too often, we have experienced rifts between these two groups. There's a legacy of anti-Blackness that comes with being colonized people - that comes along with white supremacy culture. There's a legacy of anti-Blackness woven into the fabric of America and sometimes that shows up as marginalized people targeting one another. We cover a lot of ground in this conversation, so I'm including a breakdown of what I'm calling chapters (so you can get it where you fit in, as a friend of mine would say):

• Intro: About Jose, 00:23-4:54
• Chapter 1: Music, 4:55-12:06
• Chapter 2: Black and Brown Relationships, 12:07-19:17
• Chapter 3: Religion, History, & White Supremacy Culture, 19:18-31:19
• Chapter 4: Personal Experiences re Anti-Blackness, 31:20-39:02
• Chapter 5: The Impact of Anti-Blackness, 39:03-41:08
• Chapter 6: Challenging our own binaries and judgements (even with people we consider racist), 41:09-51:01
• Chapter 7: Case in Point: Anti-Blackness in the LA City Council, 51:02-1:06
• Chapter 8: Cancel Culture, 1:07-1:13
• Bonus Chapter: Jose’s Background in Decolonial Thought, 1:14

In this conversation, with musician, musical soul, Sambadá member, and co-conspirator, Annie Stafford, we explore white responsibility in ending racism. As a "Black-bodied" person, I have come to see that the labor associated with ending racism has largely been placed on "bodies of culture" (bodies of culture is a term to describe Black, Indigenous, People of Color coined by Resmaa Menakem). I also believe, ending racism requires the labor of white bodied people. Racism and oppression hurts all people - including white bodied people. To that end, conversations like this one feel necessary. Thank you, Annie, for being willing to have this Soul-Centered Conversation.

As I begin to prep for my film on truth, reconciliation, and reparations I will be having conversations with friends, community members, and wisdom keepers about ending racism and oppression.