Aug 26, 2015
Walidah
Imarisha is
the guest on this week's episode of The
Chauncey DeVega Show.
Walidah is an activist, writer, and historian whose work focuses on
the history of black Americans in the Pacific Northwest, the power
of speculative fiction, and how storytelling, organizing, and
dreaming are essential tools for social change
work.
I discovered her work on the website Gizmodo as referenced in a
story about
black migration to the Northwest. While there may not have been
black folks in the game Oregon
Trail,
there most certainly were black Americans in every part of the
United States and its territories.
Walidah's work is so exciting because she exposes that important
"hidden history", while also using it to discuss the realities of
white supremacy and racism in supposedly white "liberal"
communities today.
In this episode of The
Chauncey DeVega Show,
Walidah and Chauncey talk about race, history, and migration; have
some ghetto nerd sci-fi mind meld moments; laugh about "Black
Peoples Employment Month", and reflect on Imarisha's various
experiences with presenting the truth and reality of so-called
white liberal America at museums, schools, and other
venues.
Walidah Imarish is the real deal--smart, quick, funny, and
insightful. This was a fun and rich conversation at the virtual bar
known as The
Chauncey DeVega Show.
In this episode of the podcast, Chauncey also shares some stories
about his journey back to Connecticut last week, ponders the
eccentricities of aging parents, the realities of "dry begging",
opens up his hands to try to cobble together some monies to fix his
mother's washing machine, and talks about last weekend's WWE
Summerslam event while also sharing a story about (quite literally)
almost bumping into the great George Lucas at a local movie theater
for the second
time.