Stepping Into Truth: Conversations on Social Justice and How We Get Free
Society & Culture
Leah Penniman
In 2018 Leah Penniman wrote Farming While Black, a beautiful book recounting her experience of building Soul Fire Farm and, also, a guide for other Black and Indigenous people looking to reconnect to the land. Now Leah has compiled a treasure trove of conversations that she's had with other Black people who work in harmony with the Earth. Black Earth Wisdom brings together the voices of these leaders in service of guiding us all to a deeper connection with the land, with it's place in all of our lives, and the necessity of rebuilding the connection to Earth that, for far too many of us, is broken.
This is my second time talking with Leah and I can't overstate how much I learn from her and value both her wisdom and her generosity in sharing what she has learned with all of us.
In this conversation Leah and I talked about the relationship we can have with the Earth, the racist history of our National Parks, Dr. George Washington Carver, and expanding our time perspective.
This conversation left me feeling so uplifted and committed to forging a deeper connection to the Earth itself. I think it will do the same for you. Listen, and enjoy.
About Leah:
Leah Penniman is founding Co-Executive Director and Farm Director of Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York, an Afro-Indigenous farm that works toward food justice and land justice. Her books Farming While Black and Black Earth Wisdom are love songs for the land and her people.
For a written transcript of this conversation click here.
3 Actions:
1) Center the voices and leadership of the people most impacted by environmental injustice.
2) Anytime there's an opportunity to advocate for policies that support Black farmers, such as the Justice for Black Farmers Act, that support farm workers, such as the Fairness for Farmworkers Act, anything that supports rights of nature, land back for Indigenous people, reparations for Black people, we need to be sending those letters, calling, be in the streets to support that type of change.
3) We have a chance to get to know our neighbors, not just the people neighbors, but the amphibians, and the trees and the flowers and the mosses. Get to know their names, spend some quiet time listening, sing them a song of gratitude. And in rekindling that relationship with the Earth, we are almost guaranteed to fall in love. And when we fall in love, we are almost guaranteed to defend and protect.
Connect with Leah:
Soul Fire Farm
Farming While Black
Black Earth Wisdom
Credits:
Harmonica music courtesy of a friend
Talking with Run For Something Co-Founder Amanda Litman
Talking with Disability Activist and Musician Gaelynn Lea
Talking About Fighting for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women with Rosalie Fish
Talking Everything You Probably Didn‘t Know (and need to) About ID with Kat Calvin
Talking About ”She Speaks” an Homage to Black Women with Filmmaker Don Estill
Talking Bringing Abortion Stories Out of the Shadows and More with Renee Bracey Sherman
Talking the Arts as Activism, Mary McLeod Bethune, and More with Richarda Abrams
Talking How to Start a Revolution and More with Lauren Duca
Talking the Power of Individuals and more with Rebecca Farnum
Talking Self Care, Managing Expectations, and More with Mara Glatzel
Talking Freedom and Oppression with Louiza Doran
Talking With Everyday Activist Grace McKinnon
Talking the "Oreo Complex", Belonging, Creativity, and More with Kristin Iris
Talking the assault on Reproductive Rights & Saving Roe w/ State Representative Renitta Shannon
Talking Gender Roles, Raising Free Children, and more with Craig Pomranz
Dyana Valentine Interviews Me and We Talk About Belonging, Alignment, Storytelling and More
Talking Real Questions, Belonging (or not), and more with Dyana Valentine
Talking Embracing Your Wholeness, Fractals, Pleasure and more with adrienne maree brown
Talking Tolerating Discomfort, Brené Brown, the Freedom of Not Giving a Damn, and More with Sharyn Holmes
Talking Spirituality as a Weapon, Facing the Shadow, and More with Rachel Ricketts
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Voices of Misery Podcast
House of Whimsical Terror
Dairyland Frights
Stuff You Should Know
Timcast IRL