Practicing Radical Empathy in the Anti-Racist Discourse & the Importance of Intersectionality ~ w/ Sadia Masud


<p>Important note: Sadia and I decided to push back our recording for a few weeks when the conversation around Black Lives Matter started to gain momentum - to not just give space to black voices, but also to pause and reflect on our own place within the discussion. In this way, we believe we were able to come onto this podcast recording with a better understanding of the current discourse. 
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</p> <p>I met my incredibly inspiring friend Sadia Masud 6 years ago, in Canada, in a Race & Ethnicity class at the University of Alberta where we both studied back then (I was there for a semester!). Sadia has always inspired me in terms of sisterhood, female strength, compassion and so much more. Since forever we’ve been wanting to record a podcast together to speak about her activism, writing talents and personal experiences of life and I am so incredibly happy to present you this episode. 

</p> <p>We talk about the meaning of identity and how for the BIPOC community specifically, identity is often seen as something in relation to someone else’s (e.g. you’re ‘not’ white), instead as an individual. We talk about the importance of awareness of privilege - of course, it is relative, but the majority of us carry some type of privilege with us. Sadia calls to seek discomfort in this work and states that, ‘you can’t be a good activist if you seek to just liberate yourself’. YES! I couldn’t agree more. 

It calls in the idea of Radical Empathy, which calls on the resilience of the BIPOC community and our interconnected communities as well as the urgent need for awareness and action.</p> <p>On this podcast in general, we talk about liberation in terms of womanhood. I truly believe that all systems of oppression are rooted in patriarchy (be it white supremacy and thus racism, sexism, capitalism, etc.). However, it is also extremely important to be aware of the intersections that take place for all of us. My experience as a white, heterosexual, able-bodied woman with a university degree is very different than Sadia’s, wh