Black Lives Matter

Introduction: Welcome to Badass Digital Nomads, where we're pushing the boundaries of remote work and travel, all while staying grounded with a little bit of old school philosophy, self-development, and business advice from our guests.

Kristin:    00:00:21    Hi everyone. This is your host, Kristin Wilson from Traveling with Kristin, and you're listening to a different episode of Badass Digital Nomads podcast, where we are usually here to talk about the topics of remote work, travel and online business, remote jobs, technology, things of that nature, which we will continue to do, uh, from here on out. However, I just wanted to reach out and touch base because last week was the first time since the inception of the podcast that I didn't publish anything because it fell on blackout Tuesday, June 2nd, 2020, which was a national day of action, morning demonstration and protest against systemic racism, violence, white supremacy and police brutality that is so pervasive in the United States and that quite frankly, this country was built upon. It's obviously hard to find the right words to share in this situation, but it personally didn't feel right to just say nothing and remain in silence.  

Kristin:    00:01:47    Um, so no matter how awkward or uncomfortable, uh, these conversations might be, I think that we all need to use our voices to speak for what is right and justice and equality for all people as part of one global human race. And that's something that is at the core of this podcast where we discuss how technology and innovation have allowed us to make the world a smaller place and to connect with each other no matter where we are in the world. And so this week before getting back to our regular format, it seemed appropriate to pause again and share some of the resources that I've been following this week and some of the people I've been following and things that have helped me, um, to see if some of you might be interested in that too. Throughout history, human beings have fought many fights and I still believe that we are living in the best time to be alive in a place where communication is free, information is available at our fingertips, and technology has all but eliminated the barriers of time and space between us.  

Kristin:    00:03:16    So there's a lot of free resources online and ways to help. Um, where I started was with organizations like the NAACP, Black Lives Matter, and also Obama.org. Um, Obama has a really great list of resources on his site. I've also been reading a lot of articles from Tim Wise who is a top writer in racism, politics, and history on Medium. And being a writer on Medium myself, I have really delved into all of the resources available on Medium because anyone can write there. So there's a lot of different voices being represented. There is a publication called Zora on Medium, Zora, and also articles and lists of resources written by the founders and organizers of organizations like Showing Up For Racial Justice. For example. I've also been consuming a lot of content from Rachel Rogers, who is an online entrepreneur, as well as Sonya Renee Taylor, who is an author and a poet who appears to be a digital nomad.  

Kristin:    00:04:36    It looks like she's currently in New Zealand, and also recommend my friend Red Snappers podcast. It's called Where Do We Begin? And I hope to have her on the show soon. And also the poet and activist and Ted Talk speaker Rachel Cargle has started a YouTube channel, so I subscribed to her there. Trevor Noah has also been posting some very moving and valuable content on YouTube. And as usual, John Oliver and the team at last week tonight did a great job breaking down their chosen topic of the week, which was police brutality. Our friend Matt Bowles over at the Maverick Show did a very powerful podcast last week of only 15 minutes that really resonated with me, really packed a punch. I listened to it twice, and so I will link to that as well. And also to his show notes page where he included a lot of different resources.  

Kristin:    00:05:50    I'll leave you with a couple quotes from my meditation teacher, Dion Vimal. He has a free 21 day meditation challenge out, and just by pure coincidence, these were a couple of things that he said in the meditation yesterday and today, which were likely recorded years ago. He says, one has to be the type of person who benefits his or her country, people, the earth and the future, and also who has played the role to undo the wrongs of our past. It's as if the wrong of the past stops with me, racism stops with me. He also says, I believe a non-conflict earth will happen when the human right to be himself or herself is restored. He also says that the human spirit evolved through freedom. I can see the wrongs that we have done, but we never have to do them again. And that is how you can rest internally knowing that you have done your best to be a blessing to the world by being on this planet. So those are some of the things that have been on my mind and things that I've been contemplating, content that I've been consuming, uh, questions I've been asking myself. And so I hope that wherever you are in the world right now, that you are staying safe, please take care of yourself, love you all and see you next week.