Recently I was a guest on Bernadette Russell’s podcast about Hope. I had a chance to talk about my art, parents, Sunday Assembly and more. Take a listen if you have time.
This week I had the absolute pleasure of speaking with the artist, musician, and poet Landry Butler from Nashville, one of the hubs of community and creativity in the beautiful American South.
We spoke about many things including how art and creativity can help hope to grow, the importance of people singing together, and how despite despair growing in America, hope is growing too
“we have to push back with our own hope, the belief that we like to work together and build each other up, we can do that … still have the hope that we can do something positive”
We spoke a lot about the importance of knowing the stories that have been left out or “edited so that they don’t tell the whole truth” as Landry says, if we knew them we would be “better people because we would have an idea of where we came from and where we’re headed” and Landry speaks about the comfort that knowing our history can provide “some of my ancestors were enslaved and dealt with the horrors of slavery which is something I can’t even imagine, but they survived which is the reason I am here today, and that brings me a lot of hope, to know that things and sometimes do get worse but if you take it one step at a time you can survive and you can build something positive out of it”
We also spoke about the hope that has been inspired by the Black Lives Matters movement, and how allies can best help outside of marching and protesting “talk about it with other white people and to study up on racism”. We spoke about activism in which “you need to get people’s attention and you need a plan” and what utopia might look like, when we are all free of fear.
All of this PLUS a track from Landry’s band, Inglewood Social Club for your listening pleasure!
Bernadette Russell — White Rabbit Presents
https://whiterabbitpresents.podbean.com/e/how-to-be-hopeful-episode-13-pushing-back-with-hope/