The systems we have built don’t always work for the people they were built for. The problem is that we too often have systems being built by people, not for people. In this episode, Stephanie Diaz and Dana Lloyd speak on the failure of society to build a system that works well for people with disabilities and their work in the Georgia Advocacy Office (GAO) to address this trend. From individual advocacy, individual legal advocacy, to systematic litigation, on any given day they mi...

Emile YX? is a Hip Hop activist who reclaims the power of Hip Hop to help the next generation rethink their identity, purpose, and place in their respective communities. A pioneer of beat breaking in his South African cultural context, an educator through his Heal the Hood project, and a survivor of apartheid, Emile YX? channels his experiences to rewrite narratives for the marginalized and recenter Africa for uplift. In the process, he helps us rethink Hip Hop culture as a tool of power thro...

Emile YX? is a Hip Hop activist who reclaims the power of Hip Hop to help the next generation rethink their identity, purpose, and place in their respective communities. A pioneer of beat breaking in his South African cultural context, an educator through his Heal the Hood project, and a survivor of apartheid, Emile YX? channels his experiences to rewrite narratives for the marginalized and recenter Africa for uplift. In the process, he helps us rethink Hip Hop culture as a tool of power thro...

Akua Naru's love for the African diaspora drives her to disrupt and intervene for good through the channel of her Hip Hop music and archival work of The Keeper’s Project. More specifically, the pantheon of black women writers like Toni Morrison, bell hooks, Zora Neal Hurston have provided Naru with a critical black feminist lens and language by which to read the world and retake spaces that push the contributions of black women to Hip Hop to the margins to the center. Living with the words of...

The Gullah-Geechee people are the descendants of enslaved West and Central Africans brought in the seventeenth and eighteenth-century to the United States to work on the rice plantations of the Low Country regions on the Southern Atlantic coastline. The term “Gullah” comes from the Central African connection to Angola and comes to represent people of all African descent particularly from South Carolina. In contrast, the term “Geechee” is derived from the Ogeechee River where the first Georgia...

On this episode of Intersectionality in the American South, Dr. Katie Acosta interviews Dr. Ashlyn Strozier about the challenges faced by Black folks who are trying to conceive, birthing, or experiencing unwanted pregnancy. Listen as we unpack the health risks this population faces and that structural barriers that impede upon our reproductive rights. Follow us on Twitter @intersectsouth or visit our website at https://sites.gsu.edu/intersectsouth/

Imagine being incarcerated during the height of the pandemic and having limited access to information about the virus. Imagine being unable to socially isolated or visit with your loved ones. On this episode, Dr. Katie Acosta interviews civil rights attorney Whitney Knox Lee about her advocacy work with people who are incarcerated in the state of Georgia. Listen to Whitney Knox Lee's new podcast Impostrix here. Follow us on Twitter @intersectsouth or visit our website at...

The options for formerly incarcerated individuals to live productive lives after serving their time are complicated by the many obstacles they face finding gainful employment. On this episode of Intersectionality in the American South, we hear about a prison education program at Georgia State University and the amazing story of its Executive Director, Mr. Patrick Rodriguez. Follow us on Twitter @intersectsouth or visit our website at https://sites.gsu.edu/intersectsouth/

On this episode, Katie Acosta interviews Anthony Downer, Equity Coordinator for the City Schools of Decatur regarding the impact of Georgia's divisive concepts bill (HB 1084) on K-12 education in the state. What is the role of Critical Race Theory in our Schools? Follow us on Twitter @intersectsouth or visit our website at https://sites.gsu.edu/intersectsouth/

10 years ago, I was raising my black teenage son in the city schools of Decatur. I first remember learning about the Beacon Hill Black Alliance. During those years, the City of Decatur was gentrifying very, very quickly, resulting in a noticeable and market change in the city's racial demographic More, and more upper middle class white families were moving into the city and the largely black, lower middle class and working class families were being priced out. To make things worse,...