Welcome to Ping and Echo, a daily newsletter that shares one amazing podcast episode guaranteed to be a great listen for kids and their families. Each newsletter includes links to articles, videos, and activities related to the podcast so you can turn every episode into an adventure.
Today’s episode is from the “Activist, You” podcast. Every other week Lindsay ‘Lindz’ Amer interviews youth activists about the causes they care about, the work they do, and about how other kids can take action. This episode focuses on racial justice and features Nupol Kiazolu, the President of the Youth Coalition for Black Lives Matter of Greater New York, founder and CEO of Vote 2000. While this podcast was recorded prior to the events of the last week, Nupol Kiazolu has been in Minneapolis on the ground with communities there. We felt like it was important to lift up her voice in this moment and share with other kids and families why working towards racial justice is so critical. The podcast does a nice job of talking about the struggles of activism, the power of young organizers, but also the joy of doing community driven work. In the sections below we’ll provide a number of tools and links to antiracist resources for families and kids. We need everyone to show up right now, and a more just world can start with the conversations you have with your kids.
Podcast: Activist, You
Episode: Racial Justice with Nupol Kiazolu
URL: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/activist-you/id1495721988?i=1000465820662
Length: 25 minutes
🧐 You Should Know
I’ll always give you a heads up if there is anything in the podcast that might surprise or worry kids. Nupol Kiazolu talks about the murder of Trevon Martin as the starting place for her activism.
💡 Try This
After you listen to the episode you can listen, learn and take steps to confront racism around you (in addition to the concrete steps and good advice in the links below, please donate to local organizations led by people of color working on these issues if you can):
Action Guides - 8 Tips for Talking to Your Child About Racial Injustice and 5 Guidelines for Families Working to Lead Change in Schools to Foster Racial and Educational Justice - Embrace Race
Showing Up for Racial Justice Toolkit for Families and Multi-Generational Organizing - SURJ
Assessment and Guide to Prevent Racial Inequality in Schools - Race Forward
10 Steps to Non-Optical Allyship - @mireillecharper
🔎 Explore More
Read up on antiracist organizing and history with these links:
White parents must confront racism by teaching kids how to be antiracist - MLK50
31 Children's books to support conversations on race, racism and resistance - Embrace Race
10 Young Racial Justice Activists You Should Know (including Nupol Kiazolu) - Do Something
Being Antiracist - National Museum of African American History and Culture
The name Ping and Echo comes from sonar technology which relies on sending out “pings” and receiving back “echos” to discover the world around you. You can send us pictures of the art and activities created by your kids. Email them to pingandecho@gmail.com and we’ll post all your echos on our Instagram and our Twitter page.
Thanks for lending us your ears and your inbox.
Josh, Ruby, and Toby