Dem Black Mamas Podcast
Dear Mama, How do we resist the urge to rescue when we’ve been taught our whole lives to be saviors? How do we set boundaries when the world is burning? What do we do when we’ve been deemed the backbone of the community, but our backbones are brittle and breaking? Since the election, these are the questions and conversations black women have been having online and, especially, in group chats. So, we decided to explore what this line in the sand means for Black mothers in the midst of state-sanctioned brutality. In this episode, Thea and I explore the parallels...
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Dear Mama, What do Telvin Osborne, Black marriage, generational wealth, Altadena, data as currency, the TV show Paradise, and white women in Idaho have in common? We cover them all in this episode. Yup, it’s hot topics, and we got hot takes well, not hot takes. We got Black Mama takes on all the above. In this episode, we talk: ✨How Telvin Osborne is relevant to Black women resting ✨The real problem when it comes to marriage & Black folx ✨Why Paradise gets kudos & white women in Idaho don’t PLUS - we talk all things Black Maternal Health, ...
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Dear Mama, What does it mean to make it home, to create a place of rest and reprieve, joy and sanctuary, an archive of your children’s treasures? What happens when you can’t make it home, return to your place of rest and reprieve, joy and sanctuary, a reflection of your taste and intention? What happens when the archive of your children’s treasure, what they left behind to be kept safe, is incinerated, covered in ash and your community physically fractured? In this episode, Staci Mitchell, a mother of 3 who was born and raised in Altadena, CA, and our very own Thea Monyee...
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Dear Mama, What if I told you I didn’t start a business because I wanted to be a boss? I started my business because I wanted to be free, because I saw no other path to fully realizing my dreams, and according to a 2022 article, I’m not alone in finding entrepreneurship on my liberation journey. In the article entitled , Erica Thompson writes, “As the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs, Black women say they are seeking more freedom, opportunity, fulfillment and stability. They also are escaping from discrimination and other barriers in the workplace.” In this episode, we have...
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Dear Mama, What if I told you to offer grief a seat at the table? What if I told you grief has no other duties except to be with you? It has nowhere to be and is not bound by time. Grief is patient. Grief is relentless, and as Akilah S. Richards, our guest for this episode and a DBM fave, says, “Grief is not something to be fixed but something for you to learn to be more skilled at processing.” Akilah is a mother, partner, liberationist and author of Raising Free People: Unschooling as Liberation and Healing. She is now diving deep into grief work and in this...
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Dear Mama, What if I told you I didn’t think I had the words for the intro of this episode because we recorded it before the election, and after November 5th, joy was THE LAST THING I wanted to talk about? I wish I could say thinking of our ancestors pulled me through, but the truth is reaching forward in time helped me more than reaching back, and now more than ever, we are going to need joy not to feel happy but because, as Thea Monyee, one of the cohost of this podcast, who will be guiding us through the , says "Joy makes things clear," and we, particularly Black mothers, need to...
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Dear Mama, There’s no deep intro for this episode. In this episode, we talk: ✨Which version of "All Cried Out" is best, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam or Allure & 112 ✨Election 2024 ✨How God blessed us with Morris Chesnut's rise from Ricky to Cory Cash WE HAVE RANGE! The way we move from levity to depth, Thea breaking down Joe Biden's scorpio tendencies to NeKisha connecting COVID to Zoom organizing to Crystal invoking Stokely Carimicheal’s definition of a revolutionary, is DEFINITELY a reflection of the times we are living in. And the truth is we were with more questions than...
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Dear Mama, What if I told you there’s no such thing as snapping back after giving birth, only expanding into? What if I asked you to imagine Black motherhood without suffering? Could you do it? Have we made suffering a rite of passage in Black motherhood? Have we shrouded Black motherhood in self-sacrifice as opposed to sacred sacrifice? These are the questions we explore in this episode about matrescence. Coined by reproductive psychologist Dana Raphael, matrescence is the process of becoming a mother, including the physical, psychological, and emotional...
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Dear Mama, Who is the girl the woman who survived in the belly of the boat that brought you here? Where did she come from? How do we find our way back to that place? Why should we find our way back to that place? In this episode, WE JOURNEY & Dr. Gina Paige, co-founder of African Ancestry is ridin with us! Along the way: ✨Thea shares the profound impact of tracing African roots through DNA had on her ✨NeKisha reveals the impact Dr. Paige’s business model had on her journey as a tech innovator ✨Dr. Paige reminds us that the ancestors are a cloud of witnesses...
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Dear Mama You are worthy to rise each day and dance in your dreams with your children by your side. You are worthy of serenity in birth. You are worthy of joy while holding your children. Join of in partnership with the WNBA for a meditation experience to remind you: You are complete. You are not alone. You are magic. Meditations by Mamas are led by Black mamas to help us maintain alignment with healing, creativity, and liberation to manifest joy and abundance. We’re coming to LA on September 3rd!!! Early bird has been EXTENDED TIL SUNDAY, AUGUST 20th. Get on the mothership...
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How do we resist the urge to rescue when we’ve been taught our whole lives to be saviors? How do we set boundaries when the world is burning? What do we do when we’ve been deemed the backbone of the community, but our backbones are brittle and breaking? Since the election, these are the questions and conversations black women have been having online and, especially, in group chats. So, we decided to explore what this line in the sand means for Black mothers in the midst of state-sanctioned brutality.
In this episode, Thea and I explore the parallels between domestic violence relationships and Black mothers' relationship with America.
We dive into:
✨Why it’s more important than ever that Black mothers set boundaries
✨The role cultural coping plays in Black mothers ignoring their needs
✨Vulnerability & why Black mothers feel we must do it all
✨What Stevie Wonder songs reflect this moment
PLUS - Thea shares a testimony about getting a new mattress, and I’m excited to share the details of our next virtual event, Down By the Riverside, during our Church Announcements, Praise Reports, and Prayer List Requests segment. In our Black Mama Say segment for this episode, where we put our own twist on sayings from Black mamas, we do something a little different this time. Instead of a Black Mama Say, we’re choosing theme songs to carry us through this moment.
IMPORTANT CHURCH ANNOUNCEMENTS:
- Black Maternal Health 2025 kicks off on April 11th
- REGISTER NOW for Down By the Riverside Sunday, April 13th, noonPT/3pm ET. Space is limited.
- To expand knowledge and combat misinformation and disinformation, we create a syllabus for each episode (s/o to Melissa Harris-Perry), a list of references/sources for our listeners to dive into. This list includes any books, videos, podcasts, etc., that we've mentioned in the episode or that will help you gain a well-informed perspective. For our full syllabus, check out our website: demblackmamas.com
💗Black Mama Magic Card Deck: Card #21 “My Motherhood Is Rooted In Liberation” 💗
Episode Playlist: The 92%, Boundaries & Black Motherhood Companion Playlist
EPISODES MENTIONED/RELEVANT TO THIS EPISODE:
🎙️DBM Ep 61 Grief and Black Motherhood
🎙️DBM Ep 54: Birth Justice, Liberation & the Power of Black Midwives w/ Jamarah Amani & K.Sanderson
✨PATREON BONUS CONTENT - Pre-Show Shenanigans✨
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🗣️Engage: This is a conversation. Speak back to us! Please share your thoughts about the episode using the hashtag #DemBlackMamas, DM us, or email us at [email protected].
For all links, complete show notes & transcript, check out our website: demblackmamas.com