Fighting Russian Colonialism and Western White Supremacy
Today’s show is a great one!
I had the pleasure of discussing what it means for Black Lives Matter organizers and Ukrainian activists to fight systems of oppression together. LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, and Maryna Prykhodko, a board member at Razom, one of the biggest Ukrainian-American organizations in the United States, helped me have that discussion. We also talked about Russia’s chairmanship of the U.N. security council and if they should be tossed from the body altogether. We also talk about the “Tennessee Three" and how it reveals the cracks in U.S. democracy.
Read about Russia’s chairmanship of the U.N. Security Council at The New York Times and the backlash from other member states.
And here is a good explainer about what went down in Tennessee with the three lawmakers—two of whom were expelled but later voted to their positions—that got national attention.
LaTosha Brown
LaTosha Brown is an award-winning visionary thought leader, institution builder, Cultural Activist and Artist, and Connector. She is a nationally recognized, “go-to” expert in Black Voting Rights and Voter Suppression, Black Women’s Empowerment, and Philanthropy.
Her voice is the nexus between the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power Movement, and Black Lives Matter.
“There is power in my voice! It is a divine gift that I use to connect different worlds. I bridge the philanthropy world to the grassroots community, traditional politics to grassroots politics, and practitioners to the scholarship of movement building.”
LaTosha is the Co-Founder of Black Voters Matter Fund and Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute. These initiatives are designed to boost Black voter registration and turnout, as well as increase power in marginalized, predominantly Black communities.
Maryna Prykhodko
Maryna Prykhodko was born and raised in Kharkiv, Ukraine and currently resides in New York City, where she works in the music business but lives and breathes everything Ukrainian. Inspired by the irreversible spirit of Euromaidan, Maryna has volunteered with Razom since its beginning in 2014, and is now a proud board member and leader of the Razom Think initiative.