Why celebration is the most powerful form of resistance | Catherine Joy White | Before Our Friends Die #41

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Monday, 20 November 2023 - 1 hour 5 minutes

Today you join us for a special episode of Before Our Friends Die. We’re hosting a JADE Conversation (Justice, Anti-Racism against Discrimination and the fight for its Elimination) with Catherine Joy White and Dr Marcella Daye in association with the GEM Network.

Catherine Joy White is a gender advisor for the United Nations, writer, actor and filmmaker. She grew up between Northampton, Yorkshire and Wales before moving to Paris, Geneva and back to Paris again. She holds degrees from the University of Warwick and the University of Oxford. In 2022, she was named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and our conversation centres mostly around her new book, Threads of Gold: A Celebration of Black Womanhood, which you can purchase here: https://amzn.eu/d/9Ywxfcj

Key moments from the book which is an autobiographical anthropology of hidden, inspiring acts of resistance from Black Women, include how Rosa Parks wasn’t the first person to refuse to sit at the back of the bus - that moment belongs to Claudette Colvin - but Colvin’s face didn’t fit the moment. She was dark skin, pregnant out of marriage and a teenager.

Our conversation explores how women of colour can contend with White Power; the weight of being “the first; the importance of knowing how and when to rest and why celebration is in itself an act of resistance.

Ultimately, Cat’s work demonstrates the impact of intergenerational communities that share knowledge and wisdom to help us develop our own identities. So let us know if it made you think differently about your past, present and future.

To hear more from Marcella, check out her episode of Before Our Friends Die: https://youtu.be/KxyhZDw1Ybc?si=tUVIijo5ueNb2tSa

Our JADE Conversation with the University of Cambridge’s FIRST Black Professor, Jason Arday is available here: https://youtu.be/AEqLkl-gZCA?si=sD-NQLJJBKHosWGa

Connect with Catherine on Instagram: https://instagram.com/catherinejoywhite

Engage, comment, like, share and let us know your thoughts. We'd love to hear from you. We can be found on Instagram @beforeourfriendsdie and Twitter @akhiandsaltfish and don’t forget to get in touch, let us know how you’re finding it and ask questions at: akhiandsaltfish@gmail.com.

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Before Our Friends Die is a podcast on the akhi&saltfish Digital Network. The concept is: "Before Our Friends Die, we want them to know about..." and you, the audience, are our friends. Sometimes it's about having the conversations that often get overlooked yet feel urgent. Equally, it can be about speaking to someone who is where we want to be and asking them how they did it.

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