Twin, Where Have You Been?: A Tender Conversation with Dr. Joy James

Alternate episode titles: -Dr. Joy James Might Break the Internet If You Would Let Her Upgrade You -This is a wonderful, Establishment, Trump and Swiftie friendly episode, absolutely nothing to shadow ban here, nope not at all (devil emoji) If you couldn't tell, we are super juiced to invite you all to a very special, mind reconfiguring politic shaking and shaping episode of Black People Telling Black History with the Icon herself, Dr. Joy James. Join us in chopping it up with Dr. James in what was a rich discourse spurned from her new book, In Pursuit of Revolutionary Love and New Bones Abolition: Captive Maternal Agency and the (after) life of Erica Garner, out now. This pre-Valentine's Day episode is all about love (see what I did there), but not the hallmark card consumer capitalist iteration of love but the love that has us stop our movements from being exploited and destabilized by capitalist interests from compadors or even well meaning actors who are subservient to the system. Agape driven love, what Dr. James demarcates as, "love as political will, communal care and protections...a spiritual, political phenomenon...our capacity to care for and defend ourselves from state violence while also nurturing and being nurtured by individual selves and communities." A love that Assata Shakur and Erica Garner had; both captive maternals, Dr. James argues, who driven by a love for Black people,  forged maroonage in their own right--"unrepentant insurrectionists, the unembraceable against whom the state exercises severe sanctions. A love Black political prisoners who are still being detained in US prisons today had, risking their lives and freedoms on behalf of Black liberation, a love beyond sentimentality, a love perhaps even for those who don't love us back (working on that).  Do not miss out on all this free game and don't say we ain't never did nothing for you. “Despite our care, emotional intelligence and political determination, without collective strategies, our caretaking freezes or falters. Becoming trained maroons capable of coordinating war resistance deflects or defies predatory violence." --Dr. Joy James Support for Dr. Joy James: https://www.commonnotions.org/new-bones-abolition https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/in-pursuit-of-revolutionary-love-joy-james/1141549285 https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/contextualizing-angela-davis-9781350368637/ Intro Diddley: Patience Sings (@patience.sings) Consider becoming a patron to support this podcast: www.patreon.com/ihartericka