Episode 12: The Spell of Freedom: Becoming, Belonging, and the Power of the South with Raquel Willis
Host: Jacob Newsome
Guest: Raquel Willis
Production: Power of the Narrative
Recorded & Mixed by: Jacob Newsome & Riverside.fm
Full Video Episode: Coming soon
In this luminous and soul-stirring conversation, Jacob sits down with Raquel Willis, award-winning Black trans activist, journalist, and author of The Risk It Takes to Bloom, to explore what it means to embody truth, power, and liberation in a world that often denies both.
Together, they trace the sacred threads of Southern roots, ancestral wisdom, and trans brilliance. Raquel opens up about her father’s influence, the fire of her grandmother, and the spirits of movement ancestors like Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Monica Roberts, and more. She reflects on the delicate line between survival and freedom, the price of authenticity, and the revolutionary magic of belonging.
This episode is a meditation on becoming, on what it costs, what it gives, and what still waits to be born.
They discuss:
Reclaiming the South as a cradle of liberation
Lessons from The Risk It Takes to Bloom
The beauty and danger of Black trans visibility
Desire, legacy, and love as radical acts
The politics of grief, joy, and spiritual resistance
Raquel’s Call to the World:
“Be radically defiant. Do not obey.”
Follow & Support:
Website: Power of the Narrative
Instagram: **@PoweroftheNarrative | @jnewsome232 | @raquelwillis_
TikTok: @jacob.newsome3
Book: The Risk It Takes to Bloom
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