Renowned psychologist and author Dr. Robin L. Smith joins Esther Dillard for a profound and emotional conversation on the anniversary of George Floyd’s death. In this episode of The Color Between the Lines, Dr. Smith reflects on personal loss, the spiritual ache felt in the Black community, and why it’s crucial to remember the whole person when we say Black Lives Matter.
She shares lessons from her book The Invisible Ache, co-authored with Emmy Award-winning actor Courtney B. Vance, and explores the intersection of individual grief and collective trauma.
This episode is for anyone seeking healing, truth, and a deeper understanding of how personal loss mirrors national pain—and how storytelling can be a pathway to transformation.
🔔 Subscribe now to The Color Between the Lines for more episodes that heal, uplift, and challenge.
🔔 Subscribe to the podcast for more enlightening talks and join us in exploring how historical narratives shape our future. You can also watch it on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@thecolorbetweenthelines
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
It's.
(00:24):
I'm Esther Dillard chattingwith writers, authors,
and experts who offer an addedperspective for listeners.
This is the colorbetween the lines.
(01:02):
so let's go back to May 2020.
The pandemic had been justdeclared in March.
People had beensheltering in place.
And then in May, GeorgeFloyd is literally killed
in front of all of Americaand the world on video.
And what did you seefrom as far as your patients
(01:27):
and black Americans that.
What did you see from themas far as how emotionally
this was impacting them?
You know, it's interesting as Ireflect almost, you know, five
years ago, I want to sharesomething personal first.
(01:48):
Just that my mother atthe time, who was 98 years old
and vibrant and powerful.
Her mother lived tobe 108 and a half.
Yeah.
Only dying in mygrandmother in 2012.
So my mother was well.
And when she turned 98in March, right when
(02:10):
the shutdown happened,everyone said, you've got
at least another 10 years.
And she died on 28 May.
May.
And her service was the same dayof George Floyd's June 9th.
And so I talked about that ather eulogy, that there were
(02:33):
major moves and griefhappening all around the
country and world, some formy mother, but certainly for
George Floyd.
So I share that becausethere is a particular
grief that I not only sharedwith the world, but I also
(02:55):
shared with my family asI reflected that these.
My mother had lived a great,magnificent life.
And then I looked at GeorgeFloyd, who was killed in front
of all of us, and we watchedit again and again and again
(03:15):
that this will happen.
You know, also I'm sure, thisfifth year anniversary.
And we have to think about howwe are not only traumatized
in the moment, but how we re.
Traumatize ourselveswithout knowing it.
You know, sometimes we call ithonor because we want to bear
(03:37):
witness to the unimaginablecrime, crime of life that
happened to George Floyd.
Crime of the soul.
Just a crime ofjustice, injustice.
So we feel at times that ourway of Paying homage is to
(03:59):
continue to bear witness tothe very thing that not only
keeps us up at night, butthat actually tortures the soul.
And so I say that becausewe have an opportunity
in this moment of reflectingfive years later
that Covid is not gone.
(04:22):
We should also be quiteaware that it is not over.
It has changed formand formulas, and so has racism.
It's not gone.
And the hatred often and fearof black bodies,
and particularly black malebodies, we're in a time right
(04:47):
now that we also could nothave imagined would revisit.
So it isnot just George Floyd's the
anniversary of his killing,but it is also a political
landscape that seems asshocking and yet predictable
(05:10):
if we don't deal with what isgoing on within.
And this is for all of us, thisis all every human being.
I say if it doesn't come outin the wash, it's going
to come out in the rinse,but it is coming out.
And so this is really whatwe are looking at,
the manifestation of hate.
(05:36):
What at that time,were you telling folks that
were dealing withemotions at that time?
What did you advise them to do?
Who were, who were verymuch traumatized, who were
trying to put it in a boxor put it somewhere?
How were you telling themto deal with it?
Yeah, this was then and itis now that we have to
(06:01):
parcel out how muchof something we let in.
And it's really essentialthat people are.
I mean, you're a journalistand in many ways so am I.
I'm a psychologist, I'ma minister, but I've spent
a lot of time in the mediaand, you know, working
on television and radio and.
(06:24):
And of course we want peoplewatching and listening
and participatingin our conversation.
No question about that.
And it is important thatevery human being
protects what I callour central nervous system.
We don't think about what we doto our central nervous system.
(06:50):
So I have people who know mewell, both professionally,
but also family, and I'll justsay, this is not good
for my central nervous system.
And they will chuckle and I'llsay, no, no, I mean that
I'm really paying attention.
And so what I was tellingpeople then is what I
am telling people now.
Pay attentionto what the information
(07:14):
is doing to you.
Is it making you more anxious?
Is it making youmore aggressive?
Is it creating deeper fearor hostility or paranoia?
You know, all paranoia doesnot mean that we are out
of touch with reality.
And at the same time, how doyou, me and everyone who is,
(07:38):
you know, joining us in thismoment how do we begin to self
protect, not be in denial?
This isn't about buryingour heads or our hearts
in the sand, but it isabout saying, how much
access am I givingsomething that is traumatic?
(08:03):
How much do I let it creep in?
How much does it get inthat I'm unaware?
See, this is the other part.
We could say, oh,I am protective.
And then if we were to peelthe onion back and take a
closer look under themicroscope, if you will, we
(08:24):
might find that there arethings that find themselves
in us that we didn't knowhad entered.
I wanted you to hopefullyaddress something that I had
talked to other medicalprofessionals and mental
health professionals about,and that is that they felt
(08:46):
that since George Floyd'spassing that there has been an
increase in at least awarenessof culturally competent care.
Meaning those professionalslike yourself are looking
at the cultural landscapeand applying it
to the patient when it wasn'tthat way in the past.
(09:07):
Do you see that as well?
And how so?
Yeah, I do.
Some of us have beendoing that for, you know,
the last two decades.
And then there were others whowere maybe a little delayed
in arriving at the realitythat particularly African
(09:27):
American and black people dobring a unique set of
dynamics to the table oftheir own lives.
And if you have a medical orpsychological perspective that
does not take into accountthe unique particularities
(09:51):
that a black person brings.
And I would say that any, youknow, we're dealing with
immigration or maybe, I don'tknow if we're dealing with it
or not, but it is stirred up.
And so unless we are able toreally see how does this
(10:11):
person who sits in front ofme, what is their story
and what is theuniqueness of their story
because of the cultural andracial and ethnic
and sexual preferencesand orientation, what does
that put in front of me?
(10:33):
And unless I can seethe wholeness of that person,
it's quite likely that mytreatment of them
would be and not treatment.
I mean, that could be again,medical, psychological,
but also how I see themas a whole human being.
You know, I tell people thatwe all have holes H o l e s
(10:55):
longing to be whole wh o l e which is a holy h o l
y journey.
And so a part of whatyou're asking in terms of
cultural competence ishow do I understand the
particular holes h o l es and how have they been
ushered in?
(11:16):
What has enslavementcreated not only in the person
who was enslaved, but alsoin the enslaver?
There's so many ways that ifwe're only looking at where
we are victim and not how,you know, where does the
perpetrator.
And because if we aren'taddressing that whole, you
(11:40):
know, system, it is impossibleto really work toward healing.
And that's part of what'shappening in this country.
There is.
This is true for the country.
It is true for families that,you know, we cannot want to
see parts of our own families.
We don't want to know thingsthat we don't want to know.
(12:02):
But it doesn't meanthat they're not true.
It doesn't mean, because Idon't want to know something,
because it feels unbearable,that there was abuse or sexual
or physical or verbal abusein our family's addiction.
So my denial doesnot make it not so.
(12:23):
And this isalso true in the country.
George Floyd's killing.
We can want it to be somethingother than what it was.
And if we do that, we miss theopportunity to feel the gut
(12:45):
punch and the brutalityof watching him die and die
unnecessarily die.
Because we are still strugglingin this country with issues
that we don't want to own.
(13:06):
And just because wedon't want to own them
does not make them so.
I think it's very interesting,the whole dynamic, that
there's so many layers thatcould be addressed here in
terms of.
Especially with black menand how they have to now
navigate in this newlandscape, especially this
(13:27):
new political climate.
And how do you, I guess, advise.
What do you see as far ashow black men are dealing
with this politicallandscape as well as
dealing with police, youknow, trying to keep
themselves safe, yet keeptheir masculinity, all that.
It's just so manydifferent layers in that.
(13:50):
What.
What are you findingthat is helping, I guess,
them navigate it.
Yeah.
You know, when we go on the.
Like on a site, on the, youknow, online, sometimes there
is a request for verification,and it will say.
(14:11):
It used to say, you know,verify this and where was
your, you know, cousin born?
Or what school did you go to?
And I saw something.
You are aware,of course, that Courtney B.
Vance and I wrotethe Invisible Ache.
And one of the things asCourtney and I were on the
road together talking aboutthe invisible lake,
(14:32):
particularly to and withblack men or black women
who love their sons,brothers, partners.
One of the things that I sharedas I had gone online,
and there was something I hadnot seen before, and now I've.
I have.
I've seen it many times.
And it says, check, I am human.
(14:58):
The reason I mention thatis when you ask
about what am I seeing?
And Saying to black menand black boys, it is
to check their boxthat indeed, I am human.
Not three fifths, not somefractured piece of a human
(15:22):
being, but I am human.
And so it is in their humanitythat black men and boys,
I'm hoping and certainlyencouraging them to claim
all of who they are.
And that means their feelings,those that they're comfortable
(15:43):
with and those that they aremaybe afraid of or ashamed of.
I mean, that's part of theirbirthright to be wholly human.
You know, that harm that cancome from a boy or a man of
any race, but particularlyAfrican American, to feel like
(16:07):
that they cannot cry becausetough boys and tough men and,
you know, somebody will thinkI'm a punk or it'll, you know,
take my.
My power away.
Not knowing that not only aretears our teachers, so when
they show up, they're therefor a reason, but also,
(16:30):
not only are theya teacher, but they're part
of your superpower to knowthat indeed, I am human.
And so when we've had ourhumanity chipped away at,
and particularly black boysand men, they could find
themselves feeding into anarrative that they
(16:53):
themselves did not write,that does not serve them
well, and that actuallyreinforces that I'm not human.
human, five fifths all theway, 100%, 10 toes down, human.
And so that is what I amencouraging the black
(17:16):
men and boys in my life and inmy work, in my heart,
that they check the box.
I am human.
I love that.
I love that.
How has this.
Since George Floyd's passingand the new political
landscape, how has that, Iguess, affected your practice
(17:37):
and affected you personally?
Has there been a change in the.
The differences of peoplecoming into your doors, like
younger people, people thatyou've never seen before?
I wonder.
It's interesting.
I have, because mywork is not as much
in private practicein the same way anymore.
(17:58):
But I have a lot of peoplewho are reaching out to me,
both younger and also olderblack boys and young,
you know, young men and.
And older men who are trying tofigure out how to piece their.
Their lives togetherin this new landscape.
(18:20):
What does it mean to stay safeand at the same time to live,
you know, to not withdrawfrom life and withdraw from.
And this is true forpeople in general.
There are a lot of peoplewho want to just check out
at least maybe forthe next two to four years.
(18:42):
And hope that thingswill get better.
And while I understand thatthat's not how it works,
this is an insidejob that requires that we
show up for active duty.
And active duty doesn'tjust mean the hard work.
It also means pleasure.
(19:02):
I'm really encouraging boysand men like, where are you?
Where's your joy?
What are you doing for funand for lightness, for delight?
And sometimes people lookat me like, well,
what world are you in?
And I said, I'min the same one you're in.
(19:23):
Which means thatit's a requirement.
Again, part of your strengthand part of your superpower
is that there has to be joyand community in the mix
of this hard work.
So I'm.
I'm seeing.
Somebody just asked meyesterday, you know, what
(19:43):
percentage of peopleand of black boys and men,
like, do I think thatthey are less engaged?
And I said, no, actually,I think they are more engaged
and more attuned.
That they belong here.
(20:03):
Yeah.
I'm going to say the finalword because I know that
we've covered a lot of.
A lot of ground, but theremight be something that
you feel that you wantedto make a point and that
people could, I guess,take away from our conversation.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There is a proverb that Ioften quote, and it says.
(20:24):
It's an African proverbthat says, the lion's story
will never be knownas long as the hunter is
the one to tell it.
And so I leave us, you, me,all those who have gathered
the audience withthe takeaway, how essential it
is to tell your own story.
(20:47):
And you might say, Dr.
Robin, people don't care.
I'm in a society.
I'm in a family.
I'm on a job where noone cares, and I don't know
where someone is.
But what I do know is this,that who needs to care
about your story is you.
(21:08):
That often the person we'vebeen waiting for has been
waiting for us, and it is us.
So Prince Charming and PrincessCharming isn't necessarily
coming, but who hasalready arrived
is the originatorof your own story.
And so I just want to remindpeople of the power
(21:29):
of telling your own story.
The lion story will neverbe told, never be known,
as long as the hunteris the one to tell it.
And sometimes we think thatthe hunter is outside, and
there is a hunter outside,but there can become a
hunter inside, where Ibegin to participate
(21:54):
of my own dignity.
And so I encourage everyoneto claim your own story
and find a safe person orcommunity to tell it.
There's freedom and there isliberation and there is joy
and there is strength when wetell and claim our own story.
(22:20):
Thank you, Dr.
Robin L.
Smith, for joiningus on the Bin.
Thank you so much.
It's been my honor.
Esther, thank you so much.
That's it for this edition ofthe Color between the Lines.
You can catch more episodeson the Color between
the Lines YouTube channelon iHeartRadio or wherever
you get your podcasts.
It's.
(00:24):
I'm Esther Dillard chattingwith writers, authors,
and experts who offer an addedperspective for listeners.
This is the colorbetween the lines.
(01:02):
so let's go back to May 2020.
The pandemic had been justdeclared in March.
People had beensheltering in place.
And then in May, GeorgeFloyd is literally killed
in front of all of Americaand the world on video.
And what did you seefrom as far as your patients
(01:27):
and black Americans that.
What did you see from themas far as how emotionally
this was impacting them?
You know, it's interesting as Ireflect almost, you know, five
years ago, I want to sharesomething personal first.
(01:48):
Just that my mother atthe time, who was 98 years old
and vibrant and powerful.
Her mother lived tobe 108 and a half.
Yeah.
Only dying in mygrandmother in 2012.
So my mother was well.
And when she turned 98in March, right when
(02:10):
the shutdown happened,everyone said, you've got
at least another 10 years.
And she died on 28 May.
May.
And her service was the same dayof George Floyd's June 9th.
And so I talked about that ather eulogy, that there were
(02:33):
major moves and griefhappening all around the
country and world, some formy mother, but certainly for
George Floyd.
So I share that becausethere is a particular
grief that I not only sharedwith the world, but I also
(02:55):
shared with my family asI reflected that these.
My mother had lived a great,magnificent life.
And then I looked at GeorgeFloyd, who was killed in front
of all of us, and we watchedit again and again and again
(03:15):
that this will happen.
You know, also I'm sure, thisfifth year anniversary.
And we have to think about howwe are not only traumatized
in the moment, but how we re.
Traumatize ourselveswithout knowing it.
You know, sometimes we call ithonor because we want to bear
(03:37):
witness to the unimaginablecrime, crime of life that
happened to George Floyd.
Crime of the soul.
Just a crime ofjustice, injustice.
So we feel at times that ourway of Paying homage is to
(03:59):
continue to bear witness tothe very thing that not only
keeps us up at night, butthat actually tortures the soul.
And so I say that becausewe have an opportunity
in this moment of reflectingfive years later
that Covid is not gone.
(04:22):
We should also be quiteaware that it is not over.
It has changed formand formulas, and so has racism.
It's not gone.
And the hatred often and fearof black bodies,
and particularly black malebodies, we're in a time right
(04:47):
now that we also could nothave imagined would revisit.
So it isnot just George Floyd's the
anniversary of his killing,but it is also a political
landscape that seems asshocking and yet predictable
(05:10):
if we don't deal with what isgoing on within.
And this is for all of us, thisis all every human being.
I say if it doesn't come outin the wash, it's going
to come out in the rinse,but it is coming out.
And so this is really whatwe are looking at,
the manifestation of hate.
(05:36):
What at that time,were you telling folks that
were dealing withemotions at that time?
What did you advise them to do?
Who were, who were verymuch traumatized, who were
trying to put it in a boxor put it somewhere?
How were you telling themto deal with it?
Yeah, this was then and itis now that we have to
(06:01):
parcel out how muchof something we let in.
And it's really essentialthat people are.
I mean, you're a journalistand in many ways so am I.
I'm a psychologist, I'ma minister, but I've spent
a lot of time in the mediaand, you know, working
on television and radio and.
(06:24):
And of course we want peoplewatching and listening
and participatingin our conversation.
No question about that.
And it is important thatevery human being
protects what I callour central nervous system.
We don't think about what we doto our central nervous system.
(06:50):
So I have people who know mewell, both professionally,
but also family, and I'll justsay, this is not good
for my central nervous system.
And they will chuckle and I'llsay, no, no, I mean that
I'm really paying attention.
And so what I was tellingpeople then is what I
am telling people now.
Pay attentionto what the information
(07:14):
is doing to you.
Is it making you more anxious?
Is it making youmore aggressive?
Is it creating deeper fearor hostility or paranoia?
You know, all paranoia doesnot mean that we are out
of touch with reality.
And at the same time, how doyou, me and everyone who is,
(07:38):
you know, joining us in thismoment how do we begin to self
protect, not be in denial?
This isn't about buryingour heads or our hearts
in the sand, but it isabout saying, how much
access am I givingsomething that is traumatic?
(08:03):
How much do I let it creep in?
How much does it get inthat I'm unaware?
See, this is the other part.
We could say, oh,I am protective.
And then if we were to peelthe onion back and take a
closer look under themicroscope, if you will, we
(08:24):
might find that there arethings that find themselves
in us that we didn't knowhad entered.
I wanted you to hopefullyaddress something that I had
talked to other medicalprofessionals and mental
health professionals about,and that is that they felt
(08:46):
that since George Floyd'spassing that there has been an
increase in at least awarenessof culturally competent care.
Meaning those professionalslike yourself are looking
at the cultural landscapeand applying it
to the patient when it wasn'tthat way in the past.
(09:07):
Do you see that as well?
And how so?
Yeah, I do.
Some of us have beendoing that for, you know,
the last two decades.
And then there were others whowere maybe a little delayed
in arriving at the realitythat particularly African
(09:27):
American and black people dobring a unique set of
dynamics to the table oftheir own lives.
And if you have a medical orpsychological perspective that
does not take into accountthe unique particularities
(09:51):
that a black person brings.
And I would say that any, youknow, we're dealing with
immigration or maybe, I don'tknow if we're dealing with it
or not, but it is stirred up.
And so unless we are able toreally see how does this
(10:11):
person who sits in front ofme, what is their story
and what is theuniqueness of their story
because of the cultural andracial and ethnic
and sexual preferencesand orientation, what does
that put in front of me?
(10:33):
And unless I can seethe wholeness of that person,
it's quite likely that mytreatment of them
would be and not treatment.
I mean, that could be again,medical, psychological,
but also how I see themas a whole human being.
You know, I tell people thatwe all have holes H o l e s
(10:55):
longing to be whole wh o l e which is a holy h o l
y journey.
And so a part of whatyou're asking in terms of
cultural competence ishow do I understand the
particular holes h o l es and how have they been
ushered in?
(11:16):
What has enslavementcreated not only in the person
who was enslaved, but alsoin the enslaver?
There's so many ways that ifwe're only looking at where
we are victim and not how,you know, where does the
perpetrator.
And because if we aren'taddressing that whole, you
(11:40):
know, system, it is impossibleto really work toward healing.
And that's part of what'shappening in this country.
There is.
This is true for the country.
It is true for families that,you know, we cannot want to
see parts of our own families.
We don't want to know thingsthat we don't want to know.
(12:02):
But it doesn't meanthat they're not true.
It doesn't mean, because Idon't want to know something,
because it feels unbearable,that there was abuse or sexual
or physical or verbal abusein our family's addiction.
So my denial doesnot make it not so.
(12:23):
And this isalso true in the country.
George Floyd's killing.
We can want it to be somethingother than what it was.
And if we do that, we miss theopportunity to feel the gut
(12:45):
punch and the brutalityof watching him die and die
unnecessarily die.
Because we are still strugglingin this country with issues
that we don't want to own.
(13:06):
And just because wedon't want to own them
does not make them so.
I think it's very interesting,the whole dynamic, that
there's so many layers thatcould be addressed here in
terms of.
Especially with black menand how they have to now
navigate in this newlandscape, especially this
(13:27):
new political climate.
And how do you, I guess, advise.
What do you see as far ashow black men are dealing
with this politicallandscape as well as
dealing with police, youknow, trying to keep
themselves safe, yet keeptheir masculinity, all that.
It's just so manydifferent layers in that.
(13:50):
What.
What are you findingthat is helping, I guess,
them navigate it.
Yeah.
You know, when we go on the.
Like on a site, on the, youknow, online, sometimes there
is a request for verification,and it will say.
(14:11):
It used to say, you know,verify this and where was
your, you know, cousin born?
Or what school did you go to?
And I saw something.
You are aware,of course, that Courtney B.
Vance and I wrotethe Invisible Ache.
And one of the things asCourtney and I were on the
road together talking aboutthe invisible lake,
(14:32):
particularly to and withblack men or black women
who love their sons,brothers, partners.
One of the things that I sharedas I had gone online,
and there was something I hadnot seen before, and now I've.
I have.
I've seen it many times.
And it says, check, I am human.
(14:58):
The reason I mention thatis when you ask
about what am I seeing?
And Saying to black menand black boys, it is
to check their boxthat indeed, I am human.
Not three fifths, not somefractured piece of a human
(15:22):
being, but I am human.
And so it is in their humanitythat black men and boys,
I'm hoping and certainlyencouraging them to claim
all of who they are.
And that means their feelings,those that they're comfortable
(15:43):
with and those that they aremaybe afraid of or ashamed of.
I mean, that's part of theirbirthright to be wholly human.
You know, that harm that cancome from a boy or a man of
any race, but particularlyAfrican American, to feel like
(16:07):
that they cannot cry becausetough boys and tough men and,
you know, somebody will thinkI'm a punk or it'll, you know,
take my.
My power away.
Not knowing that not only aretears our teachers, so when
they show up, they're therefor a reason, but also,
(16:30):
not only are theya teacher, but they're part
of your superpower to knowthat indeed, I am human.
And so when we've had ourhumanity chipped away at,
and particularly black boysand men, they could find
themselves feeding into anarrative that they
(16:53):
themselves did not write,that does not serve them
well, and that actuallyreinforces that I'm not human.
human, five fifths all theway, 100%, 10 toes down, human.
And so that is what I amencouraging the black
(17:16):
men and boys in my life and inmy work, in my heart,
that they check the box.
I am human.
I love that.
I love that.
How has this.
Since George Floyd's passingand the new political
landscape, how has that, Iguess, affected your practice
(17:37):
and affected you personally?
Has there been a change in the.
The differences of peoplecoming into your doors, like
younger people, people thatyou've never seen before?
I wonder.
It's interesting.
I have, because mywork is not as much
in private practicein the same way anymore.
(17:58):
But I have a lot of peoplewho are reaching out to me,
both younger and also olderblack boys and young,
you know, young men and.
And older men who are trying tofigure out how to piece their.
Their lives togetherin this new landscape.
(18:20):
What does it mean to stay safeand at the same time to live,
you know, to not withdrawfrom life and withdraw from.
And this is true forpeople in general.
There are a lot of peoplewho want to just check out
at least maybe forthe next two to four years.
(18:42):
And hope that thingswill get better.
And while I understand thatthat's not how it works,
this is an insidejob that requires that we
show up for active duty.
And active duty doesn'tjust mean the hard work.
It also means pleasure.
(19:02):
I'm really encouraging boysand men like, where are you?
Where's your joy?
What are you doing for funand for lightness, for delight?
And sometimes people lookat me like, well,
what world are you in?
And I said, I'min the same one you're in.
(19:23):
Which means thatit's a requirement.
Again, part of your strengthand part of your superpower
is that there has to be joyand community in the mix
of this hard work.
So I'm.
I'm seeing.
Somebody just asked meyesterday, you know, what
(19:43):
percentage of peopleand of black boys and men,
like, do I think thatthey are less engaged?
And I said, no, actually,I think they are more engaged
and more attuned.
That they belong here.
(20:03):
Yeah.
I'm going to say the finalword because I know that
we've covered a lot of.
A lot of ground, but theremight be something that
you feel that you wantedto make a point and that
people could, I guess,take away from our conversation.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There is a proverb that Ioften quote, and it says.
(20:24):
It's an African proverbthat says, the lion's story
will never be knownas long as the hunter is
the one to tell it.
And so I leave us, you, me,all those who have gathered
the audience withthe takeaway, how essential it
is to tell your own story.
(20:47):
And you might say, Dr.
Robin, people don't care.
I'm in a society.
I'm in a family.
I'm on a job where noone cares, and I don't know
where someone is.
But what I do know is this,that who needs to care
about your story is you.
(21:08):
That often the person we'vebeen waiting for has been
waiting for us, and it is us.
So Prince Charming and PrincessCharming isn't necessarily
coming, but who hasalready arrived
is the originatorof your own story.
And so I just want to remindpeople of the power
(21:29):
of telling your own story.
The lion story will neverbe told, never be known,
as long as the hunteris the one to tell it.
And sometimes we think thatthe hunter is outside, and
there is a hunter outside,but there can become a
hunter inside, where Ibegin to participate
(21:54):
of my own dignity.
And so I encourage everyoneto claim your own story
and find a safe person orcommunity to tell it.
There's freedom and there isliberation and there is joy
and there is strength when wetell and claim our own story.
(22:20):
Thank you, Dr.
Robin L.
Smith, for joiningus on the Bin.
Thank you so much.
It's been my honor.
Esther, thank you so much.
That's it for this edition ofthe Color between the Lines.
You can catch more episodeson the Color between
the Lines YouTube channelon iHeartRadio or wherever
you get your podcasts.
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