On Purpose with Jay Shetty - Patrisse Cullors ON: How To Use Your Art To Heal Your Emotions & Make An Impact On The World

Episode Date: August 3, 2020

Do art, activism, and politics mix? They do when you’re Patrisse Cullors, best-selling author and cofounder of Black Lives Matter and Reform LA Jails. On a recent episode of On Purpose with Jay Shetty, Cullors and Shetty sat down to talk about how she keeps her artistic and creative side alive through activism and politics.Listen in to this powerful episode to learn more about this member of Time Magazine’s 20 Women of 2020 project. Text Jay Shetty 310-997-4177 A Word From Our Sponsors:If you need life insurance, head to https://www.Policygenius.com right now to get started. You could save $1500 or more a year by comparing quotes on their marketplaceGo to https://www.Blinkist.com/JAY to start your FREE 7 day trial AND get 25% off a Blinkist Premium Membership and up to 65% off audiobooks (yours to keep forever)You can receive $10 Off Your First Pair of Feetures by going to https://feetures.com and using my code ONPURPOSESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, I'm David Eagleman. I have a new podcast called Inner Cosmos on I Heart. I'm going to explore the relationship between our brains and our experiences by tackling unusual questions. Like, can we create new senses for humans? So join me weekly to uncover how your brain steers your behavior, your perception, and your reality. Listen to intercosmos with David Eagleman on the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. The therapy for Black Girls podcast is your space to explore mental health, personal development, and all of the small decisions we can make to become the best possible versions of ourselves. I'm your

host, Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia, and I can't wait for you to join the conversation every Wednesday. Listen to the therapy for Black Girls podcast on the iHart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Take good care. When my daughter ran off to hop trains, I was terrified I'd never see her again, so I followed her into the train yard. This is what it sounds like inside the box car.

And into the city of the rails, there I found a surprising world, so brutal and beautiful that it changed me. But the rails do that to everyone. There is another world out there and if you want to play with the devil you're gonna find them down the rail yard. Undenail Morton, come with me to find out what waits for us and the city of the rails. Listen to city of the rails on the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts or cityoftherails.com. Guess what? If you fight for Black Lives, you also get more free.

So this isn't just about Black people. Yes, we are asking you to put your attention on Black people, but recognize that our liberation is bound into one another. And so when Black people get free, we all get free. And that is, I think, the, like, sort of, like, foundation of Black Lives Matter. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to On Purpose, the number one health podcast in the world, where we focus into all of the areas and themes that affect our mental, emotional, and physical health.

And this includes everything that's happening in the world around us. Now, you know that I focus in on trying to speak to guests, where we can all learn together as a community, as a family, as part of the unpurpose audience. And I'm so excited because today I get to sit down with an individual, not someone that I'm just curious and interested about, but someone that I believe

that I have a lot to learn from, and that I think we'll all get the benefit of from hearing deep answers to these questions that I know you've sent me and questions that I have myself. Now, I want you to be able to expand your mind today. I want us to train ourselves today to listen without judgment, allow us to stretch our minds

without comparison or judgment and be able to listen to truly understand. Today's guest is none other than Patrice Colors. She's an LA native and artist, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, and reform LA Jails. Colors works for Black Lives Matter and reform LAJays. Colors worked for Black Lives Matter recently, it received recognition in Time Magazine's 2020-100 Women of the Year project.

She's a best-selling author and a faculty director at Arizona's Prescott College of New Social and Environmental Arts Practice, MFA program that she has developed. In 2019, she joined Freeform's Good Trouble Season 2 and 3 as staff writer and actor. For the last 20 years, she's been one of the front lines of criminal justice reform. Today, we're here to learn more about her, her purpose, and how we can all improve the world we live in together. Patrice, thank you so much for doing this.

Thank you, thank you for having me, I really appreciate it. Yeah, no, it's gonna be fascinating today to dive into. I actually mentioned to a few of my friends who are doing some incredible work in this space that I was interviewing today and they were excited for me and they were like, they were so fortunate and lucky, so I wanted you to know that that's how I feel right now as well. I'm really grateful to you and your team for taking out the time.

I wanted to start off by getting our community to understand more about you, you as a person, you as an artist, you and your background because I think that often that's so missed in conversations and media pieces that are five minutes and quick interviews. And you have this rich history and background of your own. And I wanted to start off with this question because you earned an MFA from USC. And I wanted you to tell us about how you keep your artists and creative side alive through what you do today.

Thank you for asking about that. I think a lot of people see my activism and sort of relegate it to the world of politics, but I actually argue that my art and my activism are extensions of my political values. And so my art has been something that I have practiced since I was a young girl. I was an artist before I became politicized and a years ago, a mentor of mine, Suzanne Lacey, actually brought me to art school. And she said, hey, I'm at USC, I think you'll really value getting an MFA.

And I was like, now I did the BA thing. Wasn't even that excited about that. I really loved being a community organizer and an artist. And she said, no, really, like, spend two years on your art. And I begrudgingly applied, but with curiosity, I mean, obviously I consented to applying and I got in and I didn't tell anybody in my family for like, for probably a month

because I wanted to try it out and if I didn't like it, I would believe. But the minute I entered my studio, so all the artists who got into the program get their own studio, I just started crying. And I was like, oh, I need this. I need my practice in this way. And so I got to spend two years

and an expensive fellowship really holding down my art practice. And it changed me. And I left the program really being reminded that art is at the center of all of what I do. And art is how I both heal, but also art is how I intervene in cultures and violence. Mm.

Yeah, I think art has such an important role to play. Art was my favorite subject growing up. And when I decided not to pursue it beyond the age of 18 and in an academic sense, my teachers were really let down by me because I was such a sellout that I gave up. But but I feel like my work today, the artist never leaves you. Like that, that really never leaves you never leaves you and it always finds a way to come back.

And I wanted to ask you about that because your, obviously, your past influence has affected your creation of your first solo show, which was respite, reprieve, and healing. Tell us about what you were processing through that piece and what of your past was kind of coming out. Sure. Okay, you really know this. Um. We want to actually, like deep dive.

Yeah, I'm, I'm, you know, the, the podcast is called on purpose because I'm so deeply into just trying to understand humans. And, and I think you're such a fascinating human. And, and I think seeing you as through just one lens and one layer is kind of the mistake I think we make today as a society. We try and put people in the boxes and put people in the bubbles and we're like, that's all you are. You can't be anything else.

Anyway, I'm trying my best. So thank you for encouraging me. And I love that. I have a lot of gratitude. I talk to a lot of people and a lot of people interview me and they're not interested in the multi-faceted retreat. So I'm like deeply appreciative of this moment. Sure, my my solo show for my thesis press project was respite reprieve and healing and evening of cleansing and my good friend and creative collaborator, Damon Turner, helped curate this piece. And when I was developing it, I was trying to think about, like,

I'm often thinking about the senses when I'm making work. I'm some performance artist, and I do a lot of public art with my performance. So I was thinking about like, what did I want people to feel like while they were witnessing it? What did I want them to see? What did I want them to smell? What did I want them to hear? And this is important for me because I feel like for a long time, especially from like 2013 to 2016, a lot of my art was very, I was processing my trauma around, you know around my work being so deeply steeped in black death.

And so so much of my work was like a reprocessing on that trauma. And it was a really painful experience in my work and my practice. And so going through this art program, I got to really like deepen into that trauma, but also I think on the other side of it, I recognized that obviously I've survived, and so there's deep resilience there. And so I wanted my peace to look at resilience and look at the impact this movement

and Black Death has had on my body, but also how I've actually been, and how Black women at large are deeply resilient. And so I spent the first part of the piece in a 100 year old bathtub of salt, of Epsom Salt. And while that was happening, there were 14 performers in white robes getting their hair washed in salt and honey. And it was all black performers. And at the end of that piece, they tied their hair up with a rope. And there was this one individual who was sort of like the sorcerer

or tying folks hair up with a rope. And it was on, it was in a backyard of this home and South Central. And it was really beautiful because I wanted to, there's the imagery of rope and black people as a very disturbing imagery traditionally and historically, but this was not that. And this was like these, you know, 14 black folks coming together around their hair and then bounding themselves up, and with their heads, like together as a unit, as a collective, and not because they were dying, but because they were alive.

And so that felt really important to me. But while all this is happening, I had recorded audio of sort of me just thinking about things and like processing out loud. And then there was also a really beautiful team of musicians who are playing and my good friend Damon Davis, we used his song Light Years to sort of be the the the the the score for the piece. So as you can tell, lots of things are happening all at once because it's how I process, it's how I do things. And by the time that kind of first piece of the artist washing hair was done,

I was pulling myself up out of the bathtub of salt. It was 400 pounds of salt, so super, super heavy. super, super heavy. And I had this gorgeous dress made by my designer is at Coutula, who make West African garb. And so I pulled myself up and there's just sort of this beautiful dress I had on. My hair was done by an artist named Nena Soulfly. And it was these long kind of Medusa braids. And as I pulled myself out of the bathtub, I crawled to a trough of coconut milk and then plunged myself in that milk and washed myself. And so this was like a really cleansing moment.

And there was probably about 300 people at the peace I was in a backyard. So at every moment, like folks were sort of being moved along. I really like processions. I think having people move with you in a peace and be a part of that peace is really important in my work. And then everybody, I requested everybody come and wear white. And so by the end of the piece I sort of walked over to where

Originally people were getting their hair washed and took the dress off and Looked at the audience and just like held space while the music was still playing the live music and then Walked off and that was the piece. I don't, I've described that piece out loud in that way. So that was actually really helpful for me. I was like, how do I make this visual? It's so many things happening at once. I'm so glad you did that.

Like, that is such a beautiful description. And I mean, I was with you the whole way. And it made me think that how amazing would it be if art was used in media more? Because that visual that you've just painted for me and like you were saying, the redefining of how the rope is perceived, it's so incredible to think that actually through that art, you're just rewiring the narratives for people in their minds, which you can't do if you're not seeing it to art. It's so hard to do it literally sometimes.

That's actually right. But the metaphors and everything, so I wish I was there live now. which you can't do if you're not seeing it too art. It's so hard to do it literally sometimes. That's actually right. But the metaphors and everything. So, but I wish I was there live now. So, you're gonna have to figure out how to do this. And that's so cleansing. Literally, like, when I was hearing it, just felt so like, there's so much cleansing.

I'm sure the people that were there were just completely transformed and impacted by it. So, thank you for describing that so beautifully. Usually it's hard to describe things. But moving on from that, tell me if someone showed you a glimpse of the work you do today, who you are today, if someone showed you that glimpse at 10 years old, when you attend, is that what you saw for yourself?

Or when you attend or whatever age you want to pick, what was your aspiration, like what were your goals, what were your values, what were you seeing was your future growing up in Van Nijsen locally, to where you are now, not far away from where we both lived, where did you see your future? It's a good question. I just finished recording the adapted version of my book into a YA. And part of adapting it, we decided that we're gonna take

my journals from when I was a teenager and sort of go through them and put them in different parts of the book. And I was pretty much the same. I love that. Pretty much the same. Like there was a journal entry where I was like police do not transform our healer communities like when I was 16 years old. And so like I was already planting the seeds for

my adult self. And I think if someone were to say hey this is what you like hey 10 year old or 12 or 15 or 16 year, this is what you, like, hey, 10-year-old or 12 or 15 or 16-year-old, this is what you're going to be doing. I probably would respond, thank God. Like, that's what I dreamed of. Like, that's what I imagined. I spent a lot of time as an adolescent, like, dreaming of being able to change and help my community, not just like my family,

my immediate family, but, like like wanting to make big changes. And I was, you know, I idolized people like Audrey Lord and Angela Davis and Hughie P. Newton and so many of the black power figures. I really believed that I was, you know, my dad, you always tell me I was born in the wrong generation. Like, you missed it. There was a whole time when people did that that you want to do, but that's not going to happen again.

So I think I would be like relieved. Like, okay, good. Like I did the things that I wanted to happen. Like that feels resonant. And I just like chuckled as I read journal, like read my old journals. I was like, oh, my goodness, Patrice, you are so intense. Like, it's like so glad that I found this work in this world and also that I was found art so early

because I was already such an intense child that needed a kind of container to help me with all the big feelings I had. I had very big feelings. I noticed things. I was like a very empathetic and so art and I think also activism and organizing really helped contain all of the big feelings I had about what was happening in the world.

Hi, I'm David Eagleman. I have a new podcast called Inner Cosmos on I Heart. I'm a neuroscientist and an author at Stanford University, and I've spent my career exploring the three-pound universe in our heads. On my new podcast, I'm going to explore the relationship between our brains and our experiences by tackling unusual questions so we can better understand our lives and our realities. Like, does time really run in slow motion when you're in a car accident? Or, can we create new senses for humans? Or, what does dreaming have to do with the rotation of the planet? So join me weekly to uncover how your brain steers your behavior, your perception, and your reality.

Listen to Intercosmos with David Eagleman on the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Dr. Romani and I am back with season two of my podcast Navigating Narcissism. Narcissists are everywhere and their toxic behavior in words can cause serious harm to your mental health. In our first season, we heard from Eileen Charlotte, who was loved by the Tinder Swindler. The worst part is that he can only be guilty for stealing the money from me, but he cannot be guilty for the mental part he did. And that's even way worse than the money he took. But I am here to help. As a licensed psychologist and survivor of narcissistic abuse myself,

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Listen to City of the Rails on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Or, cityoftherails.com What I love about what you just said is like when you think of art you think of it as like very flowing and unorganized and then you said that activism that needs to be organized and I kind of love those two going together because it's almost like it's almost like the heart and head kind of getting in the synergy absolutely and the art allows you to be fully expressive but then in activism we can be more explaining and you know really helping people understand so I love the way you brought those two things together right I wonder whether you know you're you're obviously a professor and

you're teaching social justice and I guess how do you think that's changed from when you were learning and reflecting about that when you were younger as we just talked about? And how were you seeing people being educated on it today? Do you think there have been positive changes in that education spacing as you stepped in as well yourself? Was there a gap that you saw that you felt like not this needs to be addressed differently? Yes, so the program I teach is actually a master's in Fine Arts program that is both a combination of social justice and art. I see. So that's the gap. I mean, my program isn't like the first

of it's like the first program to do this. So I want to be really clear there's lots of programs who have done this. But what I was what I tried to do in creating this program is think about all the things that I didn't get when I was in art school. And so you know my program was amazing and I had a lot I had a really positive experience especially because my cohort was incredible. And experience, especially because my cohort was incredible. And from my cohort, three of us, Alexander Dorese and Noa Olivas and I all started an art gallery and studio in Englewood. So we kind of extended our experience. And we're like, we're not done playing together.

Let's go build this other thing. And through that, recognize that the world of academics in the art space and social justice space is often deeply lacking empathy. And so our program is an online program for mostly working artists, like working artists who just didn't get their degree and like need to go through a program. And so we spend a lot of time on like the artist's practice and building up the empathy around their practice. I feel like the training of artists is pretty sterilized.

I'm so glad you didn't go to art school. That would have been a terrible tragic experience because what usually happens at art school is they actually train you out of being an artist. And they really train you into being a vehicle of capitalism and a commodity and so while I don't have a problem necessarily with making your art a commodity, some artists are really successful, I think that should not be the only way you have to express your art and so our program is

really building out the empathy. And so we have a lot of healers who are also artists in our program. So we have a course that specifically art as healing. And I think it's super powerful, the work that we're trying to do. We have courses that are deeply rooted in environmental activism around art.

And my work is to often intervene until what I think is a space that isn't giving the full breath of what could be given and then also create a new vehicle. Because we can intervene all day, but if we're not creating the new vehicles or where people can change, then people just end up like, you know, shouting and not really changing. So this program, the MFA program, is really, it's an experiment. We're experimenting. And what I love about the program and my students is that we have a cohort that's mostly students of color, which is also deeply rare in art programs. And it's, our faculty is reflective of that. It's a mostly all people of color faculty.

So I feel very grateful for this program and what it's providing not just my students, but me and also the academic and art world. Yeah, absolutely. Let's all pretend to be a students right now or everyone who's listening. And I wanna ask you from that perspective, let's say someone's listening and they're like, Patrice J, I get it, like art is healing,

it helps me express, but hey, I'm not really artistic, like I don't even know how to draw. Or the hang ups that people have, or we forget our child like self and we lose that ability to, so if someone's like, Patrice, I want to get in touch with my inner artist again, I want to be able to express myself through art or generally, where's a good place for some of the start? If they're just like, I need to just understand my emotions and feelings more like you were when you were a young person and seeing all of this happening and I want to express myself throughout not to make a brand out of it or put it on Instagram but just you know just for myself. Where's a good place

for someone to stop? I love that question. I think the first place to start is to feel, feel your sensations, feel what's in your body, your hands, your feet, your legs, your stomach, your chest, your shoulders. Like, part of growing up, I think in places like the West, is it divorces you from your feelings, divorces you from your emotions. And so much of the place of art comes from what you feel. It's an expression of what you feel, It's an expression of what you feel. It's an extension of what you feel. And so I would, and to remind people who are listening

as numbness is also a feeling. We may not know that. We may not recognize that. But being numb is, is supporting something that needs to be supported in you. And so people who've dealt with a lot of trauma, we often go numb because the experiences, if we allowed ourselves to feel everything we felt, we'd probably be crushed literally. So numbing is actually a feeling too. And so check out the places where you feel numb. I'm a big fan of meditation.

I'm a big fan of a practice called somatics, which part of it is they have centering practice where you just take your time whether you're sitting down or standing up and breathe into your stomach and slowly allow yourself to feel all of the feelings that you feel. And sometimes they're too big and too much and you don't have to feel them that big. You can feel them at 10% or 20% and from there, I don't, although I do write a lot, I'd like to record my voice a lot. So, record a note in your phone or whatever on your computer and just like take the time to say out loud what you're feeling and where you're feeling it. And I promise you if you do that

for like 30 days, like even if it's a couple times a week, you'll start to notice patterns, you know. So I feel all my feelings of my throat, my chest, and my stomach, literally. Happiness, that my throat, my chest, and my stomach, literally. Happiness, sadness, fear. Like, that's like the place where I feel it. And it really helps to notice that because then I can be like, okay, right now I'm feeling these feelings, like happiness. Oh, okay, great.

Like, I could express it in this way or I'm feeling sadness, I could express it in this way. And that, to me, is like a really good locator of how to show up for yourself first and then show up for the other things that you love to do like art. I'm Danny Shapiro, host of Family Secrets. It's hard to believe we're entering our eighth season.

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on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Mungesha Tickler and to be honest, I don't believe in astrology, but from the moment I was born, it's been a part of my life. In India, it's like smoking. You might not smoke, but you're going to get secondhand astrology. And lately, I've been wondering if the universe has been trying to tell me to stop running

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Situation doesn't look good, there is risk to father. And my whole view on astrology, it changed. Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, I think your ideas are going to change too. Listen to Skyline Drive and the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In the 1680s, a feisty, opera singer burned down a nunnery and stole away with her secret lover. In 1810, a pirate queen negotiated her cruiseway to total freedom with all their loot. During World War II, a flirtatious gambling double agent helped keep D-Day a secret from the Germans.

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Listen, on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What a rich answer, thank you for that. It's going to be so useful to so many people listening because like there's no you haven't given anyone a format like it's not like painting a picture you don't have to have a skill to be able to do that you just need to be still almost to just listen and here and and actually that's really so much at the heart of the message that I'm hearing right now for the world is the ability to just be still and listen and hear and observe both in ourselves and in others because it feels like that's the ability that's been lost in me included and in so many of us the ability to just be still and actually just hear and listen, understand, observe and not like judge and make a conclusion and throw up a plan. And I think it's so fascinating to see

how so much of that mindset comes from being an artist in some sense, allowing ourselves to be there. But my brother, his experience with law enforcement, and honestly, my entire neighborhood's experience with law enforcement deeply impacted my world view. And I think when you grow up as a child and the people who are in government, and theory, they're supposed to be the people that protect you, take care of you,

but they're doing the opposite. Like, they are not, not only are they neglecting, but they're intentionally abusing your loved ones, your family, and everyone around you. I think that really shaped my world view around like, okay, well, if these people who are being paid are not only not protecting me, but they're abusing and neglecting me, then who do we go to?

Like, who is supporting us? Who is taking care of us? So with my brother's situation, he was 19 when he was brutally beaten by the Sheriff's Department. And that experience, it's interesting because I don't know if you've ever had this experience, but children have a different understanding of time and memory. So when my brother experienced his beating by the sheriffs and the counting jails, I

didn't necessarily know that that's what happened. I just knew it in my spirit. Like something, I knew that he was taken away. I knew something really bad had happened. And my mother hadn't shared it with us. She didn't share it with her children. The only person that ever knew what happened with my brother until we all found out was my grandmother, her mother. But it would take almost a decade until I knew the details of what happened to him.

And I realized it a decade later when I came across the ACLU American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. They're complaint against the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. And that complaint basically was 70 sworn testimony of prisoners inside the county jail that shared their story of essentially not just being abused but tortured by the shares department. Things like people's front teeth being knocked out, their skulls being shattered, being carved into their bodies like words. And what I realized while I was reading that, while I was deeply disturbing to read, I was like, oh, this is what happened to my brother. I didn't know whenever told me those words, but I knew it.

I was like, this is what happened to him. And so he had just been released from prison and when I read that complaint and I called him and my mom and I said finally this sheriff's are being sued and they said, my brother said to me at least someone will get justice. And it was like that was like the moment I was like, oh okay, like that did happen to him. And so we went through a whole process and I actually created an entire performance piece around that 86 page complaint. And that piece is what then was the inspiration

for my local organization called Dignity in Power Now, which has successfully created civilian oversight of that Sheriff's Department and has been a huge watchdog created civilian oversight of that Sheriff's Department and has been a huge watchdog around the abuse of that department and also successfully stopped to $3.5 billion jails that we're going to be built in Los Angeles County. So my brother's story and the impact it had on me

and my family definitely transformed how not only how I understood the state's relationship to black people in particular, but also my role in fighting it back, and being like, you mess with the wrong family, you don't get to do that and not be held accountable. And even though it took me a decade plus to receive that kind of accountability,

I still fought and fought and fought and I stayed present for that fight and I didn't do it alone. Hundreds and I would argue now thousands of people joined us in holding the Sheriff's Department accountable and continues to. Mm, thank you, thank you for sharing that. What gave you the courage to, you said there mentioned,

you mentioned it many times, like to fight and you continue to present in that fight. Like, what even gave you the belief? Because I feel like for a lot of people right now, who may want to see change or they agree that things need to change, but then they get discouraged at the first hurdle. They get discouraged at the first change, you know?

And obviously you've been fighting for this for a long time and you're not stopping and you're finding new ways and you've turned art into activism in a powerful way. Like, what has constantly given you the belief and the courage? Because for most of us, and you made this point earlier too, sorry, I know I'm connecting dots of what you said. You know, for so many of us, it's like, we just care about our family, just about, and then we'll see what happens with the rest of the world. And you said at an early stage, you realize, it wasn't just about your family, it's about the community.

And then of course, with your brother having this experience, and then you're like, OK, well, how does this stretch beyond just him and now beyond the world? What is it that gives you the belief and courage A, to extend yourself that something will change and B, that you want to care for more than just the people right around you and just your community? Because that's where it started with this group you're saying.

But now it's pending. I think love. A deep and profound love for my family and my community. My brother was my first best friend. Literally. We would sit in our room when I was a kid. I remember I talked a lot as a child. I still talk a lot. But I was a very like, precocious like I talked a lot. They're curious. My mom says that I would sit in the car seat when I was first learning how to read and we would, she'd be driving and I would tap my brother and ask him, what does that sign say? What

does that sign say? Like, I really was curious. So he was the brother that like, just like, would hang out with me and listen to me. And, um, and just, you know, my other brother, he's like much older than me. Um, so I think I was probably a little like annoying. He really loved me and he took care of me. He was like a deep caregiver, but Monty was like my friend. And so I spent a lot of time with him. And so as we got older and I started to see what was happening to him and how he was being responded to. My love for him was really big and it made me want to keep fighting. And I also felt like my brother suffers from schizophrenia disorder.

So he has severe mental illness. And I felt like the odds were against him. And so there's this whole apparatus that's like $3.00 billion institution that doesn't want to support him. And instead is like criminalizing him. Well, the least I can do is be his advocate and being his advocate meant also being the advocate of many like him.

Yeah, that extension of it is what's so much what you said driven by love. Because when you're going above and beyond your family and the people around you that you grow up with, and even your community where it started out and it keeps extending, you can see that it's really, really driven by love. And I think for a lot of people, even for me, for many, many years, and I think it was hard to understand the difference in what you experience. So being a person of color from London and experiencing racism growing up with my parents

who are my mothers from Yemen and my fathers from India, and then also experiencing racism myself, you kind of, even in my own ignorance, you kind of just bucket up the racism you experience to feel like that must be the race and the kind of everyone goes through. If that makes sense. You kind of just put this blanket over and it's again,

this human mind that just wants to like bucket stuff off and be like, oh, they're probably going for the same thing that I'm going through. Sure. And then very, you know, more recently having a very intimate conversation with myself, I mean, like, oh, no, this is different. It is a different thing that's happening here, right? Look at it.

It's a different experience. There is a different situation. There is, there is far more structural impact here that a community is facing, not what I face, which is different to that. And I think, you know, so many people have struggled and you probably asked this question a million times, but I feel like I've got my head around it slowly, but I want people to really cement it for me too. And I want you to take a moment to just share what Black Lives Matter means to you and what it actually means as opposed to the challenge that people constantly have with it, with the all lives of the blue lives of the... Because even though it seems so simple now, when you kind of on the other side, it feels

so simple, but it's so easy to not understand it. So that would be really useful. Yes. You know, the Black Lives Matter and so many words is a project. It's an experiment to challenge white supremacy. We created Black Lives Matter as a response to a deep pain and trauma that our collective community felt, which was Trayvon Martin was a 17-year-old boy who was killed by a grown white passing man in Sanford, Florida. And many of us believed because we all knew that George the Roman killed him, that there was going to be some form of justice. And he did not, there was no justice, and there still has been no justice for Trayvon Martin.

And so when we witnessed that trial, that pretty much a year-long trial where very quickly we understood that Trayvon Martin was on trial for his own murder. And then we sat in and not physically, but we sat and watched, you know, whether it was on TV or on our social media, the jury come back and say not guilty. And that final not guilty, I think was like a collective slug to everybody's chest, right, to black people in particular. And that was our Emmett Till moment. It was our moment where we realized, oh, not much has changed when it comes to white supremacy, institutionalized white supremacy. And this child was stolen from us. And the parents have to deal with that forever and also have to deal with a system that doesn't care that he was stolen from us.

So what do we do? And what is the collective response? It's not, it wasn't just on Sabrina Fulton to respond. It was on all of us to respond collectively. And so Black Lives Matter, it becomes a collective response to collective trauma. And then it also becomes a reminder of what's possible. So Black Lives Matter becomes a space where we get to decide what's possible for us on our own terms. And that's the power of Black Lives Matter.

We always created it because we wanted it to be nimble. We wanted it to be able to take the shape it needed to take and whatever moment it needed to take it. So first it was a hashtag. We took that hashtag into the streets during protests. And then quickly it became an organizing infrastructure. And so it's not just about protesting, how do we build a longevity? And so we're seven years old July 13th.

And that is because we have stayed the course. Black Lives Matter has turned into a global network with chapters across the globe, here in the US, Canada, and the United Kingdom. And so, so much of our work has been about, how do we meet black people who are at in the moment? And then how do we build off of the imagination, the collective imagination? And then while we're building this thing for black people, how do we call in our allies and say,

hey, guess what, if you fight for Black lives, you also get more free. So this isn't just about Black people. Yes, we are asking you to put your attention on Black people, but recognize that our liberation is bound into one another. And so when Black people get free, we all get free. And that is, I think, the like, Black people get free, we all get free. And that is, I think, the, like, sort of, like, foundation of Black Lives Matter. Yeah, really, really well explained. And I think that's something that, hopefully everyone listening can identify with

and resonate with and understand where that sits. Tell me about some of the most, because I guess people often may ask the opposite. And I'm not, I'm interested in this. It's like, what are some of the most because I guess people are often may ask the opposite and I'm not interested in this is like what are some of the most hope-giving conversations and moments that you've had in the last seven years, hopefully in the last 12 months, hopefully in recently? What are there any, and if they're on, you can be honest too, but what are the most hope-giving conversations that you've had within the Black community and outside of it that has made you feel that people are getting it and that people are going in

the right direction. Yeah, I just went on a social distance retreat for... That sounds fun, I want to be one of you. With a company called Trapeels Creative Agency called Trapeels. And that was, it was powerful. It was this really amazing opportunity to do work, but in a way that is like deeply rejuvenating and restorative. And so there was like a healer on site who was just like holding

space in whatever ways you needed it. We like had all the crystals and the sage and like the people who had the amazing vibes and we just like held space and held a lot of space. And that, I don't get to work like that often actually. So that retreat, that social distance retreat was so healing and so powerful. And we spent a lot of time talking about healing and the power of meditation and yoga and sound bowls. the power of meditation and yoga and sound bowls and just like really taking that time to be connected, be connected with self, with each other, with the land. It was really powerful. It was

exactly what I needed and I felt like I didn't get to do the work that I said I was going to do. But it was the work that I needed to do. What I'm fascinated by hearing from you today, Patrice, is like this. They just sounds like there's so much internal work happening at the same time as the external works happening. And that is something that I wasn't not that I didn't think you were doing you, but I'm not so aware of. And I love hearing that because I think sometimes people are just like, well, some of you just go out there and do something. That's what most people do. They just go out there and do things. So we said again, that's what most people do. They just go out there and do things.

You can just like, in it and like a machine. That's how we're trained. That's what we're trained to do. Yeah, but it seems like, what is that healing doing to make the activism? Is it making the activism more purposeful, intentional? What is it doing to that part? Because I think people forget that they're connected

and the way you're living sounds very interconnected and synergized, what is that doing for the activism and for the changes that need to happen for you doing these, whether it's meditation or spirituality or any of these experiences for you and healing as you said? I don't know. I think only time will tell, like, I do it not for the activism. I do it for myself

and my family. I have a four-year-old. Healing work has always been at the center of my work. It's a big part of how I'm able to survive is by doing that inner healing work. But it's also about like quality of life. The work that I do is heavy. It's intense. I get a lot of intense sort of like needs and inquiries from people. And so I really was called to healing work in my early 20s because I recognize, oh, I'm being, I'm on this path. And it's not sustainable if I don't have a sense of like grounded healing. So I'm always striving for that. Like I've done all the things acupuncture, raky. Like that's just

how I've always been. And I'm so grateful. I'm so grateful that I've had access to be able to... I live in California, so I feel like California is especially LA. We discovered kale before the rest of the country. You know what I mean? So, in some ways, whenever I go do talks of the deep south, I'm Midwest, I'm always like, I'm going gonna start talking about crystals, everybody, but that's just, that has been, it's who I am. Like, it just really deeply is who I am. I've always been like this. I have an alter to my ancestors. Like, it just is my ground.

It gives me a kind of purpose of self because it's very easy to look outward and to think that your purpose is outside of you and it isn't. It really is inside of you and it directs what you do outside of you. But if we only focus on what's outside of us, like we really do become shells and there is times in my life where I only focus on what's outside of me and it was deeply detrimental to my physical, emotional, mental health. Yeah, thank you for sharing that. I don't have your team shared with me,

but I lived as a monk for three years. I know, I saw these. I love to be up. Yeah, so meditation and spirituality is a huge, huge part of my life. So hearing that in yours is a beautiful thing we share. And I hope we get to create some sacred space together. I know.

I think we're going to be friends. Yeah, I hope we get to create some sacred space together. I know, I think we're going to be friends. Yeah, I hope so. I don't know if you've ever experienced Q-tun, but it's the collective chanting with sacred sounds. And it's really, really special either a friend that comes over from London every year. And we hold these events in my home with a lot of friends. So yeah, I was, I love it.

I love your edits, you're ready. But no, for me, it's beautiful to hear it because I think, and I loved what you said that you just do it for yourself. You know, you do it for your children, your child, your family, I think there's such beautiful ways of seeing it. And I guess I think a lot of people right now,

and it's kind of like that. Like a lot of us have struggled to make the right decisions for ourselves, but we at least aspire to make the right decisions for future generation. That's exactly right. I think a lot of people right now are seeing that and they're saying, well, maybe for me and I would have let it go, but my kids are growing up in this world, and this is not working. What are some of the things that

before we, before we final on that, on the ally piece, before we get into that, what are some of the things that people can genuinely do to not just be activated around moments that we've seen in the world where obviously it's Breonna Taylor, it's George Floyd, like these horrific murders and tragedies. How is it so that you're not activated around them but that it continues? What is needed? Because I think that's a message that I keep hearing and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but it's how is it, how is this sustained in a real way that brings about real change so that everyone's children can grow up in a world

without any racial injustice. I mean, I think, you know, what I try to tell people is find an organization and commit to it. And I say that because the only way that we fight institutional racism is if we're fighting institutions that are fighting institutional racism, You can't do it alone. As I got older I realized I had so much inside of me, I needed an organization, I needed to have a container to figure out, okay? I want to take on everything. I can't. What do I feel most moved by? What bothers me the most? What keeps me up at night, all right, let me do that work. And

that was really critical for me as a young person. And I started organizing at 16 years old. You know, I had my, I did my first petition against my school administration. And and then I realized, ooh, I liked that feeling. I like having agency. I like being able to be like, you did something wrong to me. And I'm not just going to yell in your face. I want to actually organize lots of people around this to make sure it changes. So this doesn't happen to me again. It doesn't happen to other people.

And that's what so many collectives organizations are doing. I also tell people if you feel moved by something and it doesn't exist, create it, start it. That's important too. Lots of organizations exist, started because they didn't exist. That infrastructure didn't exist, so that's super important. Yeah, I think that's a great reminder. I often say to people, you may not find your purpose through your passion, but you find it through your pain Yes, and for a lot of people that's where it stems from is that they find something really painful that they went through or

That they see people going through and they want to go and serve that and make a difference But I love how you keep bringing it back to just you know having to having to take Personal responsibility For what we see which which is such a strong message. I know we only have five minutes left. I have like a million more questions I can ask you. So we may have to do a part two at some point. But what I want to do is we end every episode of on purpose with two segments. One is called fill in the blanks and you're an artist. So I think you'll like this. And then the final five. So the fill in the blanks is I read out sentences and you fill in the blank at the end. It's kind of like your journal. So we get a little dive into what your

journal might look like. Okay, so fill in the blanks. This is the first one. Freedom for all is. Oh, freedom for all is liberation. Okay. True equality starts with Liberation. True equality starts with fighting for black lives. Being brave means showing up for yourself first. Absolute kindness is not. Absolute kindness is not such a strange You can edit the sentence if you don't like it. No, I'm gonna try this. Well the first thing that came to my head was passive aggressive Yeah, I think that's good I think that's good. I like it. I like it. I wish everyone would

Smile smile. I love that. smile. Smile. I love that. I love that. Okay, these are your final five. So these are with you, I may go over. We've got a few minutes so we can go into it. Usually they're one word or one sentence answers. Okay.

What do you believe most people misunderstand about activism? Oh, that it's only protest. Okay, let's expand and tell me more. What else is it? People think that activism is like when you go show up to a protest or there is a protest and that's it. And that's like zero to 100. There's all this in between from like saying that you want to become an activist and really an organizer and then the protest.

The protest is actually the last thing you do. Protest usually happens when you've tried everything else. When you try to talk to your elected official, when you sent them a letter, when you organize everybody to show up to the board meeting, when you've made your public comment where you pressured them through other people. The protests is basically when every elected official or appointed official has ignored your demands. Protest is the final step to be like, all right, I've tried everything now I'm showing up. So activism isn't just protest. Wow, that is such a profound answer. Thank you so much for

for expanding on that. All right, number two, see I knew I was going to go off tangent with you. I can do question number two for you. What question do you ask yourself the most or what's a question you reflect on yourself the most? I usually wake up thinking, what am I doing today so I can change the material conditions for black people? Wow, beautiful question. Thank you. So so led by purpose that question. That's amazing. Okay, let's do question number three. If you could create a law about everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be? If I could create a law, I think it would be that there would be a community block party every once a month.

So everybody would come out on their block, they would bring food, it would be mandated, no one would get in trouble if they didn't do it. So a loose law, I don't believe in criminalizing. So the law would be really to create a culture and everybody having a black party once a month. And everybody's home on the block would be open. If you live in a apartment, all your doors would be open. And people would just like live and have food and hang out

and talk philosophy and art and how we're going to change the world together. Well, I want to live on that block. That's a good thing. OK, cool. They never had that answer before. It's a brilliant answer, by the way. No one has ever said anything close to that. Question number four and five.

The question number four, what's the biggest lesson that you've learned in the last 12 months? Oh um that you can plan as much as you want but there is always a bigger plan. Beautiful okay and fifth and final question I think this is incredible but can you please share the importance of the date February 2nd 2020? Is that on COVID? No, it's the LA City Council declared it as... It's been three scolars day! I forgot that quickly. I love that. That's the best. What happened to COVID? You took it like a trivia question. You thought it was like, you know, like a historical trivia question.

It wasn't. It was like, you love that. You all know that. There's no trick questions in my interviews. Everything's probably going to stay. Yeah. Tell us about the significance of it. I mean, what does that mean? I had no idea that was going to happen. I like showed up to an event that my local chapter put on for me and Council member Herb Wesson and the City Council declared that February 2, February 2, 2020 as Patrice Colisey. Yeah well thank you. Thank you Patrice. Thank you so much.

Everyone who's been listening or watching I hope today you got a deep dive into Patrice colors the person, the human, the energy, the presence because I did. I definitely feel I got to know you so much better today And I appreciate you being so open and vulnerable and letting us go in this completely different direction and you know I'm really yeah, really appreciate that Patrice. Thank you for going on this journey with us. And yeah, I think we're gonna be friends. So I'm excited, once we can all see each other again, I wanna come to one of your block parties. And I'm gonna invite you to the Kiritons

that are placed for some spiritual healing. But yeah, thank you for doing what you're doing. Thank you for being a messenger and an artist and an activist too and just sharing so many elevated insights on activism with us. I think that's what you've done. You've really, for a lot of us, at least me especially, we wired my thought processes on what true activism is. So thank you for doing that. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thankite Gomes-Rajón. We're so excited to introduce you to our new podcast, Hungry For History! On every episode, we're exploring some of our favorite dishes, ingredients, beverages from our Mexican culture. We'll share personal memories and family stories, decode culinary customs, and even provide a recipe or two for you to try at home. Listen to Hungry For History on the I Heart Radio app, Apple

podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Our 20s are often seen as this golden decade. Our time to be carefree, make mistakes, and figure out our lives. But what can psychology teach us about this time? I'm Gemma Speg, the host of the psychology of your 20s. Each week we take a deep dive into a unique aspect of our 20s, from career anxiety, mental health, heartbreak, money and much more to explore the science behind our experiences. The Psychology of Your 20s hosted by me, Gemma Speg. Listen now on the iHeartRadio appp Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jay Shetty and on my podcast on purpose, I've had the honor to sit down with some of

the most incredible hearts and minds on the planet. Oprah, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Hart, Lewis Hamilton and many, many more. On this podcast, you get to hear the raw real-life stories behind their journeys and the tools they used, the books they read and the people that made a difference in their lives so that they can make a difference in hours. Listen to on purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeart Radio app Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Join the journey soon.