Feb 11

Feb 11 introducing season three

We’re back! Get ready for a fresh batch of dope episodes. In this episode, we introduce new topics and the amazing guests who will share their work.

Also, we introduce our first Abolition Science Radio reading group!

Starting this April.

Three sessions.

One book.

We will be reading Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code by Dr. Ruha Benjamin. Check out Abolition Science socials for more details.

First full episode drops Tuesday, February 25th!!

Transcript (Please excuse any errors)

[Music Intro ♫]

LaToya [LS]: Hey listeners! Welcome to Abolition Science Radio, we’re your hosts. I’m LaToya Strong-

Atasi [AD]: And I’m Atasi Das. We’re here to talk all things science and math and their relationship to-

LS: Colonialism 

AD: Oppression

LS: Resistance

AD: Education

LS: Liberation

AD: And so much more.

[ ♫ Music fade out.]

[0:25]

LS: Hey listeners!

AD: Hey! Welcome back to a whole nother season of Abolition Science Radio. We’re so excited to be back with you.

LS: Yeah! So excited. I wrote down a joke, but it’s like, it’s not funny anymore, because it was funny when I wrote it.

AD: Was there a joke on this thing?

LS: Yes! It says…I mean, it’s not really a joke, it’s just –

AD: Ok.

LS: I was gonna quote Lil’ Kim.

AD: Oh, ok.

LS: We was gone for a minute, now we back with the jump off. But, it made – like, when I was writing it, I was like, oh, it was more natural then, but now it’s there so…

AD: That’s what happens.

LS: But anyway.

AD: Yeah.

LS: Ha ha ha.

[0:55]

AD: But we’re just glad to be back.

LS: Mhmm.

AD: It’s been a second.

LS: Yes!

AD: Since we’ve talked to you.

LS: Yes.

AD: Or, you heard us. Ha ha ha ha. But we hope you’re well and it’s gonna be amazing this season. I think, it’s gonna be great.

LS: Yeah, new season, new year, new decade!

AD: Yes! Lots of newness!

LS: Lots of new, new.

(Both laugh)

AD: New time. New time marker. Yeah, so we have a whole batch of episodes that we’re gonna be releasing over the next, I don’t know, couple weeks maybe.

LS: Mhmm.

AD: Or so…but, we just had the holidays cause it’s now January something.

LS: Mhmm.

AD: 2020.

LS: Ha ha ha!

[1:40]

AD: How were your holidays?

LS: Holidays was good. I was home in Baltimore.

AD: Nice.

LS: With the family. You know, as soon as I walked in, you know what my, what’s cooking? Pig feet. Like, why. Like, why? Why!

AD: Ha ha ha, So, you’re saying you don’t enjoy that as much? LS: It’s just like, when you walk into a house, the thing that you don’t want to smell is –

AD: Ha ha ha ha.

LS: Pig feet cookin. Ha ha ha.

AD: it’s what I don’t want to smell.

[2:05]

LS: Ha ha ha.

AD: That’s funny. That’s funny. Yeah. I also went to visit my family over the holidays too. It’s true, well, I had some delicious Indian food cooking, or my mom did, which I came home to. Which I, really am like, yessss! It’s so good, I don’t have to cook it.

LS: Ha ha.

AD: Ha ha. And I get to eat it, it’s so great. Yeah, it was really good, um, in Hotlanta.

[2:35]

LS: Do you have – ok, go-to –

AD: Mhmm. Ok.

LS: It’s not gonna be a song.

AD: Ok.

LS: Well, we can do a song one, but do you have like a, as an adult –

AD: Yeah.

LS: Like a go-to present that you would want as an adult? AD: Oooh.

LS: Like however you, I don’t know if you celebrate Kwanzaa or Christmas or Hannakuh or, one of the other millions of holidays that take place during this time.

AD: Yeah.

LS: There’s not really a million but y’all get the point.

(Both laugh)

AD: There’s a bunch of celebrations with the harvest and the change of seasons.

LS: Mhmm.

AD: And solstice. Cause it was – solstice just did pass.

LS: It did.

AD: And so I would celebrate, er – I guess as an adult…what would I want? Ok, so…I think time with people I haven’t seen in like a festive, like, eating together, I would love. If it’s a material things…

LS: Yes, I was talking material.

AD: If you’re talking about material things…

LS: Even though we’re anti-capitalist.

(Both laugh)

AD: Helping to pay off debts is helpful.

LS: Mhmm.

AD: I mean, I’m like, the practical present giver.

LS: Mhmm.

[3:35]

AD: Like, give me the lotion, the toothpaste that I’m gonna be using for the next three months kinda person, as opposed to something else.

LS: Gotchu.

AD: How bout you?

LS: I am ready for this question.

(Both laugh)

AD: You said you are ready?

LS: I am. I asked for groceries. Deadass, I will take some groceries, thank you. So I’ll get gift cards to either Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods, cause that’s – they’re the grocery stores that are in every state. So, that’s what I get. And you know what, when I was a kid, I would be so blown when people would get us socks for Christmas.

AD: Like blown in a bad - ?

LS: Oh, yes.

AD: Like you mean like why, like mad?

LS: Well yes, like, I would be mad. Like tight, like get me tight. But as a kid, as an adult, my younger siblings would get socks and they’d be so upset. So I am like, I will take your socks.

(Both laugh)

LS: So, I take their socks. Ha ha ha.

[4:25]

(Both laugh)

AD: This is so funny you just said that. Cause I was literally just thinking of that transition too. I was like, when is it – I think I asked for socks. You know?

LS: Mhmm.

AD: And there’s this thing about like, socks are like the worst present. I’m like, why!

LS: No, they’re so good.

AD: Cause you always get a hole in some of them and you need some socks.

LS: You lose them. You go – and that’s, I check the machines, like after I take my stuff out the washer, you go to the laundromat, I spin it to make sure nothing’s there and I still be losing socks.

AD: So true.

LS: Be looking, look up in the dryer. Still be losing socks.

AD: Where does it go? Listeners, where do they go.

LS: Yes, I just ordered some nice wool, thigh-high socks I wear around my apartment. So nice.

AD: Nice.

LS: That’s how you know that you’re old.

(Both laugh).

[5:03]

AD: You’re like, what are my comfort things? Ha ha ha ha.

LS: Put on my wool socks. Make some tea. Ha ha ha.

(Both laugh)

LS: Light a candle, I’m ready.

AD: Oh man.

LS: #2020. We’re here for you. We’re ready.

AD: Great, that’s cool. This batch, we have a lot of cool guests coming on.

LS: We do have a lot of cool guests coming on. Am I supposed to say – ?

AD: Sure!

LS: Ha ha ha.

AD: Well, I guess. Well, some of our guests are K-12 educators who are now in academia as professors.

LS: Mhmm.

AD: We have some activists, we have some artists.

LS: Mhmm. Nice.

AD: Yeah.

LS: Diversity of –

AD: Different folks doing different things. You know, not all in the same kind of, type of, whatever. Idea, thinking, activism work.

LS: Mhmm. And so, because of that, we get to talk about a lot of cool topics. Um, some intersect, some overlap.

[6:03]

AD: Yeah. We had a lot of folks that we talked to.

LS: Mhmm.

AD: And it’s been a number of months, so, we started I think, taping with people back in July.

LS: March.

AD: Wow! Even longer. So.

LS: March 2019.

AD: Ok, so it’s been a number of months and you know, you’ll get to hear them all kind of, in the next couple weeks. But Toya, if you had any like, highlights from, or are there folks or ideas that kind of stuck out to you from the different people that we spoke with?

LS: Yeah, so. I mean, picking one is hard. I would say, the, talking about Afro-Futurism was a really, I guess, generative and inspiring conversation. Especially as it intersects with Math Ed. I just think about, how do you create the fissures, or the cracks, or the seams to be able to insert these things into a field that does not want them there. So, yeah, I would say that for me was a particular highlight for me, what about you?

[7:08]

AD: There was a lot of interesting conversations we had. I think one that stuck out to me was also thinking about Math Ed, and kind of like, how do we deal with this idea of assessments and testing.

LS: Mhmm.

AD: So, having been kinda doing my own research in mathematics education, and beyond it, always it comes back to, well how do you test? How do you do that?

LS: Mhmm.

AD: And so, Dr. Alexander – Dr. Nathan Alexander, I think we had a really cool conversation around kind of questioning that and thinking very seriously and deeply about kind of shifting the way in which we say how we know what we know. Like, how do we prove that?

LS: Mhmm.

AD: As, you know, away from just, like the multiple choice or the really stressed filled math exams that kind of haunt people. And you know, for years to come, not even for that one exam but people think about ‘Ugh I hate math because uh…’ Like this kind of stuff, so that was a cool conversation.

LS: Yeah. I will also say, I like, cause we didn’t do much science. So we did a lot of math…

AD: And tech.

LS: Tech. Some DNA. I like that conversation around those topics. I think, people say STEM and STEAM a lot of times…but I mean, what they really talking about is science. And that’s, I do science, so I appreciated entering those conversations.

[8:31]

AD: Yeah, and I think actually, the genetics.

LS: Mhmm.

AD: We had a really amazing conversation with Dr. Devin Heyward, on DNA and genetics and ancestry testing. And I think, that kind of spanned a lot of different topics.

LS: Yeah.

AD: Because it was like science, and numbers, and –

Both: History.

LS: Land.

AD: It was pretty expansive.

LS: Mhmm.

AD: So, we’re looking forward to sharing that with you too. So many gr - uests, so many great topics, we hope that you really like, will take a lot from just the richness. A lot of people are doing some amazing stuff.

LS: Yeah.

AD: I mean, the artists that we had on. That were -

LS: Yeah, Stephanie Dinkins.

AD: Exploring artificial intelligence.

LS: Yeah. And algorithms.

AD: Through art. Which is like, what do you mean? And then, she explains it and you’re like, woah! This is so fascinating.

LS: Mhmm.

AD: Color Coded Collective we had on, they’re amazing. Really thoughtful, I would call them abolitionists.

LS: Yeah yeah.

AD: In practice.

LS: Mhmm.

AD: And, you know, trying to figure out not just what they’re doing through the workshops that they do and thinking of technology in their communities and what that means for how it impacts and how people use technology, but just how the group functions. I feel like that was a pretty cool conversation we had too.

LS: Mhmm.

[9:49]

AD: Yeah.

LS: So, clearly! Ha ha.

AD: You should listen.

LS: We’re excited for y’all to listen to Season 3. And if you – yeah, reach out to the folks that are on the show. They would love to –

AD: Yeah, I think they’re open.

LS: To talk.

AD: To talking and taking part and just sharing in the deep knowledge that they’re gathering and taking part in and learning from each other, so.

LS: Yeah!

AD: Reach out.

LS: So, we hope you enjoy the season.

AD: Oh, before we forget! We have one more amazing episode –

LS: Yes, we do!

AD: We had a conversation…

LS: Mhmm.

AD: Amongst other friends, who are also in similar doctoral program as ours. And we talked, we had a really dope conversation – do you remember, what our topic? I don’t know if we had an official title.

LS: It was, Surviving Grad School, or… Making It Through Grad School as a Black Indigenous Person of Color.

AD: And it was amazing.

LS: Mhmm.

AD: We had this amazing conversation, and typically, when we have episodes, our guests – most of our guests are over the phone or from afar.

LS: Mhmm.

AD: So this conversation we had in your living room.

LS: Yeah.

AD: It was really nice.

LS: It was. And it was to me, like, how I envisioned all of our interviews would go. But because, like people are not here like face to face…over the phone or over the computer and so it limits-

AD: The connection.

LS: The connection.

AD: Yeah.

LS: The ability to make it more conversational.

[11:22]

AD: So check out this episode, which we have this really thoughtful and I feel like, really honest conversation with each other in our – each of our kind of ways that we’ve made sense of academia.

LS: Yeah.

AD: And the ways that we’ve kind of pushed through the challenges. And continue to. And so, it’s a pretty dope episode. That’ll be coming up too.

LS: And, coming up next from us – should we do this now?

AD: Yeah, sure.

LS: We’re supposed to have our first Reading Group!

AD: Yes, we are!

LS: Yeah! Ha ha ha.

AD: You know, about the very first season, we were like Reading Group, coming soon! It’s coming really like now! It’s coming to you.

LS: Mhmm, so if you are in New York, or the Tri-State area – what’s the third? Connecticut?

AD: I think it’s Connecticut.

LS: Oh.

AD: Jersey, Connecticut, New York. Yeah.

LS: Huh.

AD: If you’re within train distance, to midtown mostly – most likely Midtown Manhattan.

LS: Yeah yeah yeah. We will put the information out there for this reading group – so theory into action. To think about how do we read something together, implement it maybe in our own individual practices, but then collectively, what does it look like to do some sort of action? I think.

AD: Yeah.

LS: Yes, ok.

AD: For sure. And we’d love to actually meet and talk in person with our listeners.

LS: Yeah. Yeah yeah yeah. And also think about what that could look like – if you can’t make it, actually into the city to be with us in person, what that might look like to also incorporate a virtual component to it.

AD: Yeah. So, email us! Or –

LS: No, don’t text me, I’m not gonna text you back.

AD: How should they – how should people get in touch with us?

LS: Twitter. You could hit us up on Twitter.

AD: Oh great!

LS: @Abolition_Sci , right.

AD: Yes.

LS: Get us on Instagram, @AbolitionScience . You could email us: AbolitionScience@gmail.com. So yeah, we will put the information out there when we are ready to release it. Which should be soon because we supposed to be starting. I think I was already supposed to have read the book.

AD: Yes.

LS: Do we know the book?

AD: It’s Ruha Benjamin’s book.

LS: Race After Technology [Link: https://www.ruhabenjamin.com/race-after-technology]

AD: Race After Technology. So Dr. Benjamin recently released – released? Published? Came out, this book came out. And, it’s amazing book. Really thoughtful, um, stuff, thinking about race and technology and so we’d like to read it with you.

[13:55]

LS: Yeah. It was one that we read the intro and the conclusion, which helped us sort of think about, who we wanted to bring on. And topics we wanted to talk about for this season. So, we want to delve into that.

AD: Yeah! Great, so we hope that, yeah, we can start that in the next soon. Oh man.

LS: Words.

AD: In the next week –

(Both laugh)

LS: Y’all know she lying.

(Both laughing)

LS: Soon! February, March – ish. Ish.

AD: Ish.

LS: We’re gonna emphasize the ish.

AD: Ha ha ha.

LS: Of those months.

AD: We’ll gather interest and then you know, find a location, time, find a place and then, yeah. February, March-ish. Eh heh, I don’t know…commitment is hard.

LS: I know, commitment is hard. I signed a two year lease this year guys – y’all. And, whew, shit was that – I still sweat when I think about it.

AD: Ha ha haa.

LS: I commit to who or what!?

AD: Wow. Wow! But that’s good that you got one.

LS: We both got commitment issues.

AD: Yeah. Ha ha.

LS: One of us more than the other.

AD: Ha haha.

LS: I want you to take a guess as to who. Ha ha ha. Who that is.

AD: We’ll take a poll. Ha ha ha. Just kidding. But that’s good though, to get a two year lease!

LS: Yeah.

AD: Noo, I think that’s a good thing, especially in New York City.