
13.2K
Downloads
261
Episodes
Olivia and Raven are black, blind women, passionate about shedding light on issues regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion. Get political and personal with them as they share their perspectives on living at the intersection of disabled, black, and women in the US.
Episodes

Saturday Jun 19, 2021
Disability, Beauty, and Appearances Part3
Saturday Jun 19, 2021
Saturday Jun 19, 2021
This is the final of three episodes in which Olivia and Raven examine how disability influences internal and external perceptions about appearance. The ladies talk perceptions about body types, frustrations with having to rely on others’ standards of beauty, and clothes shopping as blind women.
Discussion Summary:
00:34: Discussion intro.
01:11: Perceptions about weight and body type.
09:23: Appreciating curves as an aspect of black beauty.
12:12: More on comments regarding weight.
15:51: Having to rely on others’ perceptions of beauty and what’s attractive as blind people.
20:48: Clothes shopping and Coordinating outfits.
27:31: Relying on others to point out when clothes are stained or need to be thrown away.
30:06: Putting effort into dressing up, and presenting yourself as capable through appearance.
33:32: Struggles with communicating style when receiving assistance with clothes shopping.
36:44: Raven goes on a digressive rant about frustrations with vocabulary for colors.
38:42: Outro.
Social media: Twitter @I_squaredpod,
and our public Facebook group, Intersectional Insights.
Music credits: Opening: Goestories - Noir Et Blanc Vie
Discussion intro: "Leopard Print Elevator" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Closing: First Class - DJ Williams

Thursday Jun 17, 2021
Disability, Beauty, and Appearances Part2
Thursday Jun 17, 2021
Thursday Jun 17, 2021
This is the second of three episodes in which Olivia and Raven examine how disability influences fashion sense, feeling and looking beautiful, and processing internal and external perceptions about appearance. This time, the ladies talk experimenting with their appearance, and navigating clothing, body hair, and skin tone as black women.
Discussion Summary:
00:35: Discussion intro.
01:00: Topic intro, and Olivia discusses Experimenting with makeup as a blind woman.
04:09: Raven shares the different ways she explored putting effort into looking and feeling beautiful.
07:47: Fragrance as a way to access beauty and fashion.
10:11: Raven dives into how she experimented with her appearance, even some of the embarrassing stories.
14:51: Finding clothes to fit as black women, shaving and body hair.
25:35: Complexion and skin tone.
30:03: Outro.
Social media: Twitter @I_squaredpod,
and our public Facebook group, Intersectional Insights.
Music credits: Opening: Goestories - Noir Et Blanc Vie
Discussion intro: "Leopard Print Elevator" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Closing: First Class - DJ Williams

Monday Jun 14, 2021
Black Beauty Highlight: A Lifelong Supporter of Higher Education For Women
Monday Jun 14, 2021
Monday Jun 14, 2021
Raven shares a brief history of Fannie Jackson Coppin, who dedicated her life to securing education and employment for black people and poor women, and training future educators.
References:
Fanny Jackson Coppin
https://www.coppin.edu/fannyjacksoncoppin
FANNIE JACKSON COPPIN (1837-1913)
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/coppin-fannie-jackson-1837-1913/
Social media: Twitter @I_squaredpod,
and our public Facebook group, Intersectional Insights.
Music credit: "Chill Wave" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Thursday Jun 10, 2021
Disability, Beauty, and Appearances Part1
Thursday Jun 10, 2021
Thursday Jun 10, 2021
This is the first of three episodes in which Olivia and Raven examine how disability influences fashion sense, feeling and looking beautiful, and processing internal and external perceptions about appearance. The ladies discuss accessible clothing lines and body positivity, and share their personal journeys with beauty as disabled black women.
Discussion Summary:
00:34: Introducing this discussion as a multipart release.
00:51: Topic intro, and the ways in which disability can influence feeling and looking beautiful, and relationships with clothing and fashion sense.
04:43: Ableism in so-called accessible clothing lines.
10:12: The lack of inclusivity in the body positivity movement.
15:17: Can disability and beauty coexist? The difference between feeling beautiful and feeling sexy, and negative views about atypical bodies.
21:47: Internalizing societal perceptions about the appearance of disabled bodies.
23:30: Personal journeys with beauty and disability. Olivia shares her experience with becoming aware of and learning to accept her appearance.
26:51: Raven shares her story with beauty, the effects of cancer treatment, and dealing with hurtful comments from her mother about appearance.
40:44: Fighting to have a positive self-image and gain confidence despite being constantly criticized about appearance.
48:59: Outro.
Social media: Twitter @I_squaredpod,
and our public Facebook group, Intersectional Insights.
Music credits: Opening: Goestories - Noir Et Blanc Vie
Discussion intro: "Leopard Print Elevator" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Closing: First Class - DJ Williams

Monday Jun 07, 2021
Black Beauty Highlight: The Founder of Backstage Capital
Monday Jun 07, 2021
Monday Jun 07, 2021
Olivia shares the accomplishments of Arlan Hamilton, who worked in the music industry and TV show production, and set up a fund to invest in underestimated founders who are women, people of color, and LGBTQ+.
Reference:
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/arlan-hamilton-1980/
Social media: Twitter @I_squaredpod,
and our public Facebook group, Intersectional Insights.
Music credit: "Bass Walker" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Friday Jun 04, 2021
Police Brutality In the US: History, Stats and Studies
Friday Jun 04, 2021
Friday Jun 04, 2021
Olivia and Raven dive into the history of the police force and brutality in the US, compare the police practices of the past to those used today, and share the saddening statistics regarding police killings, use of force, and discrimination against blacks and disabled people.
Discussion Summary
00:32: Topic intro, why it’s important to talk about the history of the police force and the statistics regarding brutality.
06:26: History of the police force in the south.
09:27: The Black Codes the police enforced to control freed slaves.
12:51: Establishment of the police force on the East coast.
16:59: The Jim Crow laws the police enforced against blacks, and the role the legal system played in perpetuating brutality against black people.
22:18: Police picking and choosing which laws they enforce.
24:07: Policing during the civil rights era, and what the police represent today.
25:36: The Stanford University study on how the police disproportionately target blacks for traffic stops.
28:42: What’s being done to prevent and reduce unfair treatment by police officers, and pessimism about these efforts.
32:09: Getting into the heartbreaking numbers, statistics on police killings in 2020, and solutions being implemented throughout the US to reduce use of force incidents and killings.
46:59: Police brutality against people with disabilities.
50:49: A piece of research from the Center of Policing Equity on racial disparities in police use of force.
1:01:22: Thoughts after discussing the research.
1:03:22: Outro.
References:
The racist roots of American policing: From slave patrols to traffic stops
https://theconversation.com/the-racist-roots-of-american-policing-from-slave-patrols-to-traffic-stops-112816
How You Start is How You Finish? The Slave Patrol and Jim Crow Origins of Policing
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/civil-rights-reimagining-policing/how-you-start-is-how-you-finish/
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/black-codes
Half of People Killed by Police Have a Disability: Report
https://namiillinois.org/half-people-killed-police-disability-report/
MEDIA COVERAGE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT USE OF FORCE AND DISABILITY a Media Study (2013
https://rudermanfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/MediaStudy-PoliceDisability_final-final.pdf
https://policeviolencereport.org/
Race, Arrests, and Police Use of Force
https://policingequity.org/what-we-do/research/the-science-of-justice-race-arrests-and-police-use-of-force
Social media: Twitter @I_squaredpod,
and our public Facebook group, Intersectional Insights.
Music credits: Opening: Goestories - Noir Et Blanc Vie
Closing: First Class - DJ Williams

Monday May 31, 2021
Black Beauty Highlight: An Innovator In Oncology
Monday May 31, 2021
Monday May 31, 2021
Raven talks about Dr. Jane Cooke Wright, who helped establish chemotherapy as a viable treatment for cancer, conducted extensive research in the field of oncology, and developed guidelines for cancer treatment.
Reference:
Jane C. Wright: The Woman Who Changed the Landscape of Oncology
https://www.technologynetworks.com/tn/articles/jane-c-wright-the-woman-who-changed-the-landscape-of-oncology-331263
Social media: Twitter @I_squaredpod,
and our public Facebook group, Intersectional Insights.
Music credit: "Hard Boiled" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Friday May 28, 2021
Dehumanizing Black Lives With “All Lives Matter”
Friday May 28, 2021
Friday May 28, 2021
Olivia and Raven talk about how this simple phrase is deeply dismissive, attempts to silence black voices, and the extensive gaslighting black people experience when discussing police brutality.
Discussion Summary:
00:32: Topic intro, when the phrase “all lives matter” took off, and perceptions of the phrase “Black Lives Matter”
05:01: Silencing black voices with “all lives matter.”
08:17: What aboutism, and other marginalized groups feeling silenced by black people speaking up
13:02: Why the black community gets the recognition and coverage that they do.
17:09: Jumping on the opportunity to dehumanize black lives and justify police murdering black people
23:20: The fallacy of black-on-black crime.
24:55: Gaslighting black people when they bring up police brutality.
30:16: The dismissive phrase “blue lives matter,” and people defending the actions of police officers, regardless of what they do.
40:41: What qualified immunity is, its beginning in the US, and why it’s problematic.
46:30: Outro.
Reference:
What Is Qualified Immunity?
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/publications/insights-on-law-and-society/volume-21/issue-1/qualified-immunity/
Social media: Twitter @I_squaredpod,
and our public Facebook group, Intersectional Insights.
Music credits: Opening: Goestories - Noir Et Blanc Vie
Closing: First Class - DJ Williams

Monday May 24, 2021
Black Beauty Highlight: Your Favorite Activist’s Favorite Activist
Monday May 24, 2021
Monday May 24, 2021
Olivia highlights Stacey Abrams, who is the first woman and first African American woman to hold positions in state and national politics, is committed to voter advocacy, and has won awards for her activism.
Reference:
Stacey Abrams Biography
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/stacey-abrams
Social media: Twitter @I_squaredpod,
and our public Facebook group, Intersectional Insights.
Music credit: "Bass Walker" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Friday May 21, 2021
Normalizing Natural Hair: The Politics and Passion Surrounding Textured Hair
Friday May 21, 2021
Friday May 21, 2021
Lakeria, former i-squared cohost, returns to join Olivia and Raven for their episode on the politics of hair in the black community. The ladies talk discrimination against race-based hairstyles, normalizing natural hairstyles among black people, styling textured hair, and finding products for curly and coarse hair.
References:
A Brief History of Black Hair, Politics, and Discrimination
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/a-brief-history-of-black-hair-politics-and-discrimination/amp
The Official Campaign of The CROWN Act Led by the CROWN Coalition
https://www.thecrownact.com/
https://www.curlcentric.com/hair-typing-system/
Social media: Twitter @I_squaredpod,
and our public Facebook group, Intersectional Insights.
Music credits: Opening: Goestories - Noir Et Blanc Vie
Closing: First Class - DJ Williams
