Shows
The Joyous Justice PodcastEp. 143: Eclipse Vibes, Podcast Updates, and Reflections on Self-LoveSend us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅In this more intimate episode, April shares reflections from her living room and unveils exciting updates about the evolution of the Joyous Justice Podcast. From the recent and upcoming introduction of guest speakers to new series focused on social justice leaderships and diverse healing modalities, among other topics, April offers a glimpse into the expansive vision guiding the podcast forward.She also shares some key insights regarding the power of self-love and self-acceptance, inviting you to consider this specific and important element of...
2025-03-2722 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp. 142: Black Women & Vashti Vindicated, Part 2, with jesi "rocki" taylorSend us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅In this episode, Kohenet April N. Baskin and poet, archivist, and visionary jesi "rocki" taylor dive into a rich and layered conversation about disposability and extraction of black and global majority leaders, power, and the complexities of identity, as inspired by the limited, but potent lore surrounding Vashti. Together they explore the ways harm is named and weaponized, the nature of joy as a liberatory force, and the systemic patterns of extractive labor in justice work. This is a conversation th...
2025-03-151h 13The Joyous Justice PodcastEp. 141: Black Women & Vashti Vindicated, Part 1: Acknowledging Pet to Threat & Countering DisposabilitySend us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅What happens when those who were once celebrated as respected and promising leaders become seen as threats? What happens when institutions benefit from the labor of Black women and and other leaders with marginalized identities, only to discard them once they begin to achieve what they were hired to do? In this revelatory episode, April N. Baskin explores Vashti’s erasure—not just as a biblical anecdote, but as a recurring pattern in movements, organizations, and professional spaces today, especially for Black women.
2025-03-1316 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 140: Embodying Peace in the Face of Trump's F*ckerySend us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅In a powerful comeback episode, April N. Baskin unpacks the roots of her deep, intentional peace amid the chaos of Trump’s 2nd presidential term. Balancing raw emotion with spiritual insight, she shares how various factors and strategies have properly resourced her to fundamentally withstand oppressive forces without sacrificing her inner calm. With a mix of fierce honesty and gentle invitation, April lays out why embracing this peace is an intentional, revolutionary act—and she lets you know how you can join the conversation throug...
2025-02-2732 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEP 139: A New Dawn, Not a Farewell: April's Solo-Hosting Journey & Tracie’s Evolving RoleSend us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅In this captivating episode 139 of the Joyous Justice Podcast, a pivotal moment unfolds as April Baskin and Tracie Guy Decker delve into a heartfelt and transformative discussion: They unveil significant changes that will shape the future of the podcast, marking a new era in their journey of advocacy and growth. This episode is not just an update; it's a reflection of resilience, the power of collaboration, and the beauty of evolving paths. As April takes a bold step in a new direction, an...
2024-01-1831 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp. 138 - Accessing Onramps, Playing w Pilots, and Allowing ShiftSend us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅SummaryIn this episode, Kohenet April Nichole Baskin discusses the concept of on-ramps and piloting in relation to personal growth and transitions. She explores the idea of using the new year as an opportunity for reflection and experimentation, emphasizing the importance of spacious on-ramps and the value of piloting different practices as needed. April shares her personal experiences with navigating difficult circumstances and the lessons she has learned from floating and pivoting. She encourages you to embrace or...
2023-12-1935 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp. 137: Intentional, Visionary Leadership IS Pragmatic and Practical!Send us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅Join recently-ordained Kohenet April Nichole Baskin in a captivating examination and reconsideration of what often gets classified as "pragmatic" or "practical." April delves into the transformative power of mindfulness about language and advocates for a reframe, or at the least, thoughtful consideration of what we label as "pragmatic" and "practical." She asserts that visionary, strategic thinking and action that challenges conventional mindsets can, in fact, be some of the most pragmatic and practical thinking and actions we can employ. This episode is a...
2023-12-0726 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 136: Trauma-informed vs Trauma-agileSend us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅In this episode (recorded as an Instagram Live before April's Kohenet ordination), April unpacks and examines the buzzword term "trauma-informed." Thinking and talking about trauma has become more and more common. While this is, generally speaking, a good thing, it's important--especially with something fraught, fragile, and potentially triggering--for us to be clear about what we mean, what is possible, and what is safe. April offers a new term, "trauma-agile," to help make things clear. Discussion and reflection questions:What in this...
2023-09-2149 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 135: Making Room for Our Whole SelvesSend us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅The limits our circumstances can place on us often creep in incrementally until we wake up one day and realize we aren’t allowing our full selves to shine. Originally an Instagram Live, this episode finds April reminding herself she can and has created space for what she wants and who she is. There is room for our whole selves in this big wide world–if we’re courageous enough to claim the space. Discussion and reflection questions:What in this epis...
2023-05-2532 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 135: Making Room for Our Whole SelvesThe limits our circumstances can place on us often creep in incrementally until we wake up one day and realize we aren’t allowing our full selves to shine. Originally an Instagram Live, this episode finds April reminding herself she can and has created space for what she wants who she is. There is room for our whole selves in this big wide world–if we’re courageous enough to claim the space. Discussion and reflection questions:What in this episode is new for you? What have you learned and how does it land?What is...
2023-05-2532 min
What’s Next?Buffalo, What's Next? | A Discussion with Erie County Legislature Chairwoman April BaskinJay Moran is joined by Erie County Legislature Chairwoman April Baskin. We speak to Chairwoman Baskin about recent County initiatives.
2023-05-2455 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 134: Belonging To Myself FirstSend us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅In this contemplative episode, April reflects on key insights she gained while on vacation. Rest and fun opened up the truth that despite leaning into heart- and spirit-led living, there is still more room–and even an obligation–to be fully and truly oneself. Movement toward that truth can feel scary, since humans sometimes (often?) compromise who we are in service to belonging. But belonging based on censoring our true selves is not true belonging. Discussion and reflection questions:What in this ep...
2023-04-1344 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 132: Reflections on Becoming, Healing, & Taking the PlungeSend us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅In this vulnerable episode, April shares recent experiences uncovering and working to heal old wounds including feelings of rage, betrayal, and fear. She shares details of fear she’s been navigating and ways it’s been holding her back and that she’s ready to let go of. For April, transparency around her process of feeling and transmuting suffering toward healing is a strategic move to help counter the perception that to have joy we must deny or ignore suffering. Discussion and reflectio...
2023-03-3039 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 131: What does resilience serve?Send us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅Resilience has gotten a bad rap recently. The ability to “bounce back” has been conflated with the requirement to bounce back into oppressive dynamics. But it’s those oppressive dynamics, not the bouncing back, that’s ultimately the problem. In this episode, April explores the difference between the gift of resilience and the ways in which it has been weaponized by capitalist and neo-colonialist contexts, and previews the work she’ll be leading in the Redefining Resilience workshop next week.Secure your s...
2023-03-1620 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 130: Healing your relationship with thriving for long-term sustainability and successSend us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅In this episode of The Joyous Justice Podcast, host April Baskin talks about our relationship with thriving, why so many of us have a bad relationship, and how we can start healing it.Our relationship with the concept of thriving begins when we are very young and money is one of the core areas where we have the most negative programming. As adults, we must evaluate our beliefs associated with thriving, question them, and do the inner work. Healing your relationship with th...
2023-03-0946 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp. 129: Making Space for UnfurlingSend us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅In today’s conversation, we’re thinking about the difference between making something happen, and making space to see what happens. We explore the transition journeys we are both on, the messaging that April is receiving from her body and the Divine while she navigates being sick, the need to slow down when in the midst of massive transformation. Discussion and reflection questions:What in this episode is new for you? What have you learned and how does it land?Wh...
2023-03-0245 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp. 128: A Season of Joyous Justice TransitionsSend us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅In this special conversation, we share some important announcements about transitions that all three members of the Joyous Justice team are embarking upon. In this season of emergence and introspection, all of our transitions are both unique, and sacredly timed and interwoven. April also describes how she’s releasing shame around how her mind works. And, we share our appreciation for Joyous Justice, this podcast, and the potent transformation that we’ve experienced and is to come.Discussion and reflection questi...
2023-02-2330 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp. 120: Key Insights for Overcoming Systemic Oppression - The Candle EffectSend us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅🌟 In Episode 120 of the Joyous Justice Podcast, during this season of short days where light becomes a precious commodity, hosts April Baskin and Tracie Guy Decker delve into the transformative power of light as a metaphor for change. This isn't just a conversation; it's a journey through the dynamics of personal and systemic transformation. Discover how uncovering and uniting our individual lights can overpower the darkness of systemic oppression and societal challenges. This episode tackles the profound idea that the energy...
2022-12-2941 min
Drinking and Drashing: Torah with a TwistEp. 306 - Toldot with April Baskin and Tracie Guy-DeckerWhat happens when our origin stories don’t really present us in the best light—or even shows us as characters that we don’t identify with? When stories are often shared by “the winners” or the people who wield power, there’s a lot of missed or erased history—all of which influence our greater Genesis understandings. Luckily for us, we were able to learn from April Baskin and Tracie Guy-Decker of Joyous Justice acclaim—how to step back, look around, and listen in order to lift up diverse voices. It’s okay to struggle with our stories—but the Joyous Justi...
2022-11-2147 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 107: Forgiveness without Apology?Send us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅“You are not obligated to forgive someone who has offered neither apology nor repair.” This opinion is one both April and Tracie have received at different points in their lives, and which is surfacing now as we approach the high holy days. And though we both needed to hear that message when it was delivered, we’re also realizing that it is not the end of the story. The longing for healing and wholeness after hurt has us looking for a third way–a path towar...
2022-09-2246 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 106: “Oh, the world (and Joyous Justice) is changing!”Send us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅As April sings at the beginning of the episode, “Oh, the world (and Joyous Justice) is changing, and I am changing too.” This week, we’re getting a glimpse into April’s mind and spirit around the multi-year journey she’s been on to shape Joyous Justice as a bold, leading-edge organization in and for the Jewish community. Follow along as April describes how she’s now more fully equipped to step into a larger, broader vision for the scope and impact of her voice and the...
2022-09-1525 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 104: Elul, the Shofar, and Awakeness (Reprise)Send us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅In this week’s episode, we’re bringing back some wisdom from last year’s Elul episode and reflecting on the meaning of this month in the Jewish calendar that leads up to Rosh HaShanah and the high holidays. This time of anticipation calls us to prepare ourselves spiritually for the new year. We talk about the symbolic meanings of the holiday and how the ritual of hearing the shofar can be a powerful call to being “awake.” And, we’re excited to he...
2022-09-0129 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp. 88: Conditional Whiteness is Still Whiteness (MVP)Send us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅We’re bringing back an oldie but a VERY important goodie! In this week’s episode (or MVP, “most valuable podcast,”) April and Tracie discuss Eric Ward’s Skin in the Game point about the conditional whiteness of Ashkenazi Jews, unpacking (with both/and thinking) the reaction some Jews have regarding their whiteness. April uses her experiences as a United States citizen living in Senegal to explain how conditional privilege operates. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: www.joyousjustice...
2022-05-1226 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 87: When You Overhear Microaggressions (MVP)Send us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅This week, we’re re-releasing an MVP --one of our Most Valuable Podcasts. Way back in episode 2, April and Tracie spoke about better alternatives to some of the micro-aggressive things white-identified Jews often say to Jews of Color. So what happens if you overhear someone else saying a micro-aggressive question or comment? What can you do? What should you do? How can you interrupt the oppression without falling into saviorism? April and Tracie dig into this question and offer some strategies for both disrupting the o...
2022-05-0523 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 85: Cultural appropriation & should we let go of “Let My People Go”?Send us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅This Passover, there was an ongoing–sometimes heated–conversation on social media about singing the Negro spiritual “Let My People Go” during the Passover seder. In our conversation this week, April explains why she will continue to sing this song at her Seder table and we get into the nuance and the nitty-gritty of the debate around appropriation vs. appreciation (and we add in a few more steps that folks often miss). When we become aware something we’re doing is appropriative, how can we navigate...
2022-04-2147 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 78: Feeling Rage, Finding Joy (Reprise of Ep 10)Send us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅With all that’s going on in the world right now (and since we’re in the middle of two (2!) months of Adar, we thought it would be good to reprise Episode 10 from the conclusion of election season. Tracie asks April for advice on working through the negative emotions that sometimes accompany justice work. They unpack the ways we've been taught to associate anger or rage with justice work (and anxiety with intelligence), and April shares suggestions for achieving the positive effects of BOTH feelin...
2022-03-0330 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 75: Whoopi Goldberg, the Oppression Scale, and the Emotional ThermometerSend us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅In this edited version of a Facebook live that April recorded after Whoopi Goldberg’s comments and the controversy that followed, April digs deep into her analysis of the reactions many in the Jewish community expressed. Internalized terror and persisting unhealed trauma–elicited by the Holocaust and centuries of persecution–among white Ashkenazi Jews has caused an understandable misalignment between those folks’ emotional thermometer and the actual thread of danger on the oppression scale. Despite the elevated blood pressures the situation has caused, it seems clea...
2022-02-1052 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 69: Q&A Or Q&Stay?Send us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅In this week’s episode, April and Tracie talk about how questions around racial justice often come from a place of “stuckness,” keeping us from making real progress on racial justice. They discuss ways in which you can work through your questions to get past this stuckness. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-69Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestions for the show at www.JewsTalkRacialJustice.comLearn more...
2021-12-3037 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 68: Stay Humble and Keep GoingSend us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅In this week’s episode, Tracie and April discuss the phrase, “stay humble and keep going,” the final words of the podcast every week. They explore why they chose this simple phrase and what it means to them. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-67Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestions for the show at www.JewsTalkRacialJustice.comLearn more about Joyous Justice where April is the founding a...
2021-12-2320 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 67: When “Helpful” Feedback is HurtfulSend us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅This week, we’re sharing an excerpt from one of our “Shared Agreements” videos of Racial Justice Launch Pad, a recently-released Joyous Justice program. April and Tracie discuss the dynamics of power and privilege baked into the well-known phrase “the customer is always right.” They also unpack the pattern of being “helpful” by giving (critical) feedback. They teach us what it can look like when we give feedback that is mindful and relational.Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joyousjus...
2021-12-1625 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 66: Shleimut - Wholeness and JOC’s Multi-dimensional ConsciousnessSend us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅In this week’s episode, Tracie and April reflect on the concept of Shleimut, Wholeness, and how it was a driving force for April when she created the Ko’ach Fellowship, supported by Rise Up. April shares more about the Ko’ach Fellowship and together with Tracie, they discuss how healing, wholeness, and peace are all interconnected. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-66Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestion...
2021-12-0939 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 65: Chanukah: Light and DarknessSend us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅In this week’s episode, April and Tracie use the Talmudic debate on how to light the Chanukah menorah to reflect on light, darkness, and what this holiday can teach us about navigating the difficult times in our lives. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-65Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestions for the show at www.JewsTalkRacialJustice.comLearn more about Joyous Justice where April is the fo...
2021-12-0223 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 64: Grateful Family DaySend us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅In this week’s episode April and Tracie continue to explore their thoughts around Thanksgiving and the tension between a holiday about gratitude and family and its racist, genocidal origins. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-64Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestions for the show at www.JewsTalkRacialJustice.comLearn more about Joyous Justice where April is the founding and fabulous (!) director, and Tracie is a senior...
2021-11-2535 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 63: Proximity Alone is NOT AntiracismSend us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅April and Tracie dig into and challenge the oft-repeated notion that proximity across a line of difference immunizes against bigotry or racism. In other words, the assertion “I can’t be racist, my (fill-in-the-blank) is Black." We discuss how the good/bad binary plays into this misconception about proximity and clarify the fact that power and privilege remain intact even in proximate relationships. Ultimately, we offer listeners thoughts on how to counter these normal impulses and ultimately move toward greater liberatory consciousness.Check...
2021-11-1830 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 62: Support People Support PeaceSend us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅April and Tracie spend Veterans’ Day reflecting on their family connections to veterans and the ways in which our country has treated veterans throughout our history. The political conversations that happen around war and policy often employ either/or thinking that leads us to forget the human beings and all those connected to them, who are forever changed by these military policies. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-62 Find April and Tracie...
2021-11-1125 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 61: Does April hate America?Send us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅In this week’s episode, April and Tracie unpack the false assumption that some folks have expressed--that April “hates America” since she has chosen to relocate out of the States, and to West Africa, no less. This question leads April and Tracie to think about the hierarchies and racism built into conventional assessments of different cultures both within and outside of America.Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-61 Find April and Tracie's full bios...
2021-11-0433 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 60: You Can’t Hire Your Way to Racial JusticeSend us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅In this week’s episode, April and Tracie discuss the dangers of making that “diversity hire” when the organization hasn’t done the necessary work of deconstructing dynamics of oppression, so that “diversity hire” needs to endure unhealthy and unsustainable microaggressions and worse. They discuss strategies for how to avoid this and set up new colleagues for success. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-60Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestion...
2021-10-2838 minThe Joyous Justice PodcastEp 59: Jewface and Jewish Characters in MediaSend us a message via text message! Link accessible at joyousjustice.buzzsprout.com. ✅On this week’s episode, Tracie and April discuss the recent discussion on the concept of “Jewface” that followed a recent podcast by Sarah Silverman on the topic. They discuss a few different perspectives on the topic and reflect on the patterns within the portrayal of Jewish characters in media. Check out our discussion/reflection questions for this episode: https://joyousjustice.com/blog/jews-talk-racial-justice-ep-59Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestions for the show at www.JewsTalkRacialJustice.com...
2021-10-2128 min