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Explore how the social construct of race and racial oppression operates at multiple levels with a rotating focus on different social systems. Connect with Austin-area justice movement organizers and everyday people with relevant lived experience to lay out historical context, current affairs, and creative possibilities for a liberated future.
I know we've been prepared for these times. I know in my bones. I know we've been prepared for these times. I know in my bone, in my blood, in my belly. I can feel we are ready.
Sarah S. Bentley:Ready. We are ready. I feel it in my bones and blood and belly. Ready. We are ready.
Sarah S. Bentley:I feel it in my bones and blood and belly.
Stacie Freasier:Greetings, y'all. This is Stacey Fraser. You are tuned into Racism on the Levels. The show's purpose is to hold space for story sharing, information sharing with greater Austin area folks who are shining their liberatory lights, be they healers, guides, storytellers, experimenters, frontline responders, visionaries, builders, caregivers, disruptors, creators. Shout out to Deepa Iyer for framing these roles within the social change map.
Stacie Freasier:We are broadcasting broadcasting and recording on land protected by indigenous people, including the SANAA, Humanos, Tonkoa, Lipan Apache, Comanche Crudo, many others who faced attempted erasure via violent settler colonialism. And I encourage you to honor their sacrifices and join me in reclamation efforts. You can visit native hyphenland.ca to find out who the original and continued stewards of the land you are dwelling on are today. So I am joined by someone I am connected to in many ways, and I have only scratched the surface of those connections, Sarah Sayers Bentley. Yes.
Stacie Freasier:Welcome to Co OP and to the show.
Sarah S. Bentley:Thank you so much. It's so nice to meet you In person.
Stacie Freasier:Exactly. Sara, what did you bring us in on?
Sarah S. Bentley:That song was a song called Ready, by a song catcher, song leader, activist, liberatory practitioner in her own right, Ale Blakely, Alexandra Blakely, who lives up in the Pacific Northwest. I'm just so honored to carry that song. Ale is very well known in the community singing, community, and, she has some amazing songs, including a new album that she just put out called Whales. She does a lot of great grief tending work up in the Pacific Northwest, which I'm also very inspired by. So, yes, thank you, Ale, for letting me carry that song and share it with the listeners here on Coop Today.
Stacie Freasier:Thank you, Ale. Thank you, Sarah, for bringing it into the studio and to the listeners' ears. And we are on 91.7 FM here in Austin and streaming everywhere online. So, we have a global ripple effect, on the messages that that that we are carrying out there for the world and, the lights that we are holding, and shining. So, Sarah, tell me about yourself in terms of your connection to Austin, to this place.
Sarah S. Bentley:Yes. So I call myself a native. I here, we're called unicorns. I I actually grew up on a farm outside of Austin. I was born in Georgetown and, moved to Austin in 1991.
Sarah S. Bentley:I was going into my sophomore year at McCallum High School, and I've been here ever since. I live pretty close to coop, actually, over here on the east side. Been over here for about 20 years. So, yeah, I I love Austin. Sometimes I struggle with the how fast it's growing, but it's still still home.
Stacie Freasier:Normally, I would ask my guest as the next question to share a little bit, ancestrally, but we're going to devote, a little bit of this, time we have together later on in the show on that, so I'll save that. The reason why I was compelled to ask you to join me today is that, for me, the end of the year is, as is for many, I'm sure, is a time of reflection Regardless of the origins of the Gregorian calendar, I've this is how my entire, you know, life has been, rhythmed to. And so I try to do what the earth is doing, and try to get quieter. I try to rest. I appreciate it getting darker earlier, so I'm naturally, you know, rhythmically getting slower and, both replenishing, my stores and also preparing.
Stacie Freasier:And 2025 being right around the corner in a matter of couple of weeks, this is this is a this is a heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy moment in time with the election and with regard regardless of of one's, political, you know, affiliations, there will be a lot of change and a lot of disruption. And so, I turn to wonder and curiosity for you to see, if any of that is resonating with you and how you're arriving in the moment.
Sarah S. Bentley:Thank you for that question and the way
Sarah S. Bentley:that you framed it. Absolutely. I'm I'm a New Year's baby. Actually, my birthday is January 3rd, So I've I feel like I've always been particularly reflective this time of year. And also, just echoing what you said about, like, how nature is slowing down.
Sarah S. Bentley:The trees are dropping their leaves, and the seeds are dormant underground. I find so much solace in knowing that it is okay to slow down because all the messages that we're getting from like, externally from society are like, no. You need to be shopping right now and being productive. And, so, you know, I feel like, of course, I love Tricia Hersey, nap ministry and rest is revolution. Just her whole, stance on, like, yes, like you said, we're resting so that we can be of service, but also, like, we don't rest so we can be more productive.
Sarah S. Bentley:We rest because we have the inherent right to rest. And, yeah, let's just breathe into that for a moment.
Stacie Freasier:We have the inherent right to rest.
Sarah S. Bentley:Yes. Thank you, Tricia Hersey. Yeah. I actually, this Saturday, I'm doing, my 2nd annual winter solstice community singing ritual. And, I, you know, I've kind of I was raised, without, organized religion.
Sarah S. Bentley:I'm putting in air quotes. I was raised on the land, and I have always felt drawn to sort of more of my pagan roots, my ancestral, which I believe I know I've had I have Christians in my background, but I definitely feel nourished by just the natural, those natural, practices, of noticing, what nature is doing around us and just trying to to slow down to to nature's pace.
Stacie Freasier:What were some of the things you grew?
Sarah S. Bentley:Well, my dad, was from Lubbock, Texas, and they were they grew cotton. But when he moved down to Central Texas, he experimented with growing corn and maize. And, we sort of had, like, an organic farm. My my parents were sort of back to the land, hippies back in the seventies, and, you know, we had some animals. We had cows and chickens.
Sarah S. Bentley:And so but for the most part, for me, it was the woods. Like, just being able to run free in nature, run free in the woods, and just not have a timeline. Like, I really idealized that about my childhood. It's just like being free.
Stacie Freasier:And that's showing up for me and, and how you are moving through the world. I feel such a sense of groundedness and rootedness from you, Sarah, and kudos to your parents Yeah. For the choices that they made. So slow.
Sarah S. Bentley:The pace of nature.
Stacie Freasier:Exactly. There are actually a few, pieces you're going to perform today. And, I'll say before the the next piece, I failed to note that the views expressed here are not necessarily the views of Coop Radio or its board of directors, volunteers, staff, or underwriters. I'm curious to, unpack a little bit, uncover. You and I first, consciously first were physically together, at the kickoff of the Mother's Day quilt project, for Gaza.
Stacie Freasier:And, so we were demonstrating and and creating music and, praying for peace in front of the Capitol
Sarah S. Bentley:Yes.
Stacie Freasier:Building. So the context in which you and I first met is apropos for, some of our common ground in that, you know, this show is to illuminate, folks on how racism operates on the multiple levels, not just the micro and the systemic and the interpersonal, levels and the cultural levels. And so, there's there's something about song and see he singing that is deeply healing and directly pointing the middle finger at racism in my opinion.
Sarah S. Bentley:Yes.
Stacie Freasier:So, are you, ready to play I am the revolution for us?
Sarah S. Bentley:Oh, yeah.
Stacie Freasier:Definitely. Give us a little bit of context?
Sarah S. Bentley:An intro to this one. So this song I learned by, Shireen Amini. Shireen is a queer, non binary, Puerto Rican, Iranian, song leader that also lives in the Pacific Northwest. And I learned this song from her this summer. Shireen plays this song with, her guitar, their guitar, and I am using an instrument today called the Shruti box.
Sarah S. Bentley:And this box I wanna introduce to you is comes from India, and it's a drone instrument. And so I love to use this instrument to just warm up my voice. Oftentimes, I'll do vocal meditation, and I love it because well, shruti means the notes between the notes, which I also love that because I feel like in western music, it tends to be very, like, a, b, c, d, you know, very, like, structured. And this is like we're gonna sing everything in between. It's almost like nonbinary.
Sarah S. Bentley:Like, is kinda like the nonbinary form of music, the notes between the notes. So I'm gonna share this song of Shireen's, and feel free to sing along with me out there.
Sarah S. Bentley:I am the revolution.
Sarah S. Bentley:Healing in, healing out, healing out, healing in.
Sarah S. Bentley:I am the revolution,
Sarah S. Bentley:healing in, healing out, healing out, healing in. In a good way, in a good way, in a good way, in a good way. Doing away with shame and violence. Anger has its place in a good way, in a good way, in a good way, in a good way. Curiosity and kindness, only me I can change.
Sarah S. Bentley:I am the revolution,
Sarah S. Bentley:healing in, healing out, healing out, healing in.
Sarah S. Bentley:I am the revolution.
Sarah S. Bentley:Healing in, healing out, healing out, healing in, in a good way, in a good way, in a good way, in a good way, doing away with shame and violence. Anger has its place in a good way in a good way in a good way in a good way with curiosity and kindness. Only me I can
Sarah S. Bentley:change. Only me I can change. I am the revolution.
Stacie Freasier:That is a massage.
Sarah S. Bentley:Yes.
Stacie Freasier:An internal massage to our ourselves. I think of, my darling friend, Woody Hill. Woody and I give each other really beautiful hugs, like, really good hugs, and we both end up just naturally humming on each other. And so now we do extended hugs, where we together, and we merge our humming.
Sarah S. Bentley:Let's just do that. Let's just
Sarah S. Bentley:I've
Sarah S. Bentley:always been very vocal. I've I've had a Qigong practice for over 20 years. And always in the Qigong class, I would do these really vocal sighs. And, my maiden name, as you introduced me earlier, Sires. It's not spelled the same, but they called me Sarah the sire.
Sarah S. Bentley:And I just have always felt so much physical comfort in in making that sound. And and now, like, we know that it's toning the vagal nerve.
Stacie Freasier:That's right.
Sarah S. Bentley:And and and then when we do it together, we're coregulating. It's it's magic.
Stacie Freasier:It's magic and it's science, and science is magic. Yes. If you're just tuning in, you are listening to K00P Co OP Community Radio 91.7 FM in Austin, Texas, k0op.org, streaming everywhere. I am your host, Stacey Fraser, and you are listening to Racism on the Levels, and I am being joined by Sarah the sire, Sarah Sires Bentley. And, we are spending the December episode
Sarah S. Bentley:in ease. Ease. Mhmm.
Stacie Freasier:It's ease. You mentioned earlier how the the dominant culture the dominant culture at large, which I am rejecting and and and unlearning by the second, is telling us, hurry up, get it all in, get all your shopping in, buy, consume, scurry, and,
Sarah S. Bentley:And be afraid.
Stacie Freasier:And and
Sarah S. Bentley:While you're doing it.
Stacie Freasier:And be distracted.
Sarah S. Bentley:Mhmm. Yeah.
Stacie Freasier:And then and then roll into 2025 on fumes
Sarah S. Bentley:Right.
Stacie Freasier:And exhausted with nothing left to, continue the principled struggle for freedom.
Sarah S. Bentley:Yeah.
Stacie Freasier:So how did you get into, your role, in the community, facilitating healing circles, and, engaging in anti racism work?
Sarah S. Bentley:Yeah. So I went back and got a master's of public health in 2015, And, that really started opening to my eyes to some systemic racism and, you know, health inequities, both, you know, in general, globally, but also, like, locally as well. And I, I actually kind of accidentally fell into it, honestly. I wasn't, like, looking for it, but, once I found it, I was like, oh, yeah. Like, this is important work that I want to do.
Sarah S. Bentley:I met doctor Amina Haji, who founded Austin Health Commons in Austin. I'm not sure if they're currently, active, but, for a time, she was, bringing in trainers. She brought in doctor Gail Christopher from the Kellogg Foundation to train a group of us on the truth, racial healing, and transformation circle process. And so we were doing that in partnership with Austin Community College, and just the community at large, and, I was one of the trained facilitators. So that's that's how I got into it.
Sarah S. Bentley:I kinda yeah. I was, like, just very open, and excited to be able to start to talk about some stuff that I've been nervous to talk about honestly before. But I feel like after having some training and and having practice, I think that's what it's all about. Right? It's just, like, you gotta start somewhere and start practicing talking about racism and, injustice and calling it out.
Sarah S. Bentley:And the the the more you do it, it's like a muscle. Right? The more you do it, the easier it gets.
Stacie Freasier:Absolutely. Yeah. I can relate to that. And you, I am the revolution. You had sent me some of your songs in advance, and I, I intentionally asked you, to share that one because it mentions shame.
Sarah S. Bentley:Yes.
Stacie Freasier:And what a barrier. What a barrier I have seen in working with other white bodied folks Yes. Of that the the the deep seated visceral feelings of shame and guilt Mhmm. Results in paralysis, and then, that's not healing because it's racism is so toxic to everybody in different ways. And for for white folks, it's this locking up, that that that's one of the techniques I teach is, how to metabolize those feelings, how to get back into regulation, humming, singing, meditation, mindfulness techniques.
Stacie Freasier:Shout out to Resmaa Menachem for, I believe is where I I drew the word metabolizing shame from or metabolizing it. Yeah. And, yeah. So in your program, and you mentioned, the I actually don't know the Hudson Health Council.
Sarah S. Bentley:Austin Health Commons.
Stacie Freasier:Thank you. Austin Health Commons. And so, what was the process again? Was it the the students who were in your graduate school program who were invited?
Sarah S. Bentley:Or No. No. It actually didn't have anything to do with the school of public health except for someone who someone else who I went to grad school with was also in the same training as I was. So it was separate from from that, Just something I was doing, you know, in the community. But, like, I I'm trying to remember who we are who are invite.
Sarah S. Bentley:I mean, we kind of, like, put it out through, City of Austin Networks. So, you know, community members came to the circles. We did a couple on MLK Day, also at Houston Tillotson. And the the the the purpose was for it to be intentionally a diverse circle. And, honestly, they were.
Sarah S. Bentley:I which is something I've struggled with in my circles, trying trying to have more diversity. But I was really heartened to to see the the group of people that showed up to have some sometimes difficult conversations.
Stacie Freasier:Yes. And, all the more, that I emphasize that if you are, one of our white bodied listeners, to reach out to me. Mhmm. You know, Sarah, I'm sure you would have that open door as well just based on your openness. Absolutely.
Stacie Freasier:And, your your your heart shines outside of your body. And so Thanks. But but we need those spaces to get clumsy, get messy, get vulnerable, and work through that shame and that guilt and all of our feelings around racism without further harming people of color in the process because, and I would almost say it's it's a prerequisite is is find, other white folks who are engaged in racial justice work and learn from them in order to bring mindful awareness into cross racial spaces.
Sarah S. Bentley:Yes. Yes. I I kinda keep going back and forth between, like, really wanting to have my groups be diverse and also being, like, knowing that there's a lot of importance in having, you know, groups of of white folks just being together and practicing our ancestral traditions and talking about our whiteness and our privilege. My I have a women's singing group called Sisters in Harmony Austin, and we've we've actually had a book club. So, you know, we we try to read well, we've read one book so far.
Sarah S. Bentley:We're still kind of a nascent group, but, you know, just having an opportunity to talk about things and and maybe a quote, unquote safer space, you know, with people who look like you definitely I'm still I'm still pushing. I'm I'm I'm now partnering with Andrew Hairston, who you had on your show in August, I believe, a black, civil rights attorney here in Austin. And we did one racial healing, singing, and storytelling event in October, and we're gonna do another one on the National Day of Racial Healing in January. So, you know, little by little, I feel like, you know, bringing those voices of people of color into the room too as leaders to share their stories. I I'm I'm hoping that this formula begins to to bring more more diversity into the room because I think that's where another place that we can heal.
Stacie Freasier:Yes. And, you know, this this the binaries, the either or thinking is so ingrained in it's do I do this or do I do this? And it's like, well, you do both. Like, it's a yes and. Yes.
Stacie Freasier:You you you join a group like Sisters in Harmony or and or you, sign up for Undoing White Supremacy Austin. We're a group here. There are many ways. Yeah. I'm in a lot of groups that are national and even global in, in, in reach.
Stacie Freasier:Mhmm. And so I find different different, again, different, perspectives by virtual participation with others in other places
Sarah S. Bentley:Mhmm.
Stacie Freasier:And also continuing to tend the garden that is where I am physically living.
Sarah S. Bentley:Yes.
Stacie Freasier:And that's one of my deep rooted values. Mhmm. And turning to values. Yeah. You had mentioned and and again, going back to I am the revolution and those lyrics, there are so many words that are deeply meaningful and resonant and and then I have on repeat in my mind in life and the nonviolence, curiosity, and I want to talk about anger for a moment.
Sarah S. Bentley:Oh, yeah.
Stacie Freasier:Because I turned to that. I reframed anger only in the past 5 years. So this is not not an I'm not an I'm not a sage on, I was very afraid of anger.
Sarah S. Bentley:Yeah.
Stacie Freasier:And I still have the, based on, you know, a trauma to the past, I still I'm I'm scared of anger. My body reacts to anger. And, listening to black women, I owe it to Audre Lorde. I owe it to the teachers who introduced me to to Audre Lorde's writings about the utility and the power in anger. So have you been on that learning journey as well?
Sarah S. Bentley:Bit. I have. And I'm I'm I'm still anger's the the one that I have the most trouble getting in touch with. I've been on a grief journey the last couple years since I lost my father who was a singer songwriter, so it's part of my musical legacy. And so I've really been digging deep into grief and how that can also help us metabolize, you know, just intergenerational trauma.
Sarah S. Bentley:But, yeah. So I need to turn towards anger more and not need, but I I I would like to turn towards anger more because it's definitely something that I've I've been socialized to believe is like, you know, it's maybe related to violence or, you know, I'm unsafe. So, I'm I'm excited to explore it a little bit more maybe in 2025.
Stacie Freasier:Yeah. And we we can walk through that together.
Sarah S. Bentley:Yes.
Stacie Freasier:And, you know, I I'm now to the point where I say anger fuels my activism.
Sarah S. Bentley:Mhmm.
Stacie Freasier:Yes. Anger is is is such a powerful force, and that's another concept that, I had to re reframe, which is power because we've seen abuse of power. We're seeing abuse of power. We're living in use of power. Yeah.
Stacie Freasier:And power in its in and of itself is power. It's it's neutral. It's politically neutral. Right.
Sarah S. Bentley:Yeah. I it's it's interesting that you bring in power. I mean, it's not interesting because this is because this is a talking about racism. So, obviously, power is a part of it, but I love how you're you're talking about that it's neutral because you can kinda take it and do it's like chi. It's energy.
Sarah S. Bentley:Right? Like, you can take it and do what you want with it. Use your own intentions and, and privilege and and, you know, personal power to to make it into action. Yeah. I think as I I'm almost 50, and I've already gone through the change, and I'm like as I'm like now, I'm a postmenopausal woman, I'm like, bring it on.
Sarah S. Bentley:Like, you don't wanna mess with me. Yeah.
Stacie Freasier:Power is being wielded. Mhmm. And the the the collective power of people who are not in the the the the very small concentration of monetary wealth on this planet, the the power of the collective is, I believe, far greater than that power of the few who are are hoarding their resources.
Sarah S. Bentley:Yeah. Absolutely. And and that I feel like that brings me back to community singing. I'm always gonna make it about community singing if you're talking to me, because it's like we're talking about earlier with the coregulation, but also, like, one there's one voice versus a 100 voices or a 1000 voices. You know?
Sarah S. Bentley:Like, it's it's it just exponential, how when we come together with a similar purpose and either in harmony or on the same note, which we call blending. Like, all of those are beautiful. And even if there's, like,
Sarah S. Bentley:a
Sarah S. Bentley:discordant sound or some you know, that's also beautiful. Just, again, bringing it back to nature. Like, it's not all, you know, perfect, but it's imperfectly perfect.
Stacie Freasier:Yes. And I
Sarah S. Bentley:think that same thing about our voices, like, and using them for change, using them for good, using them for coregulation, and just to give us collective power. Like, I feel like it's how I recharge.
Stacie Freasier:Mhmm.
Sarah S. Bentley:And I know it's how my singers, when they come be with me, whether it's a weekly series or a seasonal series, I know that that they come to be recharged.
Stacie Freasier:So let's recharge this moment. Yeah. And I I think we should go to the next piece.
Sarah S. Bentley:Okay. So this next song, in in part of my journey of starting to be a song leader, I've only actually been doing this for a couple years before I was a singer songwriter, and then I took a 10 year, break, when I was raising my daughter who's now almost 13. But, I was that person who was in Mexico collecting songs in Spanish. I speak Spanish fairly fluently. I was that person, you know, like, with dreadlocks, like, basically appropriating other culture because I didn't know who I was.
Sarah S. Bentley:And now I'm like, oh, yeah. So so this song, is actually a a song that was created by a woman named Carolyn Hillier who lives in, Dartmoor, England. And she uses a language that's sort of been recreated from, bronze age proto Celtic language. So many of our folks who live in white bodies, our ancestors would have spoken this language all across Europe. And the song is called.
Sarah S. Bentley:And I just wanna read the words real quick, and then we'll sing it. But the so I'm gonna say the words, And this means blessed grandmothers. We honor the sacred bones, the sacred breath of life, the sacred earth, this sacred blood. So this one is gonna be sort of a a call and echo. So as soon as I sing the line, I invite you all to sing it back to me.
Stacie Freasier:And as you're gearing up your your drum that you
Sarah S. Bentley:This is my frame drum. I have a synthetic buffalo drum that's based on the traditional native American buffalo drums that I'm bringing with me today.
Stacie Freasier:And you are tuned in to Racism on the Levels on k0op.org91.7 FM. Let's sing.
Sarah S. Bentley:Noe bo nani,
Sarah S. Bentley:So it gives me what does it give me? It gives me, I think, it's power again. Like, knowing that my ancestors were indigenous. Like, I am indigenous. And I think that's why I feel like I see so much cultural appropriation happening is that we don't we've forgotten who we are.
Sarah S. Bentley:And, singing has helped me remember. And and I actually like, the word remember is, like, reembodying, like, who we are. Like, that word member comes from, like, a limb or a part of your body, which I think originally was, like, you know, being a member of a community or something like different legs of of we all kind of stand together, but also, like, me standing on the shoulders of my ancestors. Yeah. It gives me strength.
Sarah S. Bentley:Maybe strength more than power.
Stacie Freasier:I really appreciate this moment, and I appreciate you bringing this song in. And, again, recently, in my unlearning and relearning journey, I took a we are finding freedom course, which was focused on antiracist genealogy. Prior to that course, I wasn't the person in my family to have much interest nor see the the utility, nor the value in learning the stories of my ancestors. And my younger sister had the wisdom and and foresight all along to be deeply connected to the to our ancestral lineages, but I completely missed the boat on this one. I missed the boat.
Stacie Freasier:My grandmother came over, and thanks to We Are Finding Freedom, I know this, in 1843 from the region in between what is now France and Germany, into the port of Galveston and wagoned it over at 11 years old, my 3rd great grandma over to Medina County. And that's my eldest of my longest line of ancestry in Texas was from that story. And so the power and of, a sense of belonging and place and rootedness and and anchoring that I now feel having, first taken the time to learn that story, and secondly, to apply an anti racism lens to the story. I also learned in this process that my 9th great grandfather, Frazier, who is my my surname is Frazier, enslaved people in Berdy, North Carolina in Granville County. And this is what during the British colonies.
Stacie Freasier:So this goes back to the early 1700. So, that is information. Right? That is that is fuel for me to take that privilege of 9 generations on Turtle Island to address what has not been talked about
Sarah S. Bentley:Right. Yeah.
Stacie Freasier:And is still being suppressed from talking about.
Sarah S. Bentley:Yeah. Yeah. My parents definitely didn't talk about it, and, luckily, I have resources to talk about it with my 13 year old almost 13 year old daughter. You know? I mean, I don't know if she would call herself an anti racist, but and I'm also like I'm I'm I'm playing with language and, like, you know, like, is anti racism is that gonna turn people off?
Sarah S. Bentley:You know, like, do we use anti colonialism? Is that gonna be a little softer? Or does do like, do we wanna be softer? I don't know.
Sarah S. Bentley:It's Right.
Sarah S. Bentley:It's it's tricky. So I'm I'm just noticing when I put words out there and how people respond and and who those people are, what's their background, and, like, just trying to to learn constantly about the impact.
Stacie Freasier:Yes. And I know that words matter, and I'm, really attuned to to words. And, my issue with saying anti racism is it is a reactive versus a creative proactive Yeah. Term for me that and so, I attended actually a, a circle recently at Carver Museum, that the lovely Fatima Man put on. Oh, wow.
Sarah S. Bentley:Yeah.
Sarah S. Bentley:I've collaborated with her in the past.
Stacie Freasier:Yeah. And we, the the the purpose of the circle was to, address, acknowledge, grieve, and Mhmm. Talk about, the DEI dismembering Yeah. At the University of Texas and and where were we when that happened and what do we do about it. And when one of the one of the questions we were, you know, pondering is, you know, what what
Sarah S. Bentley:what would we call this? Like, what would we call this work?
Stacie Freasier:Mhmm.
Sarah S. Bentley:And I love what she calls it, which is healing, love and healing work, And on and and I feel like I've been trying to curate these racial healing events. And even that, I feel like people are, like, uncomfortable with, like like, racial healing. And I'm like, but there's so much of that that needs to happen. Yeah. I'm and I'm trying to take it in as data and and, you know, figure out how I'm gonna metabolize that and make that make sense for me and and not beat around the bush about what we're actually getting at because that is what I'm talking about.
Stacie Freasier:Right. Truths, you know, that there some discomfort is not necessarily a bad thing. Yeah. And I think that that is why is why the system has perpetuated itself for so long is because and particularly people who are racialized as white and walking around in white bodies have been able to, feel just a a twinge of discomfort and go somewhere else and and and have that we have that ability to Yeah. Not confront.
Sarah S. Bentley:Yeah. We have that. Yeah.
Sarah S. Bentley:Yeah.
Stacie Freasier:On the surface, but if you look at the long game and if you look inwards and you you you start to understand the toll, the toxic toll that racism and upholding systems of oppression by being silent and complicit and running away, I'm using air quotes, is not actually running away at all because it is killing it is killing everyone.
Sarah S. Bentley:Right. Right. Yeah. I mean, just in the way that Resmaa Menikin talks about, metabolizing the trauma. My my husband actually, I think, coined this term.
Sarah S. Bentley:He was like, yeah. Because if we don't, we're just it's gonna metastasize. So, like, the opposite of metabolizing is metastasizing. Right? Like, we're just the more we don't deal with it, the more we don't deal with the anger, which I'm scared of.
Sarah S. Bentley:The more we don't look at the trauma and the grief and and say speak, these words that might be triggering to folks, the more it's just gonna keep hurting us and eating us away from the inside out.
Sarah S. Bentley:Mhmm. You
Stacie Freasier:know, as a as a nonviolence practitioner and and in this moment when, we have, authoritarianism at large. I would be lying if if I said that I I don't have fear, about my the way that I just directly, you know, talk about racism and talk about Mhmm. Capitalism and so many so many forms. I'm open about it, and and, I'm reminded of some of my teachers, living in, legacy. And I'm a Kingian nonviolence conflict reconciliation trainer, and and doctor Bernard Lafayette is my living teacher, and, he's still teaching to this day.
Stacie Freasier:And this is a a nonviolence is for the courageous.
Sarah S. Bentley:Yeah. Right?
Stacie Freasier:It's principle 1. It's it is for the courageous, and, there will be risks, that are worth it in my calculation. Right. That it's worth the risk because of the, the the sense of of purpose and, the sense of love and honor that I am opening myself to by exposing myself. Yeah.
Stacie Freasier:And, and I'm Stacy, the, yeah, the the 4 year old girl, and I'm, you know, I'm I'm, you know, one one human with a lot of power and and all the feels.
Sarah S. Bentley:Yeah. All the feels. And and like you said, there is risk, but there's less risk for you and I living in white bodies than there are for people who've been doing this work for ages. You know? And we all have we can all gain from actively participating in this movement, this liberatory movement
Sarah S. Bentley:Yeah.
Sarah S. Bentley:In which I like that word better.
Stacie Freasier:I do too. And and and I I I look forward to, liberation becoming mainstream to where I I'm still getting a lot of, looks of confusion Mhmm. When I talk about liberation
Sarah S. Bentley:Yeah.
Stacie Freasier:And when I talk about collective liberation. And even from comrades who, you know, philosophically align with me and values align with me. So perhaps when it becomes oh, yes. I know what you're talking about when you're talking about liberation, then we will get to use it more because it is a freeing, empowering word.
Sarah S. Bentley:Yeah. Yeah.
Stacie Freasier:Thank you for the invitation to breathe. Yeah. You are listening to Racism on the Levels. I am your host, Stacey Fraser. This is a monthly show.
Stacie Freasier:This is the last show of the year. I am spending time with Sarah Sires Bentley, and we are spending we're anchoring this show and centering this show around music and the healing power, the organizing power. Mhmm. Their music has so much power, and and it's a anecdote. The antidote.
Stacie Freasier:Antidote. Antidote.
Sarah S. Bentley:Antidote. So
Stacie Freasier:do you wanna do another song?
Sarah S. Bentley:I think we have
Stacie Freasier:a feeling like we should do another one.
Sarah S. Bentley:We have another song, and I I just wanna say to I mean, I know we've already mentioned co regulation multiple times, but particularly, I've I've I'm excited about combining community singing with the this work, this liberatory collective liberation work, you know, in in racial healing circles and healing circles, whatever you wanna call them, because they can bring us back to our bodies. They can bring us back to our breath. They can bring us back to collective harmony. You know, there's when we sing just like music, it it works on the opposite side of the brain, the non analytical side of your brain. And sometimes enough I've been singing a long time, I can't even really speak.
Sarah S. Bentley:So I just sing. So we're gonna I'm gonna share a song called the future is calling by Serena Partridge. Serena is a song leader from the Midwest Heartland
Sarah S. Bentley:of
Sarah S. Bentley:the United States. Haven't met her personally yet. I haven't met, 2 of the other song leaders who I've shared. So just breathe a moment. I've got my box back out.
Sarah S. Bentley:Let's just do a little right there. Breathe. I'm gonna sing this song for you. And there'll be a part where you can echo back to me where I
Sarah S. Bentley:say, can you hear it? And you'll sing back, can you hear it?
Sarah S. Bentley:The future is calling. It's calling for healing. Can you hear it? Can you hear it? Can you hear it?
Sarah S. Bentley:Can you hear it? The future is calling. It's calling for healing. And the people will sing along.
Sarah S. Bentley:And the
Sarah S. Bentley:singing will make us strong. The future is calling. It's calling for justice. Can you hear it? Can you hear it?
Sarah S. Bentley:The future is calling. It's calling for justice. And the people will sing along. And the singing will keep us strong.
Sarah S. Bentley:Let's do healing again.
Sarah S. Bentley:The future is calling. It's calling for healing. And the people will sing along. And the singing will keep us strong.
Stacie Freasier:The resonance. I was hoping it would pick a trail out and just keep going into infinity.
Sarah S. Bentley:Yeah. I know. I never wanna stop. And there's so many more beautiful songs to share. Yeah.
Stacie Freasier:And and when you perform these in the in community with others, Sarah, how do you how do you go by selecting songs? Do you have this question. Yeah.
Sarah S. Bentley:Well, first of all, I actually don't say that I'm performing
Stacie Freasier:Okay.
Sarah S. Bentley:Because it's a communal experience. I I lead the songs, and often I'll lead them like a call and echo, which I do wanna distinguish from call and response because call and response is a very specific technique that's used in a lot of African traditions as well as some other, indigenous traditions where you'll sing a line, then someone else answers with a different line. But that's not what I'm doing. I teach through call and echo, so I sing something and you sing back the same thing to me. But to answer your question about choosing songs, I have some networks, that sometimes I'll reach out to or some libraries that I'll oftentimes, you know, search, but I've just I've kind of made it my my I don't know if I've made it.
Sarah S. Bentley:It's my calling to just collect and carry these songs, and you've seen part of the way that I do that is by trying to honor, like, at least the tradition that I know. If I don't know who wrote the song, then I'm gonna name that or at least, say what history I do know about it, and maybe what tradition it comes from if it's a traditional song. I don't know. It's it's it's a it's a fluid process, and it really depends on what the event is. But there's just so many beautiful songs out there.
Sarah S. Bentley:I feel like I have a wealth, and I off often, as you saw with this show, have problems narrowing it down to just a few songs that I'll be able to share. So yeah.
Sarah S. Bentley:I
Stacie Freasier:wanna circle back because we have the time to do so, to your ancestry. Yeah. And you had mentioned your father, growing cotton in Lubbock. Yep. And you brought in this connection to our ancestors in Europe.
Sarah S. Bentley:Yep.
Stacie Freasier:And is there anything that you feel compelled to to to tell me a story about your ancestry?
Sarah S. Bentley:Well, I
Sarah S. Bentley:think I have to start with my dad. He's actually been in the studio before. My dad, Jerry Siers, was fairly well known locally. He never made it big outside of Austin, but a lot of people recognize his name. And he, yeah, he was, he was Bubba from Lubbock, Texas and came to Austin, to go to the University of Texas and really I mean, he played at the original Stubs.
Sarah S. Bentley:It was on I 35, which that building's probably about to get torn down from the expansion that's happening here. So, yeah, his family was in West Texas. My mom's family, was down, by the border with Mexico in Del Rio, Texas. They originally came from Kentucky. All of my ancestors were sort of in North Carolina, Tennessee, a few in, like, Virginia and Ohio.
Sarah S. Bentley:I'm trying to track it back. Like, we've been on Turtle Island for a long time. I don't have a lot of personal stories, but, from DNA tests, I can tell you that I am Welsh and German, but mostly, like, half Scottish and some Swedish, which if you've met my mom, she's, like, tall and has red hair. She definitely looks like she came from the vikings. So, yeah, it's been it's been nice to to really get back in in into touch with my who my ancestors were, and and I look forward to a a root strip at some point in the future.
Sarah S. Bentley:Yeah.
Stacie Freasier:So we are winding down on this time, this moment in time together. We really hope we have many more.
Sarah S. Bentley:Me too.
Stacie Freasier:The, you'd mentioned the event next month. Are there any other community groups or activities that you can give voice to right now? Oh. Or just just orgs or people or groups that you're fans of?
Sarah S. Bentley:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Austin Justice Coalition, I'm a big big fan of theirs, and my organization, Heart Body Song, ties to them monthly. Also the indigenous, foundation Indigenous Cultures Institute, sorry, down in San Marcos. When I do my seasonal events, I also, give a proportion of, the proceeds to that group.
Sarah S. Bentley:And I finally got to go down to the Sacred Springs powwow this fall, and it was amazing. So I highly recommend that, especially if you're looking for a smaller, more intimate powwow than the one that happens here in Austin, which is also amazing. I mean Fatima man and love and healing work. I love to support her as well. I've consulted with her for some of my, you know how I talk about the work that I do like on my website and so many more, great groups locally.
Sarah S. Bentley:Yeah, that's that's who I can think of in this moment.
Stacie Freasier:Yeah. Thank you. I like to give light
Sarah S. Bentley:to this. I have a little, sort of love and action section on my newsletter where I sort of call out, most of those organizations and a few others that I, see in the community that are doing good work that other folks can support as well.
Stacie Freasier:And how can folks find you?
Sarah S. Bentley:Heartbodysong.com, or on the socials at heart heart body song altogether. Yeah.
Stacie Freasier:Thank you so much, Sarah, for using your power and gift of music to heal us all.
Sarah S. Bentley:Thank you so much for the work that you're doing on both this, podcast as well as your other show, Austen. You're also a bright light in the community, and it's really an honor to be here with you today.
Stacie Freasier:Blessings. And thank you, listeners. You're here with us on the journey, and I'm really grateful for you.
Sarah S. Bentley:Singing along.
Stacie Freasier:Thanks for singing along, and you can replay the archive and sing along over and over. So, this will be the last show of the year. I hope you tune in next month. In fact, in, 2 weeks, Nonviolent Austen Radio Hour is up next, which is January 2nd and we're going to have Chaz Moore from Austin Justice Coalition, sit alongside brother Robert Tyrone Lilly and brother Jim Crosby and I and I want you all to know and remember in your hearts and your bodies in every cell that in all things and in all ways, love is the highest level to y'all. I gotta love a song.
Song:I gotta get a song. In this world, you only need one song. To live your life like you visualize it for land purpose. I take it nothing. Never giving up on enough to let your light shine like the sunshine.
Song:A celebration, no separation. You got a love song, I got a love song. We in the love song.