Guest Post: Sisters on a Sofa Podcast — EIGHTY ONE TWENTY THREE

8123 Community,

Let us first thank you for taking the time to hear Black stories and make an impact in not only our community but in the country as a whole. We have always appreciated the 8123 community and are prouder than ever with you all standing in solidarity with us!

Let us secondly introduce ourselves. We are Reina and Rachel, sisters in the Chicagoland area, and a couple of years ago, we started a podcast "Sisters on a Sofa" to share our experiences as young Black women in a predominantly White world, the racism and microaggressions we faced. We realized early on that there is a disconnect in understanding what Black Americans face in their daily lives, and our stories tend to go unheard unless. Both of these combined create a one-sided view of history and a misunderstanding when we cry "Black Lives Matter." Since the horrific murder of George Floyd, we have seen uproarus cries demanding justice, and an unmatched solidarity with the Black community. We've seen our non-Black family, friends and peers searching for deeper understanding, wanting to learn more on how the deeply rooted racism and injustice in our country rears its ugly head in society today, and the steps to take towards righting the wrongs of the past.

We wanted to offer our podcast as a resource to the rest of 8123. On Friday, Jun 5th, we released an episode in conjunction with George Floyd's murder, though almost all of our episodes deal with topics surrounding race--from how it impacts our mental health to our taste in music. The Maine is actually highlighted in our first episode! We try to balance out the serious with lightheartedness because both are important in sharing Black stories. Yes, we are deeply effected by the horrors of racism, and want our non-White comrades to understand how it has played a role in so many lives. But, we are also young Black women who love The Maine and blast it loudly from our cars; young college graduates trying to make our mark on our corner of the world; and sisters who laugh with one another. We live our most authentic, Black lives, and portray Black Girl Magic daily just by being ourselves. All of this is what we put into our podcast.

Sisters on a Sofa is available on seven platforms, including Spotify, Anchor and Google Podcasts. We also have an Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. We hope to cultivate an online community and have some big plans to keep the momentum from current events going over the summer.

Thank you for joining the fight with us. Keep the momentum going...this is just the beginning. A change is coming!