If you're feeling unequipped to engage with discussions on human rights, the Rhizome Podcast offers a social and community justice toolkit for understanding such issues as "food security, anti-Asian racism, sex education in the public school system, and the Black Muslim woman experience."
The podcast is the creation of the Roots4Change Collective — a network of young people from diverse backgrounds working together to unpack systemic issues in our education and justice systems from the perspective of those with lived experience. It is supported by the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights, which "works to advance dignity, freedom, justice, and security through collaborative relationships and transformative education on peace and human rights," and it is funded by the Edmonton Community Foundation.
Hosts Wen Chan, Reese Kurian, Elaine Tran, Ruth Hopkinson, and D Santos come from diverse backgrounds, educational histories, and passions. When the team first started working on the podcast, they were going to call it the Taproot Podcast, but, well, that was taken. The continued search for a roots-related play on words let them to rhizome. "Rhizomes are stems that start from one plant and spread laterally to create new offshoots," they note in their introductory episode. "We thought this reflected how we're all interconnected, once we dig a little deeper."
The Rhizome Podcast is not the collective's only project. The group has also published a zine and been involved in podcast workshops, youth gatherings, and a virtual roundtable about hate crime victims and survivors, which was held on Nov. 20.
You can find the show on the Roots4Change site, Anchor, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
You can listen to podcast picks from Taproot on Listen Notes or Spotify.