In The Root Episode 1: Racism as a System, Dominique Drakeford speaks with scholars and academic activists Nikki Sanchez and Lisa Betty on the importance of dismantling colonial systems and reclaiming the fullness of Native American & Afro-Indigenous history as a regenerative framework for liberation and true sustainability across every industry. Nikki Sanchez is a Pipil/Maya and Irish/Scottish academic, Indigenous media maker, environmental educator and community organizer. She holds a master's degree in Indigenous Governance and is presently completing a Ph.D. with a research focus on emerging visual media technology as it relates to Indigenous ontology. Nikki's first book, Spirits of the Coast - An Anthology of the Salish Sea Resident Orca Whales - was just released by the Royal BC Museum. Nikki's most recent project is the 8-part documentary VICELAND series “RISE” focused on global Indigenous resurgence. RISE was debuted at Sundance in February 2017 and has received global critical acclaim, recently winning "best documentary" at the Canadian screen awards. Links to Nikki’s work: Decolonization is for Everyone, TEDx Talk VICE docuseries RISE trailer Keynote Speakers Profile Follow Nikki on Instagram Lisa Betty is a Ph.D. Candidate in History at Fordham University. She teaches on themes of labor, migration, and diaspora in the Americas, the Caribbean, and Africa. Lisa's dissertation research contributes to the growing body of scholarship on the Caribbean diaspora, with a focus on Jamaican migrants, in Cuba and the United States from the 1930s through the Cuban Revolution. She has worked in the field of nonprofit advocacy serving in organizations that advocate for children, families, immigrants, and incarcerated people, and leads antiracist teaching workshops. Proud of her family's southern and Jamaican roots, Lisa contributes to the development of safe, sustainable, and healing spaces for Black and Brown people. Links to Lisa’s work: “12 Practices for Protecting and Maintaining Black & Brown Health During the COVID-19 Crisis”, April, 2020  “Lifting Up Black and Brown Health and Wellness during the COVID-19 Crisis: Moving beyond respectability politics & white supremacist logic”, April, 2020  “‘Black Death’: Race and Representations of the Ebola epidemic and COVID-19 pandemic”, May, 2020 “Being Black at Fordham: Recommendations for an antiracist and equity-oriented university culture”, June, 2020 “General Harriet Tubman (1820–1913): Healing Historical Exploitation”, July, 2020 “At the Intersection of Undocumented and Black: Anti-Blackness in U.S. Immigration Policy — Part 1”, July, 2020 “Disney, Capitalism, and Beyoncé’s Black Is King: In the midst of protest and pandemic, how should we engage with Beyoncé and Disney’s Black Is King?”, July, 2020  “Marcus Aurelius “Mosiah” Garvey: Garveyism, Black sovereignty, and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and African Communities League”, August, 2020 Follow Lisa on Instagram Thank you to this week's sponsor, FIBERSHED. Learn more about FIBERSHED at www.fibershed.org.