after the floods, people. after the
fires, people. not governments.

not borders. not the soldiers 
or rifles. not the state

history or news or flag. 
people, in masks,

cooking food, sorting rubble 
& burned wood, driving tonmng

each other, asking are you 
okay, baby? when the sky

turned black, when the sun 
went into the ocean,

when ash fell 
instead of rain.

Fatimah Asghar, al-haq

After Eelam is a patchwork of voices, struggles, solidarities that ask what does a Tamil homeland look like, feel like, breathe like, outside of a man made agenda? Outside of borders, class, caste, gender? What does Tamil liberation on the island of so called Sri Lanka mean if it includes not just the North Eastern Tamils, but also our Malayaha and Muslim kin? And where does queerness fit in Tamil nationalism?

Thank you to Angel Queentus, Hazel Tetteh, Imaad Majeed and Krish for sharing your stories.

Sound design Fr3sh by Kareem Lofty

Produced by Prinita Thevarajah

after the floods, people. after the fires, people. not governments. not borders. not the soldiers&nbsp; or rifles. not the state history or news or flag.&nbsp; people, in masks, cooking food, sorting rubble&nbsp; &amp; burned wood, driving tonmng each other, asking are you&nbsp; okay, baby? when the sky turned black, when the sun&nbsp; went into the ocean, when ash fell&nbsp; instead of rain.
Fatimah Asghar,&nbsp;al-haq
After Eelam is a patchwork of voices, struggles, solidarities that ask what does a Tamil homeland look like, feel like, breathe like, outside of a man made agenda? Outside of borders, class, caste, gender? What does Tamil liberation on the island of so called Sri Lanka mean if it includes not just the North Eastern Tamils, but also our Malayaha and Muslim kin?&nbsp;And where does queerness fit in Tamil nationalism?
Thank you to Angel Queentus, Hazel Tetteh, Imaad Majeed and Krish for sharing your stories.
Sound design Fr3sh by Kareem Lofty
Produced by Prinita Thevarajah

Race Matters is an anti-racist show that explores the values and complexities of race, culture and identity. In-depth interviews and unique story telling and spanning arts, music, politics, global and local events, plus experimental audio and community takeovers.

Listen back to all our episodes on fbi.radio including radio exclusives, and stay up to date on our instagram 

Listen to our Solidarity Syndicate series - sharing across airwaves and borders and our Liquid Homelands series - an experimental, queer audio offering

We honor all hosts, producers, storytellers that have made this work possible as well as the long tradition of storytelling, resistance and resilience that has taken place on Gadigal Country, where fbi.radio broadcasts out of.  

Our logo design by Jessica Mulet, our theme songs was composed by Mateo Baskaran 

Race Matters is made possible thanks to the Community Broadcasting Foundation

Race Matters is an anti-racist&nbsp;show that explores the values and complexities of race, culture and identity. In-depth interviews and unique story telling and spanning arts, music, politics, global and local events, plus experimental audio and community takeovers.
Listen back to <a href="https://www.fbi.radio/programs/race-matters">all our episodes on fbi.radio</a> including radio exclusives, and stay up to date on our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/race_matters/">instagram</a>&nbsp;
<a href="https://soundcloud.com/fbiradiosydney/sets/race-matters-sol-dar-ty-synd">Listen to our Solidarity Syndicate series</a> - sharing across airwaves and borders and our&nbsp;<a href="https://soundcloud.com/fbiradiosydney/sets/racematters_liquid-homelands">Liquid Homelands</a> series - an experimental, queer audio offering
We honor all hosts, producers, storytellers that have made this work possible as well as the long tradition of storytelling, resistance and resilience that has taken place on Gadigal Country, where fbi.radio broadcasts out of.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Our logo design by Jessica Mulet, our theme songs was composed by Mateo Baskaran&nbsp;
Race Matters is made possible thanks to the&nbsp;<a href="https://cbf.org.au/">Community Broadcasting Foundation</a>

Conversations about the values and complexities of race, culture, identity

Race Matters

Beyond representation. Anti-racist radio with in-depth interviews and unique story telling spanning arts, music, global politics, local events + more

Beyond representation. Anti-racist radio with in-depth interviews and unique story telling spanning arts, music, global politics, local events + more

#209 After Eelam 2

“What kind of space allows people like us to fully exist? To be a Black, queer creative is to return to this question again and again, and, sometimes, to become the answer yourself.”

Visionary performer, curator, founder of Pyramid, Basjia reflects on the language she discovered through movement, tracing the journey from a body shaped by expectation to one that became a site of freedom, pleasure and expression. Together, King and Basjia explore what it means to move through a world that celebrates Black creativity and how performance can transmute into a practice of resistance.

A Language We Learned is a month-long Race Matters residency led by King Baba, centring Black Afro-diasporic creatives across so-called Australia through storytelling, conversation and music. The series is supported by technical producer and creative collaborator Prinitha Theverajah, with creative mentorship from Shareeka Helaluddin and Binta Yade, and artwork by Tim Worton.

Content warning: this episode contains discussion of eating disorder and dysmorphia.

&ldquo;What kind of space allows people like us to fully exist? To be a Black, queer creative is to return to this question again and again, and, sometimes, to become the answer yourself.&rdquo;
Visionary performer, curator, founder of Pyramid, <a href="https://www.patreon.com/cw/Basjia">Basjia</a> reflects on the language she discovered through movement, tracing the journey from a body shaped by expectation to one that became a site of freedom, pleasure and expression. Together, King and Basjia explore what it means to move through a world that celebrates Black creativity and how performance can transmute into a practice of resistance. A Language We Learned is a month-long Race Matters residency led by King Baba, centring Black Afro-diasporic creatives across so-called Australia through storytelling, conversation and music. The series is supported by technical producer and creative collaborator Prinitha Theverajah, with creative mentorship from Shareeka Helaluddin and Binta Yade, and artwork by Tim Worton.
Content warning: this episode contains discussion of eating disorder and dysmorphia.

#211 A Language We Learned / Basjia

What languages do we inherit before we ever find the words for ourselves?

Huda the Goddess traces the journey from the language of her childhood in Sudan and Egypt to the poetry that became her way of making sense of the world. Together, King and Huda reflect on ancestry, oral storytelling and the wisdom carried through memory before turning toward the communities that teach us how to belong. Through Black Inc, ballroom and chosen family, Huda shares a vision of care rooted in softness, truth and collective responsibility. A reminder that the most powerful legacies are the ones that make space for others to flourish.

A Language We Learned is a month-long Race Matters residency led by King Baba, centring Black Afro-diasporic creatives across so-called Australia through storytelling, conversation and music. The series is supported by technical producer and creative collaborator Prinitha Theverajah, with creative mentorship from Shareeka Helaluddin and Binta Yade, and artwork by Tim Worton.

What languages do we inherit before we ever find the words for ourselves? Huda the Goddess traces the journey from the language of her childhood in Sudan and Egypt to the poetry that became her way of making sense of the world. Together, King and Huda reflect on ancestry, oral storytelling and the wisdom carried through memory before turning toward the communities that teach us how to belong. Through Black Inc, ballroom and chosen family, Huda shares a vision of care rooted in softness, truth and collective responsibility. A reminder that the most powerful legacies are the ones that make space for others to flourish. A Language We Learned is a month-long Race Matters residency led by King Baba, centring Black Afro-diasporic creatives across so-called Australia through storytelling, conversation and music. The series is supported by technical producer and creative collaborator Prinitha Theverajah, with creative mentorship from Shareeka Helaluddin and Binta Yade, and artwork by Tim Worton.

#210 A Language We Learned / Huda the Goddess

Knowing means understanding there are things we can never know 

All knowledge is limited by positionality and governed by relationships 

The world cannot be fully understood by life in human shapes because humans cannot occupy the spaces held by all other life or to see to the end of connections

Ambelin Kwaymullina

After Eelam is a patchwork of voices, struggles, solidarities that ask what does a Tamil homeland look like, feel like, breathe like, outside of a man made agenda? Outside of borders, class, caste, gender? What does Tamil liberation on the island of so called Sri Lanka mean if it includes not just the North Eastern Tamils, but also our Malayaha and Muslim kin? 

Thank you to Brahmi, Aunty Kalyani Inpakumar, Thinesh Thillai, Sanjana Ravi and Uncle Ana Parajasingham for sharing your stories.

Produced by Prinita Thevarajah

Knowing means understanding there are things we can never know&nbsp;
All knowledge is limited by positionality and governed by relationships&nbsp;
The world cannot be fully understood by life in human shapes because humans cannot occupy the spaces held by all other life or to see to the end of connections
Ambelin Kwaymullina
After Eelam is a patchwork of voices, struggles, solidarities that ask what does a Tamil homeland look like, feel like, breathe like, outside of a man made agenda? Outside of borders, class, caste, gender? What does Tamil liberation on the island of so called Sri Lanka mean if it includes not just the North Eastern Tamils, but also our Malayaha and Muslim kin?&nbsp;
Thank you to Brahmi, Aunty Kalyani Inpakumar, Thinesh Thillai, Sanjana Ravi and Uncle Ana Parajasingham for sharing your stories.
Produced by Prinita Thevarajah

#209 After Eelam 2

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