https://simplecast.com Southern Synergy Southern Synergy is sponsored by ARC-Southeast, a Black-led abortion fund in the Southeast, and hosted by filmmaker and organizer Duke Virginia. More than just another podcast, it’s a multimedia mixtape—and a call to action. At ARC we believe that because Southern Synergy centers the reproductive lives and resistance of folks throughout the South. We explore rich legacies of organizing, and go beyond the surface-level to confront fundamental questions: What does it mean to have autonomy? What are the barriers that stand in the way of our human rights? What makes the South unique? Who benefits from these abortion bans? What does community organizing in practice look like? 2023-2024 Southern Synergy en Wed, 5 Nov 2025 17:00:00 +0000 Wed, 5 Nov 2025 17:00:13 +0000 https://southern-synergy.simplecast.com Southern Synergy https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/61e6aaad-c5ff-441b-b4d4-c782373472b7/266b2fa4-7b23-42fb-92cb-52abb9a236f5/3000x3000/untitled-design2.jpg?aid=rss_feed https://southern-synergy.simplecast.com episodic Southern Synergy is sponsored by ARC-Southeast, a Black-led abortion fund in the Southeast, and hosted by filmmaker and organizer Duke Virginia. More than just another podcast, it’s a multimedia mixtape—and a call to action. At ARC we believe that because Southern Synergy centers the reproductive lives and resistance of folks throughout the South. We explore rich legacies of organizing, and go beyond the surface-level to confront fundamental questions: What does it mean to have autonomy? What are the barriers that stand in the way of our human rights? What makes the South unique? Who benefits from these abortion bans? What does community organizing in practice look like? ARC Southeast, Duke Virginia, Southern Synergy true https://feeds.simplecast.com/Qcsh9R96 ARC Southeast duke@arc-southeast.org 8f472684-74b8-46d4-a0cd-5364ec2f6876 Get Da Abortion!: Breaking Stigma surrounding Sex, Reproductive Justice, and Abortion. In this series, we dig into the ways stigma doesn't just shape policy—it shapes culture. It shapes how we treat each other. And we also talk about what it might look like to break that cycle—to name what’s happening, reclaim our autonomy, and build radically honest collective strategies rooted in love, care, and liberation. As always, thanks for being here and I hope this episode encourages you to think more intentionally about your relationship to stigma.

]]> Wed, 5 Nov 2025 17:00:00 +0000 duke@arc-southeast.org (ARC SE, Duke Virginia, Britni) https://southern-synergy.simplecast.com/episodes/getdaabortion-2m5cLJk_ In this series, we dig into the ways stigma doesn't just shape policy—it shapes culture. It shapes how we treat each other. And we also talk about what it might look like to break that cycle—to name what’s happening, reclaim our autonomy, and build radically honest collective strategies rooted in love, care, and liberation. As always, thanks for being here and I hope this episode encourages you to think more intentionally about your relationship to stigma.

]]> Get Da Abortion!: Breaking Stigma surrounding Sex, Reproductive Justice, and Abortion. ARC SE, Duke Virginia, Britni 01:41:33 Today’s episode is gonna be the second of a series of episodes that are a little different. I’ll be sharing the recordings of workshops the Organizing & Outreach team at ARC facilitated for our Change your mind, Change the World campaign centered around different types of stigma. In this episode I’ll be sharing the second talk of the series titled Get Da Abortion, facilitated by the Organizing and Outreach Team. This talk was part of a broader conversation around how we name and interrupt the cycles of stigmas surrounding sex, reproductive justice, and abortion. Today’s episode is gonna be the second of a series of episodes that are a little different. I’ll be sharing the recordings of workshops the Organizing & Outreach team at ARC facilitated for our Change your mind, Change the World campaign centered around different types of stigma. In this episode I’ll be sharing the second talk of the series titled Get Da Abortion, facilitated by the Organizing and Outreach Team. This talk was part of a broader conversation around how we name and interrupt the cycles of stigmas surrounding sex, reproductive justice, and abortion. queer, change, bodily autonomy, political education, criminalization, abortion, culture, workshop, southern, synergy, reproductive justice, stigma, black, south, abortionaccess, atlanta, feminism, virtual true full 5 6e24b6c9-7c9d-4da1-8b2b-5a5b0b8dafa6 The Repeating Wound, by Chinyere Erondu Audio Clip of the interview of Mr. Joshua Nwachuku, conducted by Chinyere Erondu October 18, 2024. Mr. Nwachuku is answering the question, "Can you provide a background on why the Biafran War/Genocide started?"

*Audio Clip of the interview of Dr. Ugboaku Esochaghi conducted by Chinyere Erondu on October 8th, 2024. Dr. Esochaghi is answering the question, "What do you remember about the Biafran Genocide?"

*Audio Clip of the interview of Mrs. Oluchi Ukomadu, conducted by Chinyere Erondu on October 11, 2024. Mrs. Ukomadu is answering the question, "Where were you when the Biafran Genocide began?"

Audio Interview conducted by Chinyere E. of Mrs. Elizabeth Nwachuku 8 Mr. Joshua Nwachuku's Personal recount of the Biafran Genocide.

Audio Interview conducted by  Chinyere E. of Ugboaku Esochiaghi. October 2024. Dr. Esochaghi answering the question: What were the burial practices Igbo people prior to and after the Biafran Genocide?

]]> Fri, 17 Oct 2025 16:00:00 +0000 duke@arc-southeast.org (ARC Southeast) https://southern-synergy.simplecast.com/episodes/the-repeating-wound-by-chinyere-erondu-hgl7pqg-tkEHnGzQ Audio Clip of the interview of Mr. Joshua Nwachuku, conducted by Chinyere Erondu October 18, 2024. Mr. Nwachuku is answering the question, "Can you provide a background on why the Biafran War/Genocide started?"

*Audio Clip of the interview of Dr. Ugboaku Esochaghi conducted by Chinyere Erondu on October 8th, 2024. Dr. Esochaghi is answering the question, "What do you remember about the Biafran Genocide?"

*Audio Clip of the interview of Mrs. Oluchi Ukomadu, conducted by Chinyere Erondu on October 11, 2024. Mrs. Ukomadu is answering the question, "Where were you when the Biafran Genocide began?"

Audio Interview conducted by Chinyere E. of Mrs. Elizabeth Nwachuku 8 Mr. Joshua Nwachuku's Personal recount of the Biafran Genocide.

Audio Interview conducted by  Chinyere E. of Ugboaku Esochiaghi. October 2024. Dr. Esochaghi answering the question: What were the burial practices Igbo people prior to and after the Biafran Genocide?

]]> The Repeating Wound, by Chinyere Erondu ARC Southeast 00:26:44 Oral history storytelling presentation by Chinyere Erondu submitted to ARC Southeast Southern Echoes Fellowship 2024. The Repeating Womb is an oral history 8 narrative storytelling project that analyzes the connections between the 1967-1970 Biafran genocide (known as the targeted extermination of the Igbo people by the Nigerian Government) to our present collective witnessing of the Palestinian Genocide through a reproductive justice lens. As an Igbo-American writer & storyteller, Chinyere Erondu has conducted this project interviews with personal family members with highlighted objectives around reproductive imperialism. With the interviews conducted this segment will include audio clips from their family members and the available resources provided of those who survived the Biafran genocide about their recollections about their home. the land. and space. Chinyere envisions their work from The Repeating Womb and beyond to remain committed to clarifying the groundings of two of the reproductive justice frameworks, specifically, the 3rd and 4th tenets: • The right to parent in a safe, healthy, and supportive environment with adequate resources and without fear of violence from individuals or institutions. • The right to absolute autonomy and freedom from all forms of reproductive oppression. Here, she finds her work fulfilling this goal through oral history and ethical storytelling by analyzing the expansiveness of reproductive oppression that has continually occurred within the Global South (from Nigeria to the U.S.) and embedded in this history of Black diaspora people, i.e., the separation of children from their families as a result of internal displacement and warfare, death-dealing cultures rooted in accumulation and the targeted extermination and elimination of colonized people due to settler colonialism, imperialism, and fascism (in this case, my study of the international connections within reproductive justice). Rather than solely focus on the generational damages that have been caused by reproductive oppression, settler colonialism, imperialism, and fascism, they intend to produce work that centers on examining the resistance tactics towards survival from our people, investing in returning to our anti imperial feminist epistemological sources and studying the basis of reproductive justice as a political strategy to advance the material conditions for Black birthing people. Oral history storytelling presentation by Chinyere Erondu submitted to ARC Southeast Southern Echoes Fellowship 2024. The Repeating Womb is an oral history 8 narrative storytelling project that analyzes the connections between the 1967-1970 Biafran genocide (known as the targeted extermination of the Igbo people by the Nigerian Government) to our present collective witnessing of the Palestinian Genocide through a reproductive justice lens. As an Igbo-American writer & storyteller, Chinyere Erondu has conducted this project interviews with personal family members with highlighted objectives around reproductive imperialism. With the interviews conducted this segment will include audio clips from their family members and the available resources provided of those who survived the Biafran genocide about their recollections about their home. the land. and space. Chinyere envisions their work from The Repeating Womb and beyond to remain committed to clarifying the groundings of two of the reproductive justice frameworks, specifically, the 3rd and 4th tenets: • The right to parent in a safe, healthy, and supportive environment with adequate resources and without fear of violence from individuals or institutions. • The right to absolute autonomy and freedom from all forms of reproductive oppression. Here, she finds her work fulfilling this goal through oral history and ethical storytelling by analyzing the expansiveness of reproductive oppression that has continually occurred within the Global South (from Nigeria to the U.S.) and embedded in this history of Black diaspora people, i.e., the separation of children from their families as a result of internal displacement and warfare, death-dealing cultures rooted in accumulation and the targeted extermination and elimination of colonized people due to settler colonialism, imperialism, and fascism (in this case, my study of the international connections within reproductive justice). Rather than solely focus on the generational damages that have been caused by reproductive oppression, settler colonialism, imperialism, and fascism, they intend to produce work that centers on examining the resistance tactics towards survival from our people, investing in returning to our anti imperial feminist epistemological sources and studying the basis of reproductive justice as a political strategy to advance the material conditions for Black birthing people. false full 4 61d609a8-c519-4983-9667-3ee7a4aaf24c In Conversation w/ Sydney Foster: Tuskegee Roots & Queer Artistry "Our ancestors did not come to the water alone... we truly need each other" -Sydney A. Foster

In this episode, I sit down with visual artist and director Sydney A. Foster to talk about growing up Black and queer in the South, finding liberation through art, and honoring ancestry through spiritual practice. We explore queerness as a politic, what family means, and how reproductive justice is about so much more than abortion access.

Sydney reflects on their healing journey and creative process, and we shout out powerful thinkers like Audre Lorde, Loretta Ross, Dorothy Roberts (Killing the Black Body), and June Jordan—whose work continues to shape how we imagine freedom, care, and community.

Connect with Sydney: @sydney.a.foster   and/or sydney@sydneyafoster.com.

]]> Thu, 31 Jul 2025 21:00:00 +0000 duke@arc-southeast.org (Sydney A. Foster, Audre Lorde, Loretta Ross, June Jordan, dorothy roberts, ARC Southeast, Duke Virginia) https://southern-synergy.simplecast.com/episodes/sydney-foster-tuskegee-roots-queer-artistry-8NH_SI3j "Our ancestors did not come to the water alone... we truly need each other" -Sydney A. Foster

In this episode, I sit down with visual artist and director Sydney A. Foster to talk about growing up Black and queer in the South, finding liberation through art, and honoring ancestry through spiritual practice. We explore queerness as a politic, what family means, and how reproductive justice is about so much more than abortion access.

Sydney reflects on their healing journey and creative process, and we shout out powerful thinkers like Audre Lorde, Loretta Ross, Dorothy Roberts (Killing the Black Body), and June Jordan—whose work continues to shape how we imagine freedom, care, and community.

Connect with Sydney: @sydney.a.foster   and/or sydney@sydneyafoster.com.

]]> In Conversation w/ Sydney Foster: Tuskegee Roots & Queer Artistry Sydney A. Foster, Audre Lorde, Loretta Ross, June Jordan, dorothy roberts, ARC Southeast, Duke Virginia 00:46:55 In today's episode we pulled Sydney Foster for a chat! In this insightful chat, host Duke Virginia sits down with this amazingly talented visual artist, director and photographer who's work intersects with Black southern culture, spirituality and community building. We chat about their roots and early life, becoming an artist, queerness, self love and healing. The conversation naturally shifts to reproductive justice with reflections on building a family as a queer person, access to fertility care and systemic inequities impacting Black and Queer communities. In today's episode we pulled Sydney Foster for a chat! In this insightful chat, host Duke Virginia sits down with this amazingly talented visual artist, director and photographer who's work intersects with Black southern culture, spirituality and community building. We chat about their roots and early life, becoming an artist, queerness, self love and healing. The conversation naturally shifts to reproductive justice with reflections on building a family as a queer person, access to fertility care and systemic inequities impacting Black and Queer communities. true full 3 17f28ad0-dacf-43a5-ba37-7e1f829f0a14 Pause!: Breaking the Cycle: Fear, Stigma, and Criminalization in Reproductive and Social Justice In this talk, we dig into the ways stigma doesn't just shape policy—it shapes culture. It shapes how we treat each other. And we also talk about what it might look like to break that cycle—to name what’s happening, reclaim our autonomy, and build radically honest collective strategies rooted in love, care, and liberation. As always, thanks for being here and I hope this episode encourages you to think more intentionally about your relationship to stigma.

]]> Fri, 11 Jul 2025 16:00:00 +0000 duke@arc-southeast.org (ARC SE, Britni, Khan Academy, Duke Virginia) https://southern-synergy.simplecast.com/episodes/pause-breaking-the-cycle-fear-stigma-and-criminalization-in-reproductive-and-social-justice-hCCxDKr2 In this talk, we dig into the ways stigma doesn't just shape policy—it shapes culture. It shapes how we treat each other. And we also talk about what it might look like to break that cycle—to name what’s happening, reclaim our autonomy, and build radically honest collective strategies rooted in love, care, and liberation. As always, thanks for being here and I hope this episode encourages you to think more intentionally about your relationship to stigma.

]]> Pause!: Breaking the Cycle: Fear, Stigma, and Criminalization in Reproductive and Social Justice ARC SE, Britni, Khan Academy, Duke Virginia 01:52:48 Today’s episode is gonna be the first of a series of episodes that are a little different. I’ll be sharing the recordings of workshops the Organizing & Outreach team at ARC facilitated for our Change your mind, Change the World campaign centered around different types of stigma. In this episode I’ll be sharing the first talk of the series titled Pause!: Breaking the Cycle: Fear, Stigma, and Criminalization in Reproductive Justice facilitated by my colleague Britni and I. This talk was part of a broader conversation around how we name and interrupt the cycles of harm that keep so many of us—especially Black folks, queer, poor, immigrants, disabled folks—trapped in systems of fear and punishment. Whether it’s the criminalization of abortion, parenting while poor, or simply trying to exist outside of rigid binaries, we see how stigma is weaponized, via culture and how this gives the state manufactured permission to show up violently through systems like policing,incarceration, and restrictive laws & medical care. Today’s episode is gonna be the first of a series of episodes that are a little different. I’ll be sharing the recordings of workshops the Organizing & Outreach team at ARC facilitated for our Change your mind, Change the World campaign centered around different types of stigma. In this episode I’ll be sharing the first talk of the series titled Pause!: Breaking the Cycle: Fear, Stigma, and Criminalization in Reproductive Justice facilitated by my colleague Britni and I. This talk was part of a broader conversation around how we name and interrupt the cycles of harm that keep so many of us—especially Black folks, queer, poor, immigrants, disabled folks—trapped in systems of fear and punishment. Whether it’s the criminalization of abortion, parenting while poor, or simply trying to exist outside of rigid binaries, we see how stigma is weaponized, via culture and how this gives the state manufactured permission to show up violently through systems like policing,incarceration, and restrictive laws & medical care. queer, change, bodily autonomy, political education, criminalization, abortion, culture, workshop, southern, synergy, reproductive justice, stigma, black, south, abortionaccess, atlanta, feminism, virtual true full 2 f2c46387-b107-44ac-9d3a-899d00d10c8d Fertility, Freedom & Fight w/Alexia Rice Henry. In this episode of Southern Synergy, host Duke Virginia sits down with Alexia Rice Henry Co-Executive Director at ARC-Southeast to explore her journey with IUI and what it means to build Black queer family in a medical system not designed for us.

Alexia speaks openly about the emotional, physical, and political dynamics of fertility treatment, and how her experience as a Black queer woman navigating IUI intersects with reproductive justice, systemic inequity, and the fight for self-determination in family building.

Some Highlights:

The realities of IUI and fertility treatment for Black queer people

Medical trauma and access barriers in reproductive care

The emotional toll and radical hope needed behind building family especially as a queer Black person

Reproductive justice as a liberatory framework

 

Resources & Mentions:

ARC-Southeast – Abortion and reproductive care support across the South

SisterSong’s Reproductive Justice Framework

Connect with us!

https://arc-southeast.org https://www.instagram.com/arc_southeast/ 

]]> Wed, 14 May 2025 17:00:00 +0000 duke@arc-southeast.org (Duke, Alexia Rice-Henry) https://southern-synergy.simplecast.com/episodes/fertility-upclose-5mV9v6hk In this episode of Southern Synergy, host Duke Virginia sits down with Alexia Rice Henry Co-Executive Director at ARC-Southeast to explore her journey with IUI and what it means to build Black queer family in a medical system not designed for us.

Alexia speaks openly about the emotional, physical, and political dynamics of fertility treatment, and how her experience as a Black queer woman navigating IUI intersects with reproductive justice, systemic inequity, and the fight for self-determination in family building.

Some Highlights:

The realities of IUI and fertility treatment for Black queer people

Medical trauma and access barriers in reproductive care

The emotional toll and radical hope needed behind building family especially as a queer Black person

Reproductive justice as a liberatory framework

 

Resources & Mentions:

ARC-Southeast – Abortion and reproductive care support across the South

SisterSong’s Reproductive Justice Framework

Connect with us!

https://arc-southeast.org https://www.instagram.com/arc_southeast/ 

]]> Fertility, Freedom & Fight w/Alexia Rice Henry. Duke, Alexia Rice-Henry 00:52:00 In this episode, Southern Synergy explores the deeply personal and complex journey of Alexia Rice Henry, as she navigates in vitro fertilization (IVF/IUI) within the context of reproductive justice. Alexia shares her experiences, struggles, and triumphs with IVF, reflecting on how systemic barriers affect Black women, queer families, and marginalized communities seeking fertility treatments. The conversation also touches on the intersection of access to reproductive care, equity, and the emotional and physical tolls of fertility treatment. In this episode, Southern Synergy explores the deeply personal and complex journey of Alexia Rice Henry, as she navigates in vitro fertilization (IVF/IUI) within the context of reproductive justice. Alexia shares her experiences, struggles, and triumphs with IVF, reflecting on how systemic barriers affect Black women, queer families, and marginalized communities seeking fertility treatments. The conversation also touches on the intersection of access to reproductive care, equity, and the emotional and physical tolls of fertility treatment. fertility justice, queer, black queer family, iui fertility treatment, storytelling, iui, ivf, fertility and black women, bodily autonomy, black maternal health, medical racism, queer kinship, abolition, queer parenting, arc-southeast, reproductive justice, obgyn, reproductive rights, family building, black feminism, reproductive care in the south, organizing, feminism, rj, lgbtq+ true full 1 06c51343-7da2-4f58-a9a8-809be0b00efa Can I Live?: The Intro Duke shares their personal grounding in the reproductive justice framework, introduces the kinds of deep, intimate conversations to expect this season—from IVF and chosen family to art, spirituality, and destigmatization—and asks the guiding question: Can I live? Both a reflection and a call to action, this episode invites listeners into a space where culture, politics, and collective power through storytelling meet. 

]]> Fri, 9 May 2025 16:00:00 +0000 duke@arc-southeast.org (Duke Virginia) https://southern-synergy.simplecast.com/episodes/can-i-live-the-intro-m0MqW0WA Duke shares their personal grounding in the reproductive justice framework, introduces the kinds of deep, intimate conversations to expect this season—from IVF and chosen family to art, spirituality, and destigmatization—and asks the guiding question: Can I live? Both a reflection and a call to action, this episode invites listeners into a space where culture, politics, and collective power through storytelling meet. 

]]> Can I Live?: The Intro Duke Virginia 00:11:44 In this intro episode of Southern Synergy, host Duke Virginia sets the tone for a podcast rooted in reproductive justice, abolition, and Black queer Southern life. In this intro episode of Southern Synergy, host Duke Virginia sets the tone for a podcast rooted in reproductive justice, abolition, and Black queer Southern life. ivf, abortion access, bodily autonomy, political education, criminalization, southern storytelling, abortion, repro, arc-southeast, reproductive justice, obgyn, stigma, abortion in the south, black feminism, southern synergy, atlanta, can i live, destigmatization, black queer, communit organizing, black queer feminism false trailer