Épisodes

  • Lessons from Mamas and Mother Figures

    Lessons from Mamas and Mother Figures
    May 7 2025
    In this profoundly personal season opener, host David Johns sits down with his first teacher—his mother, Edith Johns—to explore the foundations of advocacy, resilience, and love. Mama Johns shares her journey from experiencing childhood trauma to becoming a fierce advocate for her children, fighting educational injustice with lawyers in tow when necessary. With remarkable candor, she discusses her path to acceptance, the challenges of single motherhood, and her recent discovery of peace at age 68.

    This conversation starts our season 'Rooted Resistance: Ancestral Wisdom for Revolutionary Times,' centered on lessons from mothers and maternal figures who've shaped us. Through laughter, vulnerability, and generations of wisdom, this episode reminds us that our collective liberation begins with healing our relationships and showing up fully for one another, especially in challenging times.

    Whether you're a parent, a child, or both, this episode offers powerful lessons about advocating for the next generation while finding your path to peace. As fascism threatens our communities, Mama Johns reminds us that fierce love is our most powerful weapon.

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/teach-the-babies-w-dr-david-j-johns--6173854/support.
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    34 min
  • There's Power In Community

    There's Power In Community
    Apr 29 2025
    In this season finale of Teach The Babies, Dr. David J. Johns welcomes power couple Michelle Molitor and Caroline Hill for a profound conversation about the revolutionary potential of community. These visionary educators and equity champions share their journey from meeting in a principal training program to becoming partners in both purpose and love. Together, they explore how to "flatten hierarchies without flattening people" and remind us that in times of political uncertainty, our collective power remains undiminished.

    This capstone conversation weaves together the season's central themes: the courage to dream in Afrofuturistic colors, the necessity of equitable education, and the radical potential of loving community. Listeners will leave inspired by their practical strategies for "seeding disruption" and creating environments where everyone is seen as enough because they exist. Join us for this inspiring finale as we close Season 2 and look ahead to new explorations in Season 3. As Caroline reminds us, "We cannot take our humanity for granted" - a fitting conclusion to a season dedicated to defending democracy and expanding equity through education.

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/teach-the-babies-w-dr-david-j-johns--6173854/support.
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    1 h et 10 min
  • Say Gay

    Say Gay
    Apr 22 2025
    I bet cash, US dollars, that you’ve heard “Don’t Say Gay,” but have you met the leader behind the truth-anchored reframing of a Florida bill (HB 1577) designed to prevent us from honoring that people be gay (in my Quinta Brunson voice). Civil Rights activist Nadine Smith stops by class to talk about how much we’ve gained in the fights for racial equity and LGBTQ+ equality, why she founded Equality Florida, a statewide advocacy organization she continues to lead, in 1997, and she drops gems to help us all get closer to freedom including the importance of returning home to lead and having a local and state political strategy, looking to history for lessons to win the future, and organizing in community.

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/teach-the-babies-w-dr-david-j-johns--6173854/support.
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    1 h et 8 min
  • Stay Educated

    Stay Educated
    Apr 15 2025
    Leave it to the babies to stop by class to teach us the importance of staying woke. Hobbes Chukumba is a STEAM-loving scholar who helped organize the national trans prom when he was sixteen. Hobbes and his father, Stephen, provide a master class on the importance of sacrificing to do our part so that the opposition does not win and the importance of appreciating one another’s humanity. They want us to remember that when we come together, there’s nothing we can’t do and provide tangible strategies to get closer to freedom and center joy in the process.

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/teach-the-babies-w-dr-david-j-johns--6173854/support.
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    52 min
  • Trans Joy In Action

    Trans Joy In Action
    Apr 8 2025
    Daniel Trujillo is a seventeen-year-old Chicano high school student from Tucson, Arizona, who is most known for being one of the creators and four organizers of Trans Prom. He’s been advocating for trans rights for most of his young life. Daniel and his rockstar momadvocate stop by the class to talk about the toll that forced political interruptions take on a family, the importance of supporting trans joy in action, and what it's like to be required to teach your peers while trying to be educated at school.

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/teach-the-babies-w-dr-david-j-johns--6173854/support.
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    51 min
  • Joy Is Resistance

    Joy Is Resistance
    Apr 1 2025
    What do you know about trans joy? On this podcast episode, we’re joined by Vanessa Ford, an award-winning educator, author, and parent and Rebecca Kling, an educator, organizer, storyteller, and advocate for social change. The two talk about their collaboration to publish “The Advocate Educator’s Handbook: Creating Schools Where Transgender and Non-Binary Students Thrive” and the lessons they’ve learned working with educators, parents, and adults to encourage expansive resistance, remembering the importance of community and the politics of passing.

    Trump Is Rolling Back Protections for Transgender Students. What Educators Can Do https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-trump-is-rolling-back-protections-for-transgender-students-what-educators-can-do/2025/01

    www.jrandvanessaford.com
    www.theadvocateeducator.com
    VanessaFordDC
    www.RebeccaKling.com

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/teach-the-babies-w-dr-david-j-johns--6173854/support.
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    1 h et 9 min
  • Love All The Babies

    Love All The Babies
    Mar 25 2025
    Rainbow In Black is a non-profit organization that provides unwavering support, resources, and advocacy for Black families of transgender and gender-diverse youth. Sonia Murphy and Keisha Bell, two of the organization's three founders and operators, join the class to discuss the importance of creating community, advocating and showing up for all the babies, and addressing church hurt and hypocrisy. They remind us that acceptance does not require understanding, break down what “gender diverse” means, and talk about organizations like Gender Cool that work alongside Rainbow In Black and NBJC to ensure that YOU have everything you need so we all get free!

    https://www.rainbowinblack.org/

    https://gendercool.org/

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/teach-the-babies-w-dr-david-j-johns--6173854/support.
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    57 min
  • Where IS my home?!? #AfricanAncestry

    Where IS my home?!? #AfricanAncestry
    Mar 18 2025
    If you’re still thinking about the significance of home or getting a DNA test to know where your people are from, this episode is for YOU. Dr. Gina Paige, co-founder of African Ancestry Inc., joined the class to discuss the company's pioneering efforts to ensure African descendants throughout the diaspora are empowered with information about the communities we come from and can contribute to, what distinguishes them from other companies that profit from selling our genetic information while also lacking the range to provide us with meaningful information in the exchange, and the power we can draw from having meaningful information about who we are and where we draw strength from.

    African Ancestry is offering a 10% discount on its DNA testing kits as a gift to the class. Visit AfricanAncestry.Com/Discount and use the code “TeachTheBabies” to activate the offer

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/teach-the-babies-w-dr-david-j-johns--6173854/support.
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    46 min