About

A black man steps out onto the street and sees the word “POWERLESS” on a New York City newspaper headline. For most people, they knew it to mean an electrical blackout in the city. To Theo Wilson, the word had a totally different meaning, as it was exactly how he felt having just walked away from nearly being beaten to death by police and stripped of his sense of manhood.On this episode of Stories of Transformation, we sit down with Theo Wilson, who delivered a viral TEDx talk entitled “A black man goes undercover in the alt-right”, detailing his experience creating a white supremacist online avatar and diving into the depths of the Interwebs, and what shocking realizations he’d made about how racism is perpetuated.Mr. Wilson is also a poet, activist, and Executive Director of Shop Talk Live, Inc, an organization that uses the barbershop as a staging ground for community dialogue and healing. Grab your tissues, because in this episode Theo delivers a powerful and deeply moving poem about a childhood friend who was lost due to police brutality and Theo’s own survivor’s guilt.He also recounts his personal experience with police brutality and the deep impact it had on his sense of self-worth, and how he still struggles at times today. Mr. Wilson brings clarity to what feels like chaos going on in the world today. He takes it to the individual level, to help us understand what is going on in our own minds, hearts, and souls, and how we’re all interconnected, so we can see how truly none of us are free until we are all free. We hope you’ll share this episode far and wide, and start to have your own “shop talk” conversations face to face with people who you don’t agree with, in order to advance the human race.For full show notes: https://www.baktashahadi.com/podcast Connect with Theo Wilsonhttp://www.theowilson.net/http://www.shoptalklive.org/ Produced by: Dana Drahos Edited by: Joseph GangemiDigital Marketing by: Katherine An Theme music by: Qais Essar Artwork by: Masheed AhadiAdditional Music by: Philip Daniel