Baha’i Blogcast with Rainn Wilson – Episode 10: Joy DeGruy

Hello and welcome to the Baha’i Blogcast with me your host, Rainn Wilson.

In this series of podcasts I interview members of the Baha’i Faith and friends from all over the world about their hearts, and minds, and souls, their spiritual journeys, what they’re interested in, and what makes them tick.

In this episode I interview Dr. Joy DeGruy, an internationally renowned researcher, educator, author and presenter living in the United States. We talk about how she became a Baha’i and her research and work creating and developing the concept of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome. We also talk about how we can affect change in society, especially when it comes to dismantling racism, and we end our discussion speaking about Joy’s love of fishing.

Here are links to some of the things mentioned in our conversation:

Joy speaks of her admiration for Hooper Dunbar and mentions his book, Forces of Our Time: The Dynamics of Light and Darkness (which can be purchased here on Amazon).

This is a link to the video I summarized where Joy recounts being discriminated against at the grocery store: Cracking the Codes: Joy DeGruy “A Trip to the Grocery Store”

Here is the quotation Joy recited, a quotation that moves her deeply, from Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah:

Night hath succeeded day, and day hath succeeded night, and the hours and moments of your lives have come and gone, and yet none of you hath, for one instant, consented to detach himself from that which perisheth. Bestir yourselves, that the brief moments that are still yours may not be dissipated and lost. Even as the swiftness of lightning your days shall pass, and your bodies shall be laid to rest beneath a canopy of dust. What can ye then achieve? How can ye atone for your past failure?

To find out more about Joy and her work, check out her website: joydegruy.com

Be sure to ‘subscribe’ to the Baha’i Blogcast for more weekly episodes on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify and Soundcloud.

Thanks for listening!

-Rainn Wilson

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Sonjel Vreeland

In her innermost heart, Sonjel is a stay-at-home parent and a bookworm with a maxed out library card but professionally she is a museologist with a background in English Literature. She currently lives on Prince Edward Island, an isle in the shape of a smile on the eastern Canadian coast. Sonjel is a writer who loves to listen to jazz when she's driving at night.