It might seem that a lot of the conversations that we had about privilege, land acknowledgements and racial politics have been forgotten, co-opted or pushed to the wayside since 2020, but that’s not entirely true. There are some people out there still working, thinking and trying to find valuable ways to create more equity in our modern world.

On this episode of Braver New Worlds, Nathan talks with writer, facilitator, and author Hilary Giovale about what it can look like for white descendants of American settlers to engage honestly with the history they inherited—and to move from shame and defensiveness toward healing, relationship, and repair.

Hilary’s own journey began when she discovered a family genealogy documenting her ancestors’ arrival from the Scottish Highlands in 1739, their receipt of land grants, and their ownership of enslaved people. She describes the discovery as a “life assignment” and traces how it led her into ancestral work, storytelling, grieving, questions of place, and eventually the writing of Becoming a Good Relative: Calling White Settlers Toward Truth, Healing, and Repair.

Our conversation explores the defensive reaction many people have when confronting painful history, important reframes for how to confront it, and the possibility of reconnecting to our place in history in the process.

Hilary shares her own advice towards making personal reparations, entering existing community work quietly and humbly, and growing these actions as practices so they can become less like individual acts and more like a way of life.

Nathan and Hilary also discuss reparative philanthropy, wealth redistribution, ancestral memory, and the possibility of learning from Indigenous leadership without becoming appropriative. Hilary closes with a hopeful observation: even when the political climate feels discouraging, a grassroots groundswell of people is continuing this work.

Links

• Guide to Making a Personal Reparations Plan
• Becoming a Good Relative book page
• Decolonizing Wealth Project
• Article about peak name change
• Website: https://www.goodrelative.com/
• Events: https://www.goodrelative.com/events
• Book: https://www.goodrelative.com/book
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hilarygiovaleauthor/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hilary.giovale/

Hilary Giovale is a writer, community organizer, facilitator, and white American settler who lives on Indigenous land in Flagstaff, Arizona. As an active reparationist, she seeks to follow Indigenous and Black leadership in support of human rights, environmental justice, and equitable futures. She is the author of the award-winning book Becoming a Good Relative: Calling White Settlers toward Truth, Healing, and Repair, now in its second edition. Learn more about Hilary’s work here: https://www.goodrelative.com/

What does it mean to act beyond the edge of our comfort when there is genuine risk involved?

And what does courage look like when the stakes are real, the systems around us are powerful, and the outcome isn't guaranteed?

For this episode we welcome Karim Bouris, Principal of Strategy and Advocacy at Mixte Communications. He joins Nathan for a wide-ranging conversation about storytelling, propaganda, media, identity, values-driven work, and the difficulty of staying engaged when the world gives us plenty of reasons to disengage.

That leads to a deeper conversation about the stories Western culture tells about individualism, success, and responsibility. Karim and Nathan explore how the idea that “the problem is you” can obscure the systems and structures surrounding us—and how collective forms of courage can be harder to recognize when we're accustomed to looking for individual heroes.

The conversation eventually moves into Karim's Palestinian and Lebanese identity and his advocacy work around Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, and media coverage of the conflict. Karim discusses the importance of language, the politics of naming, the distinction he draws between Zionism and Judaism, and what he sees as the consequences of applying different standards and terminology to different groups.

Throughout the conversation, the question isn't simply whether we should be more courageous. It's what conditions make courage possible—and what stories, communities, and practices can help us keep showing up even when we don't know how the story ends.

Karim Bouris is Principal of Strategy and Advocacy at Mixte Communications, a boutique communications firm that works with organizations focused on justice, health, and freedom. With more than 20 years in advocacy communications, Karim works at the intersection of strategy, storytelling, public relations, and social change.

Karim describes himself as 100% Palestinian, 100% Lebanese, and 100% American. His family history, experience as the child of refugees, and search for language to describe his own identity have deeply shaped his approach to advocacy and communications.

At Mixte, Karim and his colleagues work with organizations whose missions they believe in, including tribal nations, labor groups, housing advocates, and civic organizations. His work centers on helping people hear difficult messages, understand why they matter, and engage rather than tune out.

Links:
Mixte Communications — gomixte.com
Karim on LinkedIn — linkedin.com/in/karimbouris/
Karim on Instagram — instagram.com/karimbouris/
Karim's essay on Arab identity and the “Shami” framing — gomixte.com/blog/arab-identity-shami

What kind of world are we building through the way we move money?

It’s a question that gets at the heart of everything. Because unless we finance the world we want, we’re unlikely to get it.

This week Nathan is joined by Alexander “Brave Journey” Sterling. He is Co-Founder and CEO of Turtle Island Community Capital, a financial service organization working to build the monetary infrastructure for Indigenous communities to have greater agency over their own capital, rather than simply greater access to existing financial systems.

Alexander argues that capital is infrastructure. Communities need more than money: they need trust, relationships, knowledge, technical assistance, institutions, and long-term support that allow capital to actually work.

The conversation moves from fundraising and storytelling into much bigger questions about power, risk, philanthropy, Indigenous economic sovereignty, ecological stewardship, and what it means to finance a future that does not yet fully exist.

The conversation also examines why storytelling matters so much in fundraising. Alexander argues that what moves people is often not another quantitative metric but a story about how something became possible. Changing the stories funders encounter about Indigenous communities can therefore change not only perceptions, but where capital flows.

Alexander “Brave Journey” Sterling is Co-Founder and CEO of Turtle Island Community Capital, a Native-led financial institution building the capital infrastructure Indigenous communities need to shape their own futures. His work sits at the intersection of impact investing, community development, and national field building, advancing models that move power, resources, and decision-making closer to communities.

Alexander works across movements to strengthen relationships among investors, funders, CDFIs, and community leaders, championing a more relational and regenerative financial system rooted in sovereignty, reciprocity, shared prosperity, and long-term community resilience.

Links

Website: turtleislandcommunitycapital.org
LinkedIn: Turtle Island Community Capital
Instagram: @Turtleislandcc
Threads: @Turtleislandcc
Facebook: Turtle Island Community Capital