2. A Conversation with José Santos Woss

In episode two of the Western Friend Podcast, we bring you a critical conversation with José Santos Woss, the Director of Justice Reform for Friends Committee on National Legislation.  We explore how he came to Quakerism as a young Black Latino man, the meaning he finds in his work, and several of the urgent projects he’s working on at the moment including advocating to end perpetual punishment and working with violence interrupters to end gun violence. Following the interview, Jon Stoll and colin cole of Soul Force Ones reflect on some of their main takeaways.

Don't forget to join us in an online conversation about this podcast, the evening of Tuesday, September 14, 2021, click here.

For more podcasts from Western Friend's partner, Soul Force Ones, click here.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 1:24 José as a Black, Quaker, Latino
• 6:13 Losing and finding faith
• 9:29 Language and identity
• 13:14 Cool, perseverance
• 17:57 Caste and colorism
• 23:19 Unlearning racism
• 26:29 Dearth of young Quakers, Black Quakers
• 29:50 Agnosticism, good works, salvation
• 35:37 Policy work to reform law enforcement
• 43:56 Local work for national change
• 47:52 Recharging, recentering
• 49:42 The Remix with Jon and colin: Meditation, nature, right relationship
• 1:10:33 Outro