A Word from the Nap Bishop

When Tricia Hersey was in seminary school, she was exhausted. On top of classes and homework, she had a job and a child. She often wouldn’t get to sleep until 2am, and her grades were suffering. Then, one day, as she was researching histories of enslaved people and Black liberation, she had an idea: instead of running herself into the ground, what if she took a nap instead? 

That decision turned into a practice of rest in her own life, and then Tricia started sharing it with her community. Soon, her seminary background and her work on rest melded together and in 2016, Tricia founded the Nap Ministry, and became the Nap Bishop. 

This week on Into America, Tricia tells Trymaine Lee about how she is helping Black people renounce white supremacist and capitalist ideas of work and reclaim rest as radical resistance. 

For a transcript, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/intoamerica. 

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at intoamerica@nbcuni.com.

Further Reading and Listening: 

• The Great Resignation: Why millions of workers are quitting
• The Nap Ministry
• Listen to a musical medication by Tricia Hersey