This weeks episode, I have the deep privilege of having someone near and dear to me from my past on the podcast — my ex boyfriend Wesley.
When the Black Lives Matter protests began getting amplified all across the United States and the world these last few weeks, I knew that I wanted to facilitate a conversation around this on the podcast. But I also knew that I needed to listen to what the black activists and friends in my life were saying around how I could use my platform for good.
I learned a few things:
1) It’s not my role to educate around the topics of racism and oppression in the world (This was a le duh thing for me — but also I’ve been seeing a lot of white people, especially people in the influencer/spiritual world really using this time as a way to capitalize and teach and bring in their white saviorism, and it has sickened me to watch)
2) It’s also NOT okay to be quiet. I wanted to say something. I have a lot to say. And, in the past, I had stopped myself from speaking up or standing up because I thought that it was inappropriate to do so because I am a white person. I’ve learned that being quiet is simply another way of being a part of the problem. And I won’t be quiet any longer.
3) I also am deeply aware that black people, on the whole, are TIRED of doing the emotional labor and fighting the fight right now.
Through my self exploration, education and processing around everything going on, when I thought about how I wanted to tackle this on the podcast, I knew where I needed to go. My relationship with Wesley was a deep, loving and incredibly impactful relationship in my life. He was my first love. And yet, in our three years together, we never discussed the fact that he was black and I was white. We didn’t talk about our differing experiences as a result of race.
Today, we deep dive into all of that and so much more. This conversation is incredibly potent, loving, and it’s something that I know each and every single one of you will be able to hear yourself in, in some way. I hope this emboldens you to start a conversation with the people in your lives. Let’s keep moving the needle forward, you badasses.
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