Healing Race

In this video, Andre and Todd reflect on their conversation in the first episode, discussing the parallels between Black and Jewish histories of discrimination and hate and how they think about those histories when it comes to our country today.

Andre asks Todd about times when he’s felt fears for his own safety and relate his stories to his experience as a Black man in this country.

Andre also gives us greater insight into what wa...

In this episode, Andre and Todd discuss their different views on the threat of racial violence, whether anyone is capable of being pushed to violence, what’s behind the caution that Andre brings to Black-white relationships, and how canceling each other’s views and experiences impedes our ability to have open, honest conversations about race.

They then follow with two videos where they reflect on this episode’s conversation, includ...

In this episode, Andre reflects on how the threat of racial discrimination and violence has impacted him and his relationships and the walls that our racial challenges can lead us to put up between each other.

They also talk about whether the focus on racial stories in today’s media is a net good or net bad for society and race relations, discussing both its upsides and downsides. So let’s get to that conversation now, starting fir...

In this episode, Todd and Andre react to the racially motivated Buffalo shooting at Tops supermarket. Andre shares the impact that public racially motivated deaths have on him and others in the Black community and how important to him it is to heed the wisdom passed down through generations of his and other Black families about how to respond to the threat of racial violence and discrimination.

At the same time, they also discuss t...

In this episode, Andre asks Todd what it was like to grow up white, and Todd reflects on the role that race played in his upbringing, also sharing a story about the first time he experienced a racial conflict. They also discuss what leads us to identify with a race.

In previous episodes, you could see how Todd and Andre think approach the issue of race in our country very differently. In our upcoming episodes, they turn the clock b...

In this episode, Todd and Andre continue their conversation about the role of racial identity in our country’s racial challenges. How strongly do white Americans identify with being white? Are the motivations for white Americans to identify as white the same as and as strong as the motivations for Black Americans to identify as Black?

Should we want white Americans to identify more with their whiteness? What would the effects of th...

In this episode, Andre and Todd discuss whether the strong focus on race in our country and the demand by some that white people own their whiteness when it comes to racial issues can lead to backlash among some whites that increases their identification with the white identity and their feeling of being in conflict with non-white groups.

They also discuss the role of mainstream and social media and whether the way that the black c...

"WHEN TWO ENEMIES ARE TALKING, THEY'RE NOT FIGHTING."

Healing Race is excited to release this special bonus episode from a partner podcast, Village SquareCast, a podcast about the things your mother told you not to discuss in polite company - politics, race and religion.

When Daryl Davis was ten, he didn’t understand hate yet. But then he was the only black scout in a parade to honor Paul Rev...

In this episode, Andre shares what it was like to move from a home life surrounded by a largely Black community, where he was one of many, to an academic and professional life, where he was one of few, largely surrounded by and having his success very much depend on white relationships.

Andre and Todd were freshman roommates when he made that transition to being one of few, and they reflect on how their experiences adapting to a ne...

In this episode, Todd and Andre discuss the challenges that Black Americans face as they aspire to create the careers and relationships they desire, and how those challenges impact the kind of Black person they can be.

In a world where career success depends on the social relationships you develop with people who have influence and networks of opportunity, what pressures exist for members of the Black community to adapt the way the...

In this episode, Andre and Todd discuss the question, “How much do different cultural ways of living based on race create barriers between Black and white Americans and matter in our world today?

Do all people have to learn to follow society’s norms in similar ways, or are Black people affected in a unique, particular way? What role do stereotypes about Black people and Black culture play in our need to adapt to those norms? Let’s ...

In this episode, Todd asks Andre if he would ideally like to live in a world where we don’t identify ourselves with the color of our skin. Should we want to live in a world where the groups we identify with are not based on our color, and what are the challenges in getting there?

As part of responding to Todd’s question, Andre shares why he think it’s important and what motivates many members of the black community to identify with...

In this episode, Todd and Andre discuss whether a kind of psychology of ownership - where white people feel a right to black lives and what they produce - has endured from the time when black people were the property of white people… and if it has, how prevalent is it currently?

How can we actually tell if a white person harbors this kind of psychology of ownership, or if behaviors that might look like racial prejudice - or even ra...

Andre and Todd discuss whether there is a pervasive need, a shared psychology, among White Americans for Black Americans to stay in “their place” and occupy lesser roles in society.

With whites having controlled power throughout the course of U.S. history, have they made, and do they continue to make, deliberate choices to sustain racial inequities? Are white reactions to Black Americans defying black stereotypes a sign that they r...

Andre and Todd ask… Does the perpetuation of racial inequities reflect an attempt among a large number of white Americans to deliberately shut out Black Americans from equal opportunity, or is it more a product of white Americans passively being advantaged from historical injustices?

Or is it neither - are there no systemic issues, past or present, that continue to play a role in today’s racial inequities? Let’s get to that convers...

Todd and Andre discuss the role that racial biases, made by everyday Americans, can play in the differences in opportunity and support that white and black Americans experience across their lifetimes. Do white Americans have a moral responsibility to work against the ways that society benefits them, on average, relative to black Americans?

And does not doing so reflect an inner belief among whites that they deserve those benefits m...

Todd and Andre discuss the White Lives Matter phenomenon. What makes some people feel the need to state that White Lives Matter? And what motivates some prominent Black Americans to promote White Lives Matter?

Andre and Todd also discuss the upsides and downsides of taking a more universal approach - not based on racial identity - to solving social issues… and whether focusing on race can increase racial conflict. So let’s get to t...

Andre and Todd continue discussing White Lives Matter. Does the Black Lives Matter movement create an environment that has white people feeling like their lives - or perhaps their views - don’t matter? In focusing on Black Lives does Black Lives Matter run counter to the goal that everyone has a right to a thriving life… or is it a necessary step to that goal?

And how would people’s views on these questions change if they spent mor...

In previous episodes, Todd and Andre shed light on their different upbringings and the role that race played in those upbringings.

In this episode, Andre asks Todd when he first became aware of systemic bias against members of the black community, and Todd shares the first time he heard someone in his social network express support for discriminatory practices as well as the first time he saw firsthand how people from different rac...