Healing Race

What Is It Like To Be Black in America? A First Conversation about Race Starts Here...

What happens when college freshman roommates, friends of 25 years - one black, one white - have their first conversation about race?
When Todd asked Andre about having their first conversation about race and recording it to make it public, Andre said to himself 'what can I say that isn't being said already by others?' But then he thought, "When a person comes to you heart in hand and ready to listen, you rise and speak YOUR truth." Andre realized he wasn't a person in the news cycle. He was a real person holding the key to opening a heart…
As you’ll see, Andre and Todd don’t agree about everything and there are some tense moments in their conversation. But they lay it all out on the table, without fear of judgment, knowing that they are imperfect people having a conversation about a complicated topic, and they will make missteps.
Andre and Todd share their experiences and beliefs when it comes to race knowing that they don’t know the whole story about race in this country… and can’t speak for all black people or all white people. They know they don't have all “the answers,” but they do have the willingness to listen and explore… as they have a real-deal, don’t filter what you think conversation about race.
So what does a first conversation about race look like? Watch this first episode of Healing Race now to find out...
To be a guest on Healing Race, email us at guests@HealingRaceShow.com
To suggest a topic for Healing Race, email us at topics@HealingRaceShow.com
 
 

Do Black Americans Still Have Reason to Live On Guard?

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 was behind the emotions he felt when he shared the fears he has for his safety. So let’s move to that conversation now. Enjoy…
To be a guest on Healing Race, email us at guests@HealingRaceShow.com
To suggest a topic for Healing Race, email us at topics@HealingRaceShow.com
 

Is Black Skepticism of White Motivations Justified in Today’s America?

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, including their reactions to the racially motivated Buffalo shooting. So let’s get to that conversation now. Enjoy…
To be a guest on Healing Race, email us at guests@HealingRaceShow.com
To suggest a topic for Healing Race, email us at topics@HealingRaceShow.com
 

What is the Toll of Racial Violence on Black Lives?

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 first with a clip from the previous episode that triggered the conversation. Enjoy…
To be a guest on Healing Race, email us at guests@HealingRaceShow.com
To suggest a topic for Healing Race, email us at topics@HealingRaceShow.com
 

How Far Have We Come on Race: The Buffalo Shooting

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 the question, “Have times changed enough from when that wisdom was developed to mean that it should be applied differently today?” So let’s move to that conversation now. Enjoy…
To be a guest on Healing Race, email us at guests@HealingRaceShow.com
To suggest a topic for Healing Race, email us at topics@HealingRaceShow.com
 

Growing Up White: An Upbringing without Race

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 back to explore how their different upbringings laid the groundwork for their different approaches to race relations.
So let’s get to that conversation now. Enjoy…
To be a guest on Healing Race, email us at guests@HealingRaceShow.com
To suggest a topic for Healing Race, email us at topics@HealingRaceShow.com
 

Do White Americans Really Care About Being "White?"

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 that be? Let’s move to that conversation now. Enjoy…
To be a guest on Healing Race, email us at guests@HealingRaceShow.com
To suggest a topic for Healing Race, email us at topics@HealingRaceShow.com
 

Does Focusing on Race Increase Racial Conflict?

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 community is portrayed can heighten white Americans’ feelings that the black community is a threat. How strongly do whites identify with their race? Let’s move to that conversation now. Enjoy…
To be a guest on Healing Race, email us at guests@HealingRaceShow.com
To suggest a topic for Healing Race, email us at topics@HealingRaceShow.com
 

Bonus Episode: Hate, Undone. With Daryl Davis.

"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 Revere’s ride to Concord, when he began getting hit by bottles. It was then that he formed a question in his mind that he’s spent much of a lifetime answering: “How can you hate me when you don’t even know me?” Failing to find his answer in books and history, as an adult and an accomplished musician, he realized who better to ask than a member of an organization formed around the premise—the KKK. So began our guest’s extraordinary story, in which a black man befriended over 200 KKK members, starting with a grand wizard. We’ll learn how his improbable, impossible, openhearted journey can light our way.
Musician and Race Reconciliator Daryl Davis, has single-handedly been the impetus for over two hundred White supremacists to renounce their ideology and turn their lives around. As a Black man, Daryl has attended more Ku Klux Klan rallies than most White people and certainly most Blacks — short of being on the wrong end of a rope. His true-life encounters with Grand Dragons, Imperial Wizards, neo-Nazi Commanders are detailed in his documentary Accidental Courtesy, and his riveting first book Klan-Destine Relationships. Daryl tours around the country and around the world performing musical concerts and giving lectures on race reconciliation, inspiring both racists and non-racists to redirect their positions toward working together to truly make America the greatest country it can be.

Does Skin Color Still Play A Large Role in America?

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 new college environment differed, and how their backgrounds helped shape those differences. So let’s get to that conversation now. Enjoy…
To be a guest on Healing Race, email us at guests@HealingRaceShow.com
To suggest a topic for Healing Race, email us at topics@HealingRaceShow.com