Healing Race

Our guests discuss whether early White Americans truly believed that black people weren’t fully human, or if they simply rationalized that belief to themselves to justify maintaining the institution of slavery and the power and prosperity it gave them.  Marin, Susan, Marcus and Landon also discuss if we should prioritize or minimize learning American history through a racial lens, covering the rac...

How can our country teach the good and the bad of our history in a way that confronts the racial challenges we've had while also highlighting the good that we've brought to our country and the world? Can we teach our racial history in a way that isn’t watered down - covering the range of discrimination, persecution, and prejudice that has existed - but that also doesn’t create defensiveness with A...

Our guests talk about whether it’s time to let go of thinking about race relations through the prism of our difficult racial history. Have times changed enough when it comes to the role of race in society and the impact of skin color on Americans’ lives to think differently about the way race does or does not divide us today? Marin, Susan, Marcus and Landon also discuss the difficulty that exists...

In this episode, Marin asks Susan how her perceptions and beliefs around race have evolved given her upbringing in a Southern community where open racial bigotry was commonplace and racial segregation was the norm. What kind of life experiences can shape and re-shape our views about race, and how do we handle new information that contradicts what we’ve been socialized to believe about each other?...

In this episode, Landon asks how we can make progress in putting our racial past behind us and focus more on our future together. Would resolving racial inequalities make a difference Are America's racial disparities still a product of racial injustice? Should economic reparations be part of the solution? What do our guests think about intensely debated ideas like affirmative action and reparation...

In this episode, our guests discuss their feelings about policing and the way that police are viewed and treated in America today. Marcus pointedly asks why he, as a black police officer, is outcast from his black community because of his choice to be a cop. Should black cops be seen as Uncle Toms and race traitors or be a source of Black pride and police reform? Are black cops a target or raciali...

In this episode, our four guests discuss racial protests and policing. Why have some of today’s protests become more violent or destructive than the silent, nonviolent marches that have taken place in decades past? Is this more forceful approach necessary to create social change? Our guests also explore their feelings about police and the idea of defunding the police. What’s changed in the relatio...

Thank you for tuning into Healing Race. In this episode, our four guests - Marin, Susan, Landon and Marcus - talk about how they view our racial history. Landon wonders how the other guests process the good, the bad and the ugly of our history, particularly as it relates to race - do we feel bitterness or espouse a victim narrative? Do we idealize our nation and its history and focus too much on o...

Thank you for tuning into Healing Race. In this episode, our four guests continue to discuss how their upbringings shaped their views about race. Marin and Marcus share what they learned as Black Americans growing up about what it means to be black or white in our country. The conversation touches on the role of race in standards of beauty, in how we see - or don’t see - ourselves represented in b...

Over the course of the next few episodes, you will see our first ever group of guests - four Americans, two black, two white - have their first conversation about race together. They start by sharing how their backgrounds have uniquely shaped their approach to race and why they wanted to take part in a Healing Race conversation. Marin then asks the white guests what they learned about black people...

What happens when four Americans - two black and two white - meet each other and have their first conversation about race together? For this next season of Healing Race, Andre and Todd will be bringing guests from across America together onto the show to ask the questions that they most want to discuss, or that they think our society should be talking about, when it comes to race. In the first epi...

Andre and Todd talk more about political correctness and what some call “cancel culture” - where people who say or do something that’s seen as politically incorrect are punished in some way. Should we just grow a thick skin that makes us resilient at times we might feel disrespected? Or should we also change the ways that we treat each other to bring more respect and inclusiveness to our interacti...

Andre and Todd continue discussing Glenn Loury and John McWhorter’s video about the Harriet Tubman statue that was awarded to a white artist. Can a white artist create monuments to the black experience in a way that is authentic and impactful? And are Black Americans who say “no” to that question just too attached to a victimhood narrative, as McWhorter suggests they are? Todd starts the video by...

Andre and Todd respond to a discussion between Glenn Loury and John McWhorter about a Harriet Tubman statue commissioned in Philadelphia that was awarded to a white artist. Loury and McWhorter critique responses from some black people who say that black Americans should be the ones to tell their own stories. Is the story of Harriet Tubman only Black history, or should it be owned by all Americans...

Andre and Todd continue discussing what makes some members of the Black community upset when parts of their culture are adopted by others. What is at the root of those feelings? How can you adopt parts of another culture, particularly one that has been historically exploited and persecuted, in a way that is respectful and accepted? To make it even more personal and real, Andre and Todd discuss an...

Andre and Todd discuss the all-black majorette dance team started at USC that received criticism from people who think that majorette dancing, which has its roots and plays an important role at historically black colleges and universities, shouldn’t be represented at a predominantly white college. They talk about the tension that can exist between cultural sharing and cultural appropriation - wher...

Todd and Andre tackle what has come to be known as “cancel culture,” discussing what they like and what they don’t like about how we talk about and treat each other in this “cancel culture” world. They also discuss the backlash that can occur when people feel that their speech and behavior are unfairly stifled. What is the line between canceling someone and criticizing them for behaviors that are...

Andre shares how he expects his life success and his lighter “black” skin to lead viewers to doubt whether he has ever had to face racial bias in his life, and Todd asks him how he feels that some in the black community will attribute his success more to his lighter skin than his individual initiative. That leads Andre and Todd to discuss the roles that skin color and personal responsibility play...

Andre and Todd ask themselves, “What is the White responsibility in overcoming racial conflict, prejudice, and inequities, what is the black responsibility, and who has the responsibility to lead that process? Todd asks Andre what led him to lower the walls that typically guard his heart in conversations with white people during their Healing Race conversation... even amid the caution that he usua...

Andre and Todd reflect on the personally profound conversation they had in the previous episode. Andre shares what led him to resonate so emotionally with Todd’s grandfather’s story, and how his grandfather’s experience very much spoke to how the black community has had to navigate being black in America throughout our history here. Andre also asks how Todd would approach conversations with people...

In this episode, Todd shares with Andre his epiphany about one of the ways that Andre's mistrust of white people has played into their own relationship and their working together on this Healing Race project, and Todd connects that epiphany with his grandfather’s story and the way his grandfather experienced mistrust as a Jewish Holocaust survivor. In his grandfather’s story, Andre sees a parallel...

Andre and Todd discuss whether or not there should be a push for black people to have more equal representation in media and positions of power and we react to some of the critiques of that push. Should we strive to include people with a wide range of experiences and perspectives in our media and leadership? And does doing so in any way conflict with being fair and impartial? Let’s get to that con...

Andre shares with Todd the ways he's seen black people portrayed by leaders and in the media and the messages it sends about black people. Andre and Todd also discuss how black and white behaviors and views can be misinterpreted and misunderstood and the challenges that can create for racial relationships. So let’s get to that conversation. Enjoy… To be a guest on Healing Race, email us at guests@...

In the last episode, we discussed how some Americans view black Americans as having a victim mentality when they push for racial equity. In this episode, Todd asks Andre what he would instead like white people to know about the black community that he feels is not generally acknowledged by them. What do some white people miss about us in the black community because of the stereotypes expressed in...

Andre and Todd ask… what motivates people to support policies that perpetuate racial inequities? Is it self interest? Ideology? Racial bias? White supremacy? As part of that conversation, Andre shares how he himself reacted to a property tax bill, that would dramatically lower his taxes, but would take away from public schools that support opportunity for many local Black children. Let’s get to th...