017: The Tanning of America with Leandra Medine

Hello everybody!

I know it’s been a minute since my last email and I apologize for leaving you hanging, but i’m back.

I want everyone to listen to the most recent episode of The Cutting Room Floor: The Tanning of America with Leandra Medine. It’s a painful, necessary listen. So much of Leandra’s thinking, and her lack of accountability, embodies white fragility. If you’re white, I hope it can serve as a reflection tool to think about how you have thought or acted in similar ways, and how you can do better.

I hope when you listen to this podcast you don’t just bash a privileged white women without recognizing the privileged thinking inside her lives inside all white people to some extent. Something I hear a lot, which is frustrating, is white people criticizing and distancing themselves from other white people who have been called out or who have done racist things, and I don’t think that’s productive. Actually, I think it’s an act of fragility. Rather, I encourage taking the time to dig deep and reflect on where similar feelings of entitlement, victim mentality, etc. live inside you. Something said in this podcast is that all white people are born racist, it’s a conditioning that happens by growing up in this country, and I believe that’s true. For white people, evolving from a racist default happens when you put in the work to recognize this truth, challenge yourself daily to confront the racism inside you, and take action change it.

I also highly encourage you to support Recho on Patreon.

ttfn,

Merel