The Longest Shortest Time

EPISODE #135: White Guilt and Other Crazy Sh*t

Remember episode #116 from a couple months back, How To Not (Accidentally) Raise A Racist? Well, we heard from a lot of you after that episode, wanting more. More ideas on talking to your kids about race, especially when we feel uncomfortable talking about it with grown-ups.

So we invited in someone who talks about this stuff all the time (though, she says, it never stops being uncomfortable).

Eula Biss is a writer and professor who has made a career out embracing her own discomfort when talking about race. She wrote a book called Notes From No Man’s Land in 2009 and a beautiful and thought-provoking essay for the New York Times Magazine in 2015 called White Debt.

Eula’s also got an eight-year-old son. She’s been talking with him about race and racism since he was two. Sometimes the conversations make him really upset. But, Eula says, it seems like an appropriate response to such a fraught subject.

Tune in to hear Eula talk about how she boldly tackles the topic of race in her work and in her life, and how she’s learned to embrace her own discomfort.

Resources for talking about race
Check out our list of books, articles, videos and organizations to help you – and your kids – talk about race and racism.

What actions have YOU taken to work against racial injustice?
Big and small. Yourself or with your kids. Encourage and inspire each other…in the comments.

Top photo: Yvette Marie Dostatni / Chicago Tribune

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