Nothing to kick off this next episode like a fiery title, right? But in case it makes you question whether you’ll hit play, please know that this isn’t your typical economics podcast, nor is it going to be so dry that you turn this off 5 minutes into listening.

That said, it IS crucial for you to listen to if you want to understand how policies that were made now 40 years ago are still directly affecting us to this day – plus, it gives you a sense of just how important it is to consider who our representatives are, and how you’re going to vote in the midterm elections coming up in 2022.

So buckle up - economics may never have been so interesting.

The 2022 Republican Party would have never been able to back Abraham Lincoln as their presidential candidate - except for one tiny detail: Lincoln was a Republican, and espoused the original beliefs of the Republican Party (down to the anti-slavery, committed to equality part). 
So how did we get from Lincoln’s Republican Party to today’s Trump political base? 
Who were the Whigs? 
What do we mean when we say Southern Democrats? 
Why does this cycle of money and power keep reappearing on the political stage, over and over again?
If those are some of the questions you have - or even if those are questions you’ve never thought of asking yourself, but you realize that somewhere, someone made some changes to how we define political parties in this country, and it’s important to understand just how far the 2022 Republican party is from those original Republican ideals - then this is the episode for you. 
It’s like US History all over again, except more engaging, more relevant, and it includes stuff you’ll actually remember… hopefully long enough to go vote.

Over the last 3.5 years, we’ve had this weekly podcast (now on episode 182!), we’ve written a book (Dear White Women: Let’s Get (Un)comfortable Talking About Racism), and we’ve spoken with many different people at many different organizations. Meaning, we’ve heard and learned a lot of things.

With a few exceptions, our sense is that people *want* to be seen as good people; they say they *want* to be more anti-racist. But despite their best intentions, some things get in the way of you actually *doing* something to make positive change: You don’t feel like you know enough, you don’t want to make a mistake, and so you don’t feel like you know what to actually do.

So this episode is meant as a kick in the pants at the end of our summer of action, to give you a LOT of ideas. Listen through and if something sparks your interest or speaks to you, write it down; remember it; come back to it and DO it.

You might be tired of hearing about the Supreme Court taking away people’s rights - but the process behind how SCOTUS does that is important, as depending on the results of the midterms, we may be seeing this more, and with a much wider scope. 

For example, do you know what SCOTUS did about immigration in July? And if your response was “Wait, what?” then this episode is for you. Tune in to hear about that decision (which stemmed from a Texas judicial challenge to the Biden administration), what that means for immigration policy in general, and how you can take action.

In our book, we talk about the federal boarding schools that were just for Native American children - and by boarding schools, we mean that the U.S. government rounded up Native children over the course of 150 years (!!), separated them from their parents and often took them hundreds of miles away… and often times, those kids never came home. 

If you haven’t heard that story (which is fairly common, given the erasure of the Native narrative in this country), this episode is for you, because without understanding this history, you won’t understand how we are where we are now with over 570 federally recognized Native American Nations within the United States - while most people we hear say they’re not sure they’ve ever spoken with a person of Native descent. 

For more, go buy our book, Dear White Women: Let’s Get (Un)comfortable Talking About Racism, and make sure you’re following this podcast for more!

Have you ever been that kid who tugged at the corner of your eyes, pretending to be Asian, or maybe even mocked people of Asian descent?  In today’s episode, Sara shares the story of when a little neighborhood boy did that to her.  

Sure, there might be some sweeping generalizations you can make about Asian people - a lot tend to have dark hair, more almond-shaped eyes - but the truth is, in America, people who fall into the broad bucket of “Asian” have among the largest differences of all the large groupings like White, or Black, or Hispanic.  Asians are NOT all the same.

So today, we’ll discuss all the basic things you need to know about the model minority myth - NO we are not all good at math nor do we all play the violin - and what you can do differently to make sure you’re not that person.  
For more, go buy our book, Dear White Women: Let’s Get (Un)comfortable Talking About Racism, and make sure you’re following this podcast for more!

In 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, many of us heard the phrase “qualified immunity” for the first time in a new light - but what does the phrase even mean? And why is it so important when we think about police, driving (or existing) while Black, and civil rights in this country? We’ll talk about all of this in today’s episode, so we can help set some context for a major conversation happening in our country - one about abolition.

Listen in, and if you want more, go buy our book, Dear White Women: Let’s Get (Un)comfortable Talking About Racism, and make sure you’re following this podcast for more!

This episode was recorded before the Dobbs decision came out, but it highlights what we know to be true - there is a disparate impact on Black and brown women when it comes to reproductive justice in this country. And for all of you who have told us, “I’d really like to be friends with Black women, but I don’t understand their experiences,” you’ll want to listen extra carefully. 

This episode highlights all of the extra things that Black women go through when it comes to things that should be safe in our country for all women: pregnancy, childbirth, maternal mortality, and so much more. We hope you listen, and then take action in your own communities to protect the rights of all people with the capacity for pregnancy.

One question that comes up frequently enough from White, or non-Black, people to cause us to write not only a whole chapter in our book trying to answer it, but also record this podcast episode, is short but impactful: “Can I say the N-word?” 

The short answer is no. Absolutely not. The longer answer? Listen to this episode to hear not only why you should never be saying the n-word, but also why it’s so important to educate our kids to never say it either.

So our book, Dear White Women: Let’s Get (Un)comfortable Talking About Racism is broken into three sections: On Being White in America; On Being Black in America; On Being a Non-Black Person of Color in America.  
And here’s the question we get when people see that structure: Why do we need to focus on the experiences of Black people in this country? 

In this episode, we tell you why - including sharing some things we all need to (re)learn, since it’s not all taught in our schools.

For the past 3+ years, we’ve been getting loud on this podcast, where our stated mission is to help White women use their privilege to uproot systemic racism without centering themselves in the process. This summer, we’ve been specifically focused on answering the question we often get, “what can we do to be more anti-racist?” and have been releasing bite-sized pieces of our work, especially with regard to our recent book, so that we can help White women and allies do this work.

Then, we got a gut punch last week in the form of the Dobbs v. Jackson opinion, which effectively overturned Roe v. Wade and left the regulation of abortion access up to “elected officials of the states,” which set off a number of trigger laws and leaves abortion, and reproductive justice in general, in jeopardy for anyone who has a uterus, or any birthing person, in this country. 

So today, we are responding with our thoughts and suggestions.

All Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter, and de-centering the White experience in these conversations. That’s what we’re discussing in today’s episode, because White people, you keep asking us what you can DO differently to be more anti-racist. And while we won’t offer a checklist, we do have an incredible, level-setting book Dear White Women: Let’s Get (Un)comfortable Talking About Racism that you can buy to learn more!

White people, you keep asking us what you can DO differently to be more anti-racist.  So this summer, we’re answering that question in bite-sized ways.  This isn’t a checklist; this is simply a primer.  If you want more, go buy our book, Dear White Women: Let’s Get (Un)comfortable Talking About Racism.

Today, we’re talking about what the real differences are between performative allyship and real allyship.  What does it take to actually be an ally, as opposed to just calling yourself one?  Listen in and share this episode with a friend you think might be able to talk with you about all of this! 

As biracial - Japanese and White - hosts of a long-running weekly podcast, we are very aware that, given how we look, we have, at times, benefited from White privilege.  We are also very clear that this is a privilege that Misasha’s Black husband will never once benefit from.

Today’s short episode dives into defining what White privilege is, explaining common misconceptions of the term, and what to do when we (or others) push back against accepting the truth about our privilege.  Listen in and share this episode with a friend you think might be able to talk with you about all of this! 

White people, you keep asking us what you can DO differently to be more anti-racist.  So this summer, we’re answering that question in bite-sized ways.  This isn’t a checklist; this is simply a primer.  If you want more, go buy our book, Dear White Women: Let’s Get (Un)comfortable Talking About Racism.

Today, we’re hitting up some of the most common points of pushback or questions we get when we talk with White people.  Because let’s be honest - talking about race and racism is uncomfortable… for everyone.  Listen in and share this episode with a friend you think might be able to talk with you about all of this!

This summer, instead of spending 50-60 minutes sharing some of the most amazingly honest and thought provoking conversations that we’ve been personally privileged to have (the listen), or doing a deep dive into some part of our collective history that we may have never learned about in school (the learn), or sometimes getting up on our soapbox to get loud and angry about what’s going on in current events and what we can do about it (the act), we’re shaking things up a bit. (Don’t worry - we’ll definitely do all of those things in the fall…).