Race, Gender and Money.

“I'm a black man supervising a white woman, and we're supposed to be dealing with racial disparities. There's a tremendous amount of opportunity in this and a whole lot of pitfalls.”

⠀Overview

In Episode 2 of How’s Work? with Esther Perel, a Minnesota lobbyist and his ex-staffer express long-simmering frustrations about the rupture that came between them following George Floyd’s murder. He is a black man, she is a white woman. She felt undervalued, underpaid and undersupported by her closest friend while he suffered the injustices of a system organized around white privilege. 
What seems at first like a requiem harmonizes into a more hopeful duet once filters lift and true feelings are voiced. Still, dissonance lingers in Race, Gender and Money as black vs white experiences in America counterpoint the narratives.

⠀Thematics

What to listen for in this episode of How’s Work? with Esther Perel:

• One person may individualize relationship dynamics while another sees them in a larger social context. How to reconcile divergent versions?
• Even with our closest relationships, taboos around directly talking about race can stifle free and open discussion.
• Any productive exchange across diverse groups means examining our own assumptions about the other.
• A fight focused around one issue may mask a deeper, yet riskier, issue we’re not ready to address.
• From imaginary confrontation to real dialogue: Take note of sadness, loss and missed opportunity, and sort fiction from fact.
• What we do — and don’t do — as bystanders in unjust situations shapes our “conscience accountability.”
  Listen to this Episode On:

Transcript
Transcript PDF