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So, You Married a Racist

You may not have to stay miserably together or divorce

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There’s been an outpouring of grief and anger on the streets across the country and the globe in the aftermath of George Floyd’s horrific murder in the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, and the administration’s dangerously inept response to it that even prompted a scathing rebuke from his former secretary of defense, retired Marine Gen. James Mattis.

Floyd’s death is forcing many white people— perhaps for the first time — to acknowledge the systemic racism black people have had to deal with in America. This is a moment of reckoning and self-reflection.

In a recent episode of NPR’s The Takeaway, hosted by Tanzina Vega — a show that elevates the voices of people of color, women of color and all women — a listener from North Carolina recorded a response to a call out on what people are angry about now with a startling and clearly anguished confession: she has just come to realize how racist her husband is:

“This is a turning point. Even in my own marriage I am seeing racism that I don’t even think I knew existed to the degree that it is there. I think it is opening a lot of people’s eyes to the people around…

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Vicki Larson
Vicki Larson

Written by Vicki Larson

Award-winning journalist, author of “Not Too Old For That" & "LATitude: How You Can Make a Live Apart Together Relationship Work, coauthor of “The New I Do,”

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