Conversations about how to suck less — aka how to be actively anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-homophobic, anti-transphobic (and so much more!) — can sometimes be tricky to navigate. People in marginalized groups are often asked to do a lot of unpaid labor to explain these issues to their friends, schools, and colleagues. So I figured one thing I could do with various guests on Help Existing is to delve into the specifics of a wide array of questions.

This week’s topic — how to appreciate Black music when you’re not Black, without in any way appropriating it —  seemed like a good place to start. 

I spoke with Evette Dionne, author of Lifting As We Climb, and a pop culture critic who often writes about Black music. Together, we delved into the central question of whether a person who is not Black can listen to, twerk, or otherwise dance to Black music in any way that’s not somehow problematic. 

If your reaction to this topic is like, Ugh, the premise of this even annoys me, that might be a sign of some white fragility or some other form of exceptionalism you’re applying yourself to not think about this. So maybe this is especially for you. 

I hope this has been helpful. And please, if you have any suggestions of your own, please slide into my DMs on Twitter and Instagram to let me know. We’re all in this together. And please subscribe!