Overcome Biases and Create Friendships across Races & Classes (feat. Wendy Sanford)
Having empathy has become increasingly important as we try to build a bridge across cultures, races and classes to create a more connected and peaceful society.
My guest today, Wendy Sanford, had to reckon with her own identity and privilege to get to this level of understanding and teach it to others.
In her new book “These Walls Between Us: A memoir of friendship across race and class.”, Wendy tells a story of her 60-year friendship with Mary Norman, a Black woman whom she met when they were both teenagers. The daughter of an upper-middle-class suburban family in Princeton, New Jersey, she comes of age within the cultural revolutions of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. Informed and fueled by the writings of women of color, she begins to deal with the impact of her training.
In our conversation, we discuss themes that Wendy’s book centers on and how it can help us become more aware of our biases and develop friendships with all types of people.
Interview time stamps:
02:50 ︳Wendy explains what led to her befriending Mary Norman despite all the social conditioning she was exposed to
05:40 ︳Wendy shares your earliest memory of witnessing racism and how it impacted her views
13:19 ︳How the new wave of social justice and activism has affected racial disparities
21:25 ︳The root cause of racism
29:17 ︳How to become more aware of your biases
35:41 ︳The impact of classism on the wealth gap
37:10 ︳Wendy’s advice for those who want to develop genuine friendships with people from different races and classes and who want to be actively involved in combating biases
Learn more about Wendy Sanford at her website.