The United States has never been a cakewalk for Black people. While many of us continue to strive for success, and thrive in spite of the challenges, others have opted for a new approach to deal with things like racism and prejudice that can get in our way.
On a recent episode of HBO’s Vice News, Andrea X said her unconventional way to combat racism has been especially effective.
“Every time I have a conversation with [a white person], I just pick up on certain things that they say, I pick up on the microaggressions, the passive aggressiveness, I pick up on it,” she explained. “So, I decided one day to just eliminate white people from my personal life, and ever since then, my life has been way more breezy.”
Andrea moved to Costa Rica in 2014 and runs the Women of Color Healing Retreat, a getaway that prioritizes self-care for Black women. During the 10 day gathering, the women practice yoga, surf, hike, commune with each other, and eat vegan food.
One of the attendees, Alexis Bromley, said she trekked to Costa Rica because living in Omaha, Nebraska can be difficult.
“It can be very isolating if you’re a person of color,” she explained. “It’s hard in Nebraska because it’s a red state. So, you just don’t know who you’re interacting with on a daily basis. If they believe that you’re lesser, if you’re inferior, and how that in turn can affect me.”
Each of the women say they felt renewed and affirmed by the retreat and wouldn’t feel as free if white women attended. While they didn’t disparage their Caucasian counterparts, some white folks weren’t too pleased by Andrea’s decision to cut them out of the retreat and her life after the Daily Mail picked up on the story.
“Why do people who feel this way about white people insist on living in the West?” said noted Right Wing nationalist, Anne Marie Waters, who’s been leading an a movement against Islam in the U.K. “They should leave permanently & never have to put up with us again.”
Others asked, “What would happen if there was a white-only retreat?” and accused Andrea X of reverse racism.
Andrea X took to Instagram to thank her supporters and address those who were upset by the segment.
“We also want to make it clear that Black women + people need spaces to heal, to be able to speak their minds and to just be. there are a lot of people who don’t understand the #necessity of these spaces and that’s okay because it is not for those people,” she explained.