Take a Deeper Breath with Elliot Barnette

Bio: Elliot Barnette lives and works in Seattle, WA. They are a passionate Jewish professional and love working towards building deeper relationships with their local community. In their free time, Elliot enjoys reading, writing, drinking tea, and spending time on the couch with their Great Dane.Aliko Weste sits down with Elliot Barnette for a deeply honest conversation about race, privilege, whiteness, shame, accountability, and what it means to stay present through discomfort.Together, they explore the emotional weight many white people carry when confronting privilege, and why the goal is not to seek absolution from people of color, but to use power, access, and resources in service of the collective. The conversation moves through themes of internal repair, community responsibility, racial dynamics in relationships, the Pacific Northwest’s culture of emotional distance, and the quiet ways power can show up unconsciously in everyday life.At the heart of the episode is a simple but powerful invitation: take a deeper breath. Rather than freezing, avoiding, or rushing past uncomfortable truths, Aliko and Elliot reflect on how deeper presence can create more space for honesty, resilience, compassion, and real connection.This episode is a thoughtful entry point into Season 3, inviting listeners into the kind of brave, tender, and necessary conversations that help us return to each other, to community, and to the world we want to build.Connect with mehttps://www.instagram.com/theealikomountain/Guest's linkhttps://www.instagram.com/theelliotbarnette/