Welcome to Dear Prudence. I'm your prudence, Janay Desmond Harris.

Today, I'll be answering questions from readers with dilemmas about saving friends from bad relationships, that's a classic,

saving black people from racist attacks and sundown towns, and how to deal when your spouse cares about his dog more than he cares about your children.

To help me answer these questions today, I'll be joined by Jamila Lemieux.

She's a renowned cultural critic and writer with a focus on issues of race, gender, and sexuality.

She is a leading, millennial feminist thinker, social influencer, and game-changing media maverick.

Currently, she pens a weekly advice column for Slate's Karen Feeding Parenting Section,

and of course, she's the co-host for our Mom and Dad Our Fighting podcast.

If you aren't a Mom and Dad Our Fighting listener, I just want to help you get to know Jamila and what she'll bring to this episode by sharing a few things I know about her as someone who's followed and admired her work for over a decade.

Number 1. On a recent episode of Mom and Dad Our Fighting, she came out in favor of those little leashes you put toddlers on.

I actually totally agree with this. I don't know why they're so controversial. She said, quote,

One of my friends was like, black people don't do this, Jamila. This is not us. We don't do this. And I'm like, well, guess what we do now? I'm starting something new.

What I recall is that my child was safe, and that's what matters. How could you argue with that?

Number 2. She's a long-time, committed, unapologetic advocate for black women and girls.

That's how she ended up being featured in Lifetime's Docu series Surviving our Kelly, after years and years of being way out ahead on a lot of people calling for accountability for his abuse.

So that's just an evidence that she tends to be right before other people also listen to her.

Number 3. She said in an interview years ago, I don't think of myself as an influencer, a thought leader, but just someone with opinions who can turn a phrase.

I have to disagree based on her impressive career, but also because she accomplished the feat of giving her daughter Millennial Taste and Music,

turning her into a super fan of new addition as a four-year-old. You can find cute evidence of this on Instagram.

And if that's not being an influencer, I don't know what it is.

Jamila and I will dive into your questions after a short break.

There was once a family on a road trip to keep everyone entertained that created a fun, personalized audio story using AI,

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