New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her boyfriend, Riley Roberts, discussed tips for talking to white people about racism in an Instagram video posted Friday night.

Ocasio-Cortez, 30, asked Roberts to give viewers any recommendations he had for “combating racism.” Roberts said he believes it is important to educate white people on issues where they may not know they are being racist.

“It’s helpful and important to talk to other white people about racism, and I think a lot of people, they don’t want to be racist,” Roberts said. “They don’t think that they’re racist, but they also don’t know some of the things that they believe or say are and can be racist.”

He continued, “I think one of the effective ways is just to talk and kind of help teach them about why some of the things they believe or say or think are wrong. Not necessarily racist, but that they are wrong and that will sort of, like, chip away and contribute to some development in this area.”

Roberts acknowledged that this method wouldn’t “take someone from being a racist to not being a racist in one conversation,” but said it could be a good starting point.

Ocasio-Cortez added that she believes it is important to “be open to learning about racist things that we may have said or done” in a setting that is judgment-free. She said it would limit some of the defensiveness white people feel when they are confronted about racism.

AOC and boyfriend Riley Roberts discuss tips for "combating racism as a white person"https://t.co/LahjyfZs5X pic.twitter.com/SQrTtVHiOd — Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) February 8, 2020

Roberts, a startup consultant, started dating Ocasio-Cortez when they attended school together at Boston University. In 2019, the Coolidge Reagan Foundation filed an ethics complaint alleging that Ocasio-Cortez used her campaign to funnel money to Roberts.

The organization also filed a complaint against the New York Democrat with the Office of Congressional Ethics after she allegedly gave Roberts an official mail.house.gov email address while maintaining that he did not work in the office.

