Throughout a number of episodes of the original season of "The Real World New Orleans," Melissa Beck (Melissa Howard at that time) was backed into a corner when issues of race were brought up, and forced into leading "teachable moments." In Episode 4 of "The Real World Homecoming: New Orleans," she's provided the opportunity, 22 years later, to explain how that level of cultural responsibility within a social setting can, over time, become exhausting for people of color.
In an episode that aired in 2000 Melissa, Danny Roberts and Julie Stoffer, along with Jamie Murray and his visiting friends from Chicago, went on a day trip to a Louisiana swamp where they encountered a racist tour guide, and that experience put Melissa in an uncomfortable position where she was forced to teach her white housemates and their friends why this man's racist remarks were hurtful.
