“I think the best way to put it is that we can have critical conversations about being in this relationship and what I need in a partner — especially if that woman isn’t Black — to understand what comes with me and my life and being Black,” he said. “It’s on people who care about being allies to do the work to be truly antiracist. And I think it’s unfair to leave people without the ability to unlearn and be better.”
Kirkconnell, who is White, confirmed in an email to the publication that they were indeed back together.
James had announced the split during the “After the Rose” ceremony in March.
“When I questioned our relationship, it was in the context of you not fully understanding my Blackness and what it means to be a Black man in America,” James told Kirkconnell during the ceremony. “It broke my heart, because this is the last conversation I thought we’d be having. I didn’t sign up to have this conversation.”
Kirkconnell apologized to James in person and on social media when the controversy first hit.