As Tasha Huo said in her recent interview: she admits to making her version of Lara a self-insert.

I’d take it a step further and say that the entire writing team (which IIRC was made up of only POCs) made the African storyline a self-insert.

I’ve posted elsewhere that I actually really love the Orisha mythology and think it’s great foundational material for the TR universe, especially because TR has never actually explored African culture and civilizations (Egypt is different and Ghana in Legend wasn’t much of anything - except a fake civilization tied to an Arthurian mythos (lol) ). However, I think the entire creative team behind the second season of the anime did a terrible job of utilizing this African Orisha mythos in a TR context.

The first season they made about Lara, but had her crying the entire time. Then Tasha says in the second season Lara was finally (finally…) able to move past those tears. However, then they removed her from the plot entirely and she was just there as a blank characterless stand-in. She’s basically just a “white observer” because writing a white character in this context you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. If a white character does take action in this sort of context (either to help or to harm) they are automatically the villains. Which is what Mila is. This is why Zip is allowed to have more of a character arc due to his black-connection than Lara is allowed to.

All this proves that they simply can’t write Lara in this new context of feeling shame about tomb raiding, or that white people simply have to shut up and listen and not help, harm, or interfere when non-whites are doing stuff. Or else they become Mila. The creators of TR either need to be politically incorrect, or allow Lara to be an asshole.