WEBVTT 00:00:00.557 --> 00:00:04.924 [music...] 00:00:04.924 --> 00:00:07.095 RACE: The Final Frontier 00:00:07.095 --> 00:00:08.329 no matter what channel you watch 00:00:08.329 --> 00:00:09.843 no matter what feed you aggregate 00:00:09.843 --> 00:00:12.876 it seems like everybody everywhere is talking about race right now 00:00:12.876 --> 00:00:14.898 and when everybody everywhere is talking about race 00:00:14.898 --> 00:00:16.433 that means sooner or later 00:00:16.433 --> 00:00:19.603 you're gonna have to tell somebody that they said something that sounded racist. 00:00:19.603 --> 00:00:21.804 So you need to be ready and have a plan in place 00:00:21.804 --> 00:00:25.409 for how to approach the inevitable "that sounded racist" conversation 00:00:25.409 --> 00:00:27.438 And I'm going to tell you how to do that. 00:00:27.438 --> 00:00:30.277 The most important thing that you've got to do 00:00:30.277 --> 00:00:33.742 is remember the difference between the What They Did conversation 00:00:33.742 --> 00:00:35.974 and the What They Are conversation. 00:00:35.974 --> 00:00:38.038 Those are two totally different conversations 00:00:38.038 --> 00:00:40.374 and you need to make sure that you pick the right one. 00:00:40.374 --> 00:00:44.768 The What-They-Did conversation focuses strictly on the person's words and actions 00:00:44.768 --> 00:00:48.579 and explaining why what they did and what they said was unacceptable. 00:00:48.579 --> 00:00:52.219 This is also known as the That Thing You Said Was Racist conversation 00:00:52.219 --> 00:00:54.346 and that's the conversation that you wanna have. 00:00:54.346 --> 00:00:56.239 The What They Are conversation on the other hand 00:00:56.239 --> 00:00:57.935 takes things one step further 00:00:57.935 --> 00:01:03.235 and uses what they did and what they said to draw conclusions about what kind of person they are. 00:01:03.235 --> 00:01:07.067 This is also known as the I Think You Are A Racist conversation. 00:01:07.067 --> 00:01:09.069 This is the conversation you don't wanna have. 00:01:09.069 --> 00:01:11.935 Because that conversation takes us away from the facts of what they did 00:01:11.935 --> 00:01:14.444 into speculation about what their motives and intentions 00:01:14.444 --> 00:01:16.243 and those are things you can only guess at 00:01:16.243 --> 00:01:17.451 you can't ever prove 00:01:17.451 --> 00:01:20.122 and that makes it way too easy for them to de-rail your whole argument. 00:01:20.122 --> 00:01:22.882 And that is the part that's crucial to understand. 00:01:22.882 --> 00:01:25.081 When you say "I think he's a racist" 00:01:25.081 --> 00:01:27.237 that's not a bad move because you might be wrong 00:01:27.237 --> 00:01:29.184 that's a bad move because you might be right 00:01:29.184 --> 00:01:30.974 because if that dude really is racist 00:01:30.974 --> 00:01:33.824 you wanna make sure you hold him accounable and don't let him off easy 00:01:33.824 --> 00:01:37.946 And even though intuitively it feels like the hardest way to hit him is just run up on him 00:01:37.946 --> 00:01:39.731 and say "I think your ass is racist", 00:01:39.731 --> 00:01:42.789 when you handle it that way, you're actually letting him off easy 00:01:42.789 --> 00:01:47.166 because you're setting up a conversation that's way too simple for him to derail and duck out of. 00:01:47.166 --> 00:01:51.346 Just think about how this plays out every time a politician or a celebrity gets caught out there 00:01:51.346 --> 00:01:53.530 It always starts out as a What They Did conversation 00:01:53.530 --> 00:01:56.491 but as soon as the celebrity and their defenders get on camera 00:01:56.491 --> 00:02:00.372 they start doing Judo flips and switching it into a What They Are conversation 00:02:00.372 --> 00:02:04.333 "I have known this person for years and I know for a fact that they are not a racist, 00:02:04.333 --> 00:02:08.546 and how dare you claim to know what's inside their soul just because they made one little joke 00:02:08.546 --> 00:02:11.087 about watermelon tap-dancing and going back to Africa!" 00:02:11.087 --> 00:02:14.037 And then you try to explain that we don't need to see inside their soul 00:02:14.037 --> 00:02:16.178 to know that they shouldn't have said all that about the watermelon 00:02:16.178 --> 00:02:18.600 and you try to focus on the facts of the situation 00:02:18.600 --> 00:02:19.673 but by then it's too late 00:02:19.673 --> 00:02:22.911 because the What They Are conversation is a rhetorical Bermuda Triangle 00:02:22.911 --> 00:02:25.393 where everything drowns in a sea of empty posturing 00:02:25.393 --> 00:02:27.532 until somebody just blames it all on hip-hop 00:02:27.532 --> 00:02:29.316 and we forget the whole thing ever happened. 00:02:29.316 --> 00:02:30.511 Don't let this happen to you. 00:02:30.511 --> 00:02:31.860 When somebody picks my pocket 00:02:31.860 --> 00:02:36.038 I'm not going to be chasing them down so I can figure out whether he feels like he's a thief 00:02:36.038 --> 00:02:37.115 deep down in his heart. 00:02:37.115 --> 00:02:39.658 I'm gonna be chasing him down so I can get my wallet back. 00:02:39.658 --> 00:02:41.036 I don't care what he is 00:02:41.036 --> 00:02:43.497 but I need to hold him accountable for what he did 00:02:43.497 --> 00:02:46.381 and that's how we need to approach these conversations about race. 00:02:46.401 --> 00:02:48.280 Treat them like they took your wallet 00:02:48.280 --> 00:02:50.317 and focus on the part that matters: 00:02:50.317 --> 00:02:53.966 holding each person accountable for the impact of their words and actions. 00:02:53.966 --> 00:02:55.450 I don't care what you are. 00:02:55.450 --> 00:02:58.554 I care about what you did.