[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:01.51,0:00:04.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}APPLAUSE, CHEERING...{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:00:15.86,0:00:23.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}GAIL DRAKES{\i0} ] Right? Right? Yeah. \NLet me just say, I agree completely.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:23.71,0:00:25.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I so approve that message.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:25.55,0:00:26.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}LAUGHTER{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:00:26.86,0:00:28.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So good afternoon.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:28.53,0:00:30.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'd like to welcome you all \Nto this afternoon's event,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:30.91,0:00:33.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Black Female Voices, Who is Listening?",
Dialogue: 0,0:00:33.72,0:00:37.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a public dialogue between bell hooks \Nand Melissa Harris-Perry,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:37.28,0:00:42.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the last public event in bell hooks' \Nweek-long residency at The New School.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.36,0:00:43.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My name is Gail Drakes,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:43.54,0:00:46.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I am the director of \Nthe Office of Social Justice Initiatives,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:46.45,0:00:49.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,housed within the Office of the Provost, \Nhere in The New School.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:49.49,0:00:52.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The office seeks to both support and amplify
Dialogue: 0,0:00:52.12,0:00:56.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the efforts of those who are working throughout \Nthe university to more fully realize
Dialogue: 0,0:00:56.45,0:01:01.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the New Schools progressive vision \Nas reflected in all aspects of our institution.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:01.26,0:01:03.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Having just arrived in The New School in August,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:03.69,0:01:07.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I can say that the bell hooks residency \Nhas been a highlight in my time here.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:07.81,0:01:11.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that is not only thanks to insights \Nshared at various events this week,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:11.31,0:01:15.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but because of the excitement it's generated \Nwithin the New School community.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:15.83,0:01:19.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the week leading up to the residency, \Nit seemed that at any given moment,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:19.26,0:01:22.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just walking down the street, or entering an elevator,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:22.11,0:01:27.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you could very likely overhear conversations and\Nreflections amongst students, faculty, and staff,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:27.45,0:01:29.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on bell hooks and her work.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:29.62,0:01:33.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So it is my hope that while \Nthis week-long residency is ending,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:33.12,0:01:37.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that those conversations and reflections \Non the significance of bell hooks' work
Dialogue: 0,0:01:37.08,0:01:40.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,can continue and expand here at The New School.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:40.77,0:01:43.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Of course, I would like to thank-\NI would like us all to thank
Dialogue: 0,0:01:43.30,0:01:46.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,those who made this event possible, \Nand the entire residency possible.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:46.51,0:01:48.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So please join me in a round of applause for
Dialogue: 0,0:01:48.38,0:01:51.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Stephanie Browner, Dean of Eugene Lang College,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:51.06,0:01:57.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Judy Pryor-Ramirez and Catherine Smith of Lang \NOffice of Civic Engagement and Social Justice,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:57.51,0:01:59.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Heather O'Brien, assistant to the Dean,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:59.43,0:02:03.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and everyone at both Berea and the New School \Nwho helped coordinate these events.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:03.62,0:02:10.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}APPLAUSE{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:02:10.45,0:02:13.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I do have to announce a small change \Nin our schedule.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:13.54,0:02:17.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Unfortunately, our guests do have \Nto leave immediately after the conversation,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:17.41,0:02:20.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and regret that they will not be able \Nto sign books as planned,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:20.62,0:02:25.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I am very grateful that we're going \Nto still be able to enjoy the conversation.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:25.51,0:02:27.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I have the honor of introducing these women,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:27.58,0:02:31.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who I know for so many of us in the room, \Ntruly need no introduction.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:31.81,0:02:37.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But then I am still very pleased to offer this reminder \Nof the accomplishment of our guest today.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:37.56,0:02:41.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,bell hooks is among the leading public intellectuals \Nof her generation.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:41.59,0:02:47.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, in 1952, she grew \Nup in a working-class family with six siblings.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:47.67,0:02:51.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,hooks received her B.A. \Nfrom Stanford University in 1973,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:51.41,0:02:54.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,her M.A. in 1976 from the University of Wisconsin,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:54.87,0:02:59.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and her Ph.D. in 1983 from the \NUniversity of California Santa Cruz,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:59.34,0:03:02.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with her dissertation on author Toni Morrison.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:02.34,0:03:08.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Her use of a pseudonym is intended to honor both\Nher grandmother, whose name she took,\N& her mother.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:08.17,0:03:13.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,While her name's unconventional lower-casing\Nsignifies what is most important in her works--
Dialogue: 0,0:03:13.62,0:03:18.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"the substance of books, not who I am".
Dialogue: 0,0:03:18.14,0:03:21.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,hooks' writing cover a broad range of topics
Dialogue: 0,0:03:21.22,0:03:27.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,including teaching, gender, class, and race--\Nthe idea of a white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:27.55,0:03:31.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She strongly believes that these topics \Ncannot be dealt with separately,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:31.18,0:03:34.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but must be understood as interconnected and linked
Dialogue: 0,0:03:34.39,0:03:38.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the production and perpetuation of \Nsystems of oppression and class domination.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:38.74,0:03:42.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A prevalent topic in her most recent writing \Nis community and communion--
Dialogue: 0,0:03:42.80,0:03:47.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the ability of loving communities to overcome \Nrace, class, and gender inequalities.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:47.62,0:03:49.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,hooks has written over 30 books,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:49.63,0:03:54.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,including personal memoirs, poetry collections, \Nand children's books,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:54.55,0:03:57.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as well as numerous scholarly \Nand mainstream articles.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:57.42,0:04:02.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She has taught in several colleges and universities,\Nlectured widely in public forums,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:02.14,0:04:06.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and appeared in several documentary films.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:10.13,0:04:22.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Mmm. [ {\i1}LAUGHTER{\i0} ] It's a bell hooks bio, a lot \Ngoing on there! I gotta hydrate! [{\i1}LAUGHTER{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:04:22.20,0:04:29.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Melissa Harris-Perry is the host of MSNBC's \NMelissa Harris-Perry. [ {\i1}CHEERING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:04:29.08,0:04:32.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The show airs on Saturdays and Sundays, \Nwhich some of you seem to know, probably,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:32.68,0:04:35.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from 10 AM to noon, Eastern time.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:35.85,0:04:39.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Harris-Perry is a professor of political science \Nat Tulane University,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:39.54,0:04:41.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where she's the founding director of
Dialogue: 0,0:04:41.30,0:04:45.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the Anna Julia Cooper Project on Gender, \NRace, & Politics In The South.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:45.27,0:04:47.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Harris-Perry is author of the well-received new book
Dialogue: 0,0:04:47.95,0:04:53.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black\NWomen in America", published by Yale 2011,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:53.82,0:04:55.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the award-winning text
Dialogue: 0,0:04:55.42,0:05:00.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and\NBlack Political Thought",
Dialogue: 0,0:05:00.16,0:05:03.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,published by Princeton University Press in 2004.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:03.03,0:05:06.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Professor Harris-Perry is a columnist for \NThe Nation Magazine,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:06.15,0:05:09.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where she writes a monthly column, \Nalso titled "Sister Citizen".
Dialogue: 0,0:05:09.98,0:05:12.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She lives in New Orleans with her husband, \NJames Perry,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:12.33,0:05:16.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and is a mother of a terrific daughter, Parker.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:16.10,0:05:20.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,While these bios offer considerable insight \Ninto all they've done,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:20.73,0:05:23.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they can't fully represent the effect \Nthey've had on so many.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:23.86,0:05:27.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Melissa Harris-Perry, Empress of Nerdland,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:27.56,0:05:30.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,check out her #nerdland hashtag on Twitter \Nif you don't know what I mean,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:30.68,0:05:35.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,has used her show on MSNBC \Nto expand the notion\Nof what is political,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:35.50,0:05:41.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and to amplify the voices of those we rarely, if ever, \Nsee represented on cable news.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:41.17,0:05:45.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She brings the full force of her passion, personality, \Nand intellect to her show,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:45.05,0:05:49.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and changed what we thought was possible \Non a cable news show.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:49.73,0:05:55.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And bell hooks. [ {\i1}LAUGHING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:05:55.10,0:06:00.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are many ways to determine the reach and \Npower of someone's work as a writer and academic.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:00.80,0:06:07.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Often we think about number of reviews, the number \Nof times one is cited by other scholars, etc.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:07.12,0:06:09.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But to understand the significance \Nof bell hooks' work,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:09.95,0:06:14.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you must think in terms of the number of \Nlives touched and world-views transformed.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:14.98,0:06:19.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,While I navigate a society that offers \Nsuch a painfully narrow representation
Dialogue: 0,0:06:19.20,0:06:21.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of who can be a public intellectual,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:21.66,0:06:24.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I take heart and remember that \Nit has been bell hooks' books
Dialogue: 0,0:06:24.94,0:06:29.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that I've so often seen in the hands of Black Women, \Nas they would ride the bus home from work.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:29.67,0:06:34.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it was the insight from her books, \Ndog-eared, re-read, and well-loved,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:34.12,0:06:39.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that helped inform the work of a generation of \Ncultural workers, activists, and feminist scholars,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:39.84,0:06:42.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who are now impressive in their own right.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:42.22,0:06:46.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I just want to say, both personally \Nand on behalf of all of us assembled here,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:46.75,0:06:52.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a sincere thank you to both of these women \Nfor all the ways in which they've served to help us
Dialogue: 0,0:06:52.07,0:06:58.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,re-imagine what is possible at the intersection of \Neducation, public life, and the struggle for freedom.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:58.24,0:07:02.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And thank you for giving us all the opportunity \Nto listen in to this conversation today.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:02.96,0:07:06.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Everyone, please help me welcome \Nbell hooks & Melissa Harris-Perry.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:06.63,0:07:09.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}APPLAUSE & CHEERING...{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:07:27.13,0:07:31.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}bell hooks{\i0} ] I'm not used to being \Nwith a celebrity. [ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHTER{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:07:31.56,0:07:34.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}Melissa Harris-Perry{\i0} ] Oh! [ {\i1}LAUGHTER{\i0} ] Yeah, \NI'm pretty sure in this crowd, you're the celebrity.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:34.55,0:07:35.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}BOTH LAUGHING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:07:35.89,0:07:37.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So we were trying to figure out how to get started
Dialogue: 0,0:07:37.97,0:07:43.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I wanted to start by just picking up on \Nthat last insight about the fact that
Dialogue: 0,0:07:43.87,0:07:47.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,none of us come to Black Feminism \Nexcept through you.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:47.90,0:07:57.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it--I was just recently on the campus of \NBennett College, in Greensboro North Carolina,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:57.38,0:07:59.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it was a kind of a wonderful moment like this,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:59.43,0:08:04.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where I rarely get a chance--where I was standing \Nand looking out over the chapel and...
Dialogue: 0,0:08:04.10,0:08:10.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it was all African-American women and girls \Nand all of the faculty, in their academic regalia,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:10.51,0:08:12.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was kind of a great moment.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:12.31,0:08:15.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But one of the freshman came up to me afterward
Dialogue: 0,0:08:15.04,0:08:18.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and put her hand on my arm \Nand fairly breathlessly said,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:18.38,0:08:21.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[{\i1}whispering{\i0}] "{\i1}Have you read bell hooks{\i0}?"
Dialogue: 0,0:08:21.86,0:08:33.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHTER{\i0} ] Um--\Nand I thought, "{\i1}Uh-huh. Yep.{\i0}" [ {\i1}LAUGHING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:08:33.96,0:08:41.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] I am 20 years older than this baby up here, \Nand one of the things that I thought about is,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:41.91,0:08:46.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,my early work focused so much \Non the question of finding our voice.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:46.68,0:08:51.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I was thinking about how \NMelissa represents a generational shift,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:51.38,0:09:00.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because she has this whole national voice, \Nand so part of what we want to talk about is,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:00.78,0:09:09.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,has there been a meaningful concrete change in how \Nwe hear, think & feel about the Black Woman's voice.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:09.99,0:09:16.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because many of you may have seen the show, \Nwhere Melissa is talking--was she an economist?
Dialogue: 0,0:09:16.63,0:09:19.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Uh-huh.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:19.76,0:09:22.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] And-- [ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHTER{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:09:22.09,0:09:25.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] --Yes, I think that is the official title \Nof what Ms. [Angela] Mehta is.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:25.35,0:09:29.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] --and I was so impressed myself. It was\Nit was like a love moment for me,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:29.85,0:09:36.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when Melissa just, you know, really boldly \Nput out there, what we know to be real and true.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:36.82,0:09:44.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then I was so stunned when I kept hearing \Nfrom people, "{\i1}Oh, you know, she really lost it{\i0}."
Dialogue: 0,0:09:44.21,0:09:47.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I thought, kept thinking, \N"{\i1}oh if this was Charlie Rose,{\i0}
Dialogue: 0,0:09:47.54,0:09:53.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,{\i1}if this was any number of white men \Nwho would just boldly speak their truths?"{\i0}
Dialogue: 0,0:09:53.99,0:09:56.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She didn't raise her voice in any way.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:56.33,0:10:00.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There was for me no sense of aggression, so then
Dialogue: 0,0:10:00.55,0:10:04.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but once again she was turned into \Nthe "Angry Black Woman"
Dialogue: 0,0:10:04.66,0:10:07.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not the Insightful Brilliant Black Woman
Dialogue: 0,0:10:07.51,0:10:14.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who just threw down in such a way \Nthat it created a sense of awe.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:14.96,0:10:20.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so that then gave me pause in thinking about \Non one hand, has there been a shift,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:20.49,0:10:28.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or are we still pushing against a certain \Ncharacterization of the Black female voice?
Dialogue: 0,0:10:28.65,0:10:32.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Am I meant to answer?
Dialogue: 0,0:10:32.99,0:10:34.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] You're meant to discuss.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:34.58,0:10:41.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] I suppose yes. So I, you know,\NI'm not sure how I ended up with a television show.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:41.79,0:10:45.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I don't mean that to be joking. \NI really am not quite sure how that happened.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:45.84,0:10:54.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Clearly it's about a set of very odd occurrences \Nthat were part of this moment historically
Dialogue: 0,0:10:54.48,0:10:58.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where you end up with an African-American man \Nas president,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:58.60,0:11:04.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you end up with the most popular commentator \Non this African-American president
Dialogue: 0,0:11:04.32,0:11:10.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,being a queer woman who is out and butch \Nwhen they don't overly make her up.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:10.75,0:11:16.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you know, and so there's sort of a - there's sort \Nof a shift that occurs around representation,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:16.36,0:11:18.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that shift that occurs around representation
Dialogue: 0,0:11:18.37,0:11:22.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,occurs at the same time that there's a \Nprofit motivation to get an audience, right?
Dialogue: 0,0:11:22.71,0:11:28.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I just don't want to miss that \Nthere's no moment in cable news
Dialogue: 0,0:11:28.87,0:11:30.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where people are making any kind of decision
Dialogue: 0,0:11:30.71,0:11:36.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that isn't based on a belief that there is audience \Nand income and something else out there.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:36.81,0:11:39.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I assume--you know, you talk about \Nbeing twenty years younger
Dialogue: 0,0:11:39.45,0:11:42.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so I come of age in exactly the right moment.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:42.69,0:11:44.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In fact, I pretty regularly say
Dialogue: 0,0:11:44.84,0:11:48.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the smartest thing you could've ever done \Nwas to have been born in the 70's.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:48.91,0:11:50.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you were going to be born a Black girl,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:50.86,0:11:55.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to be born in the 70's meant being born \Nright at the end of that Civil Rights struggle,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:55.67,0:11:58.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but before the backlash got really ugly,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:58.33,0:12:01.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the one moment when there were \Nintegrated public schools in the South.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:01.80,0:12:04.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Just for that one second before white flight took all...
Dialogue: 0,0:12:04.87,0:12:08.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,took all the resources out of the public schools \Nin the South
Dialogue: 0,0:12:08.18,0:12:12.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,right at that moment so that when I graduate from \Ncollege, we're in an economic upswing & there are jobs.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:12.89,0:12:16.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I finished the Ph.D., people are getting \Nmultiple academic jobs.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:16.17,0:12:24.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not like, searching for an adjunct position, \Nlike there's just structurally a set of realities.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:24.01,0:12:29.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I don't think any of those structural realities \Nthat let a little moment like me come through
Dialogue: 0,0:12:29.94,0:12:35.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,represents an American shift \Nin who we want to hear from.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:35.58,0:12:40.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] All right. [ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHTER{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:12:40.29,0:12:45.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Whereas I feel, you know, enormously blessed.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:45.71,0:12:48.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I always get annoyed with my sister when she says \Nshe's blessed and highly-favored,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:48.91,0:12:56.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but you know, I do want to say that I think of myself \Nas just of--you know,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:56.57,0:13:03.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Melissa has a mainstream image voice\Nthat I came up really out of nowhere.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:03.56,0:13:07.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, little bell hooks writing "Ain't I a \NWoman: Black Women in Feminism"
Dialogue: 0,0:13:07.76,0:13:12.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that sometimes I do feel like, wow.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:12.19,0:13:15.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, there is this audience \Nthat reads bell hooks,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:15.32,0:13:19.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and tells me how my work has affected their life.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:19.30,0:13:24.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I think as a Black Woman writer, \Nthat is so amazing.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:24.82,0:13:26.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean when I think about Audre Lorde,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:26.53,0:13:28.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when I think about Pat Parker,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:28.33,0:13:30.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when I think about Zora Neale Hurston,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:30.74,0:13:33.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think about all the Black women writers.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:33.16,0:13:36.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, my students already don't know \Nwho Audre Lorde is.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:36.93,0:13:38.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They never knew who Pat was.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:38.85,0:13:45.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, and I think that to be a Black woman \Nwriter of non-fiction, and to be read,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:45.44,0:13:48.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is to be blessed and highly-favored.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:48.95,0:13:57.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so I think that just as there is space now \Nfor your voice because it's a product.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:57.11,0:14:03.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It sells, it creates people like us running \Nto hear her and watch her.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:03.03,0:14:06.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's also that other climate of people searching
Dialogue: 0,0:14:06.41,0:14:15.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for truly dissonant ways of thinking and being and\Ntrying to carve out different ways to live our lives.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:15.89,0:14:19.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I think that's especially a tension\Nfor Black women,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:19.85,0:14:27.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because we haven't, as a group, \Nreally carved out different ways to live our lives.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:27.63,0:14:30.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] I wanted to ask you about that a little bit
Dialogue: 0,0:14:30.38,0:14:37.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because there are things about the bizarro life \Nthat I find myself living now,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:37.22,0:14:43.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that I sometimes feel as though I'm judging against \Na set of Black Feminist Standards,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:43.74,0:14:49.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that I ultimately learned and decided \Nto believe in from your texts.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:49.69,0:14:56.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So if--if the lowercase letters of bell hooks
Dialogue: 0,0:14:56.56,0:15:04.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are in part about a recognition that \Nthe ego is less important than the content,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:04.64,0:15:10.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it was in fact very painful for me when MSNBC \Nnamed the show "Melissa Harris-Perry".
Dialogue: 0,0:15:10.46,0:15:16.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I fought it and we--I had 4,000 other \Nreally funny names [ {\i1}LAUGHTER{\i0} ],
Dialogue: 0,0:15:16.85,0:15:21.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but--and they were also--all sounded \Nlike some other networks' shows
Dialogue: 0,0:15:21.07,0:15:26.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but in part because I thought, no \Nwhat we're supposed to be doing is not saying,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:26.10,0:15:33.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"{\i1}Watch me! Me! It's all about me!{\i0}" but instead spend \Ntime in the content. So I don't--I guess part of what I-
Dialogue: 0,0:15:33.78,0:15:38.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] --By the way, that failed. I mean, \Npeople became as obsessed with bell hooks--
Dialogue: 0,0:15:38.12,0:15:39.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Yeah.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:39.22,0:15:42.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] --and the lowercase did not \N[ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHING{\i0} ] do--
Dialogue: 0,0:15:42.41,0:15:45.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] --right, yes! This is what--
Dialogue: 0,0:15:45.12,0:15:50.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] --you know, it didn't do the work \Nthat I felt as a spiritual
Dialogue: 0,0:15:50.50,0:15:57.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because for me it was not just a political--it was \Na spiritual decision at the time, you know?
Dialogue: 0,0:15:57.14,0:16:01.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,About who am I and where do I place myself?
Dialogue: 0,0:16:01.14,0:16:08.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I didn't want to place myself, my personality, \Nmy ego, but other people placed it.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:08.28,0:16:13.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So they just reified and fetishized \Nthe small bell hooks.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:13.83,0:16:21.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I realized, you know, how much power we {\i1}don't{\i0}\Nhave over how our representations are perceived.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:21.03,0:16:27.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that kind of goes back to my saying that \Nwhen people think we're angry, or strident, or difficult,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:27.62,0:16:30.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when we may not have \Nthat perception of ourselves at all.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:30.29,0:16:34.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I first y'know published, Aint I A Woman, \Nthe white women at South End Press said,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:34.53,0:16:36.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you know, it was such an angry book.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:36.73,0:16:38.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I didn't know what they were talking about.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:38.78,0:16:41.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because again, I felt it was a clear book.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:41.28,0:16:45.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was a book saying things \Nthat hadn't been said before, but anger?
Dialogue: 0,0:16:45.57,0:16:47.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, I'm one of these Black women
Dialogue: 0,0:16:47.13,0:16:54.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if I'm angry, you will know that I'm angry \Nand I'm gonna--I'm gonna own my anger.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:54.04,0:17:00.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so I knew that that wasn't the case, and that \Nhas been something that I feel is a constant battle.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:00.66,0:17:03.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I've been referring a lot to \N"Sweet Honey in the Rock":
Dialogue: 0,0:17:03.30,0:17:05.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"{\i1}when we work for freedom, we cannot rest{\i0}",
Dialogue: 0,0:17:05.53,0:17:10.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because people are constantly using \N"anger" and "difficult".
Dialogue: 0,0:17:10.36,0:17:14.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean I have to admit I get "difficult" now \Nmore than "anger".
Dialogue: 0,0:17:14.52,0:17:16.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, "{\i1}bell is difficult{\i0}."
Dialogue: 0,0:17:16.33,0:17:17.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Yeah.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:17.64,0:17:20.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] You know, when people drop you, \Nor when--from publishing, or something,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:20.44,0:17:26.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they say "{\i1}well, bell is difficult{\i0}." \NAnd it's because you raise certain kinds of images.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:26.10,0:17:35.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And once again, I think it's about, Melissa, \Nthat interface between our radical political integrity
Dialogue: 0,0:17:35.55,0:17:42.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the fact that we are in imperialist, \Nwhite-supremacist, capitalist patriarchy. So--
Dialogue: 0,0:17:42.29,0:17:47.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] And you might be, I mean, \Nso I {\i1}was{\i0} angry at Ms. Mehta,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:47.96,0:17:52.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,her inability to see that it was patently-
Dialogue: 0,0:17:52.10,0:17:54.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] Uh-oh, mess up all my theories. \N[ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHTER{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:17:54.42,0:17:57.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] --Right--no, no, but [ {\i1}AUDIENCE \NLAUGHING{\i0} ] but not just her.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:57.18,0:18:01.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was angry with the idea that we continue \Nto propagate this notion,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:01.51,0:18:05.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that to be poor is somehow relaxing.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:05.18,0:18:09.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That people are chillin on public service, \Nlike I mean, [ {\i1}AUDIENCE APPLAUDING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:18:09.76,0:18:15.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that, you know, that--that riskiness \Nis associated with wealth, right?
Dialogue: 0,0:18:15.48,0:18:19.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I--the only thing I push back against \Nis the notion that I'm irrational.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:19.90,0:18:23.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, I'm mad, \Nbut I'm mad about something, I'm not...
Dialogue: 0,0:18:23.24,0:18:30.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm not mad as an inherent aspect of my Blackness, \Nor my womanhood, right? But mad about something.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:30.23,0:18:34.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you know, I get difficult, but I am difficult.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:34.30,0:18:40.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like, but, but so do--I mean, like, [ {\i1}WHISPERING{\i0} ] \Nso are all the white guys. [ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:18:40.54,0:18:46.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Right? And I mean, I'm legitimately not trying \Nto be funny, in the sense that I know...
Dialogue: 0,0:18:46.21,0:18:50.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so I know that I come to work \Nafter my producers come to work,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:50.29,0:18:57.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I'm a little bit, y'know, demanding \Nand a lot of times, so I--"difficult".
Dialogue: 0,0:18:57.95,0:19:04.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But all the white boys were difficult too in \Neverything from the academy to general life to
Dialogue: 0,0:19:04.60,0:19:07.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you know, right?
Dialogue: 0,0:19:07.99,0:19:14.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And but it's as though that difficulty is presumed \Nto be legitimate whereas ours is illegitimate.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:14.24,0:19:15.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] Of course, you know, it's funny.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:15.76,0:19:19.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I don't think that I'm difficult. \NI think that I'm exacting.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:19.21,0:19:20.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:19:20.60,0:19:22.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And precise.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:22.46,0:19:27.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I mean, I think that words we use are very \Nimportant because I think that for me
Dialogue: 0,0:19:27.65,0:19:29.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, let's face it, folks.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:29.98,0:19:32.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You don't be a Black woman from a working-class \Nbackground in America
Dialogue: 0,0:19:32.90,0:19:37.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and write more than thirty books \N'cause you sitting around being difficult. You know?
Dialogue: 0,0:19:37.16,0:19:39.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHING, SOME APPLAUSE{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:19:39.09,0:19:44.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That work comes out of \Nthe amazing discipline of my life,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:44.83,0:19:48.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which I don't necessarily attribute to my ego or me,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:48.37,0:19:53.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but to the recognition of what it takes \Nto get a particular job done,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:53.01,0:19:57.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that will, as many of you have experienced \Nin this room,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:57.48,0:20:04.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to write, to put other things aside to write, \Nto sit at my computer
Dialogue: 0,0:20:04.63,0:20:10.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and key in the "Beasts of The Southern Wild" piece
Dialogue: 0,0:20:10.02,0:20:11.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,while I am sitting there crying
Dialogue: 0,0:20:11.92,0:20:16.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because I just can't take in another image \Nof an abused Black child
Dialogue: 0,0:20:16.72,0:20:20.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,being represented as entertaining.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:20.65,0:20:25.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I am sitting there, and I am writing, but I'm \Nalso hurting. [ {\i1}VOICE STRAINED WITH EMOTION{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:20:25.12,0:20:32.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm hurting because we can't get past the construct-\Nion of Black children as little mini-adults
Dialogue: 0,0:20:32.25,0:20:36.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whose innocence we don't have to protect.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:36.93,0:20:43.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, who we can consider "cute" if they're \Nbeing slapped around by an alcoholic father.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:43.05,0:20:45.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, not to mention all the other things \Nwe could name.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:45.81,0:20:52.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Well, and then the abuse not only of \Nthe character, but actually of Quvenzhané Wallis,
Dialogue: 0,0:20:52.10,0:20:56.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by Black and white communities, \Nin the immediate aftermath of that film,
Dialogue: 0,0:20:56.79,0:21:00.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which I really, really disliked that film.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:00.73,0:21:04.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And watched it in New Orleans, sat in a theater \Nin New Orleans and watched it,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:04.74,0:21:07.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and came home and read your piece.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:07.80,0:21:11.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And in fact, like the moment of Bennett students \Nsaying "{\i1}Have you read bell hooks?{\i0}",
Dialogue: 0,0:21:11.50,0:21:14.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,coming back and reading your piece and saying, \N"{\i1}Oh bell, bell's back{\i0}."
Dialogue: 0,0:21:14.96,0:21:22.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And in part, that the pain, the anger, but also that
Dialogue: 0,0:21:22.43,0:21:24.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this was one of those movies \Nthat we were supposed to like,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:24.86,0:21:29.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we were supposed to say good and nice things \Nabout, and was supposed to be "artsy" and "funny"
Dialogue: 0,0:21:29.15,0:21:31.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you're supposed to be "deep" and "get it",
Dialogue: 0,0:21:31.11,0:21:36.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you're willingness to say, "{\i1}Nope, the abuse \Nof a Young Black girl's body as--is not deep.{\i0}
Dialogue: 0,0:21:36.53,0:21:38.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,{\i1}It's appalling.{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,0:21:38.64,0:21:46.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] And also, why can't we teach other people \Nto recognize that this is traumatic, and not "funny",
Dialogue: 0,0:21:46.80,0:21:50.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and not "cute", and that's--that's that again,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:50.08,0:21:53.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"{\i1}when we work for freedom, we cannot rest{\i0}" \Nbecause it's a constant struggle.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:53.97,0:21:58.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, it's interesting because, \NI can tell you right now.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:58.43,0:22:03.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ms. Melissa liked "Twelve Years of Slavery", \Nand I really hated it.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:03.63,0:22:10.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I thought that, or I won't even say I hated it. \NNah, sentimental clap-trap. [ {\i1}A FEW LAUGHS{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:22:10.62,0:22:13.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But one of the things I felt about it,
Dialogue: 0,0:22:13.33,0:22:19.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and--'cause we don't want to just sit here and act \Nlike we schmooze and agree on everything
Dialogue: 0,0:22:19.88,0:22:25.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I felt that it actually negated \Nthe Black female voice.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:25.15,0:22:33.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That she was given voice only in so much as she \Ngave expression to Black male emotional feeling.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:33.68,0:22:40.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That the Black male does not have to take \Nresponsibility for his own emotional universe,
Dialogue: 0,0:22:40.13,0:22:43.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that Patsy takes that cross.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:43.40,0:22:46.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So it's like, okay not only are you suffering,
Dialogue: 0,0:22:46.01,0:22:54.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but you have to take on you the added burden \Nof articulating this Black man's pain to him, so--
Dialogue: 0,0:22:54.77,0:22:56.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] So, so how much that though
Dialogue: 0,0:22:56.86,0:23:02.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and this is part of why I've approached this film \Nso differently than the other slave films
Dialogue: 0,0:23:02.69,0:23:10.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how much of that is because it is the reading of \Nhis autobiography, his slave narrative,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:10.05,0:23:12.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and so that is what he does to her?
Dialogue: 0,0:23:12.08,0:23:15.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like he does in fact create Patsy in that way, \Nin that text,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:15.97,0:23:18.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so the film reproduces the thing
Dialogue: 0,0:23:18.45,0:23:24.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that he as Black patriarch -even in the context of enslavement- does to her?
Dialogue: 0,0:23:24.04,0:23:25.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] Yeah, honey, [ {\i1}A FEW LAUGHS{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:23:25.79,0:23:32.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but if the film-maker can create for us \Nthat scene with Mrs. Shaw that is not in the book,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:32.37,0:23:37.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then why can't he--I mean, one of the things that \NI stand on all the time
Dialogue: 0,0:23:37.29,0:23:42.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,film does not exist for the purpose of \Ngiving us reality.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:42.73,0:23:48.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I always say, like, if my life is shit, I don't want \Nto go pay $10 or $12 [ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:23:48.05,0:23:53.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to see it displayed so that we have to ask ourselves.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:53.52,0:23:59.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I guess what I want for us all the time, Melissa, \Nwhich some of us feel happens on your show,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:59.29,0:24:04.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is a pushing of the imagination--a broadening of \Nhow we think about things,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:04.95,0:24:08.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and not this sort of narrowing-down of \Nhow we think about things.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:08.85,0:24:14.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I feel like, you know, I'm tired of the \Nnaked, raped, beaten Black woman body.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:14.94,0:24:21.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I want to see an image of Black femaleness \Nthat alters our universe in some way.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:21.94,0:24:27.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, Melissa--which was a question I was dying \Nto ask her, so I can ask her tonight
Dialogue: 0,0:24:27.36,0:24:33.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in "Sister Citizen", she really writes critically \Nabout Michelle Obama, for example,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:33.28,0:24:36.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as representing that kind of shift.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:36.07,0:24:40.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That we have this transformative image
Dialogue: 0,0:24:40.36,0:24:46.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I feel like, yes, we started out with this \Nincredible powerful Black female voice,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:46.63,0:24:50.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Michelle Obama, and it got smallerand smaller,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:50.94,0:24:58.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I wonder if you think that. Or if you think that \Nit kept the momentum that it began with?
Dialogue: 0,0:24:58.55,0:25:05.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] So, for me, First Lady Obama \Nis navigating multiple spaces,
Dialogue: 0,0:25:05.12,0:25:11.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and in some ways, it has retained its bigness and \Nits value, and in other ways it has diminished.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:11.14,0:25:14.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Most importantly, for me, I think there was \Nan active, purposeful,
Dialogue: 0,0:25:14.20,0:25:18.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I think she she has said it to us,
Dialogue: 0,0:25:18.08,0:25:27.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,desire to remove from public space that idea of \Nthe Black woman who emasculates her husband.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:27.93,0:25:35.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That she very actively and purposefully moved back \Nfrom the partnership model that we saw initially.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:35.70,0:25:38.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not only partnership, but actually, \Nan active critique of her husband.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:38.79,0:25:42.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So when Senator Obama is running in 2007-8,
Dialogue: 0,0:25:42.06,0:25:45.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she has a variety of punch-lines, \None of which includes:
Dialogue: 0,0:25:45.64,0:25:50.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"{\i1}Oh yeah, you know, Barack is stinky \Nin the morning, and he leaves his socks around.{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,0:25:50.64,0:25:55.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She had another line that was about feeling like \Na single-parent for much of their early marriage
Dialogue: 0,0:25:55.82,0:25:58.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because he was working down-state.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:58.70,0:26:00.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so she was taking on all the parenting.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:00.44,0:26:04.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She was the primary bread-winner \Nand she was taking on all the parenting.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:04.58,0:26:08.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then there was also a narrative about \Nher relationship with Mama Robinson,
Dialogue: 0,0:26:08.34,0:26:12.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the importance that Mama Robinson had \Nin stepping in as the second parent
Dialogue: 0,0:26:12.71,0:26:16.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when state Senator Barack Obama was down-state.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:16.30,0:26:19.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that narrative went away after the primaries.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:19.68,0:26:24.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So as soon as, basically they got through, \Nabout South Carolina,
Dialogue: 0,0:26:24.13,0:26:29.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it became clear that it was very possible that \NBarack Obama could win the Democratic Primary,
Dialogue: 0,0:26:29.75,0:26:36.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Michelle Obama "the wife" became the \Nmuch more traditional political wife,
Dialogue: 0,0:26:36.11,0:26:39.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who supports in sort of a doe-eyed way, \Nher husband.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:39.02,0:26:41.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But that wasn't the totality.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:41.37,0:26:43.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So on that hand, yes, I would agree, \NI think she shrinks.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:43.82,0:26:46.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the other thing I offer though, \Nis this possibility
Dialogue: 0,0:26:46.73,0:26:54.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that she's performing two other things that I do find \Nto be a sustaining pushing of the imagination.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:54.04,0:26:55.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One is about her body,
Dialogue: 0,0:26:55.73,0:27:03.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and this initial desire to dissect First Lady Obama \Nin all the ways that we have dissected women,
Dialogue: 0,0:27:03.73,0:27:06.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Black women in particular, \Nsince the Venus Hottentot.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:06.46,0:27:10.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so rather than talking about Michelle Obama \Nas an embodied person,
Dialogue: 0,0:27:10.55,0:27:12.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we would talk about her arms.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:12.20,0:27:16.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"{\i1}I want Michelle Obama's arms.{\i0}" \N"{\i1}I want Michelle Obama's behind." "I want{\i0}"--right?
Dialogue: 0,0:27:16.02,0:27:20.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so it was a rhetorical and public dissection \Nof her into parts,
Dialogue: 0,0:27:20.72,0:27:23.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so that we weren't talking about her, \Nbut talking about the parts of her body.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:23.60,0:27:30.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now for me, the immediate rational reasonable \Nresponse to that is to stop performing your body,
Dialogue: 0,0:27:30.15,0:27:32.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to--when people are talking about your body\Nto cover.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:32.75,0:27:34.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean that's what our grandmothers taught us, right?
Dialogue: 0,0:27:34.42,0:27:36.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"{\i1}Girl, hold it--hold it in. Keep it tight,{\i0}" right?
Dialogue: 0,0:27:36.73,0:27:41.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because people--but instead, the First Lady did \Nthis sort of extraordinary thing where she was like,
Dialogue: 0,0:27:41.34,0:27:43.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"{\i1}Oh, so you want to scrutinize? Here I am.{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,0:27:43.97,0:27:45.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She went even more sleeveless.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:45.85,0:27:47.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She had this amazing--I encourage you to go home
Dialogue: 0,0:27:47.73,0:27:51.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and Google the--just put in "{\i1}hula hoops{\i0}" \Nand "{\i1}First Lady Obama{\i0}" -
Dialogue: 0,0:27:51.81,0:27:56.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there's this incredible series of her in the first spring \Nthat they're in the White House of Spring 2009
Dialogue: 0,0:27:56.48,0:28:01.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and she is running - she's this 6-foot-tall Black \Nwoman, barefoot, hula-hooping,
Dialogue: 0,0:28:01.74,0:28:05.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and running across the White House lawn, \Nand it is...
Dialogue: 0,0:28:05.08,0:28:09.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like when I say that, right, that sounds like \Nsome kind of weird racist KKK movie, right?
Dialogue: 0,0:28:09.64,0:28:11.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:28:11.32,0:28:14.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But instead, it's like, it is completely beautiful
Dialogue: 0,0:28:14.31,0:28:19.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and not beautiful in some like "{\i1}Jackie O.{\i0}"\N"{\i1}oh she's like Jackie O.{\i0}"--no.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:19.89,0:28:22.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She's embodied in this very different way,
Dialogue: 0,0:28:22.69,0:28:27.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the very fact that she goes into obesity politics \Nthat in part invites scrutiny of her body,
Dialogue: 0,0:28:27.50,0:28:32.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then undoubtedly of her daughter's, \Nis sort of an unwillingness to shrink.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:32.65,0:28:35.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So she shrinks in the wife role.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:35.12,0:28:40.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I feel her stand up in the, in the sort of \N"{\i1}inviting the scrutiny of the body{\i0}".
Dialogue: 0,0:28:40.70,0:28:44.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the last thing I'll say is, \Nwhen there was this attempt to do
Dialogue: 0,0:28:44.31,0:28:47.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,--and it's the one thing I loved about \N"Twelve Years a Slave"--
Dialogue: 0,0:28:47.31,0:28:50.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to me, "Twelve Years a Slave" was the first time
Dialogue: 0,0:28:50.64,0:28:56.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that there wasn't a cinematic redemption \Nof the white woman slaveholder.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:56.46,0:29:04.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And instead, they are made absolutely complicit \Nand evil and attached
Dialogue: 0,0:29:04.87,0:29:11.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and there's no sense that there is some gender \Nequity that will--nope. [ {\i1}SOME LAUGHS{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:29:11.51,0:29:30.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] And you didn't see that in "Django"? \N[ {\i1}PROLONGED LAUGHTER{\i0} ] No I mean--
Dialogue: 0,0:29:30.29,0:29:32.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] I can't--I can't talk about "Django", bell.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:32.82,0:29:35.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] Oh, okay, but I have to say \Nthat one of my favorite scenes
Dialogue: 0,0:29:35.66,0:29:40.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is when the two very obedient Black female slaves \Nare on that stairway
Dialogue: 0,0:29:40.99,0:29:49.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and Django tells them to say "{\i1}goodbye to Ms. Ann{\i0}", \Nand they've been so obedient and subservient,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:49.68,0:29:51.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it's like that open door of freedom,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:51.72,0:29:55.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that when they have the opportunity to walk through \Nthat open door of freedom,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:55.94,0:30:00.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that hold to me at that moment--the mammy image- \Nis totally deconstructed.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:00.89,0:30:04.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And they're like "goodbye" and he blows her away.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:04.89,0:30:08.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I see that as also that reminder of complicity,
Dialogue: 0,0:30:08.81,0:30:15.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that white women have been complicit in this \Nimperialist white-supremacist capitalist patriarchy.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:15.41,0:30:16.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}A FEW CLAPS{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:30:16.67,0:30:20.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And not just these sort of passive observers \Nor victims.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:20.75,0:30:22.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] I feel you, I feel you. I feel you--
Dialogue: 0,0:30:22.79,0:30:23.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] -But let's not be--
Dialogue: 0,0:30:23.100,0:30:26.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] But I can't--but "Django", but 'cause see...
Dialogue: 0,0:30:26.30,0:30:27.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHTER{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:30:27.71,0:30:31.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,'cause for me what happened in those first moments \Nin the movie theater, in "Twelve Years a Slave",
Dialogue: 0,0:30:31.47,0:30:33.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when they're taken onto the ship
Dialogue: 0,0:30:33.30,0:30:35.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then the people who have been watching way \Ntoo much "Django" are like,
Dialogue: 0,0:30:35.17,0:30:40.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"{\i1}I can't even believe you're just gonna--why ain't \Nyou gonna fight back?!{\i0}" [ {\i1}FOOT STOMP{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:30:40.23,0:30:41.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because this is not a fantasy.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:41.57,0:30:43.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because this is a slave narrative--because there is
Dialogue: 0,0:30:43.91,0:30:49.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because the scene then when he is lynched for days \Nis what happens when you fight.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:49.55,0:30:52.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because they kill Omar with a shank \Nin like two minutes.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:52.84,0:30:55.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And he had been--because for me, \NI guess the reason
Dialogue: 0,0:30:55.12,0:31:00.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the reason that that "Django" does not perform \Nthat for me is because it's the fantasy.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:00.21,0:31:03.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] But see, I think it's all fantasy. \N[ {\i1}SOME "YEAH'S" FROM AUDIENCE{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:31:03.37,0:31:04.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Okay.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:04.63,0:31:06.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] I think it's all fantasy. \NIt's all fiction. It's all-
Dialogue: 0,0:31:06.61,0:31:11.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-I mean I have to say the only slavery movie \Nthat I can really say really touched me
Dialogue: 0,0:31:11.28,0:31:16.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was "Slavery by Another Name", \Nthe fictive documentary.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:16.40,0:31:19.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because it had those real Black people.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:19.34,0:31:25.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean I had the good fortune to see it at Sundance \Nwith Eric Holder and his wife,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:25.66,0:31:30.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whose family is part of the film, \Nand part of that experience.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:30.11,0:31:37.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I, myself, okay I'ma say that \Nwhat I'm tired of in general is sentimentality.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:37.46,0:31:38.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, James Baldwin said that
Dialogue: 0,0:31:38.94,0:31:44.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"{\i1}sentimentality is the ostentatious parading of \Nexcessive and spurious emotion{\i0}.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:44.95,0:31:49.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,{\i1}It is the mark of dishonesty, the inability to feel.{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,0:31:49.35,0:31:52.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I'm actually\Nwe can go away from particular movies.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:52.99,0:31:55.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm concerned about why is it that
Dialogue: 0,0:31:55.70,0:32:03.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there's a kind of collective response to the \Nplantation culture we as Black people are living in
Dialogue: 0,0:32:03.79,0:32:07.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that has primarily to do with sentimentality.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:07.75,0:32:10.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,With people, whether we're talking about \N"The Butler",
Dialogue: 0,0:32:10.50,0:32:14.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whether we're talking about \Nsome of Tyler Perry's stuff [ {\i1}LAUGHING{\i0} ],
Dialogue: 0,0:32:14.37,0:32:16.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's like, you know?
Dialogue: 0,0:32:16.29,0:32:20.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, let's stand and weep \Nand let's weep and weep.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:20.87,0:32:29.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, and while we're weeping, the violence \Nagainst us globally, the global slavery, continues.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:29.21,0:32:32.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I'm trying to analyze it, \Nand maybe you have some thoughts about it,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:32.81,0:32:39.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but why is there this obsession at this historical \Nmoment with sentimentality and melodrama?
Dialogue: 0,0:32:39.57,0:32:43.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,'Cause you know my favorite melodrama \Nis imitation of life. [ {\i1}APPLAUSE{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:32:44.52,0:32:51.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm old enough to have left [ {\i1}MELODRAMATICALLY{\i0} ] \N"{\i1}Maaaaama! I diiiiid love you!{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,0:32:51.11,0:32:52.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:32:52.21,0:32:54.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"{\i1}I diiiid love you!{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,0:32:54.05,0:32:59.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But again, mama don't get to hear that \N'cause she dead.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:59.88,0:33:03.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}LAUGHTER{\i0} ] And so, what are your thoughts \Nabout that?
Dialogue: 0,0:33:03.04,0:33:09.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This sort of upsurge, I feel, \Nin sentimental portraits of Blackness.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:09.86,0:33:13.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not--and we don't have to just talk about slavery, \N'cause "The Butler" certainly, you know.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:13.87,0:33:18.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Yes. [ {\i1}A FEW LAUGHS{\i0} ] Okay so, \Nso I mean, all right.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:18.64,0:33:25.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, okay, so there's "Django" on the one hand, then \Nthere's "The Butler" and God help me, "The Help".
Dialogue: 0,0:33:25.92,0:33:34.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}AUDIENCE BOOING AND THEN BREAKING INTO LAUGHTER{\i0} ] I guess--
Dialogue: 0,0:33:34.53,0:33:36.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] All of which are sentimental.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:36.60,0:33:38.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Yes, right, right.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:38.49,0:33:41.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so I'm just kind of running in my head what \Nyou're saying & trying to think through this a little bit.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:41.78,0:33:52.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It certainly felt to me like the "The Help" and \N"The Butler" are popular culture
Dialogue: 0,0:33:52.67,0:33:55.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,responding to the angst of the possibility,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:55.43,0:34:00.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not only of Black empowerment \Nin the personhood of President Obama,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:00.36,0:34:06.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but also, the desire for the magical negro \Nto reappear to make things better.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:06.03,0:34:09.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So that the economic downturn itself, right?
Dialogue: 0,0:34:09.92,0:34:18.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the sense of white America experiencing, \Nfor the first time in 50 years,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:18.17,0:34:22.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the unemployment rates that Black folks \Nhave been living with for 60 years, right?
Dialogue: 0,0:34:22.96,0:34:28.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So that the Tea Party can actively, \Njust weeks after President Obama's inauguration,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:28.42,0:34:34.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,can sort of take to the mall in anger about a \N10% unemployment rate, and [ {\i1}LAUGHING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:34:34.48,0:34:38.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we know like 10% unemployment rate for Black \Npeople would be cause for like, Juneteenth.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:38.90,0:34:40.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:34:40.54,0:34:42.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Right? We'd be happy.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:42.12,0:34:45.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I--so I presume that part of what happens then,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:45.61,0:34:50.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,why we need "The Butler", why we need \N"The Help", and so maybe-
Dialogue: 0,0:34:50.21,0:34:54.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I'm gonna pause and think about maybe \Nthis is also why we need to bring back slavery.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:54.35,0:34:56.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I'm not sure--I'll think about it.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:56.21,0:35:05.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But maybe the reason we need to go engage \Nwith them in our fictional emotional lives is
Dialogue: 0,0:35:05.77,0:35:11.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because those negroes gave-\Nthey solved the problems of America
Dialogue: 0,0:35:11.38,0:35:16.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,through their willingness to sacrifice \Nfor the American project.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:16.91,0:35:20.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so, I mean the fact that, \NI will say at the end of "Twelve Years a Slave",
Dialogue: 0,0:35:20.97,0:35:25.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what happens--he goes to the American court \Nsystem, right? There is no "Django" fantasy,
Dialogue: 0,0:35:25.32,0:35:27.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like the "fantasy" is that. Right?
Dialogue: 0,0:35:27.57,0:35:31.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What the actual enslaved man does is he goes \Nand takes these men to court.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:31.67,0:35:39.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There is a presumption, even in that moment, \Nthat somehow there will be justice available.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:39.23,0:35:42.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The thing that we actually did \Nin the years following emancipation
Dialogue: 0,0:35:42.79,0:35:48.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was to run for office, and buy land, and I mean it's
Dialogue: 0,0:35:48.17,0:35:53.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so maybe there's a desire to reconstruct \Nthat version of Black folks
Dialogue: 0,0:35:53.10,0:35:56.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so that we could fix what is currently wrong.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:56.10,0:35:59.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because that's always been our magical capacity.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:59.72,0:36:02.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] Or so that we can simply grieve.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:02.20,0:36:06.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We can have a vehicle for the expression \Nof the depth of our grief.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:06.24,0:36:08.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because I do believe that for some time now,
Dialogue: 0,0:36:08.57,0:36:13.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Black people collectively have been caught \Nin a profound grief.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:13.34,0:36:19.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I've been working on writing about justice & using \NMartin Luther King's "Where Do We Go From Here?"
Dialogue: 0,0:36:19.72,0:36:24.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I'm just amazed that Dr. King \Nwas talking about fascism.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:24.24,0:36:30.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He was talking about the--he was so prescient that \Nthere will be things like the Tea Party.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:30.57,0:36:34.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the thing that he says that's so amazing is that
Dialogue: 0,0:36:34.06,0:36:39.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there will be this growth--"a native form"-\Nthese are his words--"of fascism",
Dialogue: 0,0:36:39.28,0:36:42.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as Black people press forward for equality.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:42.50,0:36:44.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then he says that awesome insight
Dialogue: 0,0:36:44.92,0:36:53.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that white people would rather destroy democracy \Nthan have racial equality.
Dialogue: 0,0:36:53.97,0:36:56.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}AUDIBLE AGREEMENT FROM THE AUDIENCE{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:36:56.10,0:36:59.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I think we know that that's not true \Nof all white people,
Dialogue: 0,0:36:59.44,0:37:05.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but we really see that in those of us who live in very \Ndepressed white areas, like Appalachia.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:05.79,0:37:13.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, we see it so clearly that people would rather \Nhave white supremacy and hierarchy
Dialogue: 0,0:37:13.57,0:37:16.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than any kind of justice.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:16.06,0:37:20.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That people really think "{\i1}Justice? You know, \Nthose negroes have had enough.{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,0:37:20.30,0:37:22.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"{\i1}We've given them enough!{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,0:37:22.68,0:37:29.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so I think that that's what troubles me, Melissa, \Nabout the sentimentality.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:29.42,0:37:34.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because I feel it shifts us away \Nfrom the forms of analysis.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:34.52,0:37:38.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like, I mean, I am myself-\NI've been a reader of King,
Dialogue: 0,0:37:38.33,0:37:41.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I've been away from \N"Where Do We Go From Here?"
Dialogue: 0,0:37:41.32,0:37:48.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and so when I read it again, and I thought, boy, King \Nwas talking about fascism, about what we had to do,
Dialogue: 0,0:37:48.87,0:37:52.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and so much of what he puts out we haven't done.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:52.13,0:37:54.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The critical consciousness.
Dialogue: 0,0:37:54.46,0:38:00.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It just, kind of, in a way, saddened me so deeply \Nbecause I think that we do live in this space-
Dialogue: 0,0:38:00.65,0:38:04.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Black people--Brown people-\Nof cognitive dissonance.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:04.27,0:38:07.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That we know white supremacy is real.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:07.02,0:38:10.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But at the same time, we would like \Nto walk through our daily lives
Dialogue: 0,0:38:10.63,0:38:15.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as though justice is real, democracy is real, \Nequality is real.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:15.89,0:38:22.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, if anything that I could say about \N"Twelve Years of Slavery", is that it depicted that.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:22.14,0:38:26.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That we see them walking through their lives, \Nthinking they've made it.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:26.79,0:38:34.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That they can live as--as assimilated Black people \Nin this bourgeois white world.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:34.72,0:38:40.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And there is something so, almost unbelievable,
Dialogue: 0,0:38:40.25,0:38:46.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about his level of innocence about the horrific nature \Nof white supremacy,
Dialogue: 0,0:38:46.18,0:38:51.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because he really believes that there is a whiteness \Nthat will protect him.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:51.89,0:38:55.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like you know? And that to me is like, wow.
Dialogue: 0,0:38:55.65,0:39:02.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If someone can come from that time period \Nand believe that whiteness will protect them.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:02.24,0:39:10.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Then I think about our son, our brother Trayvon \NMartin, what did he think would protect him?
Dialogue: 0,0:39:10.41,0:39:15.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Did he think that he was in danger of losing his life?
Dialogue: 0,0:39:15.50,0:39:20.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Or did he have that innocence again, \Nabout whiteness?
Dialogue: 0,0:39:20.68,0:39:25.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That many of us carry? \NAnd many of our young people carry it, especially.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:25.03,0:39:28.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, both here at The New School, \Neverywhere I go,
Dialogue: 0,0:39:28.68,0:39:35.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it is young people especially who will argue \Nthat race has ended, that we're in the post-racial-
Dialogue: 0,0:39:35.21,0:39:36.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,go ahead, jump in.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:36.73,0:39:41.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Yeah, yeah, so I would push back \Nagainst that just a little bit.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:41.04,0:39:47.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That young people primarily--so I do think that \Nmillennials may think about race in ways
Dialogue: 0,0:39:47.15,0:39:52.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that are different and more complicated, but they \Nought to, I mean, 'cause the world is different.
Dialogue: 0,0:39:52.12,0:39:56.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But that Cathy Cohen's research \Nout of the Black Youth Project,
Dialogue: 0,0:39:56.16,0:39:58.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the writings of The Black Youth Project, \N100 and all of them,
Dialogue: 0,0:39:58.90,0:40:04.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,do suggest actually that because of their very close \Ncontact with the police state and with incarceration,
Dialogue: 0,0:40:04.41,0:40:06.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and with the ways in which this-
Dialogue: 0,0:40:06.14,0:40:11.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so again, the racial naiveté of the kids of the 70's-\Nall right I'ma give that to you-
Dialogue: 0,0:40:11.38,0:40:13.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because we were sort of in this moment, right?
Dialogue: 0,0:40:13.78,0:40:19.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then, even as Reagan was happening, y'know, \NBill Cosby was the, y'know, #1 rated show on TV.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:19.64,0:40:24.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So there were--there were ways in which-\NI'ma take that critique for the X generation.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:24.40,0:40:34.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I'm not quite willing to say that of young people \Nof color in their 20's, the generation one under me,
Dialogue: 0,0:40:34.80,0:40:42.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,only because the material realities of their \Nvulnerability are so present for them.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:42.26,0:40:46.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now it may be true that that population \Nis even more stratified--
Dialogue: 0,0:40:46.70,0:40:48.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] Yes, yes.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:48.88,0:40:51.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] --so for the wealthy children, \Nthere is a different reality.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:51.02,0:40:54.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I don't want to give it to the whole generation-\NI don't want to say young people don't know.
Dialogue: 0,0:40:54.07,0:40:57.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And my bet is that Trayvon may not.\NAnd so, in fact...
Dialogue: 0,0:41:02.26,0:41:09.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So in fact so I want to come back in a minute \Nto using King as a source.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:09.81,0:41:11.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Especially around an understanding of justice
Dialogue: 0,0:41:11.95,0:41:15.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and whether or not there's also a sentimentality \Nthat occurs around--
Dialogue: 0,0:41:15.64,0:41:17.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] Uh-oh.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:17.18,0:41:19.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] --King [ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHTER{\i0} ],
Dialogue: 0,0:41:19.75,0:41:24.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and particularly when we're unwilling to interrogate\Nand push King on his homophobia and sexism.
Dialogue: 0,0:41:24.95,0:41:29.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}APPLAUSE{\i0} ] And you know, it's been-
Dialogue: 0,0:41:29.80,0:41:34.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as much as there has been this kind of sentimentality \Naround race produced by mass popular culture,
Dialogue: 0,0:41:34.79,0:41:37.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and "The Help", and "The Butler",
Dialogue: 0,0:41:37.59,0:41:41.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there's also been a sentimentality about King \Nfrom the critics of President Obama,
Dialogue: 0,0:41:41.30,0:41:46.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who want to say "{\i1}President Obama is no King{\i0}"-\Ntrue. [ {\i1}A FEW LAUGHS{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:41:46.02,0:41:48.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But then they want to say,
Dialogue: 0,0:41:48.19,0:41:53.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"{\i1}President Obama is no King because he \Nmakes alliances{\i0}" and "{\i1}because he does{\i0}"-
Dialogue: 0,0:41:53.99,0:41:57.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you know, "{\i1}makes compromises{\i0}", and I'm like, \Ndo y'all have any idea who King is?
Dialogue: 0,0:41:57.91,0:42:00.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the kinds of compromises and alliances and
Dialogue: 0,0:42:00.82,0:42:06.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,ask Fannie Lou Hamer if in fact King doesn't look \Njust like the critiques that we have of President Obama.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:06.76,0:42:09.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So it's not--let me be clear--I'm not saying \Nwe shouldn't critique President Obama,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:09.80,0:42:11.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what I am suggesting is that when we do so,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:11.95,0:42:16.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by holding up a vision of King that is this version \Nthat they created on the Mall
Dialogue: 0,0:42:16.35,0:42:22.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where he steps out of stone, that we can reproduce \Nthat sentimentality, particularly when we don't--
Dialogue: 0,0:42:22.03,0:42:24.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] But that's one King. That's one King.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:24.24,0:42:25.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Yes.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:25.41,0:42:29.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] I mean, I'm sorry, but most Americans \Ndon't even know The King ever said anything about fascism.
Dialogue: 0,0:42:29.75,0:42:31.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They don't know that he ever said anything
Dialogue: 0,0:42:31.52,0:42:35.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about a mounting white supremacy \Nthat would endanger our lives,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:35.04,0:42:38.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so I mean, I'm forgetting his name--I think it's Gary \NYoung-- [ {\i1}IN BACKGROUND: "THE GUARDIAN"{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:42:38.97,0:42:43.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who has done the "I Dream" speech book,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:43.80,0:42:49.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but he talks about how there's this period where \Nthere is the sentimental King who's loved,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:49.14,0:42:54.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but then as King begins to talk about imperialism, \Nand to talk about other things,
Dialogue: 0,0:42:54.46,0:42:57.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that then he's talked about as a traitor, \Nhe's talked about-
Dialogue: 0,0:42:57.84,0:43:05.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, so I think part of what we're all being called \Nto is a more complex understanding of King.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:05.03,0:43:06.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because I totally agree with you.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:06.51,0:43:11.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean I was--hate to say it but in my budding \Nmilitant feminism, I had no use for King.
Dialogue: 0,0:43:11.10,0:43:12.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}SOME LAUGHTER{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:43:12.69,0:43:14.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I barely had use for Malcolm X,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:14.70,0:43:19.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because of what I felt to be their refusal to see
Dialogue: 0,0:43:19.50,0:43:25.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the way patriarchy was hurting and wounding \Nto Black males and females,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:25.62,0:43:34.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and keeping us from the love that we deserve \Nto be able to give one another. And so, you know--
Dialogue: 0,0:43:34.88,0:43:37.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] But I don't mean to throw King out at all. \NIn fact, actually, he was-
Dialogue: 0,0:43:37.93,0:43:39.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] I didn't think you were...
Dialogue: 0,0:43:39.60,0:43:45.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] But I just worry about the ways--so this is \Nyour same concern about sentimentality,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:45.01,0:43:46.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just to echo it back,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:46.82,0:43:50.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that even as we engage the great ideas \Nand the thinkers
Dialogue: 0,0:43:50.95,0:43:54.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the nuggets of understanding \Nof justice and philosophy,
Dialogue: 0,0:43:54.92,0:44:06.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that because we're so absent, Black women are \Nso absent from the story, we're willing to give a pass.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:06.43,0:44:10.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] I don't think that anybody would ever say \Nthat about bell hooks.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:10.51,0:44:12.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] No, not you. Not you. \NI'm talking about us.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:12.48,0:44:14.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] Yes.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:14.23,0:44:17.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] I'm talking about an American vision \Nof who counts as a hero. That's what I mean.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:17.96,0:44:19.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] That's right.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:19.50,0:44:25.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I think that, you know, we are still in \Nthe construction of a world
Dialogue: 0,0:44:25.78,0:44:30.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where people don't want to accept \Nthat it is patriarchy that is killing Black men.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:30.99,0:44:32.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}AUDIBLE AGREEMENT FROM AUDIENCE{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:44:32.65,0:44:41.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That it is an imperialistic patriarchy that threatens \Nthe life of Black men of all ages--Black males.
Dialogue: 0,0:44:41.12,0:44:46.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, all this week I've been talking about \Nmy little 7-year-old Black male friend, you know,
Dialogue: 0,0:44:46.49,0:44:50.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who is having tremendous problems \Nin predominantly white world,
Dialogue: 0,0:44:50.81,0:44:56.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I try to talk to his biracial mother and say, "{\i1}You \Nknow, I think his problems have to do with race{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,0:44:56.55,0:45:01.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,{\i1}That he looks out in the world and not only does he \Nsee nothing that mirrors him{\i0},
Dialogue: 0,0:45:01.21,0:45:04.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,{\i1}these other little white kids are telling him \Nhe's a monster.{\i0}
Dialogue: 0,0:45:04.68,0:45:06.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, he's "ugly",
Dialogue: 0,0:45:06.75,0:45:10.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and so he finally gets--she says, "{\i1}Oh I think you're \Njust totally misguided.{\i0}" You know?
Dialogue: 0,0:45:10.67,0:45:19.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then he finally gets into a fight at school and \Nhe says, "{\i1}You know, white people are just mean.{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,0:45:19.82,0:45:25.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so, there's this articulation of \Na racialized narrative, from a 7-year-old
Dialogue: 0,0:45:25.56,0:45:30.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that knows he's already on the "outs", \Nthat there's no "in" for him.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:30.39,0:45:33.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I wonder about the trajectory of his life,
Dialogue: 0,0:45:33.57,0:45:39.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that he can feel already the depths of that angst \Nand despair, that there's no "in" for him.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:39.72,0:45:43.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I thought about that when you \Nwere talking about Trayvon Martin,
Dialogue: 0,0:45:43.95,0:45:49.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and talking about birthing a girl, a Black girl, \Nas opposed to a Black male child.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:49.07,0:45:57.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because I do think that Melissa and I both represent \Nthat very oppositional reality that I write about.
Dialogue: 0,0:45:57.74,0:46:03.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That we both have, against various odds in our life, \Ninvented ourselves.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:03.66,0:46:11.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I don't think that that radical self-invention \Nis as present for Black males in their life.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:11.57,0:46:14.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because for us, there is no seduction of power.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:14.70,0:46:20.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There is no idea of, "{\i1}oh well, if I just do \Nthe right thing with my dick{\i0}, [ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHS{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:46:20.18,0:46:24.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,{\i1}I will be able to enter into the power of patriarchy.{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,0:46:24.04,0:46:31.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so I think that that--those things are just \Nso intimate and deep in our lives right now,
Dialogue: 0,0:46:31.89,0:46:37.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this sense of also the distance that's growing \Nbetween Black females and Black males,
Dialogue: 0,0:46:37.37,0:46:40.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,around, I think, these very issues.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:44.23,0:46:46.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] So, this one's hard.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:46.41,0:46:49.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] I know, we just need hours together.
Dialogue: 0,0:46:49.69,0:46:54.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] I know. I mean, it's so hard because \NI simultaneously--you know,
Dialogue: 0,0:46:54.12,0:47:00.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I felt it so much on the night of the Zimmerman \Nverdict, and throughout that week,
Dialogue: 0,0:47:00.46,0:47:03.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and throughout the month that have passed.
Dialogue: 0,0:47:03.79,0:47:07.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But when I hear you say the extent to which we've-
Dialogue: 0,0:47:07.76,0:47:11.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that you and I have had a set of challenges over which we've-
Dialogue: 0,0:47:11.31,0:47:14.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I'm sitting here thinking, okay now if I'm \Nreal honest about that,
Dialogue: 0,0:47:14.57,0:47:23.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,some of the most difficult, very personal barriers, \Nwere placed there by Black men.
Dialogue: 0,0:47:23.47,0:47:27.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Purposefully, actively, maliciously, \Ncruelly, continuously,
Dialogue: 0,0:47:27.87,0:47:33.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whether it was my sexual assault as a teenager \Nby a Black man, who's an adult,
Dialogue: 0,0:47:33.17,0:47:38.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whether it was my [ {\i1}DISTRACTION IS INAUDIBLE{\i0} ]-\Nwe're live streaming--there are--
Dialogue: 0,0:47:38.50,0:47:42.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] She's gonna have to talk about [{\i1}INAUDIBLE{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:47:42.14,0:47:45.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Right, no. No, I, psh. Yes.
Dialogue: 0,0:47:45.47,0:47:50.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that, by the time that one came along, \Nthere had been so many that had-
Dialogue: 0,0:47:50.80,0:47:56.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and, so for me--it's interesting for you to say this-
Dialogue: 0,0:47:56.20,0:47:59.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because I'm light-skinned,
Dialogue: 0,0:47:59.52,0:48:10.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and cis, and straight, and have a white parent, \Nand have access to all kinds of privileges from birth,
Dialogue: 0,0:48:10.70,0:48:13.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,my bet is that I have been seduced by power.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:13.20,0:48:16.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now I don't think that mine comes \Nat the end of my penis,
Dialogue: 0,0:48:16.70,0:48:18.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but my bet is that my proximity to whiteness
Dialogue: 0,0:48:18.85,0:48:24.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,has in fact allowed me over and over again \Na level of racial naiveté,
Dialogue: 0,0:48:24.73,0:48:29.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and a willingness to believe that if I could just get \Nthe right white folks to give me cover,
Dialogue: 0,0:48:29.64,0:48:36.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that it will be okay. [ {\i1}AUDIENCE CHEERING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:48:36.46,0:48:40.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I think that has everything to do \Nwith being embodied in this body, and not in-
Dialogue: 0,0:48:40.72,0:48:43.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so, that even as we talk about \N"The Black Woman's Experience",
Dialogue: 0,0:48:43.50,0:48:47.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that like, the different kinds of Black women's \Nbodies in which we end up--
Dialogue: 0,0:48:47.35,0:48:51.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] But then let's talk about the point at which \Nyou realized that angle happened.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:51.42,0:48:52.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then you have--
Dialogue: 0,0:48:52.95,0:48:54.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Oh, and I don't know that that is true.
Dialogue: 0,0:48:54.91,0:48:57.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, I show up on TV and say words
Dialogue: 0,0:48:57.60,0:49:01.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because at the moment I have the cover \Nof a powerful white man.
Dialogue: 0,0:49:01.01,0:49:04.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like at the moment a white man is like, \N"{\i1}okay you can sit on TV and say words{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,0:49:04.31,0:49:08.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the moment that that powerful white man \Nno longer wants me to sit on TV and say words,
Dialogue: 0,0:49:08.65,0:49:11.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I will not be allowed to sit on TV \Nand say words anymore.
Dialogue: 0,0:49:11.16,0:49:13.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] But every time you speak, \Nyou have a choice.
Dialogue: 0,0:49:13.90,0:49:19.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I think that part of this huge following that's \Nhere tonight for you, and that's out there in the world,
Dialogue: 0,0:49:19.36,0:49:23.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is because you have exercised that choice, \Nin a way puts you at risk,
Dialogue: 0,0:49:23.48,0:49:26.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in a way that makes it seem that yes,
Dialogue: 0,0:49:26.82,0:49:30.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that power force larger than you \Ncould shut you down at any moment,
Dialogue: 0,0:49:30.68,0:49:33.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but you don't allow that to happen.
Dialogue: 0,0:49:33.34,0:49:37.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that's the strength that I'm talking about, \Nthat's a different kind of-
Dialogue: 0,0:49:37.39,0:49:40.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's what it means to be in resistance.
Dialogue: 0,0:49:40.26,0:49:43.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, all week I've been quoting \Nmy beloved Paulo Freire:
Dialogue: 0,0:49:43.18,0:49:48.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"{\i1}We cannot enter the struggle as objects \Nin order to later become subjects.{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,0:49:48.84,0:49:58.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So you exercise the power of a redemptive \Nsubjectivity, an oppositional subjectivity right there,
Dialogue: 0,0:49:58.79,0:50:05.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the belly of the beast, knowing all the time \Nthat you could be stopped at any moment,
Dialogue: 0,0:50:05.41,0:50:07.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but you don't not do it.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:07.06,0:50:12.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You don't express the views of the covering person \Nthat you described.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:12.81,0:50:16.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You're challenging yourself, and we challenge you.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:16.76,0:50:24.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] But I still think of the riskier thing, \Nof the braver thing, as-
Dialogue: 0,0:50:24.13,0:50:29.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because you write, \Nbecause television killed my writing.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:29.56,0:50:33.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I haven't written since the show, \Nbecause you write it exists forever.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:33.81,0:50:36.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's not ephemeral in the same way that broadcast is.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:36.94,0:50:41.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it feels to me so much more risky to write it,
Dialogue: 0,0:50:41.28,0:50:44.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,both because once you've written it, \NI can then quote it back to you.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:44.52,0:50:47.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I can challenge you on it. \NI can hold you accountable to it.
Dialogue: 0,0:50:47.54,0:50:51.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I can--but also because there will come a point \Nwhen you are gone
Dialogue: 0,0:50:51.70,0:50:56.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the 18-year-old will still pick it up, and \Nstill read it, and still discover Black Feminism,
Dialogue: 0,0:50:56.98,0:51:05.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then you did something, bell, that is--strikes me \Nas extremely dangerous to one's ego,
Dialogue: 0,0:51:05.37,0:51:12.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is you walked away from the brightest glare \Nof public life.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:12.68,0:51:15.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You returned to community,
Dialogue: 0,0:51:15.49,0:51:24.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the work that you are doing now feels to me like \Nit gets rewarded in all of the ways that this system
Dialogue: 0,0:51:24.06,0:51:29.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the capitalist--the system that you named so we can \Nsee the water that we're swimming in-
Dialogue: 0,0:51:29.93,0:51:34.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,isn't--like, the rewards won't be those rewards.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:34.20,0:51:42.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] But it gives me that ground to stand on from \Nwhich I can sustain my oppositional self.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:42.13,0:51:47.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, all throughout this week and last night, \Nwe had an amazing Sister Circle of women of color,
Dialogue: 0,0:51:47.43,0:51:54.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but a lot of those women were articulating \Nhow hard it is to remain oneself.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:54.94,0:51:59.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Working in these systems, \Nworking here at the New School.
Dialogue: 0,0:51:59.31,0:52:04.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so I think partially, I mean, when I left \NNew York City, I will just never forget that day.
Dialogue: 0,0:52:04.26,0:52:07.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'd been thinking suicidal thoughts.
Dialogue: 0,0:52:07.25,0:52:12.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was standing on the corner, with two shoes that \Ndidn't match, and all this other stuff.
Dialogue: 0,0:52:12.10,0:52:14.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I knew that it was time to go.
Dialogue: 0,0:52:14.56,0:52:23.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And to return to some type of foundation that could \Nallow me to sustain myself.
Dialogue: 0,0:52:23.76,0:52:26.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, when you've written a book that sells, \Nand it's selling really well,
Dialogue: 0,0:52:26.78,0:52:30.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but then suddenly you're told, "{\i1}well we don't want \Nto publish you anymore{\i0}".
Dialogue: 0,0:52:30.27,0:52:33.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But no reasons given, no explanations,
Dialogue: 0,0:52:33.93,0:52:40.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and all of those things that as Black women testified \Nthroughout this week--they make you feel crazy.
Dialogue: 0,0:52:40.49,0:52:46.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They make you feel like "{\i1}okay I did the things that \NI was supposed to do, I arrived at the destination.{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,0:52:46.57,0:52:50.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,{\i1}And all of the sudden I come to work one day \Nand I'm locked out.{\i0}
Dialogue: 0,0:52:50.99,0:52:53.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[audible compassionate reaction from audience]
Dialogue: 0,0:52:53.16,0:53:01.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so I think that for me, it's this decision to \Nconstantly think about what nurtures that radical self,
Dialogue: 0,0:53:01.17,0:53:03.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what holds me up?
Dialogue: 0,0:53:03.12,0:53:06.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, Shirley Chisholm holds me up. \N[ {\i1}A FEW CHEERS{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:53:06.28,0:53:09.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, when I-\Nher "Unbought and Unbossed" taught me,
Dialogue: 0,0:53:09.21,0:53:12.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,much as Melissa and other people are saying that \NI taught them things-
Dialogue: 0,0:53:12.66,0:53:19.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she taught me that I could be whoever I wanted to be \Nwithout having to lie down,
Dialogue: 0,0:53:19.98,0:53:25.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,without having to be vulnerable and naked \Nto the oppressor. [ {\i1}SOME CLAPS{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:53:25.94,0:53:31.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But what I also learned from her was that \Nthe rewards would be lesser,
Dialogue: 0,0:53:31.48,0:53:34.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that one would have to give up something.
Dialogue: 0,0:53:34.08,0:53:36.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know when I read, a year or so ago,
Dialogue: 0,0:53:36.70,0:53:40.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and bell hooks talks--is talked about in "Ms." \Nas "missing in action",
Dialogue: 0,0:53:40.78,0:53:45.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I think, what are they talking about? \NI'm sitting here writing. [ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHTER{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:53:45.38,0:53:47.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know?
Dialogue: 0,0:53:47.75,0:53:50.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And there are things again-\NI talked with the students-
Dialogue: 0,0:53:50.14,0:53:55.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and Melissa will respond and will begin to close--\Nopen it up for questions-
Dialogue: 0,0:53:55.31,0:54:00.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that when you are committed, \Nyou often have to do things you don't want to do.
Dialogue: 0,0:54:00.46,0:54:06.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I am not interested in "Lean In," okay? You know? \N[ {\i1}APPLAUSE{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:54:06.59,0:54:16.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I wrote a piece about it because I was very \Ndisturbed by what I felt was its overall impact.
Dialogue: 0,0:54:16.16,0:54:21.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And because I wasn't particularly interested, \Nwriting the piece was torturous.
Dialogue: 0,0:54:21.24,0:54:26.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was so unhappy. And people kept telling me, \N"{\i1}Well why don't you stop? Why don't you{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,0:54:26.20,0:54:31.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And all of you who know me know \Nthat I don't use, myself, much of the Internet,
Dialogue: 0,0:54:31.23,0:54:36.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so it's always in collaboration with other feminist\Nsisters and brothers,
Dialogue: 0,0:54:36.82,0:54:40.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that things bell hooks get on the Internet.
Dialogue: 0,0:54:40.77,0:54:42.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so I had my colleague, \NStephanie Troutman, saying,
Dialogue: 0,0:54:42.93,0:54:49.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"{\i1}bell, you agonized over this. You did it. \NLet me put it on the Internet for you.{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,0:54:49.19,0:54:56.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But that has been my story in writing from \Nthe beginning, that I have to say some things,
Dialogue: 0,0:54:56.72,0:54:59.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I am not always somebody \Nwho wants to say them.
Dialogue: 0,0:54:59.37,0:55:04.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I want somebody else to jump up and say them, \Nand take the heat. [ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:55:04.80,0:55:06.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Yeah.
Dialogue: 0,0:55:08.30,0:55:14.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] And so, I mean, she said things. \NShe takes the heat.
Dialogue: 0,0:55:14.64,0:55:18.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I just don't want you to downplay that, \Ndespite our privilege.
Dialogue: 0,0:55:18.78,0:55:21.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, I have an enormously privileged life, \Nand y'all know.
Dialogue: 0,0:55:21.57,0:55:26.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Y'all up in here hear me talk about my cars and \Nmy houses and different things, my cheerio privilege,
Dialogue: 0,0:55:26.05,0:55:35.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,leisure, solitude, but that doesn't mean that \Nit doesn't require courage, sacrifice.
Dialogue: 0,0:55:35.10,0:55:42.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It doesn't mean that there isn't a bell welter of pain, \Nbecause there often is.
Dialogue: 0,0:55:42.44,0:55:54.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So that we carry on precisely because of those \Npeople who we stand looking out at them-
Dialogue: 0,0:55:54.83,0:56:03.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Lorraine Hansberry--so many people we could name, \Nwho remind me what I'm here to do.
Dialogue: 0,0:56:03.28,0:56:08.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, it was Lorraine Hansberry who first \Ntaught me to start thinking critically about love.
Dialogue: 0,0:56:08.89,0:56:18.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When she asked "{\i1}Are Black People loving people?" \NOr are we so damaged and so traumatized?{\i0}
Dialogue: 0,0:56:18.19,0:56:24.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So that those issues of who we are and how we \Nmake our voices heard continue because, you know,
Dialogue: 0,0:56:24.79,0:56:33.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's funny how, Melissa, I feel very strongly \Nbecause I have lost family to death young recently.
Dialogue: 0,0:56:33.45,0:56:35.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}VOICE BREAKING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:56:35.17,0:56:43.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I feel very strongly that I can't count on a white racist \Nworld to keep the bell hooks book going.
Dialogue: 0,0:56:43.05,0:56:47.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, and I laugh to people when say, \N"{\i1}Oh bell, why don't you digitalize all these books?{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,0:56:47.36,0:56:53.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I say, "{\i1}Yeah, the moment they're electronic, a \Ndelete button can take them out of the universe{\i0},"
Dialogue: 0,0:56:53.94,0:56:55.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}APPLAUSE{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:56:55.98,0:57:01.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and so there is this way in which I'm struggling with \Nhow do we protect our legacies as Black females?
Dialogue: 0,0:57:01.39,0:57:05.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How do we protect our voices? [ {\i1}APPLAUSE{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:57:05.11,0:57:09.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because y'know there's a hundred, some hundreds \Nof men, Black and white and whatever,
Dialogue: 0,0:57:09.48,0:57:12.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who we don't know anything about \Nwhat they ever did,
Dialogue: 0,0:57:12.04,0:57:15.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but they have their institute, \Nthey have their whatever, [ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHTER{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:57:15.84,0:57:21.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and so I am asking myself \Nat this critical juncture of my life,
Dialogue: 0,0:57:21.34,0:57:26.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what am I doing to care for the legacy of my work?
Dialogue: 0,0:57:26.51,0:57:33.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I am not assuming that that work, despite all of you \Nwonderful people that are here tonight, will live,
Dialogue: 0,0:57:33.87,0:57:38.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if I don't do the necessary things to continue its life.
Dialogue: 0,0:57:38.70,0:57:42.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm going to close. Melissa's going to say stuff \Nand we're going to have a few questions.
Dialogue: 0,0:57:44.27,0:57:48.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] I think we can go to questions. I think...
Dialogue: 0,0:57:48.82,0:57:51.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHTER THEN MORE APPLAUSE{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:57:51.85,0:57:55.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think there's a couple of mics in the audience.
Dialogue: 0,0:57:55.53,0:57:57.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] And you know, ask your question quickly
Dialogue: 0,0:57:57.55,0:58:03.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,'cause with Buddhist compassion I will tell you \Nnot to give that speech. Your name? [ {\i1}LAUGHTER{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,0:58:10.59,0:58:13.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}KALIMA DE JESUS{\i0} ] So my name \Nis Kalima De Jesus,
Dialogue: 0,0:58:13.68,0:58:18.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I have a question regarding the push-back \Naround "Twelve Years a Slave".
Dialogue: 0,0:58:18.01,0:58:24.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I would like to have a conversation about-\Nbell hooks, you said you talked about feeling like
Dialogue: 0,0:58:24.99,0:58:30.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you've seen enough of the Black woman body \Nwho's been sexually assaulted, and I'm wondering
Dialogue: 0,0:58:30.37,0:58:34.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how do we find a balance about telling that history
Dialogue: 0,0:58:34.10,0:58:41.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the sexual assault that Black women have endured \Nyears & years up until 2013, at this particular hour,
Dialogue: 0,0:58:41.41,0:58:46.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,while white women have stayed complacent? \NAnd imagine it beyond that?
Dialogue: 0,0:58:46.91,0:58:51.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Holding that balance in a time when \Nwe are not being taught that at all.
Dialogue: 0,0:58:51.67,0:58:55.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] But we are so much more than that, \Nand that's really more the question.
Dialogue: 0,0:58:55.88,0:59:00.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The question is not how we can't image that \Nor that it's not imaged.
Dialogue: 0,0:59:00.00,0:59:06.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's all of us and who we are that's not imaged. \NAnd why are we not?
Dialogue: 0,0:59:06.41,0:59:13.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Why is there no world that wants to see the life \Nsomeone like me leads as a Black female?
Dialogue: 0,0:59:13.21,0:59:18.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Economically self-sufficient, solitary, \Ndisciplined, writing?
Dialogue: 0,0:59:18.76,0:59:22.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Why is that not interesting,
Dialogue: 0,0:59:22.47,0:59:29.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not as interesting as images of if I were \Nbeing beaten, raped, if the scars were on my body?
Dialogue: 0,0:59:29.62,0:59:35.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's what concerns me more than even \Nthe sentimental slavery or whatever-
Dialogue: 0,0:59:35.51,0:59:40.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is, why are we not--where's our decolonized image?
Dialogue: 0,0:59:40.45,0:59:44.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] So, you know, it's interesting because \Npart of what I liked about it
Dialogue: 0,0:59:44.74,0:59:48.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was that we got to see Patsy making the dolls, \Nand we got to see her even in the context of--
Dialogue: 0,0:59:48.94,0:59:51.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] I even hated the little dolls.
Dialogue: 0,0:59:51.20,0:59:55.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Well, [ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHING{\i0} ] \Nso for me what the dolls meant,
Dialogue: 0,0:59:55.65,1:00:02.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and even her ability in the context of the horror \Nwas those late-night performative dances,
Dialogue: 0,1:00:02.15,1:00:07.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that in both of those contexts, she nonetheless finds-\Nshe's still human in them, right?
Dialogue: 0,1:00:07.38,1:00:10.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that her humanity isn't entirely oppositional.
Dialogue: 0,1:00:10.85,1:00:14.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So we see her humanity \Nin her oppositional moment about the soap,
Dialogue: 0,1:00:14.59,1:00:19.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but there's also that she can just be playful, or that-
Dialogue: 0,1:00:19.72,1:00:25.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that social death is in fact a falsehood \Nin understanding what slavery was,
Dialogue: 0,1:00:25.61,1:00:27.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that there was still humanity in it.
Dialogue: 0,1:00:27.73,1:00:30.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, so we have a reading of the film differently.
Dialogue: 0,1:00:30.14,1:00:36.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That said, this notion of the \Nabused Black woman's body as becoming-
Dialogue: 0,1:00:36.31,1:00:43.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so I started fairly early on in the show talking \Nabout being a sexual assault survivor.
Dialogue: 0,1:00:43.00,1:00:46.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, you know, I've been doing campus work \Naround sexual assault forever.
Dialogue: 0,1:00:46.91,1:00:48.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, it's not like it's a new thing.
Dialogue: 0,1:00:48.28,1:00:51.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,No one in my family, you know, \Nit wasn't a new discovery.
Dialogue: 0,1:00:51.97,1:00:58.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I'm not sure that the people at the organization \Nwhere I work knew it one way or another,
Dialogue: 0,1:00:58.48,1:01:00.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but they sort of like it.
Dialogue: 0,1:01:00.70,1:01:07.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not that they like that I was abused, but they like me \Nwhen I'm the sentimental person.
Dialogue: 0,1:01:07.32,1:01:12.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So they like when I write the letter to Trayvon \NMartin's mother, to Sybrina Fulton,
Dialogue: 0,1:01:12.41,1:01:20.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is legitimately how I felt, Black mother \Nto Black mother, but is, as bell was saying earlier,
Dialogue: 0,1:01:20.66,1:01:25.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but what it takes both to write it, \Nand to deliver it on air,
Dialogue: 0,1:01:25.41,1:01:30.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then to live with the consequences of having it \Ndelivered on air, is a lot.
Dialogue: 0,1:01:30.19,1:01:33.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's very costly. It's very expensive.
Dialogue: 0,1:01:33.02,1:01:37.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, it is both something that is meaningful to do, \Nand very expensive.
Dialogue: 0,1:01:37.66,1:01:41.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so because it's very expensive, \NI don't want to do it a lot, right?
Dialogue: 0,1:01:41.15,1:01:43.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I want to do it, but I don't want to do it every week.
Dialogue: 0,1:01:43.16,1:01:45.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's just because shit hurts.
Dialogue: 0,1:01:45.35,1:01:48.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then like, I remember when I did one of \Nthe letters around sexual assault
Dialogue: 0,1:01:48.74,1:01:53.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then we had done it at like 10:30, \Nso I had an hour-and-a-half of show left.
Dialogue: 0,1:01:53.54,1:01:55.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So you know I sat down and I said to myself,
Dialogue: 0,1:01:55.87,1:01:58.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,okay sexual assault survivor, now it's time \Nfor dissociation.
Dialogue: 0,1:01:58.67,1:02:02.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now we're going to practice \Nour dissociation practice... here we go!
Dialogue: 0,1:02:02.35,1:02:06.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,All right, half-and-a-half of now talking about Syria \Nand something else.
Dialogue: 0,1:02:06.04,1:02:08.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So it's costly, so I don't like to do it a lot.
Dialogue: 0,1:02:08.14,1:02:09.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] Yes. And you shouldn't do it a lot.
Dialogue: 0,1:02:09.95,1:02:15.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Right, but that's what--but, back to the \Nmarket--that's the market.
Dialogue: 0,1:02:15.87,1:02:24.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,People like {\b1}that{\b0} Melissa. When Melissa is angry, \Nyelling at the economist, right?
Dialogue: 0,1:02:24.48,1:02:27.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] I'll say "clear", and "exact".
Dialogue: 0,1:02:27.36,1:02:31.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Exacting. When Melissa is goofy, \Nas I pretty often am,
Dialogue: 0,1:02:31.96,1:02:34.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and sometimes kind of goofy over-the-line,
Dialogue: 0,1:02:34.64,1:02:43.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sometimes goofy over-the-line wearing \Nfeminine products in my ears. [ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:02:43.83,1:02:51.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The desire not to see me--I mean people say to me, \N"{\i1}That's not you. You're not that. Don't do that.{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,1:02:51.50,1:02:55.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well of course I'm that. Of course I'm silly \Nand goofy and crazy and over-the-top,
Dialogue: 0,1:02:55.22,1:02:58.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and sometimes I'm kind of, you know, \Nsexy and bad and fly and all that.
Dialogue: 0,1:02:58.87,1:03:03.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And sometimes I am mad, and sometimes \NI am very sad, and hurt, and in pain.
Dialogue: 0,1:03:03.71,1:03:08.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like, because, well, shit. I'm human. \N[ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHING AND CLAPPING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:03:08.72,1:03:12.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I do think--and on this one, bell-\Nthis notion of range-
Dialogue: 0,1:03:12.64,1:03:16.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like not only in our consumption in popular culture,
Dialogue: 0,1:03:16.01,1:03:20.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but our desire to consume \N"The Strong Black Woman"
Dialogue: 0,1:03:20.34,1:03:23.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who overcomes the worst circumstances,
Dialogue: 0,1:03:23.82,1:03:26.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is the thing that we like the best.
Dialogue: 0,1:03:26.33,1:03:31.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I say "we" like both the broad American public, \NBlack people, "we like strong black women".
Dialogue: 0,1:03:31.97,1:03:35.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But we pitiful Black women, funny Black-\Nwe already know we don't like funny Black Women-
Dialogue: 0,1:03:35.88,1:03:40.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but you can't get a job, right? \N[ {\i1}LAUGHING AND APPLAUSE{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:03:40.20,1:03:44.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We are live streaming--I keep forgetting \Nwe are on the air. [ {\i1}LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:03:44.01,1:03:48.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Right? [ {\i1}OVERLAPPING WORDS, APPLAUSE{\i0} ] \NNo job and I get really get bad--
Dialogue: 0,1:03:48.42,1:03:52.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] So what we're really talking about \Nis that whole-
Dialogue: 0,1:03:52.15,1:03:58.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the whole question of what does it mean \Nto have optimal emotional well-being?
Dialogue: 0,1:03:58.12,1:04:02.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,'Cause when you have optimal emotional well-being, \Nyou can be whole.
Dialogue: 0,1:04:02.78,1:04:07.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You can be the diversities of who yourself is, \Nand so you're saying...
Dialogue: 0,1:04:07.53,1:04:17.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you know, we have to resist again and again, people \Ntrying to deny us that space of emotional well-being,
Dialogue: 0,1:04:17.17,1:04:22.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by keeping us trapped into the plantation culture \Nthat says "{\i1}this is who we are{\i0}".
Dialogue: 0,1:04:22.83,1:04:25.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Your name, your quick question?
Dialogue: 0,1:04:25.72,1:04:31.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ariel Rojas: Oh! [ {\i1}LAUGHTER{\i0} ] \NYou caught me by surprise.
Dialogue: 0,1:04:31.62,1:04:37.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,No, I was thinking about your, the finishing optimal...
Dialogue: 0,1:04:37.05,1:04:38.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] Well-being.
Dialogue: 0,1:04:38.52,1:04:41.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}AUDIENCE MEMBER{\i0} ] Well-being. All right, \Nso my name is Ariel
Dialogue: 0,1:04:41.89,1:04:46.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I'm the president and founder of a non-profit \Norganization called Transdiaspora Network.
Dialogue: 0,1:04:46.38,1:04:49.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I work with inner-city kids.
Dialogue: 0,1:04:49.87,1:04:59.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I always participate in these forums in a very candid\Nway because I do believe that dialogue
Dialogue: 0,1:04:59.83,1:05:05.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and communication is a good way to create ourness.
Dialogue: 0,1:05:05.71,1:05:09.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yeah, yeah I'm getting there. [ {\i1}LAUGHTER{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:05:09.64,1:05:14.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I'm putting this in context, because for me,
Dialogue: 0,1:05:14.18,1:05:17.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as the leader of a non-profit organization \Nworking with inner-city kids,
Dialogue: 0,1:05:17.44,1:05:28.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's kind of--to see the disconnection between the \Nhigh cultural elite of Black people producing culture,
Dialogue: 0,1:05:28.88,1:05:37.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with what's going on in the inner-city Black \Nsort-of-plantation neighborhoods.
Dialogue: 0,1:05:37.14,1:05:41.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That sometimes you see girls that \Neven when they turn 17
Dialogue: 0,1:05:41.30,1:05:48.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they haven't even been on the Brooklyn Promenade \Nto see that view of Manhattan, that is very popular--
Dialogue: 0,1:05:48.86,1:05:50.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] You gotta ask a question though.
Dialogue: 0,1:05:50.81,1:05:52.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}ROJAS{\i0} ] No, no, I'm going to ask a question.
Dialogue: 0,1:05:52.81,1:05:54.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Okay, okay, yeah.
Dialogue: 0,1:05:54.40,1:05:59.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}ROJAS{\i0} ] Okay so how we--how we the Black \NLeaders, can create a contrast,
Dialogue: 0,1:05:59.54,1:06:05.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not to white men, but how we can create \Na colorful palette,
Dialogue: 0,1:06:05.40,1:06:11.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in order to educate the young generations with \Nthese powerful contents that you create,
Dialogue: 0,1:06:11.74,1:06:15.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in order to fight injustice.
Dialogue: 0,1:06:15.26,1:06:21.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] I just--I gotta disagree with you \Nthat culture is made by the Black elite.
Dialogue: 0,1:06:21.41,1:06:27.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, I live in New Orleans. \NThe culture is made actually by the inner-city kids.
Dialogue: 0,1:06:27.10,1:06:34.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The most powerful diasporic cultural tradition \Ncurrently operating in the world
Dialogue: 0,1:06:34.77,1:06:39.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was made by Black and Puerto Rican kids \Nin the inner cities of this city.
Dialogue: 0,1:06:39.86,1:06:43.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now what I will say is, living in New Orleans,
Dialogue: 0,1:06:43.29,1:06:46.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in a place where poor people are the people \Nwho create the culture that is then--
Dialogue: 0,1:06:46.84,1:06:48.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] --marketed.
Dialogue: 0,1:06:48.44,1:06:50.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] --that is then sold.
Dialogue: 0,1:06:50.36,1:06:56.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's like so then now the consensus on both the Right \Nand the Left is that--what's happening, for example,
Dialogue: 0,1:06:56.84,1:07:00.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the New Orleans school systems is good. \NThis is improvement in the schools.
Dialogue: 0,1:07:00.37,1:07:02.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And of course one of the most important things
Dialogue: 0,1:07:02.43,1:07:05.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that we ripped out all music education \Nfrom the schools.
Dialogue: 0,1:07:05.12,1:07:07.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I actually don't think we need to go \Nteach kids culture.
Dialogue: 0,1:07:07.39,1:07:10.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think we just need to give young people--\Nwealthy and poor--
Dialogue: 0,1:07:10.55,1:07:12.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the tools, and they will create the culture.
Dialogue: 0,1:07:12.95,1:07:14.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}ROJAS{\i0} ] That's what I'm talking about. \NCreating the tools.
Dialogue: 0,1:07:14.94,1:07:19.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] I mean, well yeah. Resources. Resources. \NI mean, for me it's resources. Like I don't--
Dialogue: 0,1:07:19.22,1:07:20.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] I just--
Dialogue: 0,1:07:20.70,1:07:22.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] --I don't think we need to go tell them \Nwhat to do--
Dialogue: 0,1:07:22.44,1:07:24.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}ROJAS{\i0} ] No, no, I'm talking more about tools \Nand ways--
Dialogue: 0,1:07:24.20,1:07:26.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] --I--I want to add--add to this--
Dialogue: 0,1:07:26.22,1:07:28.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}ROJAS{\i0} ] to defend themselves because \Nwhat happens when they ...
Dialogue: 0,1:07:28.45,1:07:29.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}OVERLAPPING / INAUDIBLE... \NAUDIENCE BECOMES UNSETTLED{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:07:29.88,1:07:31.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}OTHER AUDIENCE MEMBER{\i0} ] Brother, \Nwe don't talk while she was talking.
Dialogue: 0,1:07:31.64,1:07:35.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We should answer up someone else's questions. \N[ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHTER AND ANNOYANCE{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:07:35.30,1:07:41.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] I want to say that plantation culture \Nis not just the culture that the poor lived within.
Dialogue: 0,1:07:41.36,1:07:45.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We are {\b1}all{\b0} living within plantation culture.
Dialogue: 0,1:07:45.24,1:07:49.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Our roles, our resources, \Nare maybe radically different,
Dialogue: 0,1:07:49.86,1:07:56.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it's part of some false notion of privilege \Nto believe that we are somehow not touched
Dialogue: 0,1:07:56.62,1:08:03.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by the plantation culture that the very very people \Non the bottom are living.
Dialogue: 0,1:08:03.29,1:08:12.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Harsher lives, riskier lives, but the plantation culture \Nis what the U.S. is making in the world,
Dialogue: 0,1:08:12.94,1:08:17.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it is what is sustaining here. \NYour question, my sweet, your name?
Dialogue: 0,1:08:17.88,1:08:22.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}TANYA FIELDS{\i0} ] My name's Tanya Fields. \NI was actually on Melissa's show last month.
Dialogue: 0,1:08:22.81,1:08:24.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] Yes, I saw you.
Dialogue: 0,1:08:24.61,1:08:26.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}FIELDS{\i0} ] I'm a low-income mom living in New York,
Dialogue: 0,1:08:26.86,1:08:29.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and my daughter's first board book was \N"Happy to be Nappy".
Dialogue: 0,1:08:29.24,1:08:30.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] All right. [laughing]
Dialogue: 0,1:08:30.82,1:08:33.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}FIELDS{\i0} ] And the words that you guys are \Nsaying right now are so sustaining.
Dialogue: 0,1:08:33.59,1:08:37.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As a low-income Black mother, \NI have been struggling to find my voice,
Dialogue: 0,1:08:37.73,1:08:40.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and so I've been using my platforms: \NTwitter, Facebook,
Dialogue: 0,1:08:40.24,1:08:43.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and talking about this being a whole person,
Dialogue: 0,1:08:43.16,1:08:47.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what it means to be unmarried with three baby \Ndaddies and four kids. [ {\i1}AUDIENCE AGREEMENT{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:08:47.06,1:08:52.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The pushback that I am often feeling \Nis not from the white folks in the community,
Dialogue: 0,1:08:52.72,1:08:56.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it is from the other sisters who tear me down, \N[ {\i1}AUDIENCE: "MMHM", APPLAUSE{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:08:56.65,1:09:00.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,tell me that the reason I am low-income is because \NI didn't have the insight to choose good men,
Dialogue: 0,1:09:00.86,1:09:06.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that I should have kept my hand out and my mouth \Nclosed, and my legs closed, and kept my hand out.
Dialogue: 0,1:09:06.44,1:09:09.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so I'm trying to figure out as we talk about \Nthis plantation culture,
Dialogue: 0,1:09:09.68,1:09:11.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as I try to rise above my circumstances
Dialogue: 0,1:09:11.78,1:09:15.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and literally create meals that the babies \Nin my community can eat,
Dialogue: 0,1:09:15.81,1:09:19.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how do we--it stops you from wanting \Nto have that voice.
Dialogue: 0,1:09:19.67,1:09:21.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I have people who tell me,
Dialogue: 0,1:09:21.50,1:09:24.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"{\i1}When you talk about being low-income, don't talk \Nabout feeding your kids on food stamps{\i0}.
Dialogue: 0,1:09:24.55,1:09:28.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,{\i1}You don't need an audience for that. \NSuffer in shame and in silence.{\i0}
Dialogue: 0,1:09:28.89,1:09:35.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,{\i1}The situation that you are feeling is your own, \Nand is a product of your own bad choice.{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,1:09:35.30,1:09:38.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I am pregnant with my fifth child \Nand just had this man walk out on me.
Dialogue: 0,1:09:38.89,1:09:41.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How do you wake up every morning and-
Dialogue: 0,1:09:41.44,1:09:45.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I consider myself a Black Feminist but some days \Nit's just so hard to get out of the bed
Dialogue: 0,1:09:45.53,1:09:49.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and face other Black people. [ {\i1}APPLAUSE{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:09:57.35,1:10:01.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] Take it, mom. I said "take it." \NI actually said, "take it, mom."
Dialogue: 0,1:10:01.43,1:10:13.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] So that is, that is exactly what the whole \Nthing is designed to do.
Dialogue: 0,1:10:13.15,1:10:19.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The language you used--\N"{\i1}sit alone in your shame and suffer alone{\i0}".
Dialogue: 0,1:10:22.34,1:10:24.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, um--[ {\i1}VOICE BREAKING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:10:29.82,1:10:34.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[{\i1} APPLAUSE{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:10:34.13,1:10:46.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}SPEAKING INAUDIBLY AWAY FROM MIC, COMFORTING TONE] \N[ {\i0}SNIFFLING, MORE APPLAUSE* ]
Dialogue: 0,1:11:10.96,1:11:13.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}SPEAKING INTO MIC AGAIN{\i0} ] \NUm--so it's just to say that-
Dialogue: 0,1:11:13.95,1:11:16.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-so, you know, I could turn into my academic self
Dialogue: 0,1:11:16.21,1:11:20.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which says that the reason that people who are most \Nvulnerable to being in your exact same circumstance
Dialogue: 0,1:11:20.18,1:11:24.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are the ones who most want to shame you, \Nis because--it's the same reason that-
Dialogue: 0,1:11:24.37,1:11:26.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's the sorority girls on campus who say
Dialogue: 0,1:11:26.37,1:11:30.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that you gotta keep yourself from getting raped \Nby not drinking.
Dialogue: 0,1:11:30.84,1:11:37.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's because--it's the same reason that the churches \Nthat are growing among Black folks
Dialogue: 0,1:11:37.40,1:11:43.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are the prosperity health-and-wealth ones, instead of \Nliberation and theology churches, right?
Dialogue: 0,1:11:43.36,1:11:47.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it is because it is much easier to believe \Nthat we can solve inequality
Dialogue: 0,1:11:47.87,1:11:50.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by pulling up our pants, or keeping our legs closed.
Dialogue: 0,1:11:50.100,1:11:58.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Right, so it allows you to wipe away all of the \Nstructural realities that require collective action,
Dialogue: 0,1:11:58.61,1:12:03.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that require work that goes over \Nand past your own life.
Dialogue: 0,1:12:03.50,1:12:07.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So if it's just your individual decision-making-\Nthat I'm safe from it.
Dialogue: 0,1:12:07.05,1:12:08.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So as long as I make a different decision,
Dialogue: 0,1:12:08.93,1:12:13.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I will never be vulnerable to poverty, \Nor to heart-ache, or to pain. [ {\i1}APPLAUSE{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:12:13.51,1:12:17.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I will just say, you know, that your point about \Nmaking all the right choices--right?
Dialogue: 0,1:12:17.17,1:12:20.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I can remember the point at which \NI became a single parent,
Dialogue: 0,1:12:20.48,1:12:22.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I was like, okay but whoa wait a minute.
Dialogue: 0,1:12:22.95,1:12:28.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I did everything right, and I got my degree first, \Nand then I got married, and-
Dialogue: 0,1:12:28.78,1:12:33.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,no, actually, I got my degree first, then I got married, \Nthen I bought a house, then I got pregnant.
Dialogue: 0,1:12:33.89,1:12:38.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm supposed to be all good, and that motherfucker \Nbe like "{\i1}Peace out{\i0}".
Dialogue: 0,1:12:38.54,1:12:41.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And went, and just was-\Nand there I stood, with a baby.
Dialogue: 0,1:12:41.46,1:12:43.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now I stood there with a baby and a degree \Nand as a home-owner.
Dialogue: 0,1:12:43.91,1:12:49.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the shame? I didn't have to--so because it's not \Nreally about being a single-parent.
Dialogue: 0,1:12:49.93,1:12:54.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's about being poor. The thing you're supposed \Nto be ashamed of is being poor.
Dialogue: 0,1:12:54.77,1:13:01.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so it's as though--I will just say that that \Nshaming--it is a defense mechanism
Dialogue: 0,1:13:01.36,1:13:04.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to keep people from having to do \Nthe hard work of organizing,
Dialogue: 0,1:13:04.51,1:13:08.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it is the most dangerous thing \Nin marginalized communities.
Dialogue: 0,1:13:08.50,1:13:12.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It is the most dangerous thing, \Nbecause then we do not organize,
Dialogue: 0,1:13:12.38,1:13:15.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because we can just say that \N"{\i1}if only you had made different choices{\i0}",
Dialogue: 0,1:13:15.22,1:13:18.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,{\i1}then everything would be fine{\i0}". [ {\i1}APPLAUSE{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:13:26.94,1:13:29.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] I think we have to remember constantly
Dialogue: 0,1:13:29.32,1:13:36.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that shaming is one of the deepest tools of \Nimperialist white-supremacist capitalist patriarchy,
Dialogue: 0,1:13:36.90,1:13:39.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because shame produces trauma.
Dialogue: 0,1:13:39.80,1:13:43.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And trauma often produces paralysis. \N[ {\i1}AUDIENCE: "YEAH"s {\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:13:43.14,1:13:46.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So when that sister said that there are days \Nwhen she can't get out of bed,
Dialogue: 0,1:13:46.81,1:13:51.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,lots of us experience that sense of paralysis.
Dialogue: 0,1:13:51.81,1:13:59.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So that that healing--I have to go back to--I'm not \Ngoing to belabor it--but to emotional well-being,
Dialogue: 0,1:13:59.75,1:14:05.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because we've got to have some mechanisms \Nto resist what is out there,
Dialogue: 0,1:14:05.70,1:14:07.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to resist the constant shaming.
Dialogue: 0,1:14:07.98,1:14:09.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Your name?
Dialogue: 0,1:14:09.41,1:14:11.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}CHARMIN{\i0} ] Hi I'm Charmin. I go to CUNY
Dialogue: 0,1:14:11.99,1:14:15.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I just want to say that this was one of the most \Nbeautiful audiences I've ever seen.
Dialogue: 0,1:14:15.16,1:14:16.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] Hello, yay!
Dialogue: 0,1:14:16.75,1:14:20.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}CHARMIN{\i0} ] And I'd like to extend my invitation \Nto more public universities and institutions,
Dialogue: 0,1:14:20.33,1:14:23.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where people that look like us \Nare wanting your presence,
Dialogue: 0,1:14:23.80,1:14:28.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,especially because you guys don't come here too \Noften, so just want to put that out there.
Dialogue: 0,1:14:28.10,1:14:32.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I also wanted to say that as a political organizer \Nthat is looking to demilitarize CUNY,
Dialogue: 0,1:14:32.83,1:14:36.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,kicking Petraeus out of CUNY, [ {\i1}CROWD CHEERS{\i0} ] \Nkicking militarism out of CUNY,
Dialogue: 0,1:14:36.62,1:14:42.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how do we deal with those hyper-masculine \Npersonalities that have values of anti-imperialism
Dialogue: 0,1:14:42.44,1:14:48.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and anti-racism but end up making me feel \Nuncomfortable in spaces of radical organizing,
Dialogue: 0,1:14:48.50,1:14:52.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where we're talking about \Nthese really, really important issues
Dialogue: 0,1:14:52.10,1:14:56.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but understanding that imperialism is in your blood, \Nbrotha, and that's exactly what you're showing me
Dialogue: 0,1:14:56.19,1:14:58.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when you're shutting me up to cut the mic, right?
Dialogue: 0,1:14:58.41,1:15:04.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I just want a healthy way to deal with that sis, \N'cos I cant do anti-military organizing right now,
Dialogue: 0,1:15:04.02,1:15:08.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just 'cos of the hyper-masculinity and the way that \Nit's going but I am invested, you know.
Dialogue: 0,1:15:08.94,1:15:10.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] Okay--okay. [ {\i1}LAUGHTER{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:15:10.54,1:15:12.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}CHARMIN{\i0} ] I'm sorry. I just got interrupted, \Nthat's all.
Dialogue: 0,1:15:12.60,1:15:16.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] Well, I don't--I'm not going to have a long \Nanswer to that, but I also want to encourage us,
Dialogue: 0,1:15:16.35,1:15:19.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as we talked about in my undergraduate class today,
Dialogue: 0,1:15:19.51,1:15:25.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when we talk about hyper-masculinity, if what \Nwe mean is patriarchy, that is what we need to say.
Dialogue: 0,1:15:25.12,1:15:26.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}CHARMIN{\i0} ] Okay.
Dialogue: 0,1:15:26.66,1:15:31.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] Because we have to have a space to love, \Nto revere, and to honor that which is masculine,
Dialogue: 0,1:15:31.90,1:15:34.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but is not patriarchal.
Dialogue: 0,1:15:34.92,1:15:37.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And if we are constantly equating the two,
Dialogue: 0,1:15:37.97,1:15:43.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then we are part of the assault \Non masculinity on Black males.
Dialogue: 0,1:15:43.81,1:15:48.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}APPLAUSE{\i0} ] Are you--do you want to speak to that?
Dialogue: 0,1:15:48.02,1:15:51.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] So I appreciate you dividing up \Nthe masculinity and the patriarchy.
Dialogue: 0,1:15:51.82,1:15:56.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think that's a critical one that we don't do \Nand part of what I would say is, mhmm.
Dialogue: 0,1:15:56.12,1:16:04.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHING{\i0} ] Yep. And... true.
Dialogue: 0,1:16:04.83,1:16:16.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MORE LAUGHTER{\i0} ] And y'know, in very public ways, \Nbell hooks and I have both encountered that-
Dialogue: 0,1:16:16.94,1:16:20.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the entire history of Black women's organizing.
Dialogue: 0,1:16:20.90,1:16:26.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But then I'll always say that Black women have \Nperformed that, particularly straight Black women
Dialogue: 0,1:16:26.34,1:16:31.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,have performed that around queer women of color.
Dialogue: 0,1:16:31.08,1:16:37.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Privileged women of color have performed that \Naround undocumented and poor women.
Dialogue: 0,1:16:37.81,1:16:43.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And even within LGBT movements, cis women, \Neven cis gay women,
Dialogue: 0,1:16:43.90,1:16:45.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,perform that around trans women.
Dialogue: 0,1:16:45.86,1:16:47.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}A FEW CLAPS{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:16:47.60,1:16:52.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so that, I think it's part of the importance \Nof pulling out hyper-masculinity,
Dialogue: 0,1:16:52.50,1:16:57.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because you can be quite femme \Nand be performing the same--
Dialogue: 0,1:16:57.63,1:16:59.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] Patriarchal bull.
Dialogue: 0,1:16:59.21,1:17:01.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] --patriarchal bull, taking the mic, right?
Dialogue: 0,1:17:01.76,1:17:04.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So it's just to say that that "{\i1}uh-huh{\i0}"?
Dialogue: 0,1:17:04.40,1:17:09.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's why it's easier to say "{\i1}pull up your pants \Nand close up your legs{\i0}", because organizing is hard.
Dialogue: 0,1:17:09.65,1:17:15.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because people--I mean, who doesn't love people \Nlike in theory? But the {\i1}actual{\i0} people?
Dialogue: 0,1:17:15.11,1:17:19.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHING AND CLAPPING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:17:19.42,1:17:24.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, the actual people are very annoying, \Nand hard, and difficult,
Dialogue: 0,1:17:24.26,1:17:31.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you have to give a little and get a little \Nand it's aaahhh. [ {\i1}LAUGHTER{\i0} ] So, welcome.
Dialogue: 0,1:17:31.64,1:17:35.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}EBONY MURPHY-ROOT{\i0} ] Hello, my name is Ebony \NMurphy-Root,
Dialogue: 0,1:17:35.09,1:17:39.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm a middle-school English teacher from Hartford, \NConnecticut, currently working here.
Dialogue: 0,1:17:39.75,1:17:41.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}SOME CLAPPING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:17:41.85,1:17:45.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And Dr. hooks, you've talked a lot about Black \Nand white female schoolteachers.
Dialogue: 0,1:17:45.64,1:17:48.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}AWAY FROM MIC{\i0} ] You obviously cover \Na lot of ed reform in your show, Dr. Harris-Perry.
Dialogue: 0,1:17:48.91,1:17:54.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Where are the Black female voices? The Black \Nfemale working, schoolteacher voices in ed reform?
Dialogue: 0,1:17:54.54,1:17:58.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because I feel like oftentimes, working as a public-\Nschool teacher in Hartford Connecticut,
Dialogue: 0,1:17:58.22,1:18:02.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,working now, that we are being blamed for a culture \Nthat we did not create,
Dialogue: 0,1:18:02.50,1:18:06.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for problems that come in every day at schools \Nthat we didn't--we didn't create.
Dialogue: 0,1:18:06.79,1:18:13.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And yet we are being dehumanized and excluded \Nfrom this conversation. [ {\i1}APPLAUSE{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:18:13.17,1:18:16.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Well, I mean, you asked where you are. \NYou are the targets, dear.
Dialogue: 0,1:18:16.70,1:18:24.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You are the reason that there is a powerful \Nanti-union, anti-teacher
Dialogue: 0,1:18:24.33,1:18:29.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"{\i1}go get the TFA Ivy Leaguers \Nto teach the babies instead{\i0}".
Dialogue: 0,1:18:29.49,1:18:38.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, it is not a mistake that the sector that \Nis dominated by educated women of color
Dialogue: 0,1:18:38.22,1:18:42.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,performing a task of reproduction
Dialogue: 0,1:18:42.86,1:18:49.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is the one where there is bipartisan consensus \Nto destroy it. [ {\i1}AUDIENCE AGREEMENT{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:18:49.95,1:18:54.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So that's where you are. You've got the target on \Nyour back, and it is the very reality
Dialogue: 0,1:18:54.86,1:18:59.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that those are the bodies most impacted by \Nthe dehumanization movement,
Dialogue: 0,1:18:59.20,1:19:05.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by the chartering movement, and by the movement \Nto bring TFAs into and actually staff-hold.
Dialogue: 0,1:19:05.20,1:19:08.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, TFA is a lovely program at its initiation,
Dialogue: 0,1:19:08.97,1:19:13.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is the idea that wealthy, Ivy-League, \Nprivileged children,
Dialogue: 0,1:19:13.38,1:19:18.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,should go and spend a little time in the world \Nbefore they run off to run the world, right?
Dialogue: 0,1:19:18.31,1:19:20.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:19:20.49,1:19:24.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's actually a really--and I mean I know I'm saying \Nthat sort of sarcastically--but it's a smart idea, right?
Dialogue: 0,1:19:24.77,1:19:29.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Before you go off and make policy, before you go \Nto Wall Street, before you go and run for office,
Dialogue: 0,1:19:29.05,1:19:30.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,spend two years in the classroom.
Dialogue: 0,1:19:30.95,1:19:35.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because what that does is it was a program \Nwhose focus was on the young person, right?
Dialogue: 0,1:19:35.50,1:19:38.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not the student, \Nyou aren't going in to save the student.
Dialogue: 0,1:19:38.22,1:19:44.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You're going in to save yourself, right? And that's \Ngood. Like, yes! Great idea. We should do that.
Dialogue: 0,1:19:44.97,1:19:47.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because then you would go get a little humility,
Dialogue: 0,1:19:47.41,1:19:50.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you would sit quietly and listen to a teacher \Nwho would tell you things, and you would learn,
Dialogue: 0,1:19:50.62,1:19:52.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you would observe, and you would walk away.
Dialogue: 0,1:19:52.47,1:19:56.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The problem with TFA came when it stopped being \Nabout the salvation of the privileged,
Dialogue: 0,1:19:56.98,1:20:01.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who needed a little saving of their full humanity \Nin order to be better policy-makers,
Dialogue: 0,1:20:01.29,1:20:08.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and instead, became that somehow they would \Nsave the children and the classrooms
Dialogue: 0,1:20:08.14,1:20:13.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from professional teachers who'd committed their \Nlives to working for very little pay,
Dialogue: 0,1:20:13.17,1:20:18.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,very few resources, in schools. [ {\i1}APPLAUSE{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:20:18.88,1:20:23.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, yeah, that's why you're not at the table.
Dialogue: 0,1:20:23.26,1:20:29.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because you're the thing that we are seeking \Nto destroy in education reform.
Dialogue: 0,1:20:30.62,1:20:37.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] Okay we are going to hear these questions \Nand try to answer.
Dialogue: 0,1:20:37.69,1:20:41.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We'll hear the three of them because \Nour time is coming to a close.
Dialogue: 0,1:20:41.41,1:20:43.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Your question, sweetheart, your name?
Dialogue: 0,1:20:43.56,1:20:46.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}ZEYNAB{\i0} ] My name is Zeynab, and \Nmy question is, was there a moment for both of you?
Dialogue: 0,1:20:46.73,1:20:48.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Was there a moment when you realized that this is it-
Dialogue: 0,1:20:48.94,1:20:51.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I need to write, I need to say something-\NI need to talk?
Dialogue: 0,1:20:51.64,1:20:59.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And how did you push back against the urge? \NI mean, like, if you had the urge to silence yourself?
Dialogue: 0,1:20:59.43,1:21:03.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] Okay, so we'll hold that. Your question?
Dialogue: 0,1:21:03.42,1:21:08.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're going to hear all these four questions \Nand--yes, darling?
Dialogue: 0,1:21:08.04,1:21:10.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}NIKISHA LEWIS{\i0} ] Hi, my name is Nikisha \NLewis, and you talked about the gap
Dialogue: 0,1:21:10.18,1:21:13.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that currently exists between men and women \Nin the Black community.
Dialogue: 0,1:21:13.55,1:21:18.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so, as I'm thinking about Renisha McBride today, \Nand the outrage that doesn't
Dialogue: 0,1:21:18.23,1:21:20.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I feel, doesn't yet exist over her life
Dialogue: 0,1:21:20.68,1:21:24.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the loss of her life, \Nas it existed over the loss of Trayvon Martin's life.
Dialogue: 0,1:21:24.51,1:21:27.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm really angry and fighting back tears \Nin my work every day.
Dialogue: 0,1:21:27.90,1:21:33.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So how do we bridge this gap, this divide, in our \Ncommunity, so that we can value all of our lives,
Dialogue: 0,1:21:33.38,1:21:38.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Black women's and girls' lives, as much as we value \Nthe men and boys that we love dearly?
Dialogue: 0,1:21:38.09,1:21:39.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] Okay, and--?
Dialogue: 0,1:21:39.96,1:21:42.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}VIRGINIA{\i0} ] Hi My name is Virginia, I'm here \Nwith Public Allies, and my question is,
Dialogue: 0,1:21:42.76,1:21:47.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how instrumental is the male and/or white ally \Nin the movement against patriarchy?
Dialogue: 0,1:21:47.16,1:21:57.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MIXED AUDIENCE REACTION \NOF TALKING AND LAUGHING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:21:57.56,1:22:01.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}AUDIENCE MEMBER{\i0} ] Hi, I have a question \Nabout African-American imperialism,
Dialogue: 0,1:22:01.98,1:22:07.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the mode at which we are privileged \Nin our idea of Blackness,
Dialogue: 0,1:22:07.51,1:22:13.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we throw Blackness around \Nas if we all understand what that is,
Dialogue: 0,1:22:13.17,1:22:17.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we travel the world--there is a world out there, \Na global world out there that we exist in,
Dialogue: 0,1:22:17.60,1:22:20.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that identifies with Blackness as an othering.
Dialogue: 0,1:22:20.89,1:22:23.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so how do we leave room for that conversation
Dialogue: 0,1:22:23.89,1:22:28.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when we start to inflict capitalist ways of thinking \Non other people? [ {\i1}APPLAUSE{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:22:29.95,1:22:36.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] Well, I'm going to start with that question \Nof "{\i1}Why can't we value Black female lives?{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,1:22:36.40,1:22:43.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Until we challenge patriarchy, there is going to be \Nno valuing of Black women's lives
Dialogue: 0,1:22:43.56,1:22:52.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,over the small valuing of Black male lives that takes \Nplace, because the very structure militates against it.
Dialogue: 0,1:22:52.31,1:22:58.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, I mean, one of the things I've always felt so \Nstrongly, and really express in "We Real Cool",
Dialogue: 0,1:22:58.58,1:23:04.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is the depths of Black male woundedness \Nby patriarchal terrorism.
Dialogue: 0,1:23:04.18,1:23:08.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And until that--those wounds get addressed \Nin some way,
Dialogue: 0,1:23:08.33,1:23:14.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I don't think we're going to get the respect, \Nthe recognition, the care,
Dialogue: 0,1:23:14.03,1:23:19.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because I was thinking about how even Oscar \NGrant's mother is portrayed at the end of the film,
Dialogue: 0,1:23:19.71,1:23:21.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as blaming herself.
Dialogue: 0,1:23:21.94,1:23:30.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She should not have, you know, not that we get a \Nfull-on calling-out of the system that destroys him.
Dialogue: 0,1:23:32.75,1:23:39.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] So, yes, and, I think part of what happens is
Dialogue: 0,1:23:39.06,1:23:44.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so I assume when you say "{\i1}we value{\i0}", \NI assume you mean "{\i1}Black communities{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,1:23:44.29,1:23:49.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,part of what I would suggest is that what works for us
Dialogue: 0,1:23:49.19,1:23:52.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is tropes that are connected to \Nsomething that we understand.
Dialogue: 0,1:23:52.46,1:23:56.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this is something--I'm still thinking about \Nyour critique of "Twelve Years a Slave".
Dialogue: 0,1:23:56.55,1:24:02.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so, one of the tropes that we understand \Nabout Black women's suffering
Dialogue: 0,1:24:02.69,1:24:06.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is the idea of a Black woman raped by the white \Nmale slaveowner, right? That one we get.
Dialogue: 0,1:24:06.70,1:24:10.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, if you go back to the case, \Nthe Duke lacrosse case, right?
Dialogue: 0,1:24:10.95,1:24:14.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You had immediate community mobilization. \N
Dialogue: 0,1:24:14.36,1:24:18.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, that day, \Nthat night called for action [ {\i1}SWOOSH!{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:24:18.04,1:24:25.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because that trope--"{\i1}Black woman sexually assaulted \Nby white man, in South, on old plantation{\i0}"-
Dialogue: 0,1:24:25.01,1:24:28.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like, we--that one we understood. \NWe had a thing to hang it on.
Dialogue: 0,1:24:28.18,1:24:31.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We know the story that it is, and we can tell it.
Dialogue: 0,1:24:31.38,1:24:33.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, so pause for me on that a moment on that,\Nand let's go to all...
Dialogue: 0,1:24:33.92,1:24:38.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,various stories about Black men's victimization,
Dialogue: 0,1:24:38.47,1:24:44.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the ways in which those stories often hang on \Nthe trope that we know that is the lynching trope.
Dialogue: 0,1:24:44.80,1:24:48.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So we like to forget, because it's \Npainful to remember,
Dialogue: 0,1:24:48.75,1:24:52.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that in the week after Supreme Court Justice \NClarence Thomas,
Dialogue: 0,1:24:52.98,1:24:58.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,during his hearing about Anita Hill said, \N"{\i1}This is a high-tech lynching{\i0}",
Dialogue: 0,1:24:58.40,1:25:02.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the public opinion polls showed that greater than \N50% of African-Americans
Dialogue: 0,1:25:02.38,1:25:06.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,supported Clarence Thomas' confirmation \Nto the bench.
Dialogue: 0,1:25:06.48,1:25:11.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now I think that's because he used the trope of \Nlynching, and that we're like "{\i1}oh yeah, right!{\i0}
Dialogue: 0,1:25:11.37,1:25:15.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,{\i1}"Black man, white{\i0}"--you know--"{\i1}Joe Biden and the \Nother white guy saying mean things"{\i0}
Dialogue: 0,1:25:15.16,1:25:18.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"{\i1}that looks like lynching--I know that trope.{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,1:25:18.11,1:25:21.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And of course, no one's ever been lynched \Nfor what they've done to a Black woman.
Dialogue: 0,1:25:21.31,1:25:24.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,White men don't posse up to go get a Black man \Nfor what he did to a Black woman.
Dialogue: 0,1:25:24.89,1:25:33.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But that story is why there was increased radio play \Nof R. Kelly after he raped a child in our community.
Dialogue: 0,1:25:33.34,1:25:37.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's why people don't want to believe \NMike Tyson did it, right?
Dialogue: 0,1:25:37.69,1:25:44.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because we get the "{\i1}vulnerable Black man \Nfacing white lynch mob{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,1:25:44.25,1:25:48.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that's the story that the Trayvon Martin story \Nfits into for us.
Dialogue: 0,1:25:48.03,1:25:52.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Marissa Alexander doesn't fit our story
Dialogue: 0,1:25:52.08,1:25:56.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because she is shooting a gun at \Nan abusive Black husband coming at her.
Dialogue: 0,1:25:56.83,1:26:01.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We don't have--we may know that...\Nwe may intimately know that story,
Dialogue: 0,1:26:01.45,1:26:08.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but we don't have a "story"--a trope, a thing--that is \Nthe abuse of Black women's bodies by Black men.
Dialogue: 0,1:26:08.11,1:26:12.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And in the case of Renisha, \NI don't think we yet have coped with.
Dialogue: 0,1:26:12.32,1:26:16.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because when the Trayvon Martin moment \Nhappened, and the Zimmerman verdict happened,
Dialogue: 0,1:26:16.26,1:26:20.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,all of us were saying, "{\i1}these are the conversations \Nthat we have with our sons{\i0},
Dialogue: 0,1:26:20.51,1:26:22.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,{\i1}about our sons' public safety{\i0}".
Dialogue: 0,1:26:22.34,1:26:27.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I think we have missed how much our girls \Nare equally vulnerable in that space. [ {\i1}APPLAUSE{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:26:27.50,1:26:30.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So we don't have a good...\Nwe don't have a good trope.
Dialogue: 0,1:26:30.83,1:26:36.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We don't have a thing to call why a white man \Nopening the door--right,
Dialogue: 0,1:26:36.12,1:26:38.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so allegedly what we think we know at this point,
Dialogue: 0,1:26:38.34,1:26:42.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that he opens the door \Nand sees her as a physical threat to him.
Dialogue: 0,1:26:42.51,1:26:48.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We don't--like, what is the story? So we know "{\i1}white \Nman creeping down and raping the Black woman{\i0}",
Dialogue: 0,1:26:48.26,1:26:51.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but we don't know "{\i1}white man \Nafraid of Black woman knocking at his door{\i0}".
Dialogue: 0,1:26:51.41,1:26:56.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like, what is that story, right? So part of it is, I think \Njust a general devaluation, but the other part of it is,
Dialogue: 0,1:26:56.80,1:27:00.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think if it doesn't fit a story \Nthat we have easily available to us?
Dialogue: 0,1:27:00.68,1:27:05.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And there aren't very many stories about \Nour victimization that are easily available,
Dialogue: 0,1:27:05.08,1:27:09.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we can employ and use, and so we're going to \Nhave to generate those.
Dialogue: 0,1:27:09.34,1:27:13.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I do think that's part of it, at least.
Dialogue: 0,1:27:13.49,1:27:18.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] So there was the question about writing. \NWas there a moment?
Dialogue: 0,1:27:18.32,1:27:22.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And for me those moments are just \Nongoing and endless,
Dialogue: 0,1:27:22.06,1:27:26.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but they began for me as a girl in \NVirginia Street Baptist Church,
Dialogue: 0,1:27:26.63,1:27:32.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when I was encouraged to write for our \Nchurch magazine and stuff like that.
Dialogue: 0,1:27:32.01,1:27:34.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:27:40.05,1:27:42.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Are you--dear, are you a writer?
Dialogue: 0,1:27:42.37,1:27:45.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}ZEYNAB, BARELY AUDIBLE, NO MIC{\i0} ] \NYeah. [ {\i1}LAUGHTER{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:27:46.66,1:27:49.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Do you feel that impulse to write?
Dialogue: 0,1:27:49.04,1:27:51.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}ZEYNAB{\i0} ] Yeah.
Dialogue: 0,1:27:51.16,1:27:53.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] And you feel it even when \Nthere's other stuff to be done?
Dialogue: 0,1:27:53.91,1:27:56.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}ZEYNAB{\i0} ] Nah, I don't think so. \N[ {\i1}LAUGHTER{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:27:58.57,1:28:00.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] So I wonder, 'cause you asked \Nabout the silencing.
Dialogue: 0,1:28:00.92,1:28:03.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Do you self-edit when you're writing, \Nlike you're pulling back?
Dialogue: 0,1:28:03.58,1:28:05.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}ZEYNAB{\i0} ] Yeah.
Dialogue: 0,1:28:06.67,1:28:08.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Only when you're writing for yourself,
Dialogue: 0,1:28:08.75,1:28:12.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or when you're also writing...\Nso if you're writing for yourself, it's all there.
Dialogue: 0,1:28:12.05,1:28:17.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But if you're writing for an audience, you're pulling \Nit back? Who's the audience typically, teachers?
Dialogue: 0,1:28:17.53,1:28:20.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}ZEYNAB{\i0} ] Yeah. Or like--
Dialogue: 0,1:28:21.58,1:28:23.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] I'm going to have to speed you on.
Dialogue: 0,1:28:23.45,1:28:27.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Yes, okay I'm sorry. I just--my bet is \Nthat question wasn't about us, right?
Dialogue: 0,1:28:27.11,1:28:32.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Who cares what I think about writing? My bet is that \Nquestion is about you and that you're working on it.
Dialogue: 0,1:28:32.48,1:28:38.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But if you ask that question, and the real question is \N"{\i1}Am I a writer{\i0}?", the answer is "{\i1}Yes, of course you are.{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,1:28:38.22,1:28:40.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you ask that question, of course you're a writer.
Dialogue: 0,1:28:40.19,1:28:44.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And if you are, if you're self-editing, \Nat least find some friendly audiences,
Dialogue: 0,1:28:44.39,1:28:49.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,some safe audiences where you can write without...\Nit's okay to self-edit to feel fearful of your audience...
Dialogue: 0,1:28:49.14,1:28:51.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think that's okay. \NParticularly when you're a young writer,
Dialogue: 0,1:28:51.72,1:28:55.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but also just make sure you have some audiences, \Nsomeone who's reading for you,
Dialogue: 0,1:28:55.17,1:28:57.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who is a safe place for you to write.
Dialogue: 0,1:28:57.89,1:29:02.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] Okay, are you answering the \Nimperialism question? [ {\i1}A FEW LAUGHS{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:29:04.49,1:29:08.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] No, you want to answer that one? \N[ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:29:08.21,1:29:11.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I get in too much trouble behind this, yeah. \N[ {\i1}LAUGHING AND CLAPPING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:29:17.70,1:29:21.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] I'm going to be honest. Part of my silence \Nis I've forgotten parts of the question.
Dialogue: 0,1:29:21.69,1:29:24.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I didn't--I didn't forget the imperialist--
Dialogue: 0,1:29:24.00,1:29:26.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] No-no, it's the [ {\i1}INAUDIBLE{\i0} ] \Nof Black versions-
Dialogue: 0,1:29:26.29,1:29:29.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,American versions of Blackness, right? \NAnd capitalism, right?
Dialogue: 0,1:29:29.26,1:29:32.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] There was the patriarchal allies, \Nwhich was the woman behind you.
Dialogue: 0,1:29:32.43,1:29:34.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Yeah, yeah, we're coming to that one.
Dialogue: 0,1:29:34.29,1:29:35.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] Yeah.
Dialogue: 0,1:29:35.87,1:29:38.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}AUDIENCE MEMBER{\i0} ] I think that it happens \Nwithin both men and women,
Dialogue: 0,1:29:38.30,1:29:40.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it does happen to men and women.
Dialogue: 0,1:29:40.62,1:29:44.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But but the implications of privilege \Nwith our ideas of Blackness,
Dialogue: 0,1:29:44.08,1:29:49.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,being that Blackness has changed over time, like\Nyou're talking about the President in office right now,
Dialogue: 0,1:29:49.16,1:29:52.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and him being an African-American \Nimperialist essentially,
Dialogue: 0,1:29:52.53,1:29:57.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and subconsciously that affecting all of us \Nwho do that as well, when we travel.
Dialogue: 0,1:29:57.41,1:30:01.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So there's a world out there that \Nwe don't identify with all the time.
Dialogue: 0,1:30:01.12,1:30:05.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] Well I think you've stated it. \NI mean that's what's real.
Dialogue: 0,1:30:05.04,1:30:10.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean what's scary is why people \Ndon't want to face that reality
Dialogue: 0,1:30:10.34,1:30:16.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,why they want to still pretend that there's \Nsome solidified Blackness, and not--I mean,
Dialogue: 0,1:30:16.11,1:30:19.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that there's tremendous crisis in Blackness
Dialogue: 0,1:30:19.30,1:30:25.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because our class differences and separations \Ngrow more intense daily.
Dialogue: 0,1:30:25.49,1:30:32.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we're asked to believe that there's still some \Nkind of R&B Blackness that unites us.
Dialogue: 0,1:30:32.50,1:30:38.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHING{\i0} ] Will you take the \Npatriarchal question? And then we're going to close.
Dialogue: 0,1:30:40.60,1:30:43.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Yeah. Right, well, I think--we remember \Nthe patriarchy question.
Dialogue: 0,1:30:43.16,1:30:45.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, I guess the one thing I would say is--
Dialogue: 0,1:30:45.96,1:30:48.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}VIRGINIA{\i0} ] I'll just say it again.
Dialogue: 0,1:30:48.69,1:30:54.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So how instrumental is the male and/or white ally \Nin our movement against patriarchy?
Dialogue: 0,1:30:54.88,1:30:59.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] I've actually been questioning \Nthis use of the word "ally" [ {\i1}SOME LAUGHTER{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:30:59.27,1:31:03.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because I think that if someone is standing \Non their own beliefs,
Dialogue: 0,1:31:03.39,1:31:13.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and their own beliefs are anti-patriarchal, anti-sexist, \Nthey are not required to be anybody's ally.
Dialogue: 0,1:31:13.40,1:31:18.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They are on their front line in the same way \Nthat I'm on my front line.
Dialogue: 0,1:31:18.22,1:31:23.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I can tell you, women, when you find those men \Nin patriarchy--gay, straight, trans*, whatever...
Dialogue: 0,1:31:23.96,1:31:29.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that are on the front line, we recognize them. \NThe sad truth is that there are so few of them.
Dialogue: 0,1:31:29.38,1:31:32.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}AUDIBLE AGREEMENT FROM AUDIENCE{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:31:32.38,1:31:39.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Okay. [ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHING AND \NAPPLAUDING{\i0} ] Are you saying something?
Dialogue: 0,1:31:39.07,1:31:46.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Yeah, I mean, I guess I--so one thing \NI would--so this is maybe my--this is my academic
Dialogue: 0,1:31:46.35,1:31:48.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this is my professorial self.
Dialogue: 0,1:31:48.23,1:31:55.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I worry anytime we expect--so sometimes one of the \Npieces of language used, particularly in the academy-
Dialogue: 0,1:31:55.03,1:31:58.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-maybe it's also used in media--I'm not so sure-\Nis this idea of role modeling.
Dialogue: 0,1:31:58.64,1:32:05.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"{\i1}We need you to be there in that body to role-model \Nto other people who have bodies similar to yours{\i0},
Dialogue: 0,1:32:05.25,1:32:07.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,{\i1}that these things are possible.{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,1:32:07.84,1:32:11.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I have very--I have very mixed emotions \Nabout that role-modeling idea,
Dialogue: 0,1:32:11.96,1:32:16.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in part because I think that the imagination \Nof Black Americans is...
Dialogue: 0,1:32:16.86,1:32:22.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,our sort of critical, moral, creative imagination is one\Nof our great accomplishments in the U.S. context.
Dialogue: 0,1:32:22.34,1:32:26.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Our ability to imagine freedom in the context \Nof intergenerational chattel bondage,
Dialogue: 0,1:32:26.23,1:32:30.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,our ability to believe God loves us when there is no \Nempirical evidence that God does love us,
Dialogue: 0,1:32:30.38,1:32:34.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,our willingness to engage. [ {\i1}LAUGHTER{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:32:34.98,1:32:39.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Right, so I actually don't know that we need to cease-
Dialogue: 0,1:32:39.28,1:32:44.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-I mean, I think part of our genius is that we don't \Nneed to see it to nonetheless believe it & pursue it.
Dialogue: 0,1:32:44.46,1:32:50.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And in fact, even in as much as that is, I think a \Nunique--as Cornel West would say...
Dialogue: 0,1:32:50.22,1:32:54.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a unique gift of Black people \Nto the American Project, right?
Dialogue: 0,1:32:54.62,1:32:59.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean that's the language that he uses. It's one of \Nour gifts, particularly in the post-9/11 moment.
Dialogue: 0,1:32:59.56,1:33:09.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That as much as that is true, it's also been true of \Neven the nastiest low-down racist patriarchs of our nation.
Dialogue: 0,1:33:09.26,1:33:11.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So my daughter--and I promise I'm going to end-
Dialogue: 0,1:33:11.58,1:33:15.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,my daughter is in 6th grade and she had to learn \Nthe Declaration of Independence,
Dialogue: 0,1:33:15.03,1:33:17.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the little, you know, "{\i1}We hold these truths to be self-\Nevident, that all men are created equal{\i0},
Dialogue: 0,1:33:17.82,1:33:19.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,{\i1}and endowed with their Creator \Nwith certain inalienable rights,{\i0}
Dialogue: 0,1:33:19.95,1:33:22.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,{\i1}that among these are Life, Liberty, \Nand the Pursuit of Happiness, {\i0}
Dialogue: 0,1:33:22.17,1:33:28.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,{\i1}and governments are instituted among men \Nto protect these rights{\i0}"--right, okay?
Dialogue: 0,1:33:28.14,1:33:31.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She was hot. Mad. [ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHING{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:33:31.49,1:33:36.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She was like, "{\i1}This is some old bull. That was \Nnot true! 1776, we were slaves, we couldn't vote.{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,1:33:36.40,1:33:43.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She was mad, she was walking around the house, \Nmad! [ {\i1}AUDIENCE LAUGHING{\i0} ] Mad!
Dialogue: 0,1:33:43.54,1:33:47.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now part of this 'cause she's in sixth grade, so \Nshe's mad that the sun comes up, so she's just mad.
Dialogue: 0,1:33:47.94,1:33:54.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But she was mad behind this, and--but, so Thomas \NJefferson is vile. Like he just is vile, right?
Dialogue: 0,1:33:54.66,1:33:57.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He owns his own children at various points.
Dialogue: 0,1:33:57.53,1:34:03.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But--and this is the final ally--but he didn't write \Na document that says,
Dialogue: 0,1:34:03.70,1:34:10.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"{\i1}We think that maybe, possibly, old white men \Nwith money are equal, in a few kind of ways,{\i0}
Dialogue: 0,1:34:10.16,1:34:11.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,{\i1}and maybe they could get a gut{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,1:34:11.86,1:34:15.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that's what the Constitution says, [ {\i1}LAUGHTER{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:34:15.54,1:34:20.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but the Declaration of Independence \Nhas a moral imagination
Dialogue: 0,1:34:20.34,1:34:24.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,beyond the empirical reality of \Nthe 1776 Monticello Mountain.
Dialogue: 0,1:34:24.29,1:34:28.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so I don't know that I need \Npatriarchs and white men and...
Dialogue: 0,1:34:28.54,1:34:33.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but what I do... what is possible \Non that kind of allied position,
Dialogue: 0,1:34:33.36,1:34:38.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is for them to imagine something bigger \Nthan what is in this moment.
Dialogue: 0,1:34:38.07,1:34:41.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so as much as I've had my little, you know, \Ncritiques about--like, you know,
Dialogue: 0,1:34:41.61,1:34:45.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the people who work at MSNBC, in the leadership, \Nthose old white guys,
Dialogue: 0,1:34:45.36,1:34:47.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who are rich and powerful and sit around a table,
Dialogue: 0,1:34:47.27,1:34:51.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and maybe someday... maybe today... will fire me, \Nand everyone else [ {\i1}LAUGHTER{\i0} ]
Dialogue: 0,1:34:51.95,1:34:54.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they nonetheless did... they could say,
Dialogue: 0,1:34:54.16,1:34:57.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"{\i1}oh well, what if put a little gay girl on here \Nand what if we put a little Black girl on here.{\i0}"
Dialogue: 0,1:34:57.88,1:35:00.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"{\i1}And maybe--oh and let the Asian girl{\i0}"...and how...
Dialogue: 0,1:35:00.73,1:35:06.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and so those are things that required a little bit of...\Nit's not revolution.
Dialogue: 0,1:35:07.64,1:35:11.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] It's the opposite of revolution, \Nbut it is a little imagination.
Dialogue: 0,1:35:11.20,1:35:14.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}b.h.{\i0} ] ...at heart, also, our movement \Naway from binaries.
Dialogue: 0,1:35:14.56,1:35:17.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So we would like to leave you with this whole notion
Dialogue: 0,1:35:17.83,1:35:23.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that if you work for freedom, \None of the ways that you can work for freedom,
Dialogue: 0,1:35:23.54,1:35:31.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is to change your mind and to move away from the \Nspace of binaries, of simplistic either-or, both-and,
Dialogue: 0,1:35:31.22,1:35:37.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and to be able to look at the picture \Nthat offers us complexity.
Dialogue: 0,1:35:37.17,1:35:42.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I want to thank Stephanie Browner, Heather \Nand Jennifer, for all their work,
Dialogue: 0,1:35:42.79,1:35:50.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and my sister, my soul sister, [ {\i1}LAUGHTER{\i0} ]. \NMelissa Harris-Perry, thank you for being here.
Dialogue: 0,1:35:50.52,1:35:53.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}MHP{\i0} ] Thank you, bell. Thank you, bell.
Dialogue: 0,1:35:53.52,1:35:56.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ {\i1}PASSIONATE APPLAUSE AND CHEERING...{\i0} ]