The symbols of systemic racism -- and how to take away their power

Multidisciplinary artist and TED Fellow Paul Rucker is unstitching the legacy of systemic racism in the United States. A collector of artifacts connected to the history of slavery -- from branding irons and shackles to postcards depicting lynchings -- Rucker couldn’t find an undamaged Ku Klux Klan robe for his collection, so he began making his own. The result: striking garments in non-traditional fabrics like kente cloth, camouflage and silk that confront the normalization of systemic racism in the US. “If we as a people collectively look at these objects and realize that they are part of our history, we can find a way to where they have no more power over us,” Rucker says. (This talk contains graphic images.)

[This talk contains graphic images
Viewer discretion is advised]

I collect objects.

I collect branding irons that were used
to mark slaves as property.

I collect shackles for adults

and restraints for adults

as well as children.

I collect lynching postcards.

Yes, they depict lynchings.

They also depict the massive crowds
that attended these lynchings,

and they are postcards

that were also used for correspondence.

I collect proslavery books
that portray black people as criminals

or as animals without souls.

I brought you something today.

This is a ship's branding iron.

It was used to mark slaves.

Well, they actually were not slaves
when they were marked.

They were in Africa.

But they were marked with an "S"

to designate that they
were going to be slaves

when they were brought to the US

and when they were brought to Europe.

Another object or image that captured
my imagination when I was younger

was a Klan robe.

Growing up in South Carolina, I would see
Ku Klux Klan rallies occasionally,

actually more than occasionally,

and the memories of those events
never really left my mind.

And I didn't really do anything
with that imagery until 25 years later.

A few years ago,
I started researching the Klan,

the three distinct waves of the Klan,

the second one in particular.

The second wave of the Klan
had more than five million active members,

which was five percent
of the population at the time,

which was also the population
of New York City at the time.

The Klan robe factory in the Buckhead
neighborhood of Georgia was so busy

it became a 24-hour factory
to keep up with orders.

They kept 20,000 robes on hand at all time
to keep up with the demand.

As a collector of artifacts
and as an artist,

I really wanted a Klan robe
to be part of my collection,

because artifacts
and objects tell stories,

but I really couldn't find one
that was really good quality.

What is a black man to do in America

when he can't find the quality
Klan robe that he's looking for?

(Laughter)

So I had no other choice.

I decided I was going to make
the best quality Klan robes in America.

These are not your traditional Klan robes
you would see at any KKK rally.

I used kente cloth,

I used camouflage,

spandex, burlap, silks,
satins and different patterns.

I make them for different age groups;
I make them for young kids

as well as toddlers.

I even made one for an infant.

After making so many robes,

I realized that the policies
the Klan had in place

or wanted to have in place
a hundred years ago

are in place today.

We have segregated schools,
neighborhoods, workplaces,

and it's not the people wearing hoods
that are keeping these policies in place.

My work is about
the long-term impact of slavery.

We're not just dealing
with the residue of systemic racism.

It's the basis
of every single thing we do.

Again we have intentionally
segregated neighborhoods,

workplaces and schools.

We have voter suppression.

We have disproportionate representation
of minorities incarcerated.

We have environmental racism.
We have police brutality.

I brought you a few things today.

The stealth aspect of racism

is part of its power.

When you're discriminated against,

you can't always prove
you're being discriminated against.

Racism has the power to hide,

and when it hides, it's kept safe

because it blends in.

I created this robe to illustrate that.

The basis of capitalism
in America is slavery.

Slaves were the capital in capitalism.

The first Grand Wizard in 1868,
Nathan Bedford Forrest,

was a Confederate soldier
and a millionaire slave trader.

The wealth that was created
from chattel slavery --

that's slaves as property --
would boggle the mind.

Cotton sales alone in 1860
equalled 200 million dollars.

That would equal
five billion dollars today.

A lot of that wealth can be seen today
through generational wealth.

Oh, I forgot the other crops as well.

You have indigo, rice and tobacco.

In 2015, I made one robe a week
for the entire year.

After making 75 robes, I had an epiphany.

I have a realization
that white supremacy is there,

but the biggest force
of white supremacy is not the KKK,

it's the normalization of systemic racism.

There was something else I realized.

The robes had no more power
over me at all.

But if we as a people collectively

look at these objects --

branding irons, shackles, robes --

and realize that they
are part of our history,

we can find a way to where they have
no more power over us.

If we look at systemic racism
and acknowledge

that it's sown into the very fabric
of who we are as a country,

then we can actually do something
about the intentional segregation

in our schools,
neighborhoods and workplaces.

But then and only then
can we actually address

and confront this legacy of slavery

and dismantle this ugly legacy of slavery.

Thank you very much.

(Applause)