WEBVTT

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Imagine a place

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where your neighbors
greet your children by name,

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a place with splendid vistas,

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a place where you
can drive just 20 minutes

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and put your sailboat on the water.

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It's a seductive place, isn't it.

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I don't live there.

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(Laughter)

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But I did journey

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on a 27,000 mile trip for two years

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to the fastest-growing
and whitest counties in America.

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What is a Whitopia?

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I define Whitopia in three ways.

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First, a Whitopia has posted at least
six percent population growth since 2000.

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Secondly, the majority of that growth

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comes from white migrants,

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and third, the Whitopia has
an ineffable charm,

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a pleasant look and feel,

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a je ne sais quoi.

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(Laughter)

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To learn how and why
Whitopias are ticking,

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I immersed myself
for several months apiece

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in three of them:

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first, St. George, Utah;

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second, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho;

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and third, Forsyth County, Georgia.

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First stop, St. George,

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a beautiful town of red rock landscapes.

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In the 1850s, Brigham Young
dispatched families to St. George

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to grow cotton because
of the hot, arid climate,

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and so they called it Utah's Dixie,

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and the name sticks to this day.

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I approached my time in each Whitopia
like an anthropologist.

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I made detailed spreadsheets of all
the power brokers in the communities,

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who I needed to meet,
where I needed to be,

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and I threw myself with gusto
in these communities.

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I went to zoning board meetings,

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I went to Democratic clubs
and Republican clubs.

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I went to poker nights.

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In St. George, I rented
a home at the Entrada,

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one of the town's
premiere gated communities.

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There were no Motel 6's
or Howard Johnsons for me.

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I lived in Whitopia as a resident,

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and not like a visitor.

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I rented myself this home by phone.

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(Laughter) (Applause)

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Golf is the perfect seductive
symbol of Whitopia.

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When I went on my journey,

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I had barely ever held a golf club.

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By the time I left, I was golfing
at least three times a week.

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(Laughter)

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Golf helps people bond.

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Some of the best interviews I ever scored

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during my trip were on the golf courses.

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One venture capitalist, for example,
invited me to golf

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in his private club

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that had no minority members.

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I also went fishing.

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Because I had never fished,
this fellow had to teach me

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how to cast my line and what bait to use.

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I also played poker every weekend.

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It was Texas Hold 'Em with a $10 buy-in.

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My poker mates may have been bluffing
about the hands that they drew,

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but they weren't bluffing
about their social beliefs.

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Some of the most raw,
salty conversations I ever had

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during my journey were at the poker table.

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I'm a gung ho entertainer.

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I love to cook, I hosted
many dinner parties, and in return,

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people invited me to their dinner parties,

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and to their barbecues,
and to their pool parties,

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and to their birthday parties.

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But it wasn't all fun.

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Immigration turned out to be
a big issue in this Whitopia.

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The St. George's Citizens Council
on Illegal Immigration

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held regular and active protests
against immigration,

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and so what I gleaned from this Whitopia
is what a hot debate this would become.

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It was a real time preview,

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and so it has become.

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Next stop, Almost Heaven,

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a cabin I rented for myself

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in Coeur d'Alene, in the beautiful
north Idaho panhandle.

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I rented this place for myself
also by phone.

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The book "A Thousand Places
To See Before You Die"

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lists Coeur d'Alene.

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It's a gorgeous paradise
for huntsmen, boatsmen, and fishermen.

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My growing golf skills
came in handy in Coeur d'Alene.

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I golf with retired LAPD cops.

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In 1993, around 11,000 families
and cops fled Los Angeles

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after the L.A. racial unrest
for north Idaho,

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and they've built
an ex-patriated community.

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Given the conservatism of these cops,

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there's no surprise that north Idaho
has a strong gun culture.

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In fact, it is said, north Idaho
has more gun dealers than gas stations.

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So what's a resident to do to fit in?

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I hit the gun club.

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When I rented a gun,
the gentleman behind the counter

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was perfectly pleasant and kind,

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until I showed him
my New York City driver's license.

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That's when he got nervous.

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I'm not as bad a shot
as I thought I might have been.

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What I learned from north Idaho

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is the peculiar brand of paranoia

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that can permeate a community

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when so many cops and guns are around.

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In north Idaho, in my red pickup truck,

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I kept a notepad,

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and in that notepad I counted
more Confederate flags than black people.

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In north Idaho, I found Confederate flags
on keychains, on cellphone paraphernalia,

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and on cars.

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About a seven minute drive
from my hidden lake cabin

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was the compound of Aryan Nations,

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the white supremacist group.

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America's Promise ministry,

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the religious arm of Aryan Nations,

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happened to have a three day
retreat during my visit,

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so I decided to crash it.

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(Laughter)

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I'm the only non-Aryan journalist
I'm aware of ever to have done so.

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Among the many memorable
episodes of that retreat

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is when Abe, an Aryan,
sidled up next to me.

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He slapped my knee, and he said, "Hey Rich,
I just want you to know one thing.

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We are not white supremacists.
We are white separatists.

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We don't think we're better than you,

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we just want to be away from you."

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(Laughter)

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Indeed, most white people in Whitopia

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are neither white supremacists
or white separatists.

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In fact, they're not there
for explicitly racial reasons at all.

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Rather, they emigrate there
for friendliness, comfort,

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security, safety,

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reasons that they implicitly
associate to whiteness in itself.

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Next stop was Georgia.

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In Georgia, I stayed in an exurb
north of Atlanta.

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In Utah, I found poker.

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in Idaho, I found guns.

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In Georgia, I found God.

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The way that I immersed myself
in this Whitopia

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was to become active
at First Redeemer Church,

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a megachurch that's so huge
that it has golf carts

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to escort the congregants around
its many parking lots on campus.

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I was active in the youth ministry,

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and for me, personally,

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I was more comfortable in this Whitopia

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than say, in a Colorado, or an Idaho,
or even a suburban Boston.

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That is because here in Georgia,

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white people and black people are more
historically familiar to one another.

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I was less exotic in this Whitopia.

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But what does it all mean?

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Whitopian dreaming, Whitopia migration,

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is a push-pull phenomenon,

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full of alarming pushes
and alluring pulls,

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and Whitopia operates at the level
of conscious and unconscious bias.

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It's possible for people to be in Whitopia

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not for racist reasons,

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though it has racist outcomes.

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Many Whitopians feel pushed by illegals,

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social welfare abuse, minorities,

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density, crowded schools.

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Many Whitopians feel pulled by merit,

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freedom, the allure of privatism,

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privatized places, privatized people,

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privatized things.

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And I learned in Whitopia

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how a country can have racism

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without racists.

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Many of my smug urban liberal friends

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couldn't believe I would go
on such a venture.

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The reality is that many white Americans

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are affable and kind.

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Interpersonal race relations,

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how we treat each other as human beings,

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is vastly better than in
my parents' generation.

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Can you imagine me going
to Whitopia 40 years ago?

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What a journey that would have been.

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And yet some things haven't changed.

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America is as residentially

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and educationally segregated today

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as it was in 1970.

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As Americans, we often find ways
to cook for each other,

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to dance with each other,

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to host with each other,

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but why can't that translate
into how we treat each other

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as communities?

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It's a devastating irony,

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how we have gone forward as individuals

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and backward as communities.

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One of the Whitopian outlooks

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that really hit me

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was a proverbial saying:

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"One black man
is a delightful dinner guest,

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50 black men is a ghetto."

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One of the big contexts

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animating my Whitopian journey

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was the year 2042.

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By 2042, white people

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will no longer be the American majority.

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As such, will there be more Whitopias?

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In looking at this,
the danger of Whitopia is

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that the more segregation we have,

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the less we can look at and confront

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conscious and unconscious bias.

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I ventured on my two-year,
27,000 mile journey

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to learn where, why, and how
white people are fleeing,

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but I didn't expect to have
so much fun on my journey.

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I didn't expect to learn
so much about myself.

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I don't expect I'll be living
in a Whitopia

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or a Blacktopia, for that matter.

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I do plan to continue golfing
every chance I get.

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And I'll just have to leave the guns
and megachurches back in Whitopia.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)