WEBVTT

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I was thinking today about
the relationship between race and

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economic prosperity.

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>> [INAUDIBLE] that's interesting, and
what were your thoughts on the matter?

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>> Well, I was thinking about how far
we've come in the past hundred years since

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the Fourteenth Amendment that just simply
gave everyone protection under the law.

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It's almost insane to think that
at one time in our country,

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people of color didn't have any rights.

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And they were even enslaved.

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>> And sadly, so yes, yeah, it is crazy.

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But it's also amazing how far we've come.

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But the thing is,

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there's still work that needs to be
done to weed out the systemic racism.

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>> Do you really think systemic
racism still exists in our country?

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>> Yeah, 100%,
even if it's not as prevalent,

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we are still seeing the lasting
effects of systemic racism.

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Just look at the areas where
everyone still lives to this day.

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>> What do you mean where
everyone still lives?

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>> Well, in the 1930s,
using redlining was a tactic widely

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supported by the government to
refuse people of color loans or

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financial help when trying to buy a house,

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more often than non-predominantly
white neighborhoods.

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>> Yeah,
it's like they took all these people, and

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they created the poverty and crime-filled
ghettos that we still see today.

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>> Yeah, and then what made matters
worse is the divide that was widened

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by Richard Nixon with his war
on drugs campaign in the 1970s.

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>> Yeah.
>> So people of color were often getting

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the maximum sentences for these petty
non-violent crimes, whereas a white person

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would often get the minimum
sentence on the same type of crime.

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>> Yeah, and some of the non-violent
crimes like the ones involving marijuana,

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these people are still serving time today
for offenses that are now decriminalized,

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and in some places,
even recreationally legal.

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>> Yeah,
people are making money off of it.

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So when we think about it, and
what had been done to people of color,

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it's really just a sense
of legalized slavery.

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>> Yeah, it's like you take
this demographic of people,

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you limit them to
impoverished neighborhoods.

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You make no effort to properly
fund their education,

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then you give them maximum sentencing when
they finally turn into a life of crime.

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Because that's the only way they see
themselves actually rising above their

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station.

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>> Yeah, and then with the level of
mass incarceration against men of color,

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specifically African American men,

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you have to consider how many families
have been broken and torn apart by it.

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And countless kids that no longer
have a father figure, or any parents,

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or advice, or guidance, uninevitably,
they lead down that same path.

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>> Yeah, I agree,
it's like a never-ending cycle.

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And I guess my question is,
how do you think we fix this?

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>> Well, I think it starts
with everyone joining and

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participating their own civic duty and
voting and

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becoming involved in their local
communities and local elections.

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For so long, I think there is this
form of cynicism around voting,

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making people believe that their
vote really doesn't matter.

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>> Yeah, I agree, I will say that
seems like now more people than ever,

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especially young people and

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people of color, are getting involved
in politics and going out and voting.

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And I think social media has a big
role to play in that as well.

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>> Yeah, social media has definitely
taken everything by storm.

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And I agree, I think we're on the path
to hopefully eliminating these

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systemic racism, problems, and
prejudice from future generations.

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We just have to keep participating and

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educating those that aren't given
a fair shot at having a voice.

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>> So what do you think is the first step

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to getting to a place where
everyone has their own voice?

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>> Having conversations like these.

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>> Yeah.