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My parents gave me an extraordinary name:

2
00:00:05,458 --> 00:00:10,042
Baratunde Rafiq Thurston.

3
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Now, Baratunde is based
on a Yoruba name from Nigeria,

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00:00:14,417 --> 00:00:15,976
but we're not Nigerian.

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(Laughter)

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That's just how black my mama was.

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(Laughter)

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"Get this boy the blackest name possible.
What does the book say?"

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(Laughter)

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Rafiq is an Arabic name,
but we are not Arabs.

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My mom just wanted me to have difficulty
boarding planes in the 21st century.

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(Laughter)

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She foresaw America's turn
toward nativism.

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She was a black futurist.

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(Laughter)

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Thurston is a British name,
but we are not British.

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Shoutout to the multigenerational,
dehumanizing economic institution

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of American chattel slavery, though.

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Also, Thurston makes
for a great Starbucks name.

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Really expedites the process.

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(Laughter)

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My mother was a renaissance woman.

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Arnita Lorraine Thurston

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was a computer programmer,
former domestic worker,

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survivor of sexual assault,

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an artist and an activist.

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She prepared me for this world
with lessons in black history,

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in martial arts, in urban farming,

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and then she sent me in the seventh grade
to the private Sidwell Friends School,

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where US presidents send their daughters,

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and where she sent me looking like this.

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(Laughter)

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I had two key tasks going to that school:

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don't lose your blackness
and don't lose your glasses.

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This accomplished both.

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(Laughter)

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Sidwell was a great place
to learn the arts and the sciences,

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but also the art of living
amongst whiteness.

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That would prepare me
for life later at Harvard,

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or doing corporate consulting,

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or for my jobs at "The Daily Show"
and "The Onion."

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I would write down many of these lessons
in my memoir, "How to Be Black,"

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which if you haven't read yet,
makes you a racist, because --

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(Laughter)

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you've had plenty of time
to read the book.

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But America insists on reminding me

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and teaching me

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what it means to be black in America.

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It's December 2018,

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I'm with my fiancé
in the suburbs of Wisconsin.

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We are visiting her parents,
both of whom are white,

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which makes her white.

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That's how it works.
I don't make the rules.

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(Laughter)

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She's had some drinks,
so I drive us in her parents' car,

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and we get pulled over by the police.

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I'm scared.

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I turn on the flashing lights
to indicate compliance.

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I pull over slowly

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under the brightest streetlight I can find

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in case I need witnesses
or dashcam footage.

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We get out my identification,
the car registration,

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lay it out in the open,
roll down the windows,

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my hands are placed on the steering wheel,

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all before the officer exits the vehicle.

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This is how to stay alive.

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As we wait, I think
about these headlines --

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"Police shoot another
unarmed black person" --

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and I don't want to join them.

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The good news is,
our officer was friendly.

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She told us our tags were expired.

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So to all the white parents out there,

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if your child is involved with a person

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whose skin tone is rated
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson or darker --

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(Laughter)

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you need to get that car inspected,
update the paperwork every time we visit.

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That's just common courtesy.

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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I got lucky.

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I got a law enforcement professional.

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I survived something
that should not require survival.

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And I think about
this series of stories --

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"Police shoot another
unarmed black person" --

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and that season when those stories
popped up everywhere.

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I would scroll through my feed

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and I would see a baby announcement photo.

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I'd see an ad for a product

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I had just whispered
to a friend about yesterday.

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I would see a video of a police officer
gunning down someone

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who looked just like me.

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And I'd see a think piece

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about how millennials
have replaced sex with avocado toast.

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(Laughter)

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It was a confusing time.

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Those stories kept popping up,

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but in 2018, those stories got changed out
for a different type of story,

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stories like, "White Woman Calls Cops
On Black Woman Waiting For An Uber."

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That was Brooklyn Becky.

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Then there was, "White Woman Calls Police

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On Eight-Year-Old Black Girl
Selling Water."

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That was Permit Patty.

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Then there was, "Woman Calls Police

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On Black Family BBQing
At Lake In Oakland."

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That was now infamous BBQ Becky.

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And I contend that these stories
of living while black

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are actually progress.

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We used to find out
after the extrajudicial police killings.

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Now, we're getting video
of people calling 911.

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We're moving upstream,

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closer to the problem
and closer to the solution.

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So I started a collection

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of as many of these stories
as I could find.

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I built an evolving,
still-growing database

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at baratunde.com/livingwhileblack.

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Seeking understanding,
I realized the process

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was really diagramming sentences
to understand these headlines.

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And I want to thank
my Sidwell English teacher Erica Berry

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and all English teachers.

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You have given us tools
to fight for our own freedom.

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What I found was a process
to break down the headline

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and understand the consistent layers

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in each one:

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a subject takes an action against a target
engaged in some activity,

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so that "White Woman Calls Police
On Eight-Year-Old Black Girl"

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is the same as "White Man Calls Police
On Black Woman Using Neighborhood Pool"

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is the same as "Woman Calls Cops
On Black Oregon Lawmaker

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Campaigning In Her District."

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They're the same.

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Diagramming the sentences
allowed me to diagram the white supremacy

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which allowed such sentences to be true,

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and I will pause to define my terms.

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When I say "white supremacy,"

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I'm not just talking about Nazis

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or white power activists,

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and I'm definitely not saying
that all white people are racist.

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What I'm referring to

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is a system of structural advantage
that favors white people over others

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in social, economic and political arenas.

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It's what Bryan Stevenson
at the Equal Justice Initiative

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calls the narrative of racial difference,

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the story we told ourselves
to justify slavery and Jim Crow

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and mass incarceration and beyond.

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So when I saw this pattern repeating,

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I got angry,

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but I also got inspired

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to create a game,

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a game of words that would allow me
to transform this traumatic exposure

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into more of a healing experience.

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I'm going to talk you through the game.

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The first level is a training level,
and I need your participation.

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Our objective: to determine
if this is real or fake.

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Did this happen or not?

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Here is the example:

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"Catholic University Law Librarian
Calls Police On Student

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For 'Being Argumentative.'"

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Clap your hands if you think this is real.

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(Applause)

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Clap your hands if you think this is fake.

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(Applause)

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The reals have it, unfortunately,

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and a point of information,

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being argumentative in a law library

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is the exact right place to do that.

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(Laughter)

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This student should be
promoted to professor.

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Training level complete,
so we move on to the real levels.

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Level one, our objective is simple:

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reverse the roles.

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That means "Woman Calls Cops
On Black Oregon Lawmaker"

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becomes "Black Oregon Lawmaker
Calls Cops On Woman."

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That means "White Man
Calls Police On Black Woman

173
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Using Neighborhood Pool"

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becomes "Black Woman Calls Police
On White Man Using Neighborhood Pool."

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How do you like
them reverse racist apples?

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That's it, level one complete,

177
00:08:27,125 --> 00:08:29,893
and so we level up to level two,

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where our objective is to increase
the believability of the reversal.

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Let's face it, a black woman
calling police on a white man using a pool

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isn't absurd enough,

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but what if that white man was trying
to touch her hair without asking,

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00:08:44,917 --> 00:08:48,833
or maybe he was making oat milk
while riding a unicycle,

183
00:08:50,417 --> 00:08:53,309
or maybe he's just talking
over everyone in a meeting.

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00:08:53,333 --> 00:08:54,518
(Laughter)

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We've all been there, right?

186
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Seriously, we've all been there.

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So that's it, level two complete.

188
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But it comes with a warning:

189
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simply reversing the flow
of injustice is not justice.

190
00:09:09,833 --> 00:09:11,976
That is vengeance,
that is not our mission,

191
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that's a different game
so we level up to level three,

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where the objective
is to change the action,

193
00:09:19,500 --> 00:09:23,018
also known as "calling the police
is not your only option

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00:09:23,042 --> 00:09:24,768
OMG, what is wrong with you people!"

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00:09:24,792 --> 00:09:26,226
(Applause)

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00:09:26,250 --> 00:09:30,518
And I need to pause the game
to remind us of the structure.

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A subject takes an action
against a target engaged in some activity.

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00:09:35,417 --> 00:09:38,309
"White Woman Calls Police
On Black Real Estate Investor

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00:09:38,333 --> 00:09:40,434
Inspecting His Own Property."

200
00:09:40,458 --> 00:09:43,268
"California Safeway
Calls Cops On Black Woman

201
00:09:43,292 --> 00:09:45,851
Donating Food To The Homeless."

202
00:09:45,875 --> 00:09:50,625
"Gold Club Twice Calls Cops
On Black Women For Playing Too Slow."

203
00:09:51,667 --> 00:09:55,184
In all these cases,
the subject is usually white,

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00:09:55,208 --> 00:09:57,184
the target is usually black,

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00:09:57,208 --> 00:09:59,893
and the activities are anything,

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00:09:59,917 --> 00:10:02,559
from sitting in a Starbucks

207
00:10:02,583 --> 00:10:05,018
to using the wrong type of barbecue

208
00:10:05,042 --> 00:10:06,393
to napping

209
00:10:06,417 --> 00:10:09,643
to walking "agitated" on the way to work,

210
00:10:09,667 --> 00:10:12,018
which I just call "walking to work."

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00:10:12,042 --> 00:10:13,601
(Laughter)

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00:10:13,625 --> 00:10:15,684
And, my personal favorite,

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00:10:15,708 --> 00:10:19,684
not stopping his dog from humping her dog,

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00:10:19,708 --> 00:10:22,309
which is clearly a case for dog police,

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00:10:22,333 --> 00:10:23,958
not people police.

216
00:10:24,625 --> 00:10:28,750
All of these activities add up to living.

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00:10:30,292 --> 00:10:35,101
Our existence is being
interpreted as crime.

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00:10:35,125 --> 00:10:38,934
Now, this is the obligatory moment
in the presentation where I have to say,

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not everything is about race.

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Crime is a thing, should be reported,

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00:10:43,833 --> 00:10:49,809
but ask yourself, do we need armed men
to show up and resolve this situation,

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00:10:49,833 --> 00:10:52,351
because when they show up for me,

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it's different.

224
00:10:54,417 --> 00:10:56,893
We know that police officers

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use force more with black people
than with white people,

226
00:11:01,375 --> 00:11:05,018
and we are learning
the role of 911 calls in this.

227
00:11:05,042 --> 00:11:08,643
Thanks to preliminary research
from the Center for Policing Equity,

228
00:11:08,667 --> 00:11:10,393
we're learning that in some cities,

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00:11:10,417 --> 00:11:13,018
most of the interactions
between cops and citizens

230
00:11:13,042 --> 00:11:14,851
is due to 911 calls,

231
00:11:14,875 --> 00:11:16,934
not officer-initiated stops,

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00:11:16,958 --> 00:11:20,851
and most of the violence,
the use of force by police on citizens,

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00:11:20,875 --> 00:11:23,059
is in response to those calls.

234
00:11:23,083 --> 00:11:27,226
Further, when those officers
responding to calls use force,

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that increases in areas

236
00:11:29,625 --> 00:11:31,726
where the percentage
of the white population

237
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has also increased,

238
00:11:33,083 --> 00:11:35,143
aka gentrification,

239
00:11:35,167 --> 00:11:38,059
aka unicycles and oat milk,

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00:11:38,083 --> 00:11:40,976
aka when BBQ Becky feels threatened,

241
00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:45,309
she becomes a threat to me
in my own neighborhood,

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00:11:45,333 --> 00:11:47,643
which forces me and people like me

243
00:11:47,667 --> 00:11:49,684
to police ourselves.

244
00:11:49,708 --> 00:11:52,726
We quiet ourselves, we walk on eggshells,

245
00:11:52,750 --> 00:11:55,434
we maybe pull over to the side of the road

246
00:11:55,458 --> 00:11:57,434
under the brightest light we can find

247
00:11:57,458 --> 00:11:59,309
so that our murder

248
00:11:59,333 --> 00:12:02,226
might be caught cleanly on camera,

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00:12:02,250 --> 00:12:05,226
and we do this because we live in a system

250
00:12:05,250 --> 00:12:09,268
in which white people
can too easily call on deadly force

251
00:12:09,292 --> 00:12:11,500
to ensure their comfort.

252
00:12:12,542 --> 00:12:15,667
(Applause)

253
00:12:18,042 --> 00:12:19,351
The California Safeway

254
00:12:19,375 --> 00:12:24,184
didn't just call cops
on black woman donating food to homeless.

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00:12:24,208 --> 00:12:27,601
They ordered armed,
unaccountable men upon her.

256
00:12:27,625 --> 00:12:30,417
They essentially called in a drone strike.

257
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This is weaponized discomfort,

258
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and it is not new.

259
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From 1877 to 1950,

260
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there were at least 4,400 documented
racial terror lynchings of black people

261
00:12:44,875 --> 00:12:46,768
in the United States.

262
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They had headlines as well.

263
00:12:49,042 --> 00:12:52,434
"Rev. T.A. Allen was lynched
in Hernando, Mississippi

264
00:12:52,458 --> 00:12:55,643
for organizing local sharecroppers."

265
00:12:55,667 --> 00:12:58,518
"Oliver Moore was lynched
in Edgecomb County, North Carolina,

266
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for frightening a white girl."

267
00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:02,059
"Nathan Bird was lynched
near Luling, Texas,

268
00:13:02,083 --> 00:13:05,375
for refusing to turn his son
over to a mob."

269
00:13:06,417 --> 00:13:08,768
We need to change the action,

270
00:13:08,792 --> 00:13:10,643
whether that action is "lynches"

271
00:13:10,667 --> 00:13:12,726
or "calls police."

272
00:13:12,750 --> 00:13:16,268
And now that I have shortened
the distance between those two,

273
00:13:16,292 --> 00:13:18,976
let's get back to our game,
to our mission.

274
00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:22,018
Our objective in level three
is to change the action.

275
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So what if, instead of

276
00:13:23,875 --> 00:13:26,809
"Calls Cops On Black Woman
Donating Food To Homeless,"

277
00:13:26,833 --> 00:13:29,417
that California Safeway simply thanks her.

278
00:13:30,500 --> 00:13:33,726
Thanking is far cheaper than bringing
law enforcement to the scene.

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00:13:33,750 --> 00:13:35,018
(Applause)

280
00:13:35,042 --> 00:13:37,434
Or, instead,

281
00:13:37,458 --> 00:13:40,059
they could give the food
they would have wasted to her,

282
00:13:40,083 --> 00:13:41,833
upped their civic cred.

283
00:13:42,708 --> 00:13:46,268
Or, the white woman who called the police
on the eight-year-old black girl,

284
00:13:46,292 --> 00:13:49,684
she could have bought all the inventory
from that little black girl,

285
00:13:49,708 --> 00:13:51,893
support a small business.

286
00:13:51,917 --> 00:13:55,518
And the white woman who called the police
on the black real estate investor,

287
00:13:55,542 --> 00:13:57,601
we would all be better off,
the cops agree,

288
00:13:57,625 --> 00:14:00,601
if she had simply ignored him
and minded her own damn business.

289
00:14:00,625 --> 00:14:02,184
(Laughter)

290
00:14:02,208 --> 00:14:06,643
Minding one's own damn business
is an excellent choice, excellent choice.

291
00:14:06,667 --> 00:14:08,476
Choose it more often.

292
00:14:08,500 --> 00:14:13,101
Level three is complete,
but there is a final bonus level,

293
00:14:13,125 --> 00:14:15,893
where the objective is inclusion.

294
00:14:15,917 --> 00:14:18,393
We have also seen headlines like this:

295
00:14:18,417 --> 00:14:21,393
"Powerful Man Masturbates
In Front Of Young Women

296
00:14:21,417 --> 00:14:22,792
Visiting His Office."

297
00:14:23,542 --> 00:14:27,309
What an odd choice
for powerful man to make.

298
00:14:27,333 --> 00:14:30,226
So many other actions available to him.

299
00:14:30,250 --> 00:14:31,268
(Laughter)

300
00:14:31,292 --> 00:14:34,934
Like, such as, "listens to,"

301
00:14:34,958 --> 00:14:36,226
"mentors,"

302
00:14:36,250 --> 00:14:40,518
"inspired by, starts joint venture,
everybody rich now."

303
00:14:40,542 --> 00:14:41,809
(Laughter)

304
00:14:41,833 --> 00:14:44,268
I want to live in that world
of everybody rich now,

305
00:14:44,292 --> 00:14:48,208
but because of his poor choice,
we are all in a poorer world.

306
00:14:49,125 --> 00:14:51,059
Doesn't have to be this way.

307
00:14:51,083 --> 00:14:55,643
This word game reminded me that
there is a structure to white supremacy,

308
00:14:55,667 --> 00:14:57,268
as there is to misogyny,

309
00:14:57,292 --> 00:15:00,643
as there is to all
systemic abuses of power.

310
00:15:00,667 --> 00:15:03,625
Structure is what makes them systemic.

311
00:15:05,083 --> 00:15:07,018
I'm asking people here

312
00:15:07,042 --> 00:15:09,101
to see the structure,

313
00:15:09,125 --> 00:15:11,518
where the power is in it,

314
00:15:11,542 --> 00:15:14,893
and even more importantly
to see the humanity

315
00:15:14,917 --> 00:15:18,375
of those of us made targets
by this structure.

316
00:15:19,042 --> 00:15:25,184
I am here because I was loved
and invested in and protected and lucky,

317
00:15:25,208 --> 00:15:28,351
because I went to the right schools,
I'm semifamous, mostly happy,

318
00:15:28,375 --> 00:15:30,143
meditate twice a day,

319
00:15:30,167 --> 00:15:31,976
and yet,

320
00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:34,393
I walk around in fear,

321
00:15:34,417 --> 00:15:38,851
because I know that someone
seeing me as a threat

322
00:15:38,875 --> 00:15:41,351
can become a threat to my life,

323
00:15:41,375 --> 00:15:43,042
and I am tired.

324
00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:45,434
I am tired of carrying

325
00:15:45,458 --> 00:15:49,309
this invisible burden
of other people's fears,

326
00:15:49,333 --> 00:15:51,393
and many of us are,

327
00:15:51,417 --> 00:15:53,601
and we shouldn't have to,

328
00:15:53,625 --> 00:15:56,518
because we can change this,

329
00:15:56,542 --> 00:16:01,059
because we can change the action,
which changes the story,

330
00:16:01,083 --> 00:16:03,125
which changes the system

331
00:16:04,292 --> 00:16:06,143
that allows those stories to happen.

332
00:16:06,167 --> 00:16:10,083
Systems are just collective
stories we all buy into.

333
00:16:11,083 --> 00:16:13,226
When we change them,

334
00:16:13,250 --> 00:16:17,768
we write a better reality
for us all to be a part of.

335
00:16:17,792 --> 00:16:19,893
I am asking us

336
00:16:19,917 --> 00:16:22,393
to use our power to choose.

337
00:16:22,417 --> 00:16:25,934
I am asking us to level up.

338
00:16:25,958 --> 00:16:27,226
Thank you.

339
00:16:27,250 --> 00:16:29,684
I am Baratunde Rafiq Thurston.

340
00:16:29,708 --> 00:16:34,500
(Applause)