WEBVTT 00:00:00.708 --> 00:00:05.434 My parents gave me an extraordinary name: 00:00:05.458 --> 00:00:10.042 Baratunde Rafiq Thurston. 00:00:11.250 --> 00:00:14.393 Now, Baratunde is based on a Yoruba name from Nigeria, 00:00:14.417 --> 00:00:15.976 but we're not Nigerian. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:17.018 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:17.042 --> 00:00:19.018 That's just how black my mama was. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:19.042 --> 00:00:20.059 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:20.083 --> 00:00:23.226 "Get this boy the blackest name possible. What does the book say?" NOTE Paragraph 00:00:23.250 --> 00:00:24.809 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:24.833 --> 00:00:28.559 Rafiq is an Arabic name, but we are not Arabs. 00:00:28.583 --> 00:00:32.976 My mom just wanted me to have difficulty boarding planes in the 21st century. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:34.018 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:34.042 --> 00:00:36.809 She foresaw America's turn toward nativism. 00:00:36.833 --> 00:00:38.601 She was a black futurist. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:38.625 --> 00:00:40.309 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:40.333 --> 00:00:45.101 Thurston is a British name, but we are not British. 00:00:45.125 --> 00:00:48.643 Shoutout to the multigenerational, dehumanizing economic institution 00:00:48.667 --> 00:00:51.226 of American chattel slavery, though. 00:00:51.250 --> 00:00:53.684 Also, Thurston makes for a great Starbucks name. 00:00:53.708 --> 00:00:55.434 Really expedites the process. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:55.458 --> 00:00:57.333 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:59.417 --> 00:01:02.684 My mother was a renaissance woman. 00:01:02.708 --> 00:01:05.268 Arnita Lorraine Thurston 00:01:05.292 --> 00:01:08.059 was a computer programmer, former domestic worker, 00:01:08.083 --> 00:01:10.268 survivor of sexual assault, 00:01:10.292 --> 00:01:12.851 an artist and an activist. 00:01:12.875 --> 00:01:17.018 She prepared me for this world with lessons in black history, 00:01:17.042 --> 00:01:19.809 in martial arts, in urban farming, 00:01:19.833 --> 00:01:23.726 and then she sent me in the seventh grade to the private Sidwell Friends School, 00:01:23.750 --> 00:01:26.226 where US presidents send their daughters, 00:01:26.250 --> 00:01:28.809 and where she sent me looking like this. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:28.833 --> 00:01:32.143 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:01:32.167 --> 00:01:35.226 I had two key tasks going to that school: 00:01:35.250 --> 00:01:37.809 don't lose your blackness and don't lose your glasses. 00:01:37.833 --> 00:01:39.809 This accomplished both. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:39.833 --> 00:01:43.643 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:01:43.667 --> 00:01:46.893 Sidwell was a great place to learn the arts and the sciences, 00:01:46.917 --> 00:01:51.101 but also the art of living amongst whiteness. 00:01:51.125 --> 00:01:54.059 That would prepare me for life later at Harvard, 00:01:54.083 --> 00:01:55.559 or doing corporate consulting, 00:01:55.583 --> 00:01:57.976 or for my jobs at "The Daily Show" and "The Onion." 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:01.518 I would write down many of these lessons in my memoir, "How to Be Black," 00:02:01.542 --> 00:02:04.809 which if you haven't read yet, makes you a racist, because -- NOTE Paragraph 00:02:04.833 --> 00:02:06.059 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:06.083 --> 00:02:08.208 you've had plenty of time to read the book. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:11.208 --> 00:02:14.268 But America insists on reminding me 00:02:14.292 --> 00:02:15.726 and teaching me 00:02:15.750 --> 00:02:18.893 what it means to be black in America. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:18.917 --> 00:02:20.893 It's December 2018, 00:02:20.917 --> 00:02:24.643 I'm with my fiancé in the suburbs of Wisconsin. 00:02:24.667 --> 00:02:27.768 We are visiting her parents, both of whom are white, 00:02:27.792 --> 00:02:29.059 which makes her white. 00:02:29.083 --> 00:02:31.184 That's how it works. I don't make the rules. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:31.208 --> 00:02:32.351 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:32.375 --> 00:02:36.643 She's had some drinks, so I drive us in her parents' car, 00:02:36.667 --> 00:02:38.958 and we get pulled over by the police. 00:02:39.875 --> 00:02:41.309 I'm scared. 00:02:41.333 --> 00:02:44.809 I turn on the flashing lights to indicate compliance. 00:02:44.833 --> 00:02:46.226 I pull over slowly 00:02:46.250 --> 00:02:48.893 under the brightest streetlight I can find 00:02:48.917 --> 00:02:51.875 in case I need witnesses or dashcam footage. 00:02:53.417 --> 00:02:56.476 We get out my identification, the car registration, 00:02:56.500 --> 00:02:58.684 lay it out in the open, roll down the windows, 00:02:58.708 --> 00:03:01.018 my hands are placed on the steering wheel, 00:03:01.042 --> 00:03:04.458 all before the officer exits the vehicle. 00:03:05.292 --> 00:03:08.292 This is how to stay alive. 00:03:09.042 --> 00:03:12.268 As we wait, I think about these headlines -- 00:03:12.292 --> 00:03:16.059 "Police shoot another unarmed black person" -- 00:03:16.083 --> 00:03:17.958 and I don't want to join them. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:19.208 --> 00:03:22.351 The good news is, our officer was friendly. 00:03:22.375 --> 00:03:25.101 She told us our tags were expired. 00:03:25.125 --> 00:03:27.018 So to all the white parents out there, 00:03:27.042 --> 00:03:29.476 if your child is involved with a person 00:03:29.500 --> 00:03:32.851 whose skin tone is rated Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson or darker -- NOTE Paragraph 00:03:32.875 --> 00:03:35.393 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:03:35.417 --> 00:03:39.059 you need to get that car inspected, update the paperwork every time we visit. 00:03:39.083 --> 00:03:40.476 That's just common courtesy. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:40.500 --> 00:03:41.768 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:03:41.792 --> 00:03:45.393 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:03:45.417 --> 00:03:47.434 I got lucky. 00:03:47.458 --> 00:03:50.601 I got a law enforcement professional. 00:03:50.625 --> 00:03:54.375 I survived something that should not require survival. 00:03:55.375 --> 00:03:58.351 And I think about this series of stories -- 00:03:58.375 --> 00:04:01.018 "Police shoot another unarmed black person" -- 00:04:01.042 --> 00:04:05.393 and that season when those stories popped up everywhere. 00:04:05.417 --> 00:04:07.518 I would scroll through my feed 00:04:07.542 --> 00:04:10.184 and I would see a baby announcement photo. 00:04:10.208 --> 00:04:12.101 I'd see an ad for a product 00:04:12.125 --> 00:04:15.518 I had just whispered to a friend about yesterday. 00:04:15.542 --> 00:04:18.726 I would see a video of a police officer gunning down someone 00:04:18.750 --> 00:04:20.684 who looked just like me. 00:04:20.708 --> 00:04:21.976 And I'd see a think piece 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:25.143 about how millennials have replaced sex with avocado toast. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:25.167 --> 00:04:26.768 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:04:26.792 --> 00:04:29.518 It was a confusing time. 00:04:29.542 --> 00:04:31.643 Those stories kept popping up, 00:04:31.667 --> 00:04:37.518 but in 2018, those stories got changed out for a different type of story, 00:04:37.542 --> 00:04:41.976 stories like, "White Woman Calls Cops On Black Woman Waiting For An Uber." 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:44.559 That was Brooklyn Becky. 00:04:44.583 --> 00:04:46.559 Then there was, "White Woman Calls Police 00:04:46.583 --> 00:04:48.684 On Eight-Year-Old Black Girl Selling Water." 00:04:48.708 --> 00:04:50.143 That was Permit Patty. 00:04:50.167 --> 00:04:51.893 Then there was, "Woman Calls Police 00:04:51.917 --> 00:04:54.434 On Black Family BBQing At Lake In Oakland." 00:04:54.458 --> 00:04:58.143 That was now infamous BBQ Becky. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:58.167 --> 00:05:01.351 And I contend that these stories of living while black 00:05:01.375 --> 00:05:03.143 are actually progress. 00:05:03.167 --> 00:05:07.143 We used to find out after the extrajudicial police killings. 00:05:07.167 --> 00:05:10.143 Now, we're getting video of people calling 911. 00:05:10.167 --> 00:05:11.893 We're moving upstream, 00:05:11.917 --> 00:05:15.042 closer to the problem and closer to the solution. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:15.917 --> 00:05:18.518 So I started a collection 00:05:18.542 --> 00:05:21.018 of as many of these stories as I could find. 00:05:21.042 --> 00:05:23.768 I built an evolving, still-growing database 00:05:23.792 --> 00:05:26.643 at baratunde.com/livingwhileblack. 00:05:26.667 --> 00:05:29.684 Seeking understanding, I realized the process 00:05:29.708 --> 00:05:34.601 was really diagramming sentences to understand these headlines. 00:05:34.625 --> 00:05:37.934 And I want to thank my Sidwell English teacher Erica Berry 00:05:37.958 --> 00:05:39.393 and all English teachers. 00:05:39.417 --> 00:05:42.375 You have given us tools to fight for our own freedom. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:43.583 --> 00:05:46.559 What I found was a process to break down the headline 00:05:46.583 --> 00:05:49.309 and understand the consistent layers 00:05:49.333 --> 00:05:50.684 in each one: 00:05:50.708 --> 00:05:55.476 a subject takes an action against a target engaged in some activity, 00:05:55.500 --> 00:05:59.601 so that "White Woman Calls Police On Eight-Year-Old Black Girl" 00:05:59.625 --> 00:06:04.143 is the same as "White Man Calls Police On Black Woman Using Neighborhood Pool" 00:06:04.167 --> 00:06:07.601 is the same as "Woman Calls Cops On Black Oregon Lawmaker 00:06:07.625 --> 00:06:10.167 Campaigning In Her District." 00:06:10.833 --> 00:06:12.083 They're the same. 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:17.184 Diagramming the sentences allowed me to diagram the white supremacy 00:06:17.208 --> 00:06:19.143 which allowed such sentences to be true, 00:06:19.167 --> 00:06:22.059 and I will pause to define my terms. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:22.083 --> 00:06:23.559 When I say "white supremacy," 00:06:23.583 --> 00:06:26.101 I'm not just talking about Nazis 00:06:26.125 --> 00:06:28.018 or white power activists, 00:06:28.042 --> 00:06:32.643 and I'm definitely not saying that all white people are racist. 00:06:32.667 --> 00:06:34.143 What I'm referring to 00:06:34.167 --> 00:06:39.518 is a system of structural advantage that favors white people over others 00:06:39.542 --> 00:06:42.226 in social, economic and political arenas. 00:06:42.250 --> 00:06:45.518 It's what Bryan Stevenson at the Equal Justice Initiative 00:06:45.542 --> 00:06:48.351 calls the narrative of racial difference, 00:06:48.375 --> 00:06:52.976 the story we told ourselves to justify slavery and Jim Crow 00:06:53.000 --> 00:06:55.643 and mass incarceration and beyond. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:55.667 --> 00:06:58.893 So when I saw this pattern repeating, 00:06:58.917 --> 00:07:00.726 I got angry, 00:07:00.750 --> 00:07:03.309 but I also got inspired 00:07:03.333 --> 00:07:05.226 to create a game, 00:07:05.250 --> 00:07:10.601 a game of words that would allow me to transform this traumatic exposure 00:07:10.625 --> 00:07:13.559 into more of a healing experience. 00:07:13.583 --> 00:07:15.684 I'm going to talk you through the game. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:15.708 --> 00:07:19.434 The first level is a training level, and I need your participation. 00:07:19.458 --> 00:07:22.976 Our objective: to determine if this is real or fake. 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:24.601 Did this happen or not? 00:07:24.625 --> 00:07:25.976 Here is the example: 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:30.059 "Catholic University Law Librarian Calls Police On Student 00:07:30.083 --> 00:07:32.351 For 'Being Argumentative.'" 00:07:32.375 --> 00:07:34.601 Clap your hands if you think this is real. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:34.625 --> 00:07:37.934 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:07:37.958 --> 00:07:40.268 Clap your hands if you think this is fake. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:40.292 --> 00:07:43.518 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:07:43.542 --> 00:07:46.309 The reals have it, unfortunately, 00:07:46.333 --> 00:07:48.518 and a point of information, 00:07:48.542 --> 00:07:50.934 being argumentative in a law library 00:07:50.958 --> 00:07:53.059 is the exact right place to do that. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:53.083 --> 00:07:54.184 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:07:54.208 --> 00:07:56.333 This student should be promoted to professor. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:57.167 --> 00:08:00.518 Training level complete, so we move on to the real levels. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:00.542 --> 00:08:03.143 Level one, our objective is simple: 00:08:03.167 --> 00:08:05.143 reverse the roles. 00:08:05.167 --> 00:08:08.268 That means "Woman Calls Cops On Black Oregon Lawmaker" 00:08:08.292 --> 00:08:12.184 becomes "Black Oregon Lawmaker Calls Cops On Woman." 00:08:12.208 --> 00:08:14.851 That means "White Man Calls Police On Black Woman 00:08:14.875 --> 00:08:16.476 Using Neighborhood Pool" 00:08:16.500 --> 00:08:21.143 becomes "Black Woman Calls Police On White Man Using Neighborhood Pool." 00:08:21.167 --> 00:08:23.208 How do you like them reverse racist apples? NOTE Paragraph 00:08:24.625 --> 00:08:27.101 That's it, level one complete, 00:08:27.125 --> 00:08:29.893 and so we level up to level two, 00:08:29.917 --> 00:08:34.351 where our objective is to increase the believability of the reversal. 00:08:34.375 --> 00:08:37.708 Let's face it, a black woman calling police on a white man using a pool 00:08:37.732 --> 00:08:39.643 isn't absurd enough, 00:08:39.667 --> 00:08:43.417 but what if that white man was trying to touch her hair without asking, 00:08:44.917 --> 00:08:48.833 or maybe he was making oat milk while riding a unicycle, 00:08:50.417 --> 00:08:53.309 or maybe he's just talking over everyone in a meeting. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:53.333 --> 00:08:54.518 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:08:54.542 --> 00:08:56.559 We've all been there, right? 00:08:56.583 --> 00:08:58.167 Seriously, we've all been there. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:59.917 --> 00:09:02.893 So that's it, level two complete. 00:09:02.917 --> 00:09:04.976 But it comes with a warning: 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:09.809 simply reversing the flow of injustice is not justice. 00:09:09.833 --> 00:09:11.976 That is vengeance, that is not our mission, 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:16.393 that's a different game so we level up to level three, 00:09:16.417 --> 00:09:19.476 where the objective is to change the action, 00:09:19.500 --> 00:09:23.018 also known as "calling the police is not your only option 00:09:23.042 --> 00:09:24.768 OMG, what is wrong with you people!" NOTE Paragraph 00:09:24.792 --> 00:09:26.226 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:09:26.250 --> 00:09:30.518 And I need to pause the game to remind us of the structure. 00:09:30.542 --> 00:09:35.393 A subject takes an action against a target engaged in some activity. 00:09:35.417 --> 00:09:38.309 "White Woman Calls Police On Black Real Estate Investor 00:09:38.333 --> 00:09:40.434 Inspecting His Own Property." 00:09:40.458 --> 00:09:43.268 "California Safeway Calls Cops On Black Woman 00:09:43.292 --> 00:09:45.851 Donating Food To The Homeless." 00:09:45.875 --> 00:09:50.625 "Gold Club Twice Calls Cops On Black Women For Playing Too Slow." 00:09:51.667 --> 00:09:55.184 In all these cases, the subject is usually white, 00:09:55.208 --> 00:09:57.184 the target is usually black, 00:09:57.208 --> 00:09:59.893 and the activities are anything, 00:09:59.917 --> 00:10:02.559 from sitting in a Starbucks 00:10:02.583 --> 00:10:05.018 to using the wrong type of barbecue 00:10:05.042 --> 00:10:06.393 to napping 00:10:06.417 --> 00:10:09.643 to walking "agitated" on the way to work, 00:10:09.667 --> 00:10:12.018 which I just call "walking to work." NOTE Paragraph 00:10:12.042 --> 00:10:13.601 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:10:13.625 --> 00:10:15.684 And, my personal favorite, 00:10:15.708 --> 00:10:19.684 not stopping his dog from humping her dog, 00:10:19.708 --> 00:10:22.309 which is clearly a case for dog police, 00:10:22.333 --> 00:10:23.958 not people police. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:24.625 --> 00:10:28.750 All of these activities add up to living. 00:10:30.292 --> 00:10:35.101 Our existence is being interpreted as crime. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:35.125 --> 00:10:38.934 Now, this is the obligatory moment in the presentation where I have to say, 00:10:38.958 --> 00:10:41.226 not everything is about race. 00:10:41.250 --> 00:10:43.809 Crime is a thing, should be reported, 00:10:43.833 --> 00:10:49.809 but ask yourself, do we need armed men to show up and resolve this situation, 00:10:49.833 --> 00:10:52.351 because when they show up for me, 00:10:52.375 --> 00:10:53.667 it's different. 00:10:54.417 --> 00:10:56.893 We know that police officers 00:10:56.917 --> 00:11:01.351 use force more with black people than with white people, 00:11:01.375 --> 00:11:05.018 and we are learning the role of 911 calls in this. 00:11:05.042 --> 00:11:08.643 Thanks to preliminary research from the Center for Policing Equity, 00:11:08.667 --> 00:11:10.393 we're learning that in some cities, 00:11:10.417 --> 00:11:13.018 most of the interactions between cops and citizens 00:11:13.042 --> 00:11:14.851 is due to 911 calls, 00:11:14.875 --> 00:11:16.934 not officer-initiated stops, 00:11:16.958 --> 00:11:20.851 and most of the violence, the use of force by police on citizens, 00:11:20.875 --> 00:11:23.059 is in response to those calls. 00:11:23.083 --> 00:11:27.226 Further, when those officers responding to calls use force, 00:11:27.250 --> 00:11:29.601 that increases in areas 00:11:29.625 --> 00:11:31.726 where the percentage of the white population 00:11:31.750 --> 00:11:33.059 has also increased, 00:11:33.083 --> 00:11:35.143 aka gentrification, 00:11:35.167 --> 00:11:38.059 aka unicycles and oat milk, 00:11:38.083 --> 00:11:40.976 aka when BBQ Becky feels threatened, 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:45.309 she becomes a threat to me in my own neighborhood, 00:11:45.333 --> 00:11:47.643 which forces me and people like me 00:11:47.667 --> 00:11:49.684 to police ourselves. 00:11:49.708 --> 00:11:52.726 We quiet ourselves, we walk on eggshells, 00:11:52.750 --> 00:11:55.434 we maybe pull over to the side of the road 00:11:55.458 --> 00:11:57.434 under the brightest light we can find 00:11:57.458 --> 00:11:59.309 so that our murder 00:11:59.333 --> 00:12:02.226 might be caught cleanly on camera, 00:12:02.250 --> 00:12:05.226 and we do this because we live in a system 00:12:05.250 --> 00:12:09.268 in which white people can too easily call on deadly force 00:12:09.292 --> 00:12:11.500 to ensure their comfort. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:12.542 --> 00:12:15.667 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:12:18.042 --> 00:12:19.351 The California Safeway 00:12:19.375 --> 00:12:24.184 didn't just call cops on black woman donating food to homeless. 00:12:24.208 --> 00:12:27.601 They ordered armed, unaccountable men upon her. 00:12:27.625 --> 00:12:30.417 They essentially called in a drone strike. 00:12:31.125 --> 00:12:34.559 This is weaponized discomfort, 00:12:34.583 --> 00:12:36.042 and it is not new. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:36.958 --> 00:12:39.309 From 1877 to 1950, 00:12:39.333 --> 00:12:44.851 there were at least 4,400 documented racial terror lynchings of black people 00:12:44.875 --> 00:12:46.768 in the United States. 00:12:46.792 --> 00:12:49.018 They had headlines as well. 00:12:49.042 --> 00:12:52.434 "Rev. T.A. Allen was lynched in Hernando, Mississippi 00:12:52.458 --> 00:12:55.643 for organizing local sharecroppers." 00:12:55.667 --> 00:12:58.518 "Oliver Moore was lynched in Edgecomb County, North Carolina, 00:12:58.542 --> 00:12:59.976 for frightening a white girl." 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:02.059 "Nathan Bird was lynched near Luling, Texas, 00:13:02.083 --> 00:13:05.375 for refusing to turn his son over to a mob." 00:13:06.417 --> 00:13:08.768 We need to change the action, 00:13:08.792 --> 00:13:10.643 whether that action is "lynches" 00:13:10.667 --> 00:13:12.726 or "calls police." NOTE Paragraph 00:13:12.750 --> 00:13:16.268 And now that I have shortened the distance between those two, 00:13:16.292 --> 00:13:18.976 let's get back to our game, to our mission. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:22.018 Our objective in level three is to change the action. 00:13:22.042 --> 00:13:23.851 So what if, instead of 00:13:23.875 --> 00:13:26.809 "Calls Cops On Black Woman Donating Food To Homeless," 00:13:26.833 --> 00:13:29.417 that California Safeway simply thanks her. 00:13:30.500 --> 00:13:33.726 Thanking is far cheaper than bringing law enforcement to the scene. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:33.750 --> 00:13:35.018 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:13:35.042 --> 00:13:37.434 Or, instead, 00:13:37.458 --> 00:13:40.059 they could give the food they would have wasted to her, 00:13:40.083 --> 00:13:41.833 upped their civic cred. 00:13:42.708 --> 00:13:46.268 Or, the white woman who called the police on the eight-year-old black girl, 00:13:46.292 --> 00:13:49.684 she could have bought all the inventory from that little black girl, 00:13:49.708 --> 00:13:51.893 support a small business. 00:13:51.917 --> 00:13:55.518 And the white woman who called the police on the black real estate investor, 00:13:55.542 --> 00:13:57.601 we would all be better off, the cops agree, 00:13:57.625 --> 00:14:00.601 if she had simply ignored him and minded her own damn business. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:00.625 --> 00:14:02.184 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:14:02.208 --> 00:14:06.643 Minding one's own damn business is an excellent choice, excellent choice. 00:14:06.667 --> 00:14:08.476 Choose it more often. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:08.500 --> 00:14:13.101 Level three is complete, but there is a final bonus level, 00:14:13.125 --> 00:14:15.893 where the objective is inclusion. 00:14:15.917 --> 00:14:18.393 We have also seen headlines like this: 00:14:18.417 --> 00:14:21.393 "Powerful Man Masturbates In Front Of Young Women 00:14:21.417 --> 00:14:22.792 Visiting His Office." 00:14:23.542 --> 00:14:27.309 What an odd choice for powerful man to make. 00:14:27.333 --> 00:14:30.226 So many other actions available to him. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:30.250 --> 00:14:31.268 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:14:31.292 --> 00:14:34.934 Like, such as, "listens to," 00:14:34.958 --> 00:14:36.226 "mentors," 00:14:36.250 --> 00:14:40.518 "inspired by, starts joint venture, everybody rich now." NOTE Paragraph 00:14:40.542 --> 00:14:41.809 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:14:41.833 --> 00:14:44.268 I want to live in that world of everybody rich now, 00:14:44.292 --> 00:14:48.208 but because of his poor choice, we are all in a poorer world. 00:14:49.125 --> 00:14:51.059 Doesn't have to be this way. 00:14:51.083 --> 00:14:55.643 This word game reminded me that there is a structure to white supremacy, 00:14:55.667 --> 00:14:57.268 as there is to misogyny, 00:14:57.292 --> 00:15:00.643 as there is to all systemic abuses of power. 00:15:00.667 --> 00:15:03.625 Structure is what makes them systemic. 00:15:05.083 --> 00:15:07.018 I'm asking people here 00:15:07.042 --> 00:15:09.101 to see the structure, 00:15:09.125 --> 00:15:11.518 where the power is in it, 00:15:11.542 --> 00:15:14.893 and even more importantly to see the humanity 00:15:14.917 --> 00:15:18.375 of those of us made targets by this structure. NOTE Paragraph 00:15:19.042 --> 00:15:25.184 I am here because I was loved and invested in and protected and lucky, 00:15:25.208 --> 00:15:28.351 because I went to the right schools, I'm semifamous, mostly happy, 00:15:28.375 --> 00:15:30.143 meditate twice a day, 00:15:30.167 --> 00:15:31.976 and yet, 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:34.393 I walk around in fear, 00:15:34.417 --> 00:15:38.851 because I know that someone seeing me as a threat 00:15:38.875 --> 00:15:41.351 can become a threat to my life, 00:15:41.375 --> 00:15:43.042 and I am tired. 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:45.434 I am tired of carrying 00:15:45.458 --> 00:15:49.309 this invisible burden of other people's fears, 00:15:49.333 --> 00:15:51.393 and many of us are, 00:15:51.417 --> 00:15:53.601 and we shouldn't have to, 00:15:53.625 --> 00:15:56.518 because we can change this, 00:15:56.542 --> 00:16:01.059 because we can change the action, which changes the story, 00:16:01.083 --> 00:16:03.125 which changes the system 00:16:04.292 --> 00:16:06.143 that allows those stories to happen. 00:16:06.167 --> 00:16:10.083 Systems are just collective stories we all buy into. 00:16:11.083 --> 00:16:13.226 When we change them, 00:16:13.250 --> 00:16:17.768 we write a better reality for us all to be a part of. 00:16:17.792 --> 00:16:19.893 I am asking us 00:16:19.917 --> 00:16:22.393 to use our power to choose. 00:16:22.417 --> 00:16:25.934 I am asking us to level up. NOTE Paragraph 00:16:25.958 --> 00:16:27.226 Thank you. 00:16:27.250 --> 00:16:29.684 I am Baratunde Rafiq Thurston. NOTE Paragraph 00:16:29.708 --> 00:16:34.500 (Applause)