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[This talk contains graphic images[br]Viewer discretion is advised]

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I collect objects.

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

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I collect shackles for adults

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and restraints for adults

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as well as children.

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I collect lynching postcards.

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Yes, they depict lynchings.

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They also depict the massive crowds[br]that attended these lynchings,

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and they are postcards

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that were also used for correspondence.

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I collect proslavery books[br]that portray black people as criminals

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or as animals without souls.

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I brought you something today.

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This is a ship's branding iron.

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It was used to mark slaves.

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Well, they actually were not slaves[br]when they were marked.

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They were in Africa.

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But they were marked with an "S"

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to designate that they[br]were going to be slaves

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when they were brought to the US

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and when they were brought to Europe.

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

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was a Klan robe.

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

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actually more than occasionally,

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

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

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A few years ago,[br]I started researching the Klan,

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the three distinct waves of the Klan,

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the second one in particular.

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

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which was five percent[br]of the population at the time,

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

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

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

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

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As a collector of artifacts[br]and as an artist,

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

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because artifacts[br]and objects tell stories,

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

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What is a black man to do in America

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

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(Laughter)

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So I had no other choice.

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

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

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I used kente cloth,

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I used camouflage,

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spandex, burlap, silks,[br]satins and different patterns.

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I make them for different age groups;[br]I make them for young kids

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as well as toddlers.

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I even made one for an infant.

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After making so many robes,

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I realized that the policies[br]the Klan had in place

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or wanted to have in place[br]a hundred years ago

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are in place today.

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We have segregated schools,[br]neighborhoods, workplaces,

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

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

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

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

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Again we have intentionally[br]segregated neighborhoods,

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workplaces and schools.

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We have voter suppression.

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We have disproportionate representation[br]of minorities incarcerated.

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We have environmental racism.[br]We have police brutality.

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I brought you a few things today.

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The stealth aspect of racism

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is part of its power.

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When you're discriminated against,

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you can't always prove[br]you're being discriminated against.

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Racism has the power to hide,

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and when it hides, it's kept safe

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because it blends in.

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I created this robe to illustrate that.

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The basis of capitalism[br]in America is slavery.

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Slaves were the capital in capitalism.

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The first Grand Wizard in 1868,[br]Nathan Bedford Forrest,

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was a Confederate soldier[br]and a millionaire slave trader.

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The wealth that was created[br]from chattel slavery --

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

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Cotton sales alone in 1860[br]equalled 200 million dollars.

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That would equal[br]five billion dollars today.

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

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Oh, I forgot the other crops as well.

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You have indigo, rice and tobacco.

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

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After making 75 robes, I had an epiphany.

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I have a realization[br]that white supremacy is there,

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but the biggest force[br]of white supremacy is not the KKK,

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it's the normalization of systemic racism.

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There was something else I realized.

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The robes had no more power[br]over me at all.

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But if we as a people collectively

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look at these objects --

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branding irons, shackles, robes --

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and realize that they[br]are part of our history,

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

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If we look at systemic racism[br]and acknowledge

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

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then we can actually do something[br]about the intentional segregation

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in our schools,[br]neighborhoods and workplaces.

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But then and only then[br]can we actually address

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and confront this legacy of slavery

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and dismantle this ugly legacy of slavery.

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Thank you very much.

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(Applause)