My race card. I am a 72 year old Southern white lady. At age 5 I saw a water fountain in a downtown park that had a sign on it that said "Whites only." I asked my mother what the sign meant. I didn't know what the terms "whites and blacks " meant. My mother looked quickly around nervous ly and bid me to hush. I could tell she was afraid. She said she would explain it to me at home and she did. I was raised to believe people should be judged by their character and not the color of their skin. My friends and neighbors were very racists. I avidly followed the civil rights movement in the 60s. I spoke out to other white people that I wasn't racist and wouldn't give an inch. I lost friends. People got livid with me. I left my Baptist church because of racism. I know now you don't back down from a fight but i was only 18 years old. I thought naively that Americans had come of age. Racism was just put in the closet and now the white robes and pointed hats are being taken out and worn proudly. Racism turns my stomach. It did at 5 years of age and has all my life.
I understand the feeling that as a society we are going backwards. It does seem that the only silver lining is that we are talking about race more openly
Race fatigue? I’m there. I’m as tired of hoping that a simple traffic stop doesn’t accelerate the end of my life as I am of hearing about race. I’m worn out. I don’t want to see another TV show about enslaved people or Jim Crow. I’m also tired of some sociopolitical leaders actively rewriting history to absolve themselves of the wrongdoings of their forefathers, trying to erase the suffering of the enslaved and the Native Americans. It’s so tiresome!
what are you talking about? what tv shows in the past 30 - 40 years have glorify or even dealt with slavery or Jim crow at all? who is erasing the history of the USA's relationship with the native Americans?
@@neilifill4819 name all of these proslavery and Jim Crow shows that were on TV. Some black and leftist people live in some type of alternate universe where slavery, segregation, and the real racism of the past literally never ended.
We did fight a war in part to end chattel slavery. 360,000 Americans died fighting for the Union. Of course, it didn't end institutional racism and discrimination. Here is an interesting conversation that Grant had with Bismarck "You are so happily placed," replied the prince, "in America that you need fear no wars. What always seemed so sad to me about your last great war was that you were fighting your own people. That is always so terrible in wars, so very hard." "But it had to be done." said the General. "Yes," said the prince, "you had to save the Union just as we had to save Germany." "Not only save the Union, but destroy slavery," answered the General. "I suppose, however, the Union was the real sentiment, the dominant sentiment," said the prince. "In the beginning, yes," said the General; "but as soon as slavery fired upon the flag it was felt, we all felt, even those who did not object to slaves, that slavery must be destroyed. We felt that it was a stain to the Union that men should be bought and sold like cattle." "I had an old and good friend, an American, in Motley," said the prince, "who used to write me now and then. Well, when your war broke out he wrote me. He said, ‘I will make a prophecy, and please take this letter and put it in a tree or a box for ten years, then open it and see if I am not a prophet. I prophesy that when this war ends the Union will be established and we shall not lose a village or hamlet.’ This was Motley’s prophecy," said the prince with a smile, "and it was true." "Yes," said the General, "it was true." "I suppose if you had had a large army at the beginning of the war it would have ended in a much shorter time." "We might have had no war at all," said the General; "but we cannot tell. Our war had many strange features - there were many things which seemed odd enough at the time, but which now seem Providential. If we had had a large regular army, as it was then constituted, it might have gone with the South. In fact, the Southern feeling in the army among high officers was so strong that when the war broke out the army dissolved. We had no army - then we had to organize one. A great commander like Sherman or Sheridan even then might have organized an army and put down the rebellion in six months or a year, or, at the farthest, two years. But that would have saved slavery, perhaps, and slavery meant the germs of a new rebellion. There had to be an end of slavery. Then we were fighting an enemy with whom we could not make a peace. We had to destroy him. No convention, no treaty was possible - only destruction."
And not only about Slavery. America also likes to forget that every inch of the land was Stolen from the indigenous Native Americans. Americans like to forget that their "Founders", "Framers" and ancestors Slaughtered the original population. Americans like to forget that a major reason for the War of Independence was because Britain was limiting their right to murder Native Americans. Slavery is often called "America's Original Sin" but there would have been no Slavery if the land hadn't first been stolen from the Native Americans. All of America's sins start from that....
In Germany they can teach: "This is what the Nazis did ... what they thought, let's never be Nazis." In America we have to teach what the 'Supremacists' did and thought, to make sure none of us be supremacists. We ended the slavery but continue to compromise with the supremacy/inferiority idea, and reap the results.
About seven years ago, I (middle aged white woman) was in the grocery store, and like a goofball, I had a tumbler of water with no lid on it, and of course, someone bumped my cart, and the water spilled. Totally my fault, totally predictable. But the other shopper was a black man, and he was clearly so worried that I was going to go off on him, and he had good reason to fear! It broke my heart that he should have to be afraid of me over something so harmless, and which wasn't his fault at all. We came so far, America, and then we turned around and went back the wrong way.
Humility is not an American virtue or characteristic. Lack of humility stifles individual and societal growth because pathological pride has to be protected from truth.
Yes, and America thrives on false fear. The past was real, it happened, thousands and thousands of Native Americans and enslaved African Americans perished to make America great? Why should it be difficult to admit wrongs and adjust to an appropriate solution.
@joycesvarvar Not AA, Freedman aka FBA'S. No foreigners or immigrants in Freedman linage. Symbolism and revisionist history are just as dangerous. Lost tribe's in America exists in real-time. Unapologetically
@LiquidSoul06 American history is real, not a revisionist segregationist delusion. Only 1 group lies about American history past,present, and future. Justice and Truth matters, not cynicism in real-time.
Great conversation overdue. Where there is a will, there is a way. Thanks to this show for bringing this topic to the forefront. You can only change the future, by examining your past and present. Continue to put important issues in proper context without preying on fear. Education brings understanding.
Racist behaving as if I'm white. (My 6 words. I am white and I don't feel shame. I grew up wondering why racists just assumed it was okay to be racist around other white people without any concern or consideration. I used to wonder what would happen if I said, "Wait, you must think I'm white." But it felt wrong to pretend as if I'm not 100% British isles white. One of the times I participated in a mixed group about how to deal with racism in our community, people were pissed off that I said that trying to teach about white privilege would backfire--it would be preaching to the choir--and that the only way to address the issue was to talk about how racism has harmed all of us. Years later Heather McGhee wrote a book with that premise: "Sum of Us." I felt like even though it was unlikely she heard my voice back then, I still felt heard. I have always thought that this was the only way to begin to heal... otherwise, many white people would resist talking about race because of the shame or blame that people have internalised while denying that. I thought people needed to learn how racism hurts us all. It certainly hurt me growing up in a racist country.)
I'm a poor white 64-year-old man. I live in Oakland, CA in the hood. There needs to be more black owned and operated Businesses Concentrated Incentivized tax breaks whatever in Oakland CA Black people creating more opportunities for each other. I think Malcolm X had it right
We have seen from the past that black people are able to create successful business and thriving neighborhoods. Whites didn't like that, so those people, businesses, and neighborhoods were killed and burned to the ground.
ALL people need to remember this! I'm 66 years old white, low-income woman. Sad to say that in recent years I've had experiences of HATE on the street (& obsreved other people having same experiences). The epithets thrown at me from young Black people of "Old, white bitch"--which in one incident included being pun ched in the face and shoved to the ground. @@lamartruth6601
@@sjacks3281So very true classism is just another form nuance racism by trying make it seem that classism is justifiable and not a cleaner version of racism!!
What a cool, innovate project! Journalists should follow this example to delve into the authentic views people hold on important, urgent topics, such as race.
I wish sociologists and psychologists would research and explain tribalism, the us versus them mentality. It appears to be harmful to all parties involved, and serves no higher purpose. No well meaning person benefits from polarization.
To love doesn't mean to hide the truth. Love is working together through the truth, eventhough the truth may be hard. Running away means you never grow, you never learn to deal with the difficult aspects.
I can understand being Hispanic American. It is uncomfortable being a minority which is why I choose to live in South Texas where Hispanics are 90% of the population. It is simply comforting to be surrounded by people that share common culture such as music (rock en espanol, corridos, nortenos), food (pozole, moles, caldos, chilles rellenos, etc), and traditions (carne asadas on weekends), music and dancing at parties, and other cultural aspects. From a male dating perspective, it is easier to meet women of the same race and background and start families. Life in America is at least less difficult when you are part of the group that is the majority. I grew up in San Antonio and went to a Baptist school where most students were white, it was a bummer being a minority. Then in college I naturally entered social circles of fellow Hispanics and Mexicans that were from the border regions and social gatherings were so much more enjoyable. It is understandable that some white Americans feel threatened about being a minority in the next 20+ years. By that time the definition of "white" will probably evolve. About 100 years ago Irish and Italians were not considered "white". Its not as if white people in 2050 will not be allowed to be "white". They will still listen to their country music and what not. I don't think they have anything to worry about. They may have to accept the probability that their future generations may be mixed race but that is an issue each person has to come to terms with on their own.
My wife is Portuguese, which is a similar culture. We've been married 42 years and with five grandchildren. There are both similarities and differences between mainstream American and Hispanic-Lusitanic culture ("Lusitanic' being the term for Portuguese, Brazilian, and other former Portuguese colonies). For one, Hispanic-Lusitanic culture tends to be more authoritarian, going back to the old absolute monarchies of Spain and Portugal. England, from where mainstream American culture was derived, had a monarch back then with powers strongly limited by the Magna Carta. It was this, as well as the decline of serfdom after the Black Death (which hit Britain especially hard) that gave rise to the free-market and individualistic culture of Britain and the mainstream American one.
@@kgblankinship I push back against your claim that "Hispanic" culture tends to be more authoritarian. Right now its white Americans that are comfortable with the idea of trump having unlimited terms and absolute immunity from prosecution. In any event, being in the majority is a lot better no matter how you look at it.
@@leemartinez2975 : Good point. I was talking historically. American political views about democracy and individual rights changed dramatically over the past half-century. The Constitution established a liberal representative democracy by law, and it was an outstanding achievement at the time it was ratified (1788). The religious right never accepted it even at the time it came out. Also since then, we've seen other anti-democratic undercurrents: the southern business elite which congealed in the 1830s into a conservative aristocratic faction and corporate America beginning with the Vanderbilts and expanding greatly in the late 19th century. We also had large-scale immigration from non-democratic countries, most notably from Imperial Germany during the 1870s-1880s. It was Reagan who brought all these factions together, including the religious right into a political force that was to slay the Constitution. And most of the members of these factions are white. Now Trump promises to fulfill the aims of this movement.
I just finished the audio book. It was such a fascinating, diverse approach to the topic of race. There were so many compelling stories. I'm getting a hard copy for my collection as well. I definitely recommend this book.
I am so Grateful she included those who are invested in a divided US, that are busy at work and benefiting greatly! This is an important and usually invisible dimension.
Very proud of this fellow human, it is really tough to be a role model. Very commendable. I think an issue on the terms of “pay back” is a fundamental belief that the world works as “an eye for an eye”. My therapist said the full sentence was “an eye for an eye makes the world go blind”. Someone can fact check, but that’s not a unique principle, it actually is very prevalent just dismissed. Now, doesn’t mean mean-spiritedness doesn’t exist. When are we going to get the disabled into the conversation, because that’s where this root might be heading- challenging the “survival of the fittest “. I don’t know, truly :(
I also wanted to add that my family lineage is directly affected by disability. So not on a horse anywhere up there. Just I have spent a lot of time digging into the soil, and I know my thoughts are not that that unique, gratefully so.
That discussion was excellent and I hope we can have an ongoing comprehensive curriculum about our country’s history in this way. It’s unfortunate and a lost opportunity to limit information about our country’s social development.
A Debt is owed. Reparations. That fact is so blatantly obvious once I became "woke". Once I learned the true history and current systems. Also explains the desperate reaction to hide the history and oppose being "woke". The reactionaries want to everyone to behave as if Reparations have already been paid. Of course an honest Reparations from individual people is impossible. The living do not owe for the dead. (Over-simplified, I know) But Reparations from institutions, organizations and most importantly, corporations, is possible. Reparations need not burden the Have-not's. Only the Haves...
I live as a minority in my own neighborhood, as a "white" person, but I am not uncomfortable with this. I go to a mall, for example, and the majority of people don't converse in English. I can enjoy cuisine from around the world. I can find clothing that's decorated with all sorts of things, embroidery, colours that are gorgeous. It makes my life far more vibrant.
It's wonderful to be able to immerse ones self in other cultures! I come from NYC, and I remember walking across town and smelling foods from all across the world! Small mom and pop restaurants! That was over 55 years ago!
I feel intense sadness when I consider the problem of race and race relations. It comes from a strong sense of empathy and the failure of my efforts to help.
Great topic! Fabulous conversation. But as a dark skinned American, my six words are: God! Americans, GET OVER racial division! We are ONE RACE: HUMANS! We HAVE TO STAND TOGETHER, especially in America, for divided, WE WILL FALL…and know this: our enemies can ruin the s from the inside out. Seriously. UNITE!
Well, just publish the book. Just keep sending out postcards to return. Imo, discussion is too hard to figure out how to do in enough volume that will facilitate the exchange of information such that it improves understanding and improves relations, etc., etc. Please, don't believe the solution is to leap from postcards to face to face discussions. That will lead to the discussions being false. Keep sending out postcards, analyze the data gathered, and keep publishing the results. This will prevent the opinions and words of quiet people from being neglected.
It would be OK to erase history if their plan was to make a better history for ALL people. However, we still believe the quote that says, “those who fail to remember their history are destined to repeat it“. I’m afraid the political pundits want to repeat that portion of history that was so beneficial to them…
Ethnic conflict I keep saying, The United States isn't special. Every country in the world that is not completely homogeneous has ethnic conflict People outside the U.S. who say, "everything is about race in the US.".... Yes and no. When you are one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world, You will have ethnic conflict. We just call it racial. It's actually ethnic conflict. Especially when one ethnic group came to this land thinking they were superior. Taking land from indigenous people because they thought they deserved the land and resources more. And we aren't even among the worse Sunni and Shia Israeli and Palestinian Immigrants in any European nation Uyghur and Chinese Africans in China Meitei and Kuki Hindu and Muhajir Hindu, Muslim and Sikh in India Tamil in Sri Lanka Chakma in Bangladesh Nobody is immune. Again, the U.S. is not special
I’m working since I was 7 and only have 7&1/2 years of education. In life we fixing each other and sharing our lives and hoping we bare our differences and make peace with each other. Life is difficult regardless who we are and how well we were. We constantly need to adapt ourselves to change. What I see is that the world is changing so unsustainable that we should look for less and forwards. Burden from the past has been getting heavier because I don’t see the future on human race. I’m pessimistic. But I do grateful for this country gave me some good years. God have mercy on earth!
Genocide was committed in claiming this land. Many indigenous tribes were completely wiped out. Today, the US still does not acknowledge many of the crimes committed against Native Americans.
Susie served as a therapist for my parent who were facing divorce. She lived across the hall, and my parents would call her over when they had problems. Susie was wonderful. She also shared over the years that she grew up on a plantation where her parents had been slaves. She said that that the two families (slave and and white) grew close and her family stayed on the plantation with positive results. I value her and those of us who can forgive and work together. I lived on one of two streets in a small town, these streets had all of the black population of the town. A great way to grow up, knowing the finest of all in both races.
I am not sure that racism is a problem that can be solved. The word "solving" suggests that the difficult aspects of the past can somehow be resolved or fixed, in way that ensures it cannot affect the present or the future. Which is impossible, unless a deliberate decision is made to omit or obfuscate. Such attempts always backfire when the truth comes out.
I, as an American woman, have never understood racism and never will. It’s strictly an evolutionary advantage for those living closer to the equator. Nothing more. It’s frustrating and infuriating that people care about skin color rather than how decent a person is. Many of the stereotypes exist because *we* as white people caused them. We did this to others. We have only ourselves to blame.
Starting in Kindergarten children should be encouraged to speak aloud the differences between them . We are after all unique . If we are free to talk about it then , it could go a long way towards teaching children to be open minded . I remember saying the Pledge of Allegiance and singing patriotic songs in elementary . Those things are ingrained for life .
"Racial fatigue" perfectly describes today. This card has been so overplayed by one demographic that all of the other demographics have become tone deaf to the endless replay. We all have stories of horrible bigotry against our families and demographics. We don't need to commiserate endlessly in virtue signaling laziness. Our country is now much more racially divided than just 5 yrs ago. Conversations have stopped and will likely not return for the foreseeable future. Michelle started out broadly, but, unfortunately, seemed to devolve into the same narrative that is dividing us more and more. Unfortunate
Here's my postcard for what it is worth: There are racial differences and they are both genetic and anthropological. Race is only a social construct when it comes to a precise definition of a term. Anthropology is the proper lens upon which to base comparisons of human cultures. Some cultures will be more capable than others, and this is intellectual (beliefs and practices) and environmental. Should African-Americans choose to value education over sports, embrace science, and work hard to detoxify their home environments from stress, they will be far more competitive. For environmental, the high stress levels in African-American homes stunt brain development in children due to high cortisol levels and the stress comes from being discriminated against. We also need to better fund education in African-American areas the lack of funding hold them back. America should be a meritocracy. The way forward is clear.
Racial differences are not genetic. Even geneticists and Anthropologists have come to a consensus on this. Some cultures are not more capable than others. Franz Boas, Anthropologist, Learned that people are adapted to their environment. Biologically and culturally. If you take someone out of their environment and put them somewhere else, they will not be capable of surviving if they practice the culture of their old environment. They either need to change the current environment to fit their old one, or they need to change their culture to fit the environment. The problem with the United States is that Europeans believed their culture was superior to every other in the world. They came to the Americas and found that they could not adapt, so they chose to transform America into Europe. and look where we are now. In some decades, if you don't die of extreme cold, you'll die from the extreme heat. That's if the air pollution and toxic food and water don't get you first. The issue with African Americans is that they refuse to assimilate. Because the global majority knows that the European way of living is not more capable than others. It is the most destructive
You are wrong. Walter Isaacson is one of the best interviewers out there. He asks thoughtful questions and engages with the guest. The panning back and forth allows us to see his reaction to what is being said. And yes...I do care what he thinks.
More than 40% of all living Americans can trace their roots to ancestors who came through Ellis Island (1892 - ). Their ancestors were not living in the country during the period of chattel slavery. 13.6% of Americans or 45 million + living in the US today were not even born in the US.
Ooooh, that's a good one. I must tell my Black friends from Nigeria and the UK to use that when they're pulled over by the police for no apparent reason.
What does it matter if every white American has an ancestor who owned slaves anyway? Firstly, Slavery was legal and had been the norm for millenia. Secondly, no American alive today is responsible for how people acted over 150 years ago, or even 60 years ago. Slavery was legal and people owned slaves. Get over it.
@@thomasdequincey5811 Let's revisit your last sentence in about a decade when Whites are decidedly in the minority in the US and The West and someone floats the notion that slavery is not such a big deal.
My race card. I am a 72 year old Southern white lady. At age 5 I saw a water fountain in a downtown park that had a sign on it that said "Whites only." I asked my mother what the sign meant. I didn't know what the terms "whites and blacks " meant. My mother looked quickly around nervous ly and bid me to hush. I could tell she was afraid. She said she would explain it to me at home and she did. I was raised to believe people should be judged by their character and not the color of their skin. My friends and neighbors were very racists. I avidly followed the civil rights movement in the 60s. I spoke out to other white people that I wasn't racist and wouldn't give an inch. I lost friends. People got livid with me. I left my Baptist church because of racism. I know now you don't back down from a fight but i was only 18 years old. I thought naively that Americans had come of age. Racism was just put in the closet and now the white robes and pointed hats are being taken out and worn proudly. Racism turns my stomach. It did at 5 years of age and has all my life.
You are a profile in courage, as John F Kennedy would have put it.
I understand the feeling that as a society we are going backwards. It does seem that the only silver lining is that we are talking about race more openly
Have you had DNA done? Perhaps you are ethnic!! We are all to a degree, that is why “one drop” racism must end.
@crafty-lady6853 You don't have to write so many words to virtue signal. We get it. You're not racist.
WHY did you feel the need to make that comment? She was SHARING HER EXPERIENCE. Do you feel racism is something to be proud of? @@thomasdequincey5811
Race fatigue? I’m there. I’m as tired of hoping that a simple traffic stop doesn’t accelerate the end of my life as I am of hearing about race. I’m worn out. I don’t want to see another TV show about enslaved people or Jim Crow. I’m also tired of some sociopolitical leaders actively rewriting history to absolve themselves of the wrongdoings of their forefathers, trying to erase the suffering of the enslaved and the Native Americans. It’s so tiresome!
what are you talking about? what tv shows in the past 30 - 40 years have glorify or even dealt with slavery or Jim crow at all? who is erasing the history of the USA's relationship with the native Americans?
@@718junius I hope you’re being facetious because I don’t think they have enough characters to respond to what you said.
@@neilifill4819 name all of these proslavery and Jim Crow shows that were on TV. Some black and leftist people live in some type of alternate universe where slavery, segregation, and the real racism of the past literally never ended.
Only "shows" I've seen taht address these issues are DOCUMENTARIES on PBS. That guy must be someone of the "ignorance is bliss". @@718junius
@718junius. Some of us are watching our society instead of tv shows
Michelle, perfect example of how modern Germans moved forward from their past. The US is the nation of amnesia.
We did fight a war in part to end chattel slavery. 360,000 Americans died fighting for the Union. Of course, it didn't end institutional racism and discrimination.
Here is an interesting conversation that Grant had with Bismarck
"You are so happily placed," replied the prince, "in America that you need fear no wars. What always seemed so sad to me about your last great war was that you were fighting your own people. That is always so terrible in wars, so very hard."
"But it had to be done." said the General.
"Yes," said the prince, "you had to save the Union just as we had to save Germany."
"Not only save the Union, but destroy slavery," answered the General.
"I suppose, however, the Union was the real sentiment, the dominant sentiment," said the prince.
"In the beginning, yes," said the General; "but as soon as slavery fired upon the flag it was felt, we all felt, even those who did not object to slaves, that slavery must be destroyed. We felt that it was a stain to the Union that men should be bought and sold like cattle."
"I had an old and good friend, an American, in Motley," said the prince, "who used to write me now and then. Well, when your war broke out he wrote me. He said, ‘I will make a prophecy, and please take this letter and put it in a tree or a box for ten years, then open it and see if I am not a prophet. I prophesy that when this war ends the Union will be established and we shall not lose a village or hamlet.’ This was Motley’s prophecy," said the prince with a smile, "and it was true."
"Yes," said the General, "it was true."
"I suppose if you had had a large army at the beginning of the war it would have ended in a much shorter time."
"We might have had no war at all," said the General; "but we cannot tell. Our war had many strange features - there were many things which seemed odd enough at the time, but which now seem Providential. If we had had a large regular army, as it was then constituted, it might have gone with the South. In fact, the Southern feeling in the army among high officers was so strong that when the war broke out the army dissolved. We had no army - then we had to organize one. A great commander like Sherman or Sheridan even then might have organized an army and put down the rebellion in six months or a year, or, at the farthest, two years. But that would have saved slavery, perhaps, and slavery meant the germs of a new rebellion. There had to be an end of slavery. Then we were fighting an enemy with whom we could not make a peace. We had to destroy him. No convention, no treaty was possible - only destruction."
Unfinished war.
And not only about Slavery.
America also likes to forget that every inch of the land was Stolen from the indigenous Native Americans.
Americans like to forget that their "Founders", "Framers" and ancestors Slaughtered the original population.
Americans like to forget that a major reason for the War of Independence was because Britain was limiting their right to murder Native Americans.
Slavery is often called "America's Original Sin" but there would have been no Slavery if the land hadn't first been stolen from the Native Americans.
All of America's sins start from that....
Moved on how???? They didn't do anything for the millions they killed in nambia.
In Germany they can teach: "This is what the Nazis did ... what they thought, let's never be Nazis."
In America we have to teach what the 'Supremacists' did and thought, to make sure none of us be supremacists.
We ended the slavery but continue to compromise with the supremacy/inferiority idea, and reap the results.
About seven years ago, I (middle aged white woman) was in the grocery store, and like a goofball, I had a tumbler of water with no lid on it, and of course, someone bumped my cart, and the water spilled. Totally my fault, totally predictable. But the other shopper was a black man, and he was clearly so worried that I was going to go off on him, and he had good reason to fear! It broke my heart that he should have to be afraid of me over something so harmless, and which wasn't his fault at all. We came so far, America, and then we turned around and went back the wrong way.
Humility is not an American virtue or characteristic. Lack of humility stifles individual and societal growth because pathological pride has to be protected from truth.
Very well said and true!
Yes, and America thrives on false fear. The past was real, it happened, thousands and thousands of Native Americans and enslaved African Americans perished to make America great?
Why should it be difficult to admit wrongs and adjust to an appropriate solution.
@joycesvarvar Not AA, Freedman aka FBA'S. No foreigners or immigrants in Freedman linage. Symbolism and revisionist history are just as dangerous. Lost tribe's in America exists in real-time. Unapologetically
@@markaddison4642 no one isswallowing your foolishness
@LiquidSoul06 American history is real, not a revisionist segregationist delusion. Only 1 group lies about American history past,present, and future. Justice and Truth matters, not cynicism in real-time.
Great conversation overdue. Where there is a will, there is a way. Thanks to this show for bringing this topic to the forefront.
You can only change the future, by examining your past and present.
Continue to put important issues in proper context without preying on fear. Education brings understanding.
My race card… I very much respect this woman… a Caucasian woman responding to her.❤️
Racist behaving as if I'm white. (My 6 words. I am white and I don't feel shame. I grew up wondering why racists just assumed it was okay to be racist around other white people without any concern or consideration. I used to wonder what would happen if I said, "Wait, you must think I'm white." But it felt wrong to pretend as if I'm not 100% British isles white. One of the times I participated in a mixed group about how to deal with racism in our community, people were pissed off that I said that trying to teach about white privilege would backfire--it would be preaching to the choir--and that the only way to address the issue was to talk about how racism has harmed all of us. Years later Heather McGhee wrote a book with that premise: "Sum of Us." I felt like even though it was unlikely she heard my voice back then, I still felt heard. I have always thought that this was the only way to begin to heal... otherwise, many white people would resist talking about race because of the shame or blame that people have internalised while denying that. I thought people needed to learn how racism hurts us all. It certainly hurt me growing up in a racist country.)
I'm a poor white 64-year-old man. I live in Oakland, CA in the hood. There needs to be more black owned and operated Businesses Concentrated Incentivized tax breaks whatever in Oakland CA
Black people creating more opportunities for each other.
I think Malcolm X had it right
no more government favoring any particular race or gender is what we need.
We have seen from the past that black people are able to create successful business and thriving neighborhoods. Whites didn't like that, so those people, businesses, and neighborhoods were killed and burned to the ground.
Yes u are right. We aren’t getting loans.
The gate keeper wants to keep of the power though economy which is nothing more than economic racism!!
It's not the government.
IT'S YOU. Lift up your brother
Occupy oakland,
NEEDED, Malcolm X , black panther party, MAKE A BETTER LIFE
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
My six words: Remember; we are all Human Beings.
I hope you're talking to white people
ALL people need to remember this! I'm 66 years old white, low-income woman. Sad to say that in recent years I've had experiences of HATE on the street (& obsreved other people having same experiences). The epithets thrown at me from young Black people of "Old, white bitch"--which in one incident included being pun ched in the face and shoved to the ground. @@lamartruth6601
To "remember," one must first know of the first state.
Without knowledge of the first state, there is only fantasy.
humanity doesn't erase the desire for hierarchy.
@@sjacks3281So very true classism is just another form nuance racism by trying make it seem that classism is justifiable and not a cleaner version of racism!!
What a cool, innovate project!
Journalists should follow this example to delve into the authentic views people hold on important, urgent topics, such as race.
I appreciate that u realized the dynamic
I wish sociologists and psychologists would research and explain tribalism, the us versus them mentality. It appears to be harmful to all parties involved, and serves no higher purpose. No well meaning person benefits from polarization.
15:28 Land of the free, home of amnesia = #Merica
A very thoughtful and intelligent conversation about a most difficult topic. Thank you both.
What insight! Fear and HURT. HURT the trama. Most people understand this. We need more love world wide.
To love doesn't mean to hide the truth. Love is working together through the truth, eventhough the truth may be hard.
Running away means you never grow, you never learn to deal with the difficult aspects.
I can understand being Hispanic American. It is uncomfortable being a minority which is why I choose to live in South Texas where Hispanics are 90% of the population. It is simply comforting to be surrounded by people that share common culture such as music (rock en espanol, corridos, nortenos), food (pozole, moles, caldos, chilles rellenos, etc), and traditions (carne asadas on weekends), music and dancing at parties, and other cultural aspects. From a male dating perspective, it is easier to meet women of the same race and background and start families. Life in America is at least less difficult when you are part of the group that is the majority. I grew up in San Antonio and went to a Baptist school where most students were white, it was a bummer being a minority. Then in college I naturally entered social circles of fellow Hispanics and Mexicans that were from the border regions and social gatherings were so much more enjoyable. It is understandable that some white Americans feel threatened about being a minority in the next 20+ years. By that time the definition of "white" will probably evolve. About 100 years ago Irish and Italians were not considered "white". Its not as if white people in 2050 will not be allowed to be "white". They will still listen to their country music and what not. I don't think they have anything to worry about. They may have to accept the probability that their future generations may be mixed race but that is an issue each person has to come to terms with on their own.
My wife is Portuguese, which is a similar culture. We've been married 42 years and with five grandchildren. There are both similarities and differences between mainstream American and Hispanic-Lusitanic culture ("Lusitanic' being the term for Portuguese, Brazilian, and other former Portuguese colonies). For one, Hispanic-Lusitanic culture tends to be more authoritarian, going back to the old absolute monarchies of Spain and Portugal. England, from where mainstream American culture was derived, had a monarch back then with powers strongly limited by the Magna Carta. It was this, as well as the decline of serfdom after the Black Death (which hit Britain especially hard) that gave rise to the free-market and individualistic culture of Britain and the mainstream American one.
@@kgblankinship I push back against your claim that "Hispanic" culture tends to be more authoritarian. Right now its white Americans that are comfortable with the idea of trump having unlimited terms and absolute immunity from prosecution. In any event, being in the majority is a lot better no matter how you look at it.
@@leemartinez2975 : Good point. I was talking historically. American political views about democracy and individual rights changed dramatically over the past half-century.
The Constitution established a liberal representative democracy by law, and it was an outstanding achievement at the time it was ratified (1788). The religious right never accepted it even at the time it came out. Also since then, we've seen other anti-democratic undercurrents: the southern business elite which congealed in the 1830s into a conservative aristocratic faction and corporate America beginning with the Vanderbilts and expanding greatly in the late 19th century. We also had large-scale immigration from non-democratic countries, most notably from Imperial Germany during the 1870s-1880s. It was Reagan who brought all these factions together, including the religious right into a political force that was to slay the Constitution. And most of the members of these factions are white. Now Trump promises to fulfill the aims of this movement.
Whites whitewashed country music too! 😢
I just finished the audio book. It was such a fascinating, diverse approach to the topic of race. There were so many compelling stories. I'm getting a hard copy for my collection as well. I definitely recommend this book.
Great interview. Should be helpful to even the most skeptical.
My six words: "Race is just a social construct." 🇺🇸
so is money, and look at how it controls us
Race is a powerful social construct.
I am so Grateful she included those who are invested in a divided US, that are busy at work and benefiting greatly! This is an important and usually invisible dimension.
Germany's Nazis lost... Our Nazis won... that's the difference
No they just haven't been brought to justice. So they keep poking the bear.
Very proud of this fellow human, it is really tough to be a role model. Very commendable. I think an issue on the terms of “pay back” is a fundamental belief that the world works as “an eye for an eye”. My therapist said the full sentence was “an eye for an eye makes the world go blind”. Someone can fact check, but that’s not a unique principle, it actually is very prevalent just dismissed. Now, doesn’t mean mean-spiritedness doesn’t exist. When are we going to get the disabled into the conversation, because that’s where this root might be heading- challenging the “survival of the fittest “. I don’t know, truly :(
I also wanted to add that my family lineage is directly affected by disability. So not on a horse anywhere up there. Just I have spent a lot of time digging into the soil, and I know my thoughts are not that that unique, gratefully so.
That discussion was excellent and I hope we can have an ongoing comprehensive curriculum about our country’s history in this way.
It’s unfortunate and a lost opportunity to limit information about our country’s social development.
There is only one Race, Human race, different cultures, i don’t understand why Americans have so hard to grasp genetics 🧬 facts?
A Debt is owed. Reparations. That fact is so blatantly obvious once I became "woke". Once I learned the true history and current systems.
Also explains the desperate reaction to hide the history and oppose being "woke". The reactionaries want to everyone to behave as if Reparations have already been paid.
Of course an honest Reparations from individual people is impossible. The living do not owe for the dead. (Over-simplified, I know)
But Reparations from institutions, organizations and most importantly, corporations, is possible. Reparations need not burden the Have-not's. Only the Haves...
I live as a minority in my own neighborhood, as a "white" person, but I am not uncomfortable with this. I go to a mall, for example, and the majority of people don't converse in English. I can enjoy cuisine from around the world. I can find clothing that's decorated with all sorts of things, embroidery, colours that are gorgeous. It makes my life far more vibrant.
It's wonderful to be able to immerse ones self in other cultures! I come from NYC, and I remember walking across town and smelling foods from all across the world! Small mom and pop restaurants! That was over 55 years ago!
🎉😂 My 6 words: Get ready for a brown America 🇺🇸!🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳
“ USA really stands for the United States of Amnesia
Nobody remembers anything past Monday morning”
Vidal Gore.
I feel intense sadness when I consider the problem of race and race relations. It comes from a strong sense of empathy and the failure of my efforts to help.
Great topic! Fabulous conversation. But as a dark skinned American, my six words are: God! Americans, GET OVER racial division!
We are ONE RACE: HUMANS! We HAVE TO STAND TOGETHER, especially in America, for divided, WE WILL FALL…and know this: our enemies can ruin the s from the inside out. Seriously. UNITE!
11:35 OMG... That quote... I lived in the west Baltimore neighborhood with Lucille Clifton's family. It is a small world.
In the neighborhood, not in the house.
America: “land of the free, and home of the amnesia”. And yes, compared to Germany and the holocaust we’ve done a terrible job.
Michele I am white 70 old male, Thank you
MY MOM TAUGHT NO RACISM HERE
I’m 62
My race card: I exist, some can’t except that.
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼💕We have many tools to help us move forward and your project work is one of the tools! Thank you 💕
Well, just publish the book. Just keep sending out postcards to return. Imo, discussion is too hard to figure out how to do in enough volume that will facilitate the exchange of information such that it improves understanding and improves relations, etc., etc. Please, don't believe the solution is to leap from postcards to face to face discussions. That will lead to the discussions being false. Keep sending out postcards, analyze the data gathered, and keep publishing the results. This will prevent the opinions and words of quiet people from being neglected.
Great video
Yes, that is a good key talk across our differences.
... "WiSDOM" vs (50%~current populations' adoration in practicing...) "WiLLFUL iGNORANCE" ...
Open conversations are strictly forbidden on Google platforms like UA-cam and Yahoo. A person's account will be summarily and permanently deleted.
Lol, they feel uncomfortable or blamed? Thats cuz their the ones doing it a majority of the time, hintz the support for Trump!!!!
It would be OK to erase history if their plan was to make a better history for ALL people. However, we still believe the quote that says, “those who fail to remember their history are destined to repeat it“. I’m afraid the political pundits want to repeat that portion of history that was so beneficial to them…
My grandfather told me his grandfather told him that his best friend was killed because he accidentally stepped on a dog's tail owned by a white man.
Beautiful project and thanks so much for highlighting!
Very interesting I need to find this…sounds of race!? 😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮
My race card:
My beloved nanny was black. Unforgettable.
The nanny. 😬
Interesting.... ;).lol
@robinvolpi the fact that you commented in that way was not cool...
It’s called perpetrator trauma. Look it up.
Pretending it didn't happen will not help.
Ethnic conflict
I keep saying, The United States isn't special.
Every country in the world that is not completely homogeneous has ethnic conflict
People outside the U.S. who say, "everything is about race in the US."....
Yes and no.
When you are one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world, You will have ethnic conflict.
We just call it racial. It's actually ethnic conflict.
Especially when one ethnic group came to this land thinking they were superior. Taking land from indigenous people because they thought they deserved the land and resources more.
And we aren't even among the worse
Sunni and Shia
Israeli and Palestinian
Immigrants in any European nation
Uyghur and Chinese
Africans in China
Meitei and Kuki
Hindu and Muhajir
Hindu, Muslim and Sikh in India
Tamil in Sri Lanka
Chakma in Bangladesh
Nobody is immune.
Again, the U.S. is not special
so my six words are
ethnic conflict exists around the world
I’m 68 lives in states since 1981. Still working I’m grateful for this country for being so generous to me and my short coming fa
I’m working since I was 7 and only have 7&1/2 years of education. In life we fixing each other and sharing our lives and hoping we bare our differences and make peace with each other. Life is difficult regardless who we are and how well we were. We constantly need to adapt ourselves to change. What I see is that the world is changing so unsustainable that we should look for less and forwards. Burden from the past has been getting heavier because I don’t see the future on human race. I’m pessimistic. But I do grateful for this country gave me some good years. God have mercy on earth!
My 6....At least we didn't attempt genocide. Looking at you Israel.
A person could go to jail for killing someone's property.
@@marianmiller2802 the truth in your statement makes me need to puke.
Genocide was committed in claiming this land. Many indigenous tribes were completely wiped out. Today, the US still does not acknowledge many of the crimes committed against Native Americans.
@@michellem6826 not a genocide. Close to it, but not the same thing. The US stopped killing them and now it gives them money for nothing.
Name of the book?
Susie served as a therapist for my parent who were facing divorce. She lived across the hall, and my parents would call her over when they had problems. Susie was wonderful. She also shared over the years that she grew up on a plantation where her parents had been slaves. She said that that the two families (slave and and white) grew close and her family stayed on the plantation with positive results. I value her and those of us who can forgive and work together. I lived on one of two streets in a small town, these streets had all of the black population of the town. A great way to grow up, knowing the finest of all in both races.
I am not sure that racism is a problem that can be solved. The word "solving" suggests that the difficult aspects of the past can somehow be resolved or fixed, in way that ensures it cannot affect the present or the future. Which is impossible, unless a deliberate decision is made to omit or obfuscate. Such attempts always backfire when the truth comes out.
There are many forms of discrimination, racism is only one
Respect, dignity, compassion,…
Please stop judging others based on your insecurities
I love the questions and I love her answers. So glad I watched this video. I'm sharing it.
I am shocked the 60s had such promise!!
Godspeed
It's 8
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
I, as an American woman, have never understood racism and never will. It’s strictly an evolutionary advantage for those living closer to the equator. Nothing more. It’s frustrating and infuriating that people care about skin color rather than how decent a person is. Many of the stereotypes exist because *we* as white people caused them. We did this to others. We have only ourselves to blame.
❤
Excellent interview.
They think 13 use to be 6.
Who is this reporter?
Excellent movies about racism and cops: Birth of a Nation, and Queen & Slim.
Queen and Slim was 2 Africans pretending to act ADOS. It was awful. I'm sure native born ADOS actors would bring an authentic identity to it.
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Starting in Kindergarten children should be encouraged to speak aloud the differences between them . We are after all unique . If we are free to talk about it then , it could go a long way towards teaching children to be open minded .
I remember saying the Pledge of Allegiance and singing patriotic songs in elementary . Those things are ingrained for life .
"Racial fatigue" perfectly describes today. This card has been so overplayed by one demographic that all of the other demographics have become tone deaf to the endless replay. We all have stories of horrible bigotry against our families and demographics. We don't need to commiserate endlessly in virtue signaling laziness. Our country is now much more racially divided than just 5 yrs ago. Conversations have stopped and will likely not return for the foreseeable future. Michelle started out broadly, but, unfortunately, seemed to devolve into the same narrative that is dividing us more and more. Unfortunate
That's weird to say because America is the only country that is intentionally mixed race and everybody here wants to be the top dog.
Here's my postcard for what it is worth: There are racial differences and they are both genetic and anthropological. Race is only a social construct when it comes to a precise definition of a term. Anthropology is the proper lens upon which to base comparisons of human cultures.
Some cultures will be more capable than others, and this is intellectual (beliefs and practices) and environmental. Should African-Americans choose to value education over sports, embrace science, and work hard to detoxify their home environments from stress, they will be far more competitive. For environmental, the high stress levels in African-American homes stunt brain development in children due to high cortisol levels and the stress comes from being discriminated against. We also need to better fund education in African-American areas the lack of funding hold them back. America should be a meritocracy. The way forward is clear.
Racial differences are not genetic. Even geneticists and Anthropologists have come to a consensus on this.
Some cultures are not more capable than others.
Franz Boas, Anthropologist, Learned that people are adapted to their environment. Biologically and culturally.
If you take someone out of their environment and put them somewhere else, they will not be capable of surviving if they practice the culture of their old environment.
They either need to change the current environment to fit their old one, or they need to change their culture to fit the environment.
The problem with the United States is that Europeans believed their culture was superior to every other in the world. They came to the Americas and found that they could not adapt, so they chose to transform America into Europe.
and look where we are now. In some decades, if you don't die of extreme cold, you'll die from the extreme heat. That's if the air pollution and toxic food and water don't get you first.
The issue with African Americans is that they refuse to assimilate. Because the global majority knows that the European way of living is not more capable than others. It is the most destructive
Hey, Can i make a recommendation? We dont really need to see the expressionless faces of your correspondent when your guest is speaking.
You are wrong. Walter Isaacson is one of the best interviewers out there. He asks thoughtful questions and engages with the guest. The panning back and forth allows us to see his reaction to what is being said. And yes...I do care what he thinks.
@@intheshell35ify❤
I thought she was gonna say something different. But it's the same old, same old. It gets very boring.
Maybe because the solution has been in our faces a looooong time and we just keep pushing it aside.
What would you add to the conversation to make it different and compelling?
More trolling from Thomas
More than 40% of all living Americans can trace their roots to ancestors who came through Ellis Island (1892 - ). Their ancestors were not living in the country during
the period of chattel slavery. 13.6% of Americans or 45 million + living in the US today were not even born in the US.
Not sure how long your family roots have been here has to do with experiences of racism today.
Ooooh, that's a good one. I must tell my Black friends from Nigeria and the UK to use that when they're pulled over by the police for no apparent reason.
Yep, recent immigrants are responsible for the behavior of the police.
What does it matter if every white American has an ancestor who owned slaves anyway? Firstly, Slavery was legal and had been the norm for millenia. Secondly, no American alive today is responsible for how people acted over 150 years ago, or even 60 years ago. Slavery was legal and people owned slaves. Get over it.
@@thomasdequincey5811 Let's revisit your last sentence in about a decade when Whites are decidedly in the minority in the US and The West and someone floats the notion that slavery is not such a big deal.
dem race hustlers