Getting White People to Talk About Racism

The New Yorker Radio Hour

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

News, Wnyc, David, Arts, Yorker, Society & Culture, Storytelling, Books, New, Remnick, Politics

4.2 • 6.2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 June 2020

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

George Floyd’s killing has prompted a national outcry and a wide reassessment of the ways in which racist systems are intrinsic to America. The anti-racism trainer Suzanne Plihcik argues that racism occurs even in the absence of people who seem like racists: “We are set up for it to happen,” she tells Dorothy Wickenden, and changing those systems will require sustained white action. Plus, the political reporter Eric Lach follows a congressional Democratic primary race to learn how the coronavirus pandemic has changed modern campaigning.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.
0:11.8	Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick.
0:15.2	Over the last week, we've seen some remarkable headlines about cities and states promising real action on police violence
0:22.8	and racial justice, promises that would have seemed impossible just a few weeks ago.
0:29.1	At George Floyd's funeral in Houston, the Reverend Al Sharpton said that he was encouraged
0:33.8	by how white people have responded with demands for change.
0:41.3	Floyd could have been anybody. But then the reaction was not anything.
0:48.3	Because somewhere I read in the Bible,
0:52.3	that God said he would pour out his spirit among all flesh.
0:57.0	And that's why when I heard them talking about, they never thought they'd see young whites
1:05.0	marching like they marching now. All over the world, I've seen grandchildren of slave masters tearing down slave
1:16.6	master statue over in England and put it in the river I pour out my spirit among all flesh
1:24.6	I've seen whites walking past curfews saying black lives matter, no justice, no peace.
1:32.7	I'll pour out my spirit among all flesh. It may be that the shock and horror of Floyd's death
1:39.7	before our eyes, on video, has finally shaken millions of white people from years of drift and complacency.
1:48.2	For a long time, Suzanne Plissick has been talking to white people about the reality of entrenched racism.
1:54.4	She's a trainer with the Racial Equity Institute and a co-founder of that group.
1:59.4	Suzanne Plissick spoke with the New Yorkers, Dorothy Wickenden.
2:03.0	So I want to put our cards on the table right away
2:06.4	and point out that you're a white woman from the South,
2:08.9	and I'm a white woman from the North,
2:11.1	and that will inform our discussion.
	...

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