The lie that invented racism | John Biewen

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4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2020

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

To understand and eradicate racist thinking, start at the beginning. That's what journalist and documentarian John Biewen did, leading to a trove of surprising and thought-provoking information on the "origins" of race. He shares his findings, supplying answers to fundamental questions about racism -- and lays out an exemplary path for practicing effective allyship.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, you're listening to TED Talks Daily. I'm your host, Elise Hume. How is systemic racism
0:09.5	propped up? Who props it up? Journalist John Bewin says racism survives because of the so-called
0:15.9	good white people. In his TEDx Charlottesville talk from 2019, he traces the roots of racism to help us
0:22.7	understand how it became so dangerous and why it's up to white people to solve it. If you'd like to
0:29.6	dive deeper into this stuff, check out John's podcast, Seen on Radio. In season two, seen on white,
0:35.1	he examines the concept of whiteness with special guest, Chenjerai Kumenika.
0:42.2	What is up with us white people?
0:48.3	I've been thinking about that a lot the last few years, and I know I have company.
0:53.1	Look, I get it.
0:54.6	People of color have been asking that question for centuries.
0:57.9	But I think a growing number of white folks are, too, given what's been going on out there
1:05.0	in our country.
1:08.1	And notice I said, what's up with us white people?
1:11.6	Because right now I'm not talking about those white people.
1:15.7	The ones with the swastikas and the hoods and the teakie torches.
1:20.1	They are a problem and a threat.
1:23.2	They perpetrate most of the terrorism in our country, as you all in Charlottesville know better than most.
1:29.9	But I'm talking about something bigger, more pervasive.
1:33.9	I'm talking about all of us, white folks writ large.
1:38.7	And maybe especially people sort of like me, self-described, progressive, don't want to be racist, good white people.
1:49.8	Any good white people in the room? I was raised to be that sort of person. I was a little kid in the
1:57.7	60s and 70s, and to give you some sense of my parents,
	...

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