Learning how to have productive conversations about race is a necessary part of the human experience. Educator Afrika Afeni Mills says the best place to start is in the classroom — because the earlier these skills are taught, the fewer biases there are to unlearn. She shares four actionable lessons to help people overcome their fear and take on these conversations at any age.
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Ashley Madison🍓
May 11, 2023 at 10:42 am
Enlightening! A powerful talk for encouraging constructive dialogue on racial issues.
Curie Desteen Lee
May 11, 2023 at 10:46 am
Thank you for your wonderful speech. I appreciate it. Let’s always be humane. Spread love even with different race ♡
Austin Denotter
May 12, 2023 at 11:07 am
Even? Holyshit you just outed yourself
PabloAlvez
May 11, 2023 at 10:49 am
Uruguayan here.
The US views on race relations aren’t the same than those in LATAM. Blacks and Whites weren’t raised separately, what happened was the upper echelon of society was too exclusive, not accepting anyone not wealthy enough to be a part of the system.
Other than that, Whites and Blacks were getting married and forming families just like anywhere else in the world.
By the way, my girlfriend is from Guinea.
Much Love from Montevideo, Uruguay 🇺🇾❤️
Chimera98
May 11, 2023 at 11:55 am
Because Americans can’t comprehend relationships between groups besides what they decide are a thing are a thing
Pepe_
May 11, 2023 at 10:51 am
Summary guy here –
1) Wear helmets and other safety gears
2) Don’t walk or stand in the middle of race track
3) Buy tickets so that you don’t get shot by guards, if you’re a member then good
4) Keep an umbrella with a girl at side
Zachary Sielck
May 11, 2023 at 10:52 am
This lady said a whole lot of nothing. ‘Talk about race & prepare yourself to be denegrated in a racist manner because that is equity for actions you never perpetrated that happened 2 generations ago’ -this Lady
Zachary Sielck
May 11, 2023 at 11:37 am
@Sheila Penney So a whole lot of nothing? Dont be afraid to talk about race, but TREAD LIGHTLY!! Like the spanish inquisition, denounce your faith & be punished either way for being born a certain way. Give me a break. Marxist equity is impossible & always leads to contradictions & innevitable conflict. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others” Nothing changes or repairs history besides what people do today to write new history. Trying to control how it is written leads to what has happened in every version of marxism that has been tried.
Skylar
May 11, 2023 at 12:04 pm
@Ericson HAZELTINEWay to get nothing done. Job interviews are uncomfortable. Getting vaccines are uncomfortable. Telling the truth when you’ve made a mistake is uncomfortable. You’re never going to grow like that.
Sheila Penney
May 11, 2023 at 12:20 pm
@Ericson HAZELTINE That is the answer? We all have times in our life that we must have uncomfortable conversations about truly important things. To avoid it is to live a closeminded life.
chas in lakewood
May 11, 2023 at 2:12 pm
Dasvidanya, ꓘomrad.
Zachary Sielck
May 11, 2023 at 7:31 pm
@Sheila Penney I dont think it is wrong to have these conversations. I just think they do little to nothing. If anything it pits people against eachother along tribal lines.
Chimera98
May 11, 2023 at 10:53 am
Best way: race is bullshit term made to make European feel superior in 19 century and acting like it’s matters is the stupidest thing American left and right are doing
thinkppl
May 11, 2023 at 10:54 am
4 ways to more effectively propagandize children.
Newton
May 11, 2023 at 10:59 am
I talk to my family about race, too. We simply do not talk about it outside the home, because White people can be sent to prison for discussing race in america.
Make Racists Afraid Again
May 11, 2023 at 11:02 am
Racism is a mental disorder that is usually caused by failed parents.
And it’s the opposite of Christian.
Hutch Philpot
May 11, 2023 at 11:03 am
Social discourse is imperative to not only understanding one another, but in my opinion the single most important key to human survival.
The day we can’t talk any longer, is the way we seal our fate as a species. It may not seem true looking at single snapshots in time.
But when you realize how gradually we came to even exist you could see how we may be living the beginning of the end, or even worse.
Sinbad Silvius
May 11, 2023 at 11:04 am
i dont see color. i dont know what your talking about. racist.
la_Sn3ak3r
May 11, 2023 at 11:05 am
Race-obsession is a whole different story
Todd Chavez
May 11, 2023 at 5:31 pm
When you live in an empire with lots of subgroups that have their own history, integration is a continuing process.
BRedGinge
May 11, 2023 at 11:23 am
“When the student I mentioned earlier asked me why there is a black history month and not a white history month I experienced a whole range of emotions: confusion, hurt, anger.” Just a quick tip to anyone reading this: do not listen to a “teacher” who’s immediate reponse to your question is anger. This is an ideologue disguised as someone worth listening to.
Gary Edmore
May 11, 2023 at 11:23 am
I’m confused.. We now live in a Cancel Culture. Words are being cancelled as offensive or of no use. Why then don’t we cancel Race.. After all the word Race is only a invention, originally meaning kinmanship, but later redefined.. Children no nothing of Race until adults teach them.. Especially in our school systems and media, taught to pure minds by adults..
James Fletcher
May 11, 2023 at 12:06 pm
Step 1: accept black people are the root of the problem
Nadah Mekhlef
May 11, 2023 at 12:08 pm
❤❤❤😊😊😊🎉🎉🎉
ChuDragon PewPew
May 11, 2023 at 12:11 pm
Nothing powerful was said. Basically could have just said ” talking about race is uncomfortable but we have to do it” it’s true.
Matt Bergamin
May 11, 2023 at 12:37 pm
Many of recent TED talks have been disappointing
ChuDragon PewPew
May 11, 2023 at 12:40 pm
Afrika did mention the reason why. It’s fear. We are living in a time if intellectual fascism enforced by this very platform. You say the “wrong” thing and you become ostracized. She herself probably didn’t say anything powerful due to the same fear.
chas in lakewood
May 11, 2023 at 2:09 pm
I can’t believe we had to wait well into the 21st Century
to even ask the question.
dabadaba
May 11, 2023 at 2:46 pm
Black people bringing up racism AGAIN ,what a surprise ,its like they want racism to never end
actually keeping it real
May 11, 2023 at 3:15 pm
For those who are wondering what the supposed “healthy” part of this conversation is, it’s that the only possible way to explain the difference in the behavior and performance of the different groups, is past and present oppression. The problem with that explanation is you see the same demographic stratification in which groups do well and not so well, repeated almost everywhere you go. And groups with current and past discrimination raising to the top regardless. Explanations that fit the data much better are available, but those will get you censored and cancelled immediately.
Tomi
May 11, 2023 at 5:48 pm
In essence you can create endless strata of classes. It’s an artificially created class struggle. Soviet Union anyone?
Todd Chavez
May 12, 2023 at 1:46 pm
I highly doubt these take into account cultural cross-pollination in ways that may not be compatible with the host culture. Such things can transmit from the food people eat to the small habits they carry to the turns of phrase they use, etc.
Raiden Yvelina
May 11, 2023 at 4:20 pm
do the commentors saying they wish bipoc would stop doing ted talks about race realize they are in fact part of the reason those ted talks continue? stupid AND racist, that’s sad.
alwaysgaming
May 11, 2023 at 5:09 pm
The white is obsessed with black. They had to go find the black to even call it the name black
Doug K
May 11, 2023 at 5:38 pm
In my understanding of race, is that we are all the human race. Skin color was only an adaptation to higher sun light. We are all in the same family tree.
Todd Chavez
May 12, 2023 at 1:44 pm
Yes but you’re ignoring cultural context.
zmmm88
May 14, 2023 at 3:50 am
😂😂 F nonsense! Yeah Men and women are all the same they are all human. cats dogs elephants and whales are no difference, they are all animals 😂😂
Tomi
May 11, 2023 at 5:45 pm
In a democracy I dont need to get permission to talk about a subject… this lecture was not great. Many ideological and sociological points of view that were debunked decades ago. But sure ,go ahead.
theCarbonFreeze
May 11, 2023 at 6:14 pm
Im sick of identity politics.
Jkki C
May 11, 2023 at 6:34 pm
It won’t be ANY RACE IN GOD’S KINGDOM. WE ARE NOT BLACK, WE ARE DESCENDANTS OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC, & JACOB. THE TRUE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL & THE CURSE OF DEUTERONOMY
Stickman
May 11, 2023 at 10:14 pm
I feel like if you’re not racist you have no reason to be uncomfortable or afraid to talk about race. As a black man I have a lot of white friends and I talk to them about race all the time, it’s not that hard. I’ve thought about the racism thing for a long time and I’ve come to the conclusion that when you get down to it racial pride is the root of racism. It’s okay to love yourself, but it’s not your race that makes you who you are. Once you really come to terms with that I don’t think it’s possible to be racist. Society has trained us to identify with our physical attributes as if that’s all we are, because most great thinkers of today deny the existence of a soul, this is key. I was taught to believe that I’m a black man named Danny. But no, I’m a person named Danny that happens to be a black man. And I am much more than that. It’s only when we lose sight of what we truly are that we get wrapped up in things like skin colour and start to fall into this narrow minded thinking that your skin somehow makes you better than another person. There’s a reason that pride is the devil’s favourite sin
Austin Denotter
May 12, 2023 at 11:04 am
Here’s the thing nobody cares what color you are
Stickman
May 12, 2023 at 12:30 pm
It’s telling me I have one reply but for some reason I don’t see it, maybe resend it whoever you are
Doug
May 15, 2023 at 6:53 am
You are absolutely right Danny. Thank you!
Andy Cordy
May 12, 2023 at 3:19 am
This is enormously helpful. If we think we can overcome racism just by being nice to one another we are fooling ourselves. The observation of difference is automatic in humans and it takes energy to recognise that diversity is a delight and not, of itself, a reason to be defensive. As is broadly stated here, opening our perspectives and gathering links to others is a scaffolding to help our understanding. The human experience is of learning. If we choose to close that off we enter a dangerous spiral of misunderstanding and disorientation. Nobody wants to be regarded as ignorant but ignorance is the very foundation of racism and we must find ways to desensitise the fears people hold and replenish their natural hunger for understanding.
None of your Damn Business
May 12, 2023 at 3:37 am
*Political correctness is fascism pretending to be manners! 🤦🏽♀️🤡🖕🏾*
NeonsStyle
May 12, 2023 at 4:45 am
*_The Tolerant don’t need to have a conversation about race, because they are already accepting of all races. The Intolerant don’t want to have a conversation about Race unless they can talk about why they hate!_* I wish we could get past this and just accept people the way they are, but some of these dumb fucks just want to hate anything that looks different, thinks different, believes different to how they think everyone should think!
Maryke Lessing
May 12, 2023 at 7:24 am
I must say this is a very sore point in South Africa. We have a brilliant Facebook group allowing each race to ask another questions. There is always some aspect of anger coming through in a select few. I find this group a true reflection of South Afrikans. We have humour and curiosity about each race. BUT we always have someone stirring the angry pot…. is that fear?
Invox
May 12, 2023 at 7:19 pm
If you could just stop making it part of EVERY conversation on th internet… That would be a start.
The Big Dawg
May 13, 2023 at 12:54 am
Let’s start with the black and brown people stop labeling Jews white; there was a whole thing about them not being white and being killed for it. They can’t be both white and non-white simultaneously just because you want to blame them for your own failings.
bergstrom oliver
May 13, 2023 at 2:55 am
A Human Race.
임덕필
May 13, 2023 at 4:40 am
The timing is now
Osama Altutunji
May 13, 2023 at 5:54 am
Its an american only issue
zmmm88
May 14, 2023 at 3:54 am
TED GO FY with all that liberal agenda!
Capitalists want no races, no genders – only WORKERS!
Doug
May 15, 2023 at 6:58 am
Who’s going to start with these extreme white AND black racists? Also, living in Miami I’ve come to learn that Latin people here hate white AND black people. It’s disgusting to know that people in 2023 cannot be human beings with a soul, and relate to everyone else as human beings with a soul. As Maryanne Williamson said, “the light in me sees the light in you.” When we connect with, people of any race, by connecting on a truly soulful level, these academics of “how to have a discussion…” are totally unnecessary.