Social progress in the United States often seems to take two steps forward and one step back, with hard-fought civil rights wins countered by a seemingly inevitable backlash. In this spirited talk, writer Charles M. Blow makes the case that history, inverted, suggests a potential path forward. It’s an unapologetically provocative proposal that Blow thinks just might spark a real shift toward equality in the US.
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@melis6649
November 28, 2023 at 7:58 am
💙🇺🇸💙
@BlueBlazer8691
November 28, 2023 at 8:35 am
Another great migration? I live in a large northern city, which is predominantly black, and the unemployment rate among minorities is already sky high. There are no longer enough unskilled labor jobs to go around. Education is obviously the answer, but you can’t force someone to prioritize education. It’s unfortunately a vicious cycle which I don’t see being broken anytime soon.
@carsonhunt4642
November 28, 2023 at 2:25 pm
Lol, half of college grads can’t get a job after graduation. So the stats show quite literally we don’t need more “educated” ppl either.
The reason the ppl in charge want more of both (cheap labor & “educated” labor) is simple Econ 101, extra supply = less demand = lower wages = higher profits.
@catserver8577
November 28, 2023 at 3:36 pm
It helps to actually listen to the entire talk and not just read the title while guessing at the content.
@scotteaton4868
November 30, 2023 at 12:01 am
@@catserver8577 i listened to the speech. It was economically unviable. Liberal policies have been economically disastrous for low income minority groups. You just think anybody who owns a business is a Trump loving lunatic.
@catserver8577
November 30, 2023 at 8:36 am
@@scotteaton4868 I really don’t think you got the gist of the talk. It’s not about business or economics. It’s about governance. You either didn’t watch the video, you watched it but didn’t grasp the meaning, or you are AI and can’t do either one.
@kaitlynnVoorhees
December 1, 2023 at 1:10 am
@scotteaton4868 it could work economically if we didn’t give billions upon billions of tax’s dollars to other countries, therefore providing livable wages for citizens.
@austindenotter19
November 28, 2023 at 8:41 am
I am sorry by the fact that you liberal Democrats see people as black and white.
@girl.anachronism5639
November 28, 2023 at 8:42 am
Free Palestine 🇵🇸 boycott brands supporting the genocide
@DangerAmbrose
November 28, 2023 at 9:07 am
Lots of covert racists here in these comments.
@Ribberflavenous
November 28, 2023 at 10:36 am
I don’t know about covert.
@hermanspaerman3490
November 28, 2023 at 11:53 am
Yeah, talking about facts and statistics makes you racist nowadays in this woke, insane and mentally disturbed world.
@chocomalk
November 28, 2023 at 12:02 pm
Anyone that disagrees with people of color is a racist…right?
@catserver8577
November 28, 2023 at 3:42 pm
Ugh, don’t worry the more obvious ones are arriving as well. Ick.
@Ribberflavenous
November 28, 2023 at 9:12 am
Predictably, the cockroaches are howling in the comments. Replacement, denial, derision, it’s all there. Charles makes an excellent point that political change is possible through voting, and I feel much of our crisis in Democracy is based the right being backed in a corner numerically, so they have to fight dirty to survive. Add a general malaise in the center and left, and the far right authoritarians have power far exceeding their numbers. If the center and center-left activate like their political life depended on it (and I really feel it does) then the numbers are there to squash this fascist surge so we can progress. On a long enough time line, progressives win, every time, but sadly we too often dither along. Don’t ignore the far right, it is a wounded animal fighting for its life and there is nothing more dangerous. Just a quick shoutout – a much better source for this kind of activism is Beau of the Fifth Column on youtube – he lays social activism out far better than I ever could.
@LTVoyager
November 28, 2023 at 9:13 am
As soon as i heard “the murder of George Floyd”, I knew this was another nonsense TED talk. It is sad as TED talks used to be factual and interesting.
@arrigommxvi7822
November 28, 2023 at 9:30 am
damn who lets the coughers…no, who records audience? why not just record the talk? but if those coughing ppl are infectious then who tf lets them in?🙈i mean it is so weird and uncomfortable 🙈 probably dangerous too
@pennyrichards8019
November 28, 2023 at 9:47 am
The actions are what makes things “unequal”. If people continue to see blacks looting and roiting and killing then others will see them in a different light. Change the behavior and the perceptions will change.
@Chazzmatazz
November 28, 2023 at 9:55 am
Watch more honest media.
@chocomalk
November 28, 2023 at 12:01 pm
What does that mean?@@Chazzmatazz
@Chazzmatazz
November 28, 2023 at 12:06 pm
@@chocomalk It means that if, when you think of blacks, you think of rioting and looting, you probably are watching problematic media.
@beaumac
November 28, 2023 at 9:48 am
It’s a great idea but “the south” is too broad. Why not chose one state with a low population so you can have a majority quickly? West Virginia has a small population and low cost of living.
@88COR88
November 28, 2023 at 9:55 am
I like the idea, I just don’t see how the economics will work. The past migrations sighted were from economically disadvantaged areas to regions of growth. The proposal is for people to move back to areas that are struggling economically and have reduced rights of the citizens. Asking people to self sacrifice for the long term good is noble but it will be a very hard sell. Unless the community can come together and subsidize the migration for the years it will take to vote in changes in leaders and laws I don’t see how this can work. Keeping in mind the current power structure will continue to work against Black Americans and will most likely get nastier if they feel threatened.
I support progress and would love to see the migration succeed. We just need a realistic plan.
@Mx.Arcadia
November 28, 2023 at 9:56 am
As good an idea as this is it has one major flaw. Cost of living is making it extremely hard for people to move these days. I don’t see how enough black people are gonna be able to afford to uproot their lives again to move down south.
@PremKumar-vc3ws
November 28, 2023 at 10:09 am
We hold these truths to be self-evident, “that all men are created equal”, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
US Preamble to the Declaration of Independence
@steven0837
November 28, 2023 at 11:19 am
…those words were written by Europeans for Europeans in a stolen land, where everyone else are tools used in keeping control.
@rocketraccoon1976
November 28, 2023 at 10:30 am
Loved that Basketball song!
😁🏀
@adstix
November 28, 2023 at 11:10 am
Some even say that a Trump only came about “to take our country back” simply because there was an Obama!
His very first dog whistle was to cast doubt about the first Black president’s place of birth!
Talking about a swift backlash!
@chelseashurmantine8153
November 28, 2023 at 11:30 am
So real. What the eff is Wisconsin? My friend called it a Fake News State and I see what he’s meant since I’ve lived here 2 years.
@zahm_96
November 28, 2023 at 11:33 am
I thought this was going to be about climate change, and the fact that in fifty years everyone in south and central America is gonna migrate to the us because the extreme weather is gonna make impossible to live in those countries
@ianshearer6813
November 28, 2023 at 12:30 pm
Should be titled “How to increase racism and the racial divide!”.
@Salquezada80
November 28, 2023 at 12:52 pm
The first black politicians were Republicans but that was left out. Jim Crow laws were signed into law thanks to the Democrats. But that was left out too. The terrorists were also founded by the Democrats, not sure why that was left out. But what do I know. I didn’t write history.
@eichelbergergary
November 28, 2023 at 1:45 pm
I don’t see how this advances much anything. Black Americans are already “concentrated” in many of our urban centers, merely making it easier to marginalize or ignore them, or worse, allowing easy perpetuation of a self-destructive ghetto culture that prevents progress. These now-Black dominated cities have not enjoyed any real renaissance — quite the opposite — in part due to long-standing disadvantages and historical trends like suburbanization and de-industrialization. There is a huge amount of incompetence in urban governance — just like in predominantly non-Black areas — but wealthier communities tend to be more resilient to waste and corruption to begin with. The urban governments near me (all perpetually obsessed with celebrating Black control, not governing) need to focus more on basic services, education and supports and less on pushing narrative and the same old virtue signaling about inclusiveness. What you have needs to first be worth being included in.
A case could be made for the idea that Black-Americans being distributed broadly provides them with individual opportunity based on their abilities and also constituting a presence that is impossible to ignore. The expansion of the Black middle class (even moving out of the cities in the process, similar to the old “white flight”) remains among the most powerful trends — already underway — that will secure equality (for some) — not the idea of having Black control of government in order to fund more entitlements in a shrinking tax base, or greater leniency on criminal justice issues in places that are inundated with crime. In real terms, this could mean that what is good for Black Americans overall, is in fact likely harmful to the viability of the decayed urban centers that are barely viable (but so easily associated by many with Black Americans). Who wouldn’t flee, given the chance? The old urban model itself is increasingly outdated, no matter what the color of its majority.
Just like with the Great Migration, people will follow the jobs. They must first have the ability to secure and perform the jobs now available wherever they are.
@catserver8577
November 28, 2023 at 3:40 pm
I highly recommend listening to the entire talk, it addresses most of your sentiments. It certainly does not try to concentrate any one group any further into already failing communities.
@eichelbergergary
November 28, 2023 at 5:56 pm
And until states are able to find an alternative to partisan reapportionment, real success could be hard to come by. Reapportionment has become so weaponized that parties have no shame here in PA about promoting it, manipulating the system, and repeatedly requiring courts to intervene. The Republicans in my state (a swing state) have doubled down on this tactic as they continue losing ground among voters.
@eichelbergergary
November 28, 2023 at 1:47 pm
I also take issue with the assumption that all “conservatives” are automatically bigots and the cause of The Problem. Another tired trope that demonstrates lazy thinking, and not real problem solving.
@slimey_K
November 28, 2023 at 2:50 pm
This dude is trying to concentrate blacks into the south, dividing us even farther. He says, “When black people make progress, some white people feel threatened and respond with force” when speaking of the BLM “movement”. BLM culminated with literal riots because peacefully protesting wasn’t enough. Instead of worsening the divide in racial issues, why can’t we just all love our neighbors?
@gt-gu7rb
November 28, 2023 at 3:07 pm
Charles Blow is always interesting. I remember Maya Angelo in an interview who suggested or hinted at this decades ago. She said that blacks were in exile in the north. All in all not a bad idea. However I do wonder if this indeed became a reality what would the voting trends in the north become. No guarantees here either.
@catserver8577
November 28, 2023 at 3:34 pm
I am cautiously optimistic, and know people who are already doing this for exactly this reason. I hope it doesn’t take too many martyrs in the blowback. But this is exactly what is needed. In the periods of time where the country is being strangled by supremacists, such as now, only massive, sweeping legislation can put forth the kind of society that supports all of its citizens and embed into the population what we will and will not tolerate. There will always be bigoted people, forever. People are individuals, with varying degrees of intelligence and education. Some are sociopathic or antisocial, and we can’t let them run the place. But a majority of people can be reasoned with, and will understand if it is put to them that equality and considering every person valuable as an individual is the path to an entire well functioning society. Mr. Blow, thank you for your explanation of one enormous strategy spoken in words we can all understand, to paraphrase a great speaker.
@civilsavant6072
November 28, 2023 at 6:52 pm
I wonder about the safety of this plan, though.
As he pointed out, “terrorists” and “some white people”, etc. It will do the nation no good to have our progressive young people dive head-first to their death. 1972 Virginia was not packed with sadistic divinely-righted serial killer apologists who walk around with machine guns itching for an excuse to go on a murder spree. There are circumstances making then and now highly distinctive.
@pernus5856
November 28, 2023 at 8:14 pm
The only migrations we will see within the US are lgbtq people and women fleeing Handmaid’s Tale style legislation, or people fleeing states that are perpetually on fire or inhospitable due to climate change.
@gymleaderjake1579
November 28, 2023 at 10:05 pm
This will have zero impact on racism or make it worse. It doesn’t address any of the root causes.
@chavsmedia
November 29, 2023 at 11:31 am
Good intentions but wing approach. Most of the states that the migration should go towards is the north and west. where there’s small populations which can be changed relatively fast
@scotteaton4868
November 29, 2023 at 11:57 pm
Considering liberal states like cali are losing population and escalating crime ridden inner cities are rapidly losing their tax bases looks like the migration is already occurring.
@mariaantoniettamontella9173
November 30, 2023 at 6:28 am
applausi
@KenR-fj6qe
December 2, 2023 at 9:01 am
Someone need to came up with idea that avoids civil war in the US
@KenR-fj6qe
December 2, 2023 at 9:02 am
Problem is Europe will be anti USA because USA style immigration policies turned Europe into a powder keg
@KenR-fj6qe
December 2, 2023 at 9:05 am
Is he proposing dividing US into several parts? That means US style liberal democracy is a failure
@ronkirk5099
December 2, 2023 at 10:49 am
There are so many issues in this country these days that need a huge outpouring of public protest similar to what we experienced during the 60’s when we made so much progress on pressing social issues of all kinds. Some are due to the right wing backlash and are some of the same fights we had back then including voting rights, police brutality, women’s rights, minority rights, etc.
@WHITEBOY_RADIO
December 2, 2023 at 10:29 pm
“Everything woke turns to 💩”
@Mills141
December 3, 2023 at 4:47 am
Years ago i stopped watching this woke ted stuff. There was great knowledge shared here 10 plus years age… having an id for voting is not racist unless you believe blacks are not smart enough to get an id. Every single person born in the US is equal some just blame thier parents for their potential 😂
@dissmr
December 5, 2023 at 6:23 pm
This is racist to the bone. Segregation so that we can rig the system to “our favor” while enjoying living in most prosperous country on the planet. Why do you need race card to move forward..?
@ronhomolka1796
December 5, 2023 at 7:33 pm
Sorry Blow is a racist