WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.775 Freedom. 2 00:00:02.775 --> 00:00:05.549 Freedom. 3 00:00:05.549 --> 00:00:09.399 Black History Month is important, not only because in its 4 00:00:09.429 --> 00:00:12.299 earliest days it was an acknowledgement of the 5 00:00:12.299 --> 00:00:16.249 contributions of black people to American democracy. But 6 00:00:16.309 --> 00:00:18.919 even over the last 40 years, when it went form a week to a 7 00:00:18.919 --> 00:00:23.019 month, it has become increasingly important To explaining 8 00:00:23.019 --> 00:00:26.389 how the nation became a nation that is multiracial. None of 9 00:00:26.389 --> 00:00:28.629 what we call civil rights today makes sense without 10 00:00:28.629 --> 00:00:32.969 understanding black history. [ MUSIC ] 11 00:00:32.969 --> 00:00:37.089 Civil rights means that you are fighting for, or 12 00:00:37.139 --> 00:00:41.489 acknowledging, the basic guarantees that every 13 00:00:41.549 --> 00:00:44.549 individual protected by the Constitution Constitution is 14 00:00:44.549 --> 00:00:48.589 entitled to. Since President Trump was elected in 15 00:00:48.589 --> 00:00:52.869 2016, the broadest definitions of civil rights 16 00:00:52.869 --> 00:00:57.169 have been challenged. We've seen instances of swastikas 17 00:00:57.509 --> 00:01:00.839 being sprayed on the sides of buildings in liberal cities 18 00:01:00.839 --> 00:01:03.909 around. America or nooses hanging on coworkers' desks. 19 00:01:04.139 --> 00:01:08.429 While it's hard to draw a direct line from the president 20 00:01:08.429 --> 00:01:11.979 to all of this behavior, we certainly can draw a dotted line. 21 00:01:12.169 --> 00:01:16.289 And in that sense he has not used the 22 00:01:16.289 --> 00:01:20.459 power of his office or the power of the pulpit to define 23 00:01:20.459 --> 00:01:24.289 an America that is free of racial hatred, but in fact, has 24 00:01:24.289 --> 00:01:28.479 excused much racial Racial hatred as a kind of they get to 25 00:01:28.479 --> 00:01:32.489 behave this way too. One of things I think is 26 00:01:32.489 --> 00:01:36.119 important about both looking at this as a moment that says, 27 00:01:36.529 --> 00:01:38.319 we still have to work to do even for people who are 28 00:01:38.569 --> 00:01:42.679 self- defined liberals and democrats, is to be more honest 29 00:01:43.009 --> 00:01:47.019 about their own coming- of- age in a racist country. Be 30 00:01:47.109 --> 00:01:51.109 honest about the fact that. When a blackface image of you 31 00:01:51.109 --> 00:01:54.079 shows up on your yearbook page, whether it's you or not, 32 00:01:54.079 --> 00:01:57.519 which is unbelievable, but putting that aside, that your 33 00:01:57.519 --> 00:02:00.059 fellow students thought it was funny and interesting. The 34 00:02:00.059 --> 00:02:02.709 editors of the book thought it was okay to publish, and the 35 00:02:02.709 --> 00:02:05.139 school thought it was okay to publish. And until we can 36 00:02:05.139 --> 00:02:08.759 have that conversation about the consumption of racism, 37 00:02:08.859 --> 00:02:11.889 then we're not going to see the fast or hard break from the 38 00:02:11.889 --> 00:02:16.919 past from the past that keeps popping up. [ MUSIC ] 39 00:02:16.919 --> 00:02:19.749 Sometimes people express frustration that, no matter how 40 00:02:19.749 --> 00:02:22.859 much information you share with someone and how 41 00:02:22.859 --> 00:02:25.069 compelling your set of arguments, and what you point them 42 00:02:25.069 --> 00:02:27.659 to to read, they still don't change. They still don't believe 43 00:02:27.659 --> 00:02:31.409 white privilege is rea. And I would say that while you still 44 00:02:31.409 --> 00:02:33.999 have to press forward, you have to make the case, you may 45 00:02:33.999 --> 00:02:37.829 not win those arguments, The real opportunity for us starts 46 00:02:37.829 --> 00:02:39.979 with our kindergarteners. We can't make the assumption 47 00:02:39.979 --> 00:02:44.539 that five year olds are colorblind, because children 48 00:02:44.559 --> 00:02:47.319 see difference in the world. And if we leave them on their 49 00:02:47.319 --> 00:02:49.859 own to fill in the blanks, they're going to learn from society. 50 00:02:49.859 --> 00:02:52.329 They're going to pick up all the cultural cues that exist in 51 00:02:52.329 --> 00:02:55.279 our world. So we have to be intentional. But we also could 52 00:02:55.279 --> 00:02:57.289 be more deliberate about what What we teach them in 53 00:02:57.289 --> 00:03:01.589 class. If you ask children of 54 00:03:01.589 --> 00:03:05.039 elementary age, who are the most famous Americans who 55 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:09.349 are not presidents, the two most commonly cited people are 56 00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:14.169 Dr. Martin Luther KIng, Jr. and Ms. Rosa Parks. 57 00:03:14.889 --> 00:03:18.229 What's interesting is that I would say if you could Pick two 58 00:03:18.269 --> 00:03:21.929 people to completely rewrite the story. They are the perfect 59 00:03:21.929 --> 00:03:26.159 candidates because their familiarity already 60 00:03:26.609 --> 00:03:31.269 overindexes for the kind of superficial 61 00:03:31.269 --> 00:03:34.829 history that we're teaching our children. The kind of Black 62 00:03:34.829 --> 00:03:37.149 History Month bulletin board of which they become 63 00:03:37.149 --> 00:03:41.629 prominent figures. Both of them are literally 64 00:03:41.949 --> 00:03:46.109 180 degrees more complicated and quite different 65 00:03:46.469 --> 00:03:50.539 than we like to remember them. The hope for me, is that 66 00:03:50.539 --> 00:03:53.409 if we can take on that work together, if we can be serious 67 00:03:53.409 --> 00:03:56.969 about changing what we teach our kids, then we can 68 00:03:56.969 --> 00:04:00.899 expect different adults And if we get different adults then 69 00:04:00.919 --> 00:04:04.999 they'll understand to be more vigilant about not repeating 70 00:04:04.999 --> 00:04:06.352 the mistakes of the past. [ MUSIC ]