WEBVTT - That's Racist pt. 1 0:00:03.640 --> 0:00:12.080 Ah, you're listening waiting on reparations production by her radio reparations. Uh, 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:16.040 let's give us into the lock tap but but talk 0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:17.960 ways as chocol white as a death block at a 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:19.959 cock fight on my life, getting told it I'm chocolate, 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:21.880 that I'm scary spice. Doesn't even matter that I'm pot 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:23.799 spice for the dark side. I'd be fairly bright, but 0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:25.960 it doesn't matter. Took a shot dead on the coplights 0:00:25.960 --> 0:00:28.040 like a bad dog. It's another case left this uppercase. 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:29.840 Took a tap pole out of water, a bottom p 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:32.120 parisite to baking the pavement the favorite height. But some 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:34.000 a day, well, my mother weights with the pepper five. 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:38.160 It's wondering whether I'm und late my buddy's traits and chocolates. 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:40.840 What would I do with my verse not written well? 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:43.800 I am a black man, no doubt. Shit as hell 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:46.720 could be somebody's talking practice. When they lick a shell 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:49.760 ship for health, heart, sickle cell or you pick a cell. 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:52.960 I chose rap because I'm lazy and short fun playing 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:55.120 a chords dog. I'm trying to stay out of court, 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:58.080 still single, because I'm threatened by the pain of divorce. 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:00.480 They're shooting niggas like they made it as board. It 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:04.000 blazed in my fourth love staying indoors so for sure, hot, 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:08.000 so cold, don't even want to go outside. Sucking pigs 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:10.920 are patrolling with a chrome down nine. If I getten 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:13.880 to a scuffle and I know whout that taste smag 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:15.920 on my tongue when I breathe, I don't know what 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:18.920 to believe. I'd protest, but I don't want a disease. 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:22.160 So I'm dressing like a billboard, feeling like a product. 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:26.120 Hope the scouts from thinking NIGG is selling narcotics. Dope 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:32.000 dove a A what's happening? My name is dope Knife. 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:36.760 I'm lingal franca. We are waiting on reparations. Give us 0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:39.679 a goddamn money. How are you doing? I'm doing all right. 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:42.480 I just got out of a seven hour commission meeting 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:46.559 in which public comment was given by you know, around 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:50.760 a hundred hundred and fifty again, back up, back up, 0:01:50.880 --> 0:01:54.600 back up, seven hour commission meetings. So what time is 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:57.520 it right now? It is sucking one and it's in 0:01:57.560 --> 0:02:00.640 the morning. I'm not gonna live how couple of glasses 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:05.480 of wine and I've smoked a few blunts. Oh before 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:08.000 I forget. The beats on this episode are provided by 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:12.280 my homie Factor Chandelier. That's at Factor Chandelier on Instagram. 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:14.560 He's a dope ass producer. You guys should check them out. 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:21.280 You know. I actually this is my day of my 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:25.680 corn and I was going to I was gonna say, 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:29.320 it's my fourteenth day of quarantine. So you know, I 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:32.680 haven't gotten sick. Yeah, you know, I think I'm gonna 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:36.720 go get tested for COVID tomorrow. But I'm assuming that 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:39.639 either didn't get it from you or if I did 0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:42.240 get it on a symptomatic so guidn't I got from 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:45.680 the contact tracer I spoke to was that after ten days, 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:47.560 have I had no symptoms, I could start going on 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:51.240 public again, which I started to do today. We're in 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:53.000 your mask, of course, we're in my mask, of course, 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:55.839 but yeah, I mean, I guess we're COVID free. Yeah, 0:02:55.840 --> 0:02:58.160 I'll find out tomorrow. I took a break on how 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:00.799 much I was smoking the last two weeks. I was like, man, 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:04.200 if I start getting symptoms and I was burning them down, 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:08.160 And so today I woke up, I was like, man, 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:10.280 I'm feeling kind of good. I mean, you know, knock 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:12.919 on wood or whatever you gotta knock on. But I 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:18.440 was like, Hey, I'm just gonna smoke all thettle dope today. 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:20.520 I want to talk about the commission meeting for a 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:22.720 minute for a second. So many people came out in 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:25.880 the support of my plan to defund the police in 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:27.480 a win a word. You know, we've been calling it 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:30.760 like reimagining public safety as a way to gain more 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.560 public buy in, but I want to say that on 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:39.080 the air one. I mean, yeah, whatever, like people find 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:42.000 like I'd be using to defund the police fucking hashtag 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:45.800 to like get likes and spread awareness even though like 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:48.960 you know what's in the name, I'm saying, it's all 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:50.839 like taking care of Like there's no more you don't 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:53.720 need that political strategy in the bag anymore. You are 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:56.600 listening to this show. You're not going to be fooled 0:03:56.640 --> 0:03:59.720 by me in public saying reimagine public safety. Like literally 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:02.200 at the meeting, all the Republicans and most of the 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:07.400 fucking like radical an ar kiss regular towny like young 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:10.560 folks that came through were like either like you, I 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:15.040 don't support defunding the police or fun, yeah, abolish the police. 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:17.520 Defunding It isn't even enough and so it doesn't really 0:04:17.560 --> 0:04:20.200 matter what terminology we use. People know what we mean. 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:23.800 So even if I do think reimagining public safety is 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:25.840 an honest take of like what I'm trying to do, 0:04:26.320 --> 0:04:28.359 I really want us to take a creative and like 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:31.719 bold approach to like thinking a new what it means 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:35.000 to keep our community safe. It means giving the police 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:39.000 less money if they're if they're going to be demilitarized. Yeah, 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:42.960 so so that was exciting. But they did take maybe 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:45.800 like four or five hours and then so it is 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:48.760 it just like literally four four and five hours people 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:51.400 just coming up and talking for three minutes? Yeah? Is it? 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:55.400 Would you describe most of the discourses like grievance or so, 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:59.080 about twenty and thirty people came out in opposition to 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:01.160 defunding the police. The rest of the folks that came out, 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:05.200 the other hundred or so eighty or so, um, weren't 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:08.640 supported of funding the police. We've had mostly peaceful protests 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:11.800 here in Athens so far, except for police violence where 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:16.320 they tear gas and shot with bean backgrounds peaceful protesters 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:20.120 a couple of weeks ago. Um. But tonight we had 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:24.480 a gathering of like blue Lives Matter Republicans waving American 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:27.480 flags on the steps of city Hall, and then folks 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:30.960 that are here to you know, end an unpaid prison 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:34.360 labor and like defund the police that were like playing 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:37.360 fun the police by in w a and dancing and 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:42.680 like holding signs, and reports indicated that an older white 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:45.719 man who was with the Blue Lives Matter crowd came 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:48.880 up the steps of city Hall and attempted to rest 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:52.520 away a megaphone from a black transactivist that was leading 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:57.760 the Black Lives Matter protests, dragging him down the stairs, uh, 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:00.840 in like an altercation. And so it's like we've had 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:03.400 all this peaceful ship until the fucking right wing appears. 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:07.599 We've been just chilling, singing Kumbaya and we each all overcome. 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:12.360 And then it's I mean they're the I mean they're 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:15.520 the ones who are like ripping down like people signs 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:20.800 and ship costing little girls and stuff. Yeah, but I 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:22.560 guess I ever had to mention. The car caravan on 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:25.440 Saturday went well. We had about a hundred car show 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:28.279 out and we drove around decides to police violence and 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:31.120 happens shut down downtown for about an hour of the 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:33.080 radio show. I'm try getting ready to do do that again, 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:34.840 and we're gonna do it again the Saturday, and I'm 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:37.640 actually bringing your ass now there's none of us protavirus. Yeah, 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:40.159 I'm gonna go participate now. Yeah, it's gonna be cool. 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:41.760 It's gonna be cool. But you had some exciting news 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:44.760 this week also. Oh um, yeah, No, I I got 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:50.039 to do uh fundraiser with the legendary Jerry Conway. He's 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:52.560 the co creator of The Punisher and used to write 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:56.039 Spider Man and a bunch of other cool comic book things. 0:06:56.120 --> 0:07:00.640 But he put out a call to get some you know, 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:04.400 illustrators and artists who were of color to do a 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:10.160 little reappropriation of the Punisher logo, the character that he created. 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:13.120 It's you know, the logo has been appropriated by police, 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:16.840 which is really ironic because the cops have started wearing 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:21.280 the Punisher skull unlike the uniform stickers on their car 0:07:21.280 --> 0:07:25.200 and ship and any sort of passive following of the 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:29.000 comic book. And it's quite explicit the Punisher doesn't funk 0:07:29.000 --> 0:07:32.200 with cops. He especially the Punisher especially doesn't funk with 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:34.640 cops who funk with him. Yeah, but I know, I 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:37.800 got to design like a you know, black Lives Matter 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:41.080 skull and all the proceeds are going towards Black Lives Matter. 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:44.800 So far, I think the whole thing is raised. Like 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:49.160 I think like twenty three thou dollars. That was like 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:51.720 two days ago when I checked. So that's ill man. 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:54.000 I'm proud of you. Proud of you. Yeah. And then 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:56.520 also it put me on to you know, some of 0:07:56.560 --> 0:08:00.280 the fellow artists who participated in it. That's sick put 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:03.480 onto some new black you know, illustrators and stuff. So 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:07.600 there's a link to that in my Instagram Bio Dope, 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:10.200 underscore knife, So just check that out. I feel like 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:12.440 we should have done this in reverse. But like we've 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:14.200 got lots of good news to me, we also got 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:18.600 a lot of bad news this week. I've been getting 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:22.920 death threats for one on the internet. One man uh 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:27.480 suggested which platform on Facebook. One man said I should 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:30.800 be hung from a tree. Another man suggested that brooks 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:32.800 me thrown through the windows of our home. Didn't you 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:36.000 didn't some cops get involved. Cops called me to let 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:38.160 me know that they were investigating the situation. Asked if 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:41.760 I wanted to press charges, and I decline because I 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:45.160 mean there's two things they suggested that it might be 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:47.679 unlikely that they could be brought up they could be 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:51.559 effectively prosecuted for this since they didn't explicitly say I'm 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:53.439 going to hang you from a tree it which just 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:56.079 suggested that this is something that should happen. Someone should 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:59.680 throw Brooks through our window. But in addition, I feel 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:01.680 like I I like, I just don't believe that the 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:06.160 criminal legal system reforms people like these motherfuckers get thrown 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:07.839 in jail and then they're around a bunch of other 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:10.360 white supremacist who have committed crimes, they get involved in 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:13.280 like a white supremacist gang, They get their ideology re 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:17.720 entrenched to that experience or just bitterness through having been 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:21.839 uh incarcerated over threats to a black activist, and they 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:24.840 just like double down on that mission in their lives. So, 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:27.320 like what we need to do instead is to like 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:30.200 take a really close look at the schools they went to, 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:33.480 the churches they have attended, who their parents are, what 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:36.840 affiliations they have in terms of organizations in the community, 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:40.480 and like do kind of an autopsy on like how 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:43.880 do these organizations, how do these institutions create such evil men? 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:46.880 And how do we reform and remake those institutions so 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:50.480 that we stopped making people like this because you know, 0:09:50.720 --> 0:09:54.560 Robbie Bailey or whatever, Chuck Jones like, it's too late 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:56.240 for them, but it might not be too late for 0:09:56.280 --> 0:09:58.600 their sons that are going to Athens Christian right now 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:01.480 if we figure out how to fix athletes Christian and so, 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:03.640 I just want to redirect people's attention to like the 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:07.000 structural level of like what makes racists, rather than punishing 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:10.560 individual racists for the institutions that made them shitty. You 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:13.439 know where else there's a lot of racists in our 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:20.040 comments section podcast. Oh our comments section is a hot 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:23.080 shit show. Yeah you checked that ship out, you know what. 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:26.439 I glanced at it, But like I just in in 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:29.280 general when whenever I do stuff, I'm like one of 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:33.000 those kinds are. I tried my hardest to not count 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:37.920 numbers and not read comments because I obsess section. I 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:43.960 loved about what man, I just get. I didn't enough 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:47.960 people have commented on it. You know, my my little brothers, 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:52.400 you know in the military. He was like, yo, man, good, Yeah, 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:55.160 I'm good. I'm good. So I mean I guess all 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:58.480 that to say, you know, leave us some five stars 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:00.679 if you like the show. Yeah, it's about what you 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:02.840 like about the show. It's also good feedback for us 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:07.559 moving forward. Um. But this kind of leads into what 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:10.920 we're going to talk about for today's episode, which is 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:14.440 going to be part one in a reoccurring series that 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:17.720 we're going to be doing where we spotlight different aspects 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:21.120 of racism in a series that i'd like to call 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:27.840 So I think it's really important to do this because 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:30.360 I think we've been operating from some basic assumptions that 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:32.440 we want to make sure that we share with our audience. 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:34.679 We've been working out the premise throughout the show that 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:37.640 folks you know, hold these same basic assumptiance about what 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:40.760 racism is and how it operates. But I think it's 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:42.960 important as well to take a step back and explore 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:45.600 where we're coming from and what these things actually mean. 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:49.320 Uh as like a practical matter for just like yo, 0:11:49.440 --> 0:11:51.439 we you know, love you for listening, and I want 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:53.080 to make sure we're all on the same page, but 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:55.760 also into in line with the theme of the show, 0:11:56.320 --> 0:12:00.000 thinking about the way that how we define racism also 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:03.640 inflex our political reality. I see a lot of times 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:06.600 in public policy. I saw earlier tonight in our commission meeting, 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:10.880 how definitions matter so much for how resources get allocated, 0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:13.760 how the laws upheld. We were having a debate earlier 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:16.560 about what the term resources mean. A bunch of funding 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:19.760 was going out to all these indigence services providers and 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:25.000 organizations that do work with the homeless, etcetera, who provide resources, 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:28.360 and this one entity didn't get funding because it wasn't 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:32.640 defined as like providing resources, like well, isn't education or resource? 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:35.959 Isn't edgucy, like isn't you know, this training or resource 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:38.480 for people? And so we have to be very clear 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:42.280 and what different words mean in order for like governments 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:45.040 to operate and for public policy to be effective. It's 0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:47.880 just like in the battle of debates and ideas, it's 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:49.599 like the words or weapons, and it's like you have 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:51.600 to know how to wield them. Right, We totally totally 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:54.240 interpretation matters so much, And so we're gonna get a 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:56.559 little bit into the definition of racism today both to 0:12:56.679 --> 0:13:00.360 like establish a common ground with y'all and to kind 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:03.520 of think about the way that um that language influences 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:07.439 our political reality, especially when you're having discussions with people 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:11.600 who you are trying to prove that an action, something 0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:13.880 they did, or that an aspect of what you guys 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:16.360 are discussing two people who are trying to prove that 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:19.480 it isn't racist. They're always quick to jump to the 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:23.640 dictionary definition of the word racism to prove what it means. 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:25.960 So let's check out a couple of those, right, So 0:13:26.120 --> 0:13:30.120 we have in the Oxford languages, we have the belief 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:35.480 that different races possess distinct characteristics, abilities, or qualities, especially 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:38.680 so as to distinguish them as inferior or superior to 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:41.679 one another. And then in the columns English Dictionary, have 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:45.200 got the belief that races have distinctive cultural characteristics determined 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:48.719 by hereditary factors, and that this endows some races with 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:52.760 an intrinsic superiority over others Abusive or aggressive behavior towards 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:57.240 members of another race on the basis of such a belief. Now, 0:13:57.320 --> 0:13:59.840 what all these definitions do is firmly set a con 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:03.840 sept of racism is being a belief, a doctrine to 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:08.240 that someone subscribes to. Uh. These are safe definitions because 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:11.959 they frame racism is being strictly like a moral failing 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:17.040 and something that only pertains to some of us and 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:18.880 not all of us. You know, it's something that you 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:21.520 can write off as being, oh, that person is bad 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:25.600 because that person thinks X, and it doesn't necessarily address 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:29.440 the broader aspects of racism and how it affects every 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:31.760 aspects of our lives. This is kind of like applying 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:36.840 the bad apples philosophy to the definition of racism. Well, 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:39.680 the thing about the bad apples like metaphor is that 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:42.760 the full saying is that a couple of bad apples 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:46.520 spoil the whole bunch. I think that's very like, uh 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:51.600 poignant for thinking about the way that systemic racism, institutional 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:56.240 racism operates. Because when you have individual actors all or 0:14:56.280 --> 0:14:58.560 you know, even some of them doing this kind of thing, 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:01.400 and you have other people who aren't checking their power 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:05.960 when it comes to enforcing regulations or you know, and 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:09.680 interacting with others in a racist way, but you don't 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:13.200 have any sorts of accountability around that, the whole system 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:18.000 becomes inflected with this this racist ideology. And so through 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:23.040 every sort of interpersonal interaction with folks, every single middle 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:26.040 level manager and that decides not to hire a black person. 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:29.200 It might not be a companywide policy per se, but 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:33.440 it becomes systemic when um, it is a trend historically 0:15:33.960 --> 0:15:35.800 and no one is checking that, and so it's kind 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:38.280 of accepted as the status quo. Yeah, it's like, it 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:42.280 doesn't require that somebody be actively racist in order for 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:45.120 it to perpetuate. Like, all all that work was done 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:48.160 hundreds of years ago. Literally, systems were put in place, 0:15:48.200 --> 0:15:51.160 So it's like, hey, let's have this be so ingrained 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:54.880 into the fabric of society so that hundreds of years 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:58.480 from now, even if public sentiment changes, those systems are 0:15:58.480 --> 0:16:10.440 still in place to perpetuate this system of racism. This 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:14.200 very issue of defining the word racism came to the 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:18.280 attention of Drake University graduate Kennedy Mitchum a few months ago. 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:21.200 She sent an email to Marry and Webster the Dictionary 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:24.119 bringing this up and urging that they update the definition 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:27.080 for the word racism to represent the true meaning of 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:30.680 what the word is. Making her case, she stated, racism 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:33.760 is not only prejudice against a certain race due to 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:36.960 color of a person's skin, as it states in your dictionary. 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:40.840 It is both prejudice combined with social and institutional power. 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:43.680 It is a system of advantage based on skin color. 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:46.360 To her surprise, they hit her back up the next 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:51.240 day and they actually agreed with there and they updated, 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:53.600 they updated the definition, and she changed the definition of 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:56.160 the word racism. And we actually have Kennedy here with 0:16:56.240 --> 0:16:58.160 us today to talk about the case he made to 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:05.280 marry On Webster and the impact the definitions change. Okay, 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:08.760 so we're here with Kennedy Mitchell, recent Drake University graduate, 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:12.560 twenty two year old that effectively lobbied Mary A. Webster 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:15.720 to get their definition of racism changed in the dictionary. 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:18.240 How are you to David Kennedy, I'm doing good. How 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:22.520 are you? I'm good. It's good to have you here. Yeah, 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:24.760 So talk to us a little bit of what about 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:30.280 what informs your definition of racism my own experiences. I've 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:33.639 definitely been a part of a lot of predominantly white 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:38.040 institutions growing up um in St. Louis. A lot of 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:42.239 that racism that I experienced. It was more blatant, a 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:47.800 lot more overt, but going into college, a lot of that, 0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:51.200 you know, it was way. It was a lot more microaggressions, 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:53.360 It was a lot more covert, It was a lot 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:57.240 more undercover. They did, they didn't really want to acknowledge 0:17:57.240 --> 0:18:03.480 it as racism. So those binds, those different experiences definitely 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:08.960 made me understand how racism is very multidimensional. It's more 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:12.760 than just calling someone the in word or just derogatory turns. 0:18:12.800 --> 0:18:15.520 It's a lot of the way that systems work to 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:19.679 continue to oppress people. It's it's a way that people 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:23.159 continually there implicit by it still works to you know, 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:27.879 show that oppression. So my life experience is definitely it 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:31.159 formed the way that I see the word. Now, what 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:34.400 was like the deciding factor that something happened that made 0:18:34.400 --> 0:18:37.000 you just open your web browser that day and send 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:39.840 that email out? Was it like a particular incident or 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:42.760 was it just a build up the frustration. It was 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:47.080 really both. But I think the current climate definitely sparked 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:50.000 that a lot more because I've gotten into, you know, 0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:53.040 arguments about where racism is and what is and what's 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:56.960 not racists, like multiple times on social media. But a 0:18:57.000 --> 0:18:59.199 couple of weeks ago when I posted about you know, 0:18:59.359 --> 0:19:02.280 some things that I experienced at Drake and a person 0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:05.560 you know wanted to say, no, that's that's not racism, 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:09.760 and that encopied and paste the marrying Webster definition, and 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:15.520 I explained to them, I was like, oh, Yeah, this 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:21.040 is the last straw I can more um, And that's 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:23.720 what prompted me, especially right now, Like if you don't 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:27.560 understand that it's more than that, then it's more than 0:19:27.640 --> 0:19:31.440 just the basic the surface level things is deeply ingrained 0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:34.399 and a lot of these systems we see then, Like 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:36.199 I don't know what to tell you, So I'm like, 0:19:36.280 --> 0:19:38.440 let me just hit up. I found that they were 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:41.840 just the root of one problem. They were it was 0:19:41.920 --> 0:19:45.360 just one way that people would go is the definition way. 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:47.760 So I'm like, okay, let me reach out to Marry 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:51.320 and Webster and asked them to change it since a 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:53.720 lot of people want to use that definition as a 0:19:53.720 --> 0:19:56.200 way to kind of stay stagnant and not really grow 0:19:56.359 --> 0:19:59.840 and understanding. Yeah, for sure. Would you mind speaking on 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:03.959 some of those early incidences of racism that you experienced, 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:07.480 as well as how they differ from some specific examples 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:10.920 of the covert kinds of racism you encountered at Drake 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:15.200 in high school? Like I had one girl she came 0:20:15.280 --> 0:20:17.280 up to me, like my first day of high school 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:20.639 and she wrote uh, like with the sharpie and she 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:23.720 came up to me and she wrote on me, and 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:26.119 she was like, wow, it still shows up and I'm like, 0:20:26.320 --> 0:20:31.040 oh yeah, like girl was Yeah, definitely this this sense 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:34.439 of entitlement to black bodies in this like sense of 0:20:34.480 --> 0:20:37.720 comfort with like touching us, coming too close to us, 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:42.680 violating our personal space. Up until like riding on a person. 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:45.440 Sure this person was like an adolescent, but like these 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:48.840 people gotta learn at some point exactly exactly, and I 0:20:48.920 --> 0:20:51.720 mean earlier on, I was like, especially because I was 0:20:51.800 --> 0:20:54.520 in the environment that was predominantly white, but a lot 0:20:54.520 --> 0:20:57.080 of it was the climate was still like Okay, I'm 0:20:57.080 --> 0:20:59.320 still treated like normal, Like I was still able to 0:20:59.359 --> 0:21:02.800 be myself. So I was definitely in that same mindset 0:21:02.920 --> 0:21:06.640 like when I was younger, when I was like fifteen sixteen, like, oh, 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:09.680 maybe there's just a few rotten apples, you know, like 0:21:09.800 --> 0:21:12.720 that girl, maybe that's going to be an isolated incident. 0:21:13.240 --> 0:21:17.520 But up until like the Mike Brown thing, I was like, oh, 0:21:17.840 --> 0:21:22.119 like no, this is not this is not an isolated 0:21:22.160 --> 0:21:24.800 incident because you know, a lot of people's true colors 0:21:24.840 --> 0:21:27.320 came to show. Because I think that was my junior 0:21:27.359 --> 0:21:29.760 of high school and I was like the diversity club 0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:33.960 president and everything, and I was just able to understand 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:38.160 like how much deeper it is in comparison to when 0:21:38.160 --> 0:21:41.520 I went off to college, and it was a lot 0:21:41.560 --> 0:21:44.199 of the you know, when I walked out, when I 0:21:44.240 --> 0:21:46.639 walked down the hallway, no one would make eye contact 0:21:46.680 --> 0:21:49.399 with me. When I went When I was in different 0:21:49.400 --> 0:21:52.120 group projects, a lot of people didn't value my opinion. 0:21:52.400 --> 0:21:55.760 I would say something and then five and they would 0:21:55.760 --> 0:21:59.040 be like, um, hey, ignored. And then five seconds later 0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:01.479 a white on her part was saying the exact same thing. 0:22:01.520 --> 0:22:04.719 They oh my god, yes, that is such a great idea, 0:22:05.119 --> 0:22:07.920 and I'm like, oh my god, I just said that. 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:11.440 Like it honestly is like mental warfare sometimes because you 0:22:11.560 --> 0:22:14.880 think you're just it's like gaslighting. You think you're just 0:22:15.520 --> 0:22:18.840 being extra. You think it's just are you problem until 0:22:18.840 --> 0:22:20.960 you actually talk so you know people who look like 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:24.560 you and who experience the same exact things, and they're 0:22:24.600 --> 0:22:28.320 like while you're they're like, yeah, those microaggishes, man, Like 0:22:28.560 --> 0:22:31.160 that's enough is enough, And especially even from your own 0:22:31.160 --> 0:22:35.399