WEBVTT - How To Make Reparations Great Again! 0:00:05.280 --> 0:00:09.120 I'm Eric Alexander, and I'm whitneyed out. Welcome to Reparations, 0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:11.920 The Big Payback, a production of Color Farm Media, I 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:17.159 Heart Radio and The Black Effect podcast Network. I like 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:21.959 that poem indictious and it talks about being bloody, but 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:26.280 I'm bowed and that from the minute I read that 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:31.960 poem in elementary school, I made that my creed. I 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:34.920 may be bloody, but every time you knocked me down, 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:38.559 I'm gonna be like that punch clown. I gotta get up. 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:43.879 I felt that, and maybe I felt that because I 0:00:43.960 --> 0:00:48.760 was this orphan and sometimes I knew I had to 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:51.600 keep my head down. But all of those lessons I 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:55.000 tried to teach my kids, not so much about sitting 0:00:55.080 --> 0:00:59.200 down talking to y'all, but letting you see me live 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:02.600 through that. And I think that I got a pretty 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:08.600 strong group of kids that expected that dude had certain 0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:14.560 expectations of them. Is that your mom? Now I know 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:19.120 where you get such self confidence? Yeah? Yeah, that's Sammy 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:22.600 Jean Amy Holman Alexander, and I am her daughter, and 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:26.840 she is my north star. She has three last names 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:29.080 because she's had a lot of lives, not because she's 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:32.120 Liz Taylor Kim Kardashian. She's like a cat, and I 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:34.520 think she's on her seventh right now. That's a lot 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:36.480 of lives and a lot of names. Did she also 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:40.640 give you the Great at the end of yours? No, 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:42.560 but she was fought a teacher that wanted me to 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:44.479 take it off my papers. I used to sign all 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:47.640 my papers and class with Eric Alexander the Great. Now 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:49.880 she likes all that, But Whitney, when we started this 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:53.120 rock in Reparations Adventure, we said that we would talk 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:56.360 more about our origin story. So I decided to talk 0:01:56.360 --> 0:01:58.840 to my mother. And she's like a walkman. You can 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:01.240 push play and she's off to the races. She's a 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:05.600 real grio and she remembers everything but her origin story. 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:09.280 It's pretty awesome. She's one of eleven. I think I've 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:11.880 told you a little bit of about her. She was 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:15.280 her mother's last child. She was born in Karneck, Texas. 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:17.880 That's where Lady Burt Johnson is from. She was raised 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:20.960 in Carl's Bad, New Mexico. She was orphaned twice, first 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:22.880 by her mother and father when she was young, and 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:26.239 then when she was adopted. Her adopted mother passed away 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:29.320 when she was a teenager, and she basically was sent 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:31.560 out of the house and had to hit the road 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:34.760 with my father. They we both were traveling evangelists and 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:38.239 he was itinerant. She married him, my preacher father, who 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:41.040 was also an orphan. They had six kids. I am 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:44.639 one of them. You're welcome, America. And though she was 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:47.359 widowed a forty nine, she earned a master's degree in 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:51.520 early childhood education and she started to write children's books. Yeah. Oh, 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:54.040 and here are hobbies. She likes Macromay, tea cakes and 0:02:54.160 --> 0:02:57.480 Dr Pimple Papa. Yeah. But you know, I was talking 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:00.920 to my mom about our reparations journey and the Privileged game, 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:02.880 the game that we did when we were in front 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:05.680 of Grant's tomb and we would ask each other's questions, 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:07.600 and you know, you go forward and then I would 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:10.000 end up stain back, and you know, you're halfway up 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:13.160 the block because you're white and male and privileged and 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:15.360 all the other good stuff you get from being in 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:18.720 the Book of Doo. But anyway, I asked her, what 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:23.000 were her thoughts about white privilege and or just privilege 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:27.480 in general. Well, I'm certain that there is white privilege 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:31.880 anytime one group can make laws and enact them to 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:37.880 benefit themselves, whether they're white or whatever their color. If 0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:41.400 they can benefit them to themselves and use them to 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:49.120 deny other people their equality, then of course that's privilege. 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:53.600 And in America that happens to be primarily wide privilege, 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:58.640 white privilege. That's really America's origin story, right. And what 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:01.960 it's so interesting listening to your mom talk about this 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:05.200 is that the idea of white privilege means something very 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:07.480 different in two thousand twenty one than it did when 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:09.680 she was a child. And back then, I think white 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:13.040 privilege was just white people doing their thing. Yeah, they 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:16.640 were doing a thing and they still are doing their thing. Well. Anyway, 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:18.960 my mother starts reminisce and she's talking about her life, 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:21.839 how she grew up. Even told me stories about my 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:24.120 life as a child. It was pretty cool. Yeah, our 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:27.320 origin stories, the ones that our family tells us about ourselves, 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:31.040 about our family, our history. They're so important because they 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:34.040 kind of help us think about how we're going to 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:36.920 chart our way through the world, that we're sort of 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:39.800 carrying the story with us as we go. Yeah, it's 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:43.080 nature versus nurture. Think of America as this big oak 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:47.200 tree with these deep roots and we fit it, and 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:50.520 we're pretty fertilizer and watering it. But you know, we 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:53.680 are judged by the fruit it bears, you know. And 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:56.480 so I think, now we're getting a load of types 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:59.920 of juicy stuff that's fallen off of it. But you're 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:02.920 what I'm thinking, I've had a lot of fun, Whitney, 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:04.960 It's now time to get down to the nitty gritty 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:08.719 and talk about how to make reparations. That's epic stuff. 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:10.839 We're dealing with, high stakes, So we need to anchor 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:14.560 ourselves to an African American voice talking about just living 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:17.479 their experience. So I choose my mom that see the 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:20.760 world through Sammy's eyes. She can stand in for the community. 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:24.200 Like after Schindler's List, one of my favorite movies, Spielberg 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:26.560 created a committee to take down the stories of the 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:30.680 survivors of the Holocaust. So she'll tell her story whatever 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:33.000 she wants and we get to know her and then 0:05:33.080 --> 0:05:35.320 build out from there. And my mom's a rock, she 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:38.000 can take it. Meanwhile, we'll check in with Dr. William 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:42.200 Daherty and former presidential candidate and billionaire Tom Steyer and 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:45.599 Mayor Karen Weaver of Flint, Michigan. Yeah, that's good. We'll 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:48.840 talk with them and find out how to make reparations. 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:51.200 What do you say, Whitney, I think it's a good plan. 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:54.479 We You know, we've spoken to economist William Daherty before 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:56.520 and he has a lot of interesting things to say 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:59.440 about reparations. But all three of those people have been 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:01.680 really at the war front of the thought process around this. 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:04.799 But the thing I like best about this plan, Erica, 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:08.279 is I think everybody would benefit from just spending a 0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:11.600 little time seeing the world through your mom Sammy's eyes. 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:15.120 When you're a little kid and you're walking down the street, 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:18.680 are on a bus, and somebody comes up to you 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:22.599 but no reason at all, look you in the face 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:26.640 of white person and says, you know, that little girl 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:31.240 would be cute if he wasn't so bad. I mean, 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:35.719 why why would you address her child in that way? 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:40.720 It's nothing, It added nothing to me, It wasn't making 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:43.400 me feel better. Why would you go out of your 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:48.359 way to insult someone in such that way? Did that 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:53.320 happen to your mom? Yes, plenty of times. Yeah, it's interesting. 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:57.000 What can happen to you when you're just living I 0:06:57.080 --> 0:07:00.520 can't even comprehend a story like that. Erica. I think 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:03.600 about what's in people's hearts and how they live in 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:09.200 the world, and I'm trying to imagine understand what's happening 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:11.840 inside someone that they would feel they could say that 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:14.960 to a young child. You know. I think about a lot, Erica, 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:19.320 about this idea of what makes people empathetic and what 0:07:19.480 --> 0:07:22.320 makes people hard. And you know, I did a lot 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:25.560 of interviews for the Whiteness Project, and I really couldn't 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:27.720 find a correlation. The only correlation I could find that 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:31.920 it wasn't about money, it wasn't about privation, It wasn't 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:34.240 not anything that I thought, Oh, someone was raised this, 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:37.239 they would have this experience. It was really about true 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:40.880 self reflection and the people could actually reflect on their 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:46.120 experience in the world were people that could actually be empathetic. So, 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:48.040 you know, someone who I think about a lot in 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:52.480 this way, somebody we've talked to, Tom Steyer, who made 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:55.800 billions of dollars, has pledged to give it all away 0:07:56.200 --> 0:07:59.920 and ultimately sold out of his hedge fund, became a philanthropist, 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.000 and even ran for president recently. I wonder if he 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:06.200 has enough money to remake the minds of that type 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:08.920 of human that's a lot of money Erica, but we're 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:11.640 going to have to be you know, making reparations means 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:14.960 we have to remake our minds. Cat Taylor and I 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:20.200 started a bank fifteen years ago harshly to redress the 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:24.000 systemic racism in the financial system and the banking system 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:29.640 in the United States that specifically addressed economic justice, environmental sustainability, 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:32.240 and supported businesses owned by women and people of color 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:36.520 because there was systemic attempt to shut those people out 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:39.760 of ownership of wealth in this country. And that's what 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:42.599 redlining was. Don't lend to black people. It's against the 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:44.480 rules of our bank to lend to blank people. So 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:48.079 we're gonna draw a red line around African American neighborhoods 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:50.520 and you can't lend in there, which shut black people 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:53.760 out of home ownership, which is the basic wealth creation 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:57.720 historically for American citizens. If you talk to my African 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:00.360 American friends who are business people, have a much harder 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:04.040 time getting business loans, which means you're shut out of 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:08.679 the private sector's wealth creation of being an entrepreneur and 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:11.600 building a businesship in terms of ownership. And so we 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:15.480 started a bank from scratch fifteen years ago. It's now 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:19.720 over a billion dollars in assets, and it's basically we 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:23.360 measure every loan not just on whether it's profitable, because 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:26.679 we need to be profitable so we can continue in business, 0:09:26.720 --> 0:09:29.520 but also what is the impact on the community in 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:32.559 terms of job creations, in terms of who owns the bank, 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:35.800 in terms of sequestrian carbon And if you can't do that, 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:37.800 then that's not alone for us. And we want to 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:40.560 prove that you can do that and be profitable. That 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:43.520 actions have to be taken not just to be fair 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:48.040 within the bank, but to redress the long time deep 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:52.480 racism of the banking system and actually be you know, 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:55.400 not trying to be fair, but to be specifically pointing 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:59.000 out the people who have been discriminated against and trying 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:01.000 to give them the opportunit and these that have been 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:04.120 systemically taken away from them. So say, there's more of 0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:06.720 these types of institutions that pop up, and there's a 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:09.760 different way to sort of assess people's credit worthiness and 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:11.559 they're not judged by that, Like come in and say 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:13.719 I'm black, Can I get Alan? And they said, yes, 0:10:13.720 --> 0:10:18.400 you qualify. You know, you know, that's what people are 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:21.080 kind of wanting because they're saying, Look, I spent my 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:24.800 life being beat up by all these things that are 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:27.040 coming at me. I have no way to sort of 0:10:27.080 --> 0:10:30.000 convince people that I'm a good bet. Is my black 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:32.960 skin enough to say, y'all owe me a shot? What's 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:34.960 the shot looked like? Some people say, look, just write 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:36.960 me a check. First, write me a check. Do you 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:40.360 think that's part of it? Obviously in education, mental health, 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:43.880 those types of things, you say, housing stability, can people 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:46.840 also just get a check? This is the point of 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:51.480 the study, Erica, because I recognize every single one of 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:55.120 the areas that you're looking at, and I know that 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:59.720 they're all subject to possible solution, so that you know 0:10:59.800 --> 0:11:02.120 you are talking about education. I mean, one of the 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:04.280 things I pushed for when I was running for president 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:08.120 was a huge increase in the money devoted to historically 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:11.559 black colleges and universities because I felt as if here 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:16.480 is a very specific and successful lifeline to people who've 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:21.439 been discriminated against, that's being relatively starved for public money, 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:26.719 and yet has succeeded in producing, you know, way disproportionate 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:30.960 numbers of successful professional African Americans across the country. And 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:33.360 I said, it's a system that works. It's a system 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:36.160 that exists, why don't we make it a lot better 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:39.280 funded and a lot bigger to give people an equal 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:42.840 opportunity to see how far they can go. And in general, 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:47.280 when you talk about a systemic change in society, and 0:11:47.320 --> 0:11:51.920 particularly one that's centered around values and justice, the appropriate 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:55.640 place for that is the government, the human embodiments of 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:58.360 the will of the people. This is not something that 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:01.360 I think should be voluntary. It's not something that I 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:05.800 think we're hoping people will do because we're hoping, you know, 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:09.800 that they'll acknowledge this individually. This is something that has 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:12.720 to be organized through the government. There's no doubt about 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:15.120 that in my mind. So when I think about how 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:19.640 this is going to be actually enacted, both studied, decisions made, 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:22.480 and then carried out, I believe that has to be 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:25.000 in effect the will of the people. People who have 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:29.400 gotten that impromatur of saying you have a right to 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:33.640 do this, you represent the will of your constituents, and 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:35.559 therefore that's how it's gonna happen. First of all, I 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:37.640 don't think it will happen otherwise. The second, I don't 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:40.480 think it's appropriate for it to happen otherwise. I think 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:43.120 that is what a democracy looks like. That is what 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:45.960 this democracy is supposed to look like. And if this 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:48.040 is going to happen, that's the only way I believe 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:53.920 that it has the authority and the clear intent that 0:12:54.080 --> 0:12:57.600 it speaks for everybody. You know, when there's a chance 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:01.160 to stand up for what's right, that a chance. The 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:04.600 whole point is to be trying to push for justice, 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:08.240 to try and push for the values you believe in. 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:10.880 That's a great opportunity in life, I think, And that's 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:12.680 how I see this, just trying to think in the 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:15.480 context of this conversation anything we didn't touch on that 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:19.480 you think that white Americans should hear, or know or 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:22.920 ask themselves in order to understand, you know, this issue. 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:26.080 You know what I would really ask somebody on a 0:13:26.120 --> 0:13:29.920 personal level, another white American. I would say, look, we 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:33.200 need to retell the story of America. Have you ever 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:38.480 put yourself in the context of being somebody from another race? 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:42.080 And if you think about slavery in America and you 0:13:42.120 --> 0:13:46.679 think about the long time before when white people were 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:49.439 debating it in Congress and in the White House and 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:54.400 in elections, it would be a completely different conversation. If 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:58.160 the people who are having that conversation were themselves enslaved, 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:02.840 if their children were enslaved, if their families, We're going 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:07.199 to have something horrible happen that day. That's what I 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:10.560 would ask quite Americans to do. If that's you, not 0:14:10.920 --> 0:14:14.400 somebody else you see is different from you, but you, 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:18.000 in the most profound senses an American. Now, can we 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:21.160 start talking about what we're going to do going forward? Now? 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:26.120 Can we start talking about this history. That's the emotional 0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:29.960 courage we need as white people to be part of 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:34.360 the solution here instead of clinging to something that you 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:40.240 know clearly has been based in injustice and wronged them. 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:42.800 I gotta ask the os question for all my friends 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:44.840 and people who would expect me to ask, when you 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:47.320 get there? When you pull and when you when I say, 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:49.720 they're like, you've made enough money to live your life 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:52.920 and finally get there. People think all sorts of magic 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:55.360 happens to you that you pull back behind the curtain 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:58.880 and subtenly things happen. Is that what it feels like? 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:02.640 Do you feel more empower? Here's what I would say, Erica. 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:05.640 So when I was twenty six years old, I go 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:08.240 to see my grandmother who's kind of a tough old 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:10.680 lady to be honest. And when it was over, I 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:12.760 said to her, you know, do you have any advice 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:15.480 for me? And I'm thinking she's gonna say, it's all 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:19.080 about family, it's all about love, and she goes, money 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:21.080 is more important than you think, Tom, And I'm thinking, 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:24.040 oh my gosh, really that's what you've got for me, 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:27.320 money's And she said, there's not a lot of difference 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:31.600 between being comfortably off and being rich, but there's a 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:35.400 gigantic difference, Tom, between being poor and being comfortably off. 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:38.280 And she said, I've been all three. I know what 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:40.640 it is to be poor. I know what it is 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:43.960 to have to figure out how to cobble together bus 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:46.880 fair to get across town. So and answer your question, Erk, 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:50.160 I think there is a huge difference between being comfortably 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:53.040 off and feeling safe about health care and rent and 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:57.080 food and education, you know, the basics for a family, 0:15:57.320 --> 0:15:59.360 and having to worry about every single one of those 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:02.000 on a day, constant grind about how are you going 0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:03.680 to deal with us? But I don't think there's a 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:06.840 lot of difference between being comfortably off and being rich. 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:09.480 I really don't you know, Erica We talk a lot 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:12.360 about white allies on what they can do, and I 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:15.680 think one of the most interesting things that Tom touches 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:20.840 on is actually thinking about what it would mean if 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:23.720 we could see the world through black eyes, or we 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:26.800 could actually experience that that the policies that we have 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:30.640 would fundamentally be changed if the paradigm was different, and 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:33.120 if white people could truly see what was like to 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:35.960 live in the world as Black Americans. The policies that 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:38.440 we have just they simply wouldn't exist. No, they wouldn't. 0:16:38.480 --> 0:16:41.000 They wouldn't, but it wouldn't be interesting is if they 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:43.160 could see what it's like to live in the world 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:46.400 in their white existence. I guess because I keep thinking 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:51.040 it can't be that pleasurable if the community is fixated 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:57.400 on oppression of people with darker skin and larger noses 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:01.360 and bigger lips and wooly hair. Um, imagine if somebody 0:17:01.360 --> 0:17:03.800 could step out of themselves and say, are we really 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:06.040 just focusing on that? Am I going to spend my 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:09.359 day in my time pushing against that? That's that's nuts. 0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:11.320 But you know, I like Tom Styre a lot, and 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:13.600 I really appreciate him because I think he's proved positive 0:17:13.640 --> 0:17:16.359 that biology is not always destiny. I know Freud wrote 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:19.800 that about women, but he's going against Once you get 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:21.879 to have a certain amount of money, you're supposed to 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:24.760 be a certain way, you know, gain more money and 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:27.159 build buildings and put my name on it. But no, 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:30.440 he's not doing that. And part of the reason why 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:32.720 people come here is because they believe in the American dream. 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:35.920 You're supposed to be able to achieve your dreams, and 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:38.280 they're supposed to be a level playing field. But we 0:17:38.320 --> 0:17:41.479 all know the dream machine is rigged, and it certainly 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:45.480 has a bias for vanilla covered and testosterone, so you 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:50.479 know it's tough, but he's making it more chocolatey. Bless him. 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:53.240 Speaking of rigged system, my mother told me a story 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:56.320 about when I was a child in fourth grade, how 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:59.000 she had to go to my school to confront a 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:04.159 teacher who had changed my grades to a lower grade 0:18:04.520 --> 0:18:07.480 because he wanted to advance a white child instead of me, 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:10.480 and she confronted him, I have to start the year 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:13.480 before you has had a teacher I think of his 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:17.320 third grade. She and I had gone to the same church. 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:20.800 She was white and we had going to the same church, 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:23.960 and she was just in awe of you all the time. 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:27.560 She was telling me, Erica did this in school or whatever. 0:18:27.600 --> 0:18:30.040 And I would go to your teacher's meeting. I had 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:34.240 seen all of your reports, your grades and all, and 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:40.680 you were in her gifted group. And the next year 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:46.159 she moved away. You moved to the next grade. And 0:18:46.640 --> 0:18:52.359 this teacher was actually Hispanic, but at that time, most 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:56.160 of the time when people wrote what race you are, 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:59.639 if they were Hispanic, they usually wrote his wife. His 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:04.400 name is Mr Vega. Yes, But anyway, you were in Mr. 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:09.120 Baker's room. And when it came time for a teacher 0:19:09.400 --> 0:19:14.639 parent conference, I went and here were all of the 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:18.920 grades that I had seen with your former teacher, which 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:23.280 had had been written in ink. He had recorded your 0:19:23.320 --> 0:19:27.119 grade like you had made, say nine seven on a 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:31.280 particular test, the math part of whatever party in the 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:36.320 area of the focus of the test was written and 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:41.399 the grade beside it well on his recording. This is 0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:45.320 a record that's gonna follow you through elementary school. So 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:50.160 each year is recorded on the same tests for those 0:19:50.240 --> 0:19:55.080 same areas, and your last year grade now have been 0:19:55.119 --> 0:20:00.960 marked out with just a line across the grade, and 0:20:01.000 --> 0:20:06.280 then there's something pencil then that's last and he's telling 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:10.040 me that he is going to send you to the 0:20:10.200 --> 0:20:15.159 group mentally agecable and I said, what, why, what are 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:20.280 you doing? I also knew the teacher there because I 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:23.119 did work back and forth in the school and was 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:28.440 very well known in that school. And uh, also never 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:31.960 missed a parent conference, so I had known the teacher 0:20:32.840 --> 0:20:36.359 who taught that group. And I said, well, why would 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:38.960 you be sending Erica there? And he said, well, look 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:40.960 at her test goods and I said, those are not 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:45.200 Erica's tech courts. And by the way, you do know 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:49.360 that her teacher last year and I had a very 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:54.560 close relationship. So anyway, we established all of that, and 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:57.680 I asked him, why are these grades change here? I 0:20:57.720 --> 0:21:01.600 saw this original grade. I've never missed the parent teacher meeting, 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:06.800 and I know that Erica was in the gifted class. 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:10.520 So how now she hasn't had a brain injury or 0:21:10.680 --> 0:21:14.080 nothing has happened that has changed her situation. Why are 0:21:14.119 --> 0:21:16.800 you trying to convince me that she needs to go 0:21:16.920 --> 0:21:22.440 to the mentally ethecable group. That's not my child. And uh, 0:21:22.480 --> 0:21:26.560 of course he and I got into some pretty heated 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:30.560 thing here, and I ended up telling him that I 0:21:30.560 --> 0:21:33.359 would give him a month to straighten that out, and 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:37.040 not said, then I'm going to the board of education, 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:40.680 and I want to understand, I said, by way, you 0:21:40.760 --> 0:21:45.880 do know that I have teacher training, and I know 0:21:45.960 --> 0:21:51.040 what the games are. I know how teachers can manipulate 0:21:51.400 --> 0:21:57.200 children's situations by changing grades so that they can advance 0:21:57.359 --> 0:22:02.120 one child over another child old and a child who 0:22:02.560 --> 0:22:07.560 was showing last year gifted. You're gonna tell me, with 0:22:07.760 --> 0:22:13.720 no outside or external interventions or anything, that this child 0:22:13.840 --> 0:22:18.600 now is going to be somebody that needs special help, 0:22:18.880 --> 0:22:22.800 special ad And you can't explain to me why you 0:22:22.800 --> 0:22:25.200 remember that you had me come in. I was outside 0:22:25.359 --> 0:22:28.680 and he made him apologize to me. You and Dad, well, 0:22:29.119 --> 0:22:32.280 you know he needed to apologize to you. And he's 0:22:32.359 --> 0:22:35.280 telling me all the things about, oh, how he liked 0:22:35.320 --> 0:22:40.240 you and you were a likable kid, and he didn't 0:22:40.280 --> 0:22:43.240 know why. You know, you should be very happy because 0:22:43.359 --> 0:22:45.879 everybody like you. But I said, well, maybe she doesn't 0:22:45.920 --> 0:22:49.600 like you, and I don't like you, and it's not 0:22:49.760 --> 0:22:55.399 about who's liking what. You are trying to hinder my 0:22:55.560 --> 0:22:59.600 child and you're gonna affect her education for the rest 0:22:59.640 --> 0:23:03.200 of her life. Oh that was a close call. Did 0:23:03.200 --> 0:23:06.720 you hear that, Whitney. My life was nearly derailed because 0:23:06.760 --> 0:23:10.679 my teacher, my favorite teacher, decided I was disposable. I 0:23:10.720 --> 0:23:13.360 was the only black student in his class, we were 0:23:13.359 --> 0:23:16.199 the only black family in the school, and if my 0:23:16.320 --> 0:23:19.760 mother hadn't caught it, it would have changed everything for me. 0:23:20.240 --> 0:23:23.320 I think about what all the women Robert Ruth Simmons 0:23:23.400 --> 0:23:26.800 is doing in Evanston, Illinois, and they're making reparations right now, 0:23:27.000 --> 0:23:30.280