3

Can You See the Pattern? The Structure of Systemic Racism in America

For my final civic blog post of the year, I watched a TED Talk given by Baratunde Rafiq Thurston. It was called “How to deconstruct racism, one headline at a time”, and if you haven’t watched any of the other TED Talks I’ve posted about this year, do yourself a favor by at least letting this one play in the background through your Airpods as you walk to your next class.

Baratunde’s TED profile describes him as a writer, activist, and comedian, and after watching his talk, I can definitively say that he is all three. By intertwining personal stories with news headlines and an analysis of the structure of systemic racism, Baratunde emphasizes the power of language, and he challenges us to “level up” by changing our reality into one of healing rather than hurting.

For me, the biggest takeaway from Baratunde’s Ted talk was the way he broke down news headlines into four main categories:  A subject (blue) takes an action (green) against a target (red) who is engaged in some activity (yellow). I’ve included examples of real headlines Baratunde featured in his talk in the black screenshots surrounding this paragraph, but there are plenty of other examples he uses to make his point as well.

From these headlines, Baratunde goes on to explain that the subject is almost always a white person, while the target is almost always a black person. However, the most intriguing part about this exercise is when Baratunde collects all of the activities (in yellow) together in one place. When he does this, it becomes clear that they are linked by one commonality: the activities in yellow add up to simply living. When this exercise is approached with that knowledge, it becomes frighteningly obvious that the structure is the same for each and every headline: a white person feels threatened by a black person simply living, but when that white person calls the police, the black person’s living is then threatened. As Baratunde points out, the Department of Justice has found that “when police initiate the contact, blacks (5.2 percent) and Hispanics (5.1 percent) are more likely to experience the threat or use of physical force than whites (2.4percent).” Knowing this, listeners are led to question why white people have systemically been granted the power to call weaponized law enforcement when they feel uncomfortable. Personally, having 911 framed in this light made me completely reconsider the race dynamics behind “calling the police”.

If you feel this statement is unfair or still don’t see the issue with this, I challenge you to try to reverse the headlines and see if they still make sense. “Black woman calls police on white man using neighborhood pool” doesn’t sound like a very believable headline, does it? What about “Black Oregon Lawmaker Calls Cops On Woman”? As Baratunde points out in his TED Talk, reversing the flow of injustice is not justice. He goes on to explain that changing the structure of the sentences in this way does not accomplish much of anything, so he instead suggests that we change the action in our sentences. This means that instead of “California Safeway Calls Cops On Black Woman Donating Food To Homeless,” the headline becomes “California Safeway Thanks Black Woman Donating Food To Homeless”. Furthermore, for situations that don’t even involve race, he argues that if the person in power (who is so often white) changes their action, the narrative is improved for everyone. For example, “Powerful Man Masturbates In Front Of Young Women Visiting His Office” becomes “Powerful Man Listens to Young Women Visiting His Office”. In this way, we all end up living in a world that is more just and fair for all. 

Finally, Baratunde ends his TED Talk with the following words:

“I am here because I was loved and invested in and protected and lucky, because I went to the right schools. I’m semifamous, mostly happy, meditate twice a day, and yet, I walk around in fear, because I know that someone seeing me as a threat can become a threat to my life. And I am tired.”

After such an incredibly powerful TED Talk, by reminding listeners that this racially inspired fear is still a burden that he must carry with him each day — simply because of the structure of systemic racism in our society — Baratunde reminds us all that we can change the action in the narrative, which changes the story, which changes the system that allows those stories to happen. By changing our actions, we can all write a better version of reality for us all to be a part of.

I hope these posts have given you all the opportunity to learn more about race and race dynamics in America, and I am grateful for the chance I had to write them this semester. If anyone has any suggestions for further reading or education about race in America, please leave them in the comments below, as I am eager to educate myself more about these topics in my free time over the summer.

Thanks for reading, and have a great summer!