Imagine the World Without Racism

[Music]

as humans

we love variety let’s take crayola

crayons for example

we went from a simple box of eight to a

box of 64

crayons okay how many of us never got

that big box of crayons

i am still mad at my parents for that

what about pets i am a dog

lover and i can still never decide which

one is the cutest

floppy ears or pointy ears smooth fur

or fluffy fur i do think we can all

agree

that furless dogs are pretty special

we not only accept variety many of us

thrive on it

except when it comes to humans

we have yet to accept that humans also

come in a wide variety

in fact each attribute of a human comes

in a wide variety

whether that attribute is height short

tall

or million heights in between or hair

density pattern type or eyes ears nose

choose a feature and i’ll show you

a wide variety of that feature

however one feature of humans

has been given very special

consideration

in america this feature

has been used to justify the killing

and marginalization of millions of

people

across a span of over 400 years

that feature is skin color

yes skin the organ

as mammals we have skin not fur

so those furless dogs are like don’t

judge me because you have a lot of skin

going on there

but skin let’s talk about skin

the color of our skin is derived from

our ancestors

the closer our ancestors were to the

equator the darker the skin

the further from the equator the lighter

the skin

so yes as humans as mammals we have

adapted to our environments

so exactly when and why

did this skin this organ

becomes so relevant and significant that

we actually used it

to categorize and assign value to people

well i begin asking myself

questions about race

when i begin leading an organization

whose mission

is to eliminate racism so of course i

want to be successful at my job so i

asked

okay how are we actually going to

eliminate racism

so i began studying and researching

the genesis of race and according to the

american anthropological association

and its race project race

is a concept that has its genesis and

european exploration

as they encountered people throughout

africa

asia and the americas that looked spoke

and acted differently than them

then scientists further supported this

classification of differences

for example we saw german scientist

johann friedrich blumenbach in the 18th

century

defined five natural varieties

black brown red yellow and white

he’s not talking about crayons he’s

talking about people

so there you have it some random people

decided

that we needed to use skin color to

categorize people

that categorization ultimately became

the construct

of race and this has had significant

impact on our society

and the well-being of millions if not

billions of people

throughout history

now as we sit here

in 2021 i have to ask

is this what we want to continue do we

still need race to categorize us

did we ever really need it

well i’m an accountant

a cpa by background and

i cannot stop thinking about the

financial

impact of racism

a recent citibank study showed that if

key racial gaps

across education wages housing and

investment

were closed 20 years ago we could have

added

16 trillion dollars to the u.s economy

and if these gaps were closed today we

could add

five trillion dollars over the next five

years

to the us gdp so

you have to think if you could add 16

trillion dollars over the last 20 years

what could you add over the last 400

years

for example after the civil war in 1865

congress established the freedmen’s bank

for the newly freed black americans

from 1865 to 1874

the bank’s president henry cook a white

man

mismanaged the funds of over 70 000

black americans who had deposited

1.3 billion dollars in today’s dollars

because of the failure of friedman’s

bank there has been

a generational distrust of financial

institutions

it’s also part of the reason that we see

nearly half of black households

are unbanked or underbanked compared to

20

of white households that are unbanked or

underbanked

i have to ask you since we have seen

the destruction that race has called

and by the way that’s just one example

we know the destruction that race

and racism has caused throughout history

are we willing to continue this in our

society

now i know some people

may get upset with me because

we know that race and racism is so

deeply woven

into the fabric of our society people

will ask

what about our identities what about our

culture

well culture evolves

are we willing to see what’s possible

with society

when we allow our culture to evolve

and become a culture that doesn’t need

race

besides it’s going to become irrelevant

dna testing companies already know the

truth

they see through their data that people

who are racially categorized or identify

as black

have large percentages of european

ancestry

and people who are racially categorized

or identify as white

have large percentages of african

ancestry

in fact these two girls are twins

same black mama same white daddy

however because of their skin color

society will treat them and value them

completely differently

but what happens if we stopped

using race well

i can imagine a world where the color

of a person’s skin adds to the richness

of their point of view and contribution

to society

for example because i have darker skin

you can tell that my ancestors came from

africa

which means we’re closer to the equator

which means my hair is thicker

to protect my scalp from the sun well in

america

there has been a black hair product

renaissance

as women of african descent black women

have fully embraced all of their natural

hair

and exploring all kinds of styles based

on

their hair types in fact the hair

product industry

has been seen tremendous growth nielsen

data showed

that black americans spend over 470

million dollars a year

on their hair care and another 465

million dollars a year

on skin care so can you imagine

what is possible when you cater to

understand and support the variety of

our differences

pantone a color development company

actually identified 110 skin

tones by scientifically testing

a wide spectrum of skin types

and because of this we can now

specifically identify

what our skin color is so i have to tell

you mr blumenbach

your categories would have me identify

as black but based on tantone

skin tone guide and actually more 5y07

sp

i know some people are going to get

upset with me

and believe that by eliminating race

that i’m denying my heritage

i am fully aware of my heritage and i

love

every single bit of it but i am no

longer willing to accept

one factor of my identity that actually

causes division and harm

so i can imagine a world

without racism i can imagine a world

where people are proactively choosing

to value the color of our skin

and not use it for further division and

harm

i see a world where people’s skin color

is part of their identity and

individuality

and adds to their beauty and their

uniqueness

and then we can actually choose to

change

not because we have to because we will

have to change one day

but because we want to and we can choose

to see

the possibilities of humanity and all

the beautiful people within it

as lovable human beings with unique

features identities and a variety

of beautiful skin tones thank you

you