Theres a brown girl in the ring
we
slaughter
one another
with the stereotypes and mistrust that
lingers in our heads
nelson mandela once said
we don’t have to conform to our
stereotypes and we certainly
shouldn’t be enforcing them
hello everybody my name is avanti and
i’m a high school student from
california and i am honored and
privileged to stand in front of all of
you today to challenge stereotypes and
implicit biases on the basis of color
gender
race
croc users
and more
we are going to hear the stories of
those who rose to defeat their enemies
of equality
and hopefully we are going to recognize
some patterns by examining these stories
including that of avanti ramrat
yes that’s me it was either do this ted
talk or start a youtube vlogging channel
and my mom was pretty clear about which
of those things i should do
so
armed with the knowledge to defeat our
own stereotypes
we can slay the dragons of inequality
and hopefully craft a future without any
bias
at all
you may be wondering about the title of
my speech a brown girl in the ring
well the fact is that it is based on a
famous bony m song this song is based on
a game that was often played by youth in
the west indies and this game is a great
manifestation of two key tenants that
play a huge role in overcoming
stereotypes
gamification and role models
in this game a group of children form a
circle and one child is chosen as the
leader aka the role model
just like the second verse of the song
show me your emotion the child shows his
or her moves to the rest of the children
and they all imitate
then that role model child chooses a
partner and the partner becomes the next
brown girl in the ring
and the game goes on and on
and so i first want to talk about that
first key tenet that this game
illustrates of role models and
trailblazers i consider lupita young to
be a trailblazer do you
of course you do she’s a treasure but if
you haven’t heard of her before here’s a
little bit about what she’s accomplished
in 2014 lupita won the academy award for
best supporting actress in the movie 12
years a slave
becoming the sixth black actress and the
first kenyan actress to ever win this
award
but in an instant lupita had become an
inspiration for millions of women across
the globe
especially woman
like me
woman with unmistakably dark skin even
after zoom tries to touch up our
appearance
women like me who use makeup shades like
deep dark cocoa chocolate or brownie at
least that’s when we find any shades
that actually match us
lupita was invited to speak at a
hollywood fundraiser where she shared
the story of a little girl who had
written to her
the girl said that she was just about to
go out and buy skin lightening products
products that contain dangerous
chemicals like lead and arsenic
but she stopped the moment she witnessed
lupita’s rise to fame
because lupita had broken the age-old
stereotype that only fair is beautiful
she had proved that beauty and talent is
diverse
and that that diversity truly rocks
lupita had shown this girl the path to
her own success
the existence of these role models
serves as powerful imagery for the next
generations to visualize not only who
they want to be
but also who they can become
if they are to shatter their stereotypes
as a girl in stem
i’m on a tough path
but i discovered that lupita
was a role model and trailblazer
as women continue to break new ground
and the glass ceiling they’ll have a
compounding effect
they’ll function as role models for the
millions more watching or reading their
stories
they will become the next brown girl in
the ring featured in that very game as a
role model and leader that children and
youth will imitate and use as
inspiration to find their own success
and this compounding effect isn’t
limited to famous singers or hollywood
actresses or even just beyonce god bless
her though
it takes place in every field from the
arts to the sciences
which brings me to my own personal story
one that displays both role models and
gamification in the process of
shattering stereotypes
in fourth grade i co-founded a community
robotics team and became a part of a
global robotics organization called
first
first stands for for inspiration and
recognition of science and technology
and might i say my nine year journey
through first truly transformed me
it changed me from an impish fourth
grader
or i guess that’s just a regular 4th
grader
to a passionate stem ambassador stem
standing for science technology
engineering and math
and i scaled previously unimaginable
heights as i discovered my strength
confidence and compassion and
represented the united states in
international competitions
and drove global outreach
but i also discovered that there are not
a lot of girls in stem
research has shown that girls interest
in stem drops around the age of 15.
this is probably because according to
society’s standards it’s more hip to be
a cheerleader than a robotics programmer
in high school
according to the american association of
university women
women make up only 28 percent of the
workforce in science technology
engineering and math
and even when they get into the stem
workforce
on average women make fifteen thousand
dollars less in salary than men
this hits especially hard for black and
latino women who on average make 33 000
less an annual salary than men
but the fact is the only reason for this
difference is stereotype bias and
unequal treatment
studies reflect that when little girls
and boys were asked to draw
mathematicians and scientists
little girls were twice as likely
to draw men
and little boys almost universally drew
men
often
in a lab coat
but the thing is little girls and boys
perform equally well in the subjects of
math and science
meaning that stereotypes threaten and
prevent women from reaching their full
potential
as a girl in stem i am on a tough path
but maybe it’s one where i become a role
model
through research done via the united
nations my team and i discovered that
884 million people across the globe 75
million being in india alone are at risk
from life life-threatening diseases from
polluted water
3.4 million of those people die each
year from waterborne pathogens
my team created a small low-cost
do-it-yourself water filter that after a
lot of hard work and nights where my mom
finally let me stay up past 10
we were invited to present
at in front of many high-ranking
officials including those from the u.s
patent office at the 2018 global
innovation awards
my team was chosen from amongst 40 000
first lego league teams as one of the
top 20 in the world from across 80
countries
but the thing is
i wasn’t even that excited about the
great big trophy
that laid as the prize at the end
and in fact
my team didn’t even win that award
i was excited because my dream of making
a change in the world
was finally
feasible
it was at
my fingertips
i had a way to reach those affected in
india and across the globe
maybe i was finally worthy of hanging
out with malala
i was a girl in stem
and i had shattered by stereotype
because i made a difference in the
community around me
and around the world
i did then discovered that second
principle that makes a huge difference
when it comes to overcoming stereotypes
gamification
i know for certain there’s one thing
that children love a lot
games in fact we all love our games why
do we spend so much time watching sports
and cheering on our favorite teams
why is it that the entire country of
india pauses when there’s a cricket
match
from the days of the gladiators games
have always drawn vast interest in
crowds
the only difference is that the
gladiators were not vastly overpaid
games make us feel a part of a community
and they’re especially fun when you get
to make fun of the losing side
and so that brings me to the important
concept that is gamification but what
truly is it
gamification is defined as the use of
game mechanics research design and
experience to engage and motivate people
to achieve certain goals
via first teams like mine in robotics
apply gamification to our robotics
matches
we build a robot and then we compete
with millions cheering us on
okay i may have exaggerated a bit there
it’s typically a few enthusiastic
teammates and some even more
enthusiastic parents but when they
scream loud enough it sure does feel
like millions
and so what if we can make those
robotics matches more popular
how many more youth how many more girls
would it interest
and
how many more underprivileged youth
would we be able to get involved in the
stem activity
not everyone is cut out to be a star
athlete
my tennis instructor was very clear
about that
maybe even a little too clear
that’s all right though it’s true that
the possibility of a high school athlete
becoming a tennis star is one in a
million and we still cheer for kids
going down that path
but why not the same cheering for girls
in stem
why not the same cheering for a girl who
might one day become an award-winning
lawyer or the next president of this
nation
why do we only have cheerleaders for
sports
why not have them for robotics and
science fairs we need kids of all colors
all gender all race to imagine
themselves as future ceos
medical professionals scientists
engineers
whatever else they want to be
we need gamification to hook them in
and we need the support structures
necessary to cheer them on to excel
i’d like to encourage all of you my
esteemed audience
to motivate your children your
grandchildren anyone around you to look
around themselves
if they see themselves competing and
succeeding in a field where there are
not many others like them
they are doing a good thing
they are shattering a stereotype
and with the two tenets we’ve discussed
today of role models and gamification we
can only continue to break these shatter
and shatter these stereotypes one by one
because in the end
black or brown or white or girl or boy
or identifying with both even if you’re
wearing crocs with socks
shouldn’t ever matter
when it comes to chasing your dreams
which is why i am so proud to be
a brown girl
in the ring
thank you