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