A Conversation on Race and Privilege with Angela Davis and Jane Elliott

you good evening everyone my name is Alan Detlef and I'm the Dean of the Graduate College of Social Work here at the University of Houston and tonight I'm very excited to welcome you to our third annual social justice solutions event a conversation on race and privilege with Angela Davis and Jane Elliott I'm also very excited to welcome you to the first of a series of events that we're going to be hosting this year to celebrate our 50th anniversary as a graduate college of Social Work and before we begin tonight I want to acknowledge the elected officials who are joining us tonight Houston City Council member Martha Casto Tatum and HISD Board of Trustee member Jolanda Jones and I'd also like to acknowledge a member of our University of Houston system Board of Regents who's joining us tonight Andrew T oh and now I'd like to welcome senior vice president for academic affairs and the Provost of the University of Houston polymeric short who is here to be welcome Thank You Dean Detlef and I was just told that Durga Regent Durga alcohol has shaundra's would you welcome him thank you for being here well thank thanks to all of you for joining us this is just an incredibly exciting evening with our phenomenal guests that we have here Angela Davis and Jane Elliott and I have to say we are so pleased to be here for the annual student-led conversations social justice solutions series give our students a hand for this and I heard all the applause for Dean Detlef when he came on the stage and I want to tell you he's an incredible Dean I'm delighted that he decided to join the University of Houston and he is leading our wonderful graduate College of Social Work to top ranking in the world so I want to congratulate both Dean Detlef faculty and particularly the students in the Graduate College of Social Work for having the foresight and the commitment and the passion to create this series to provide an opportunity to bring in activists people who have a strong voice people who can help us think people who can bring in community and created a dialogue about critical issues that are so important to us issues that we buy you so deeply in in issues that we must discuss so tonight you're in for a treat this will be an incredible conversation to have with our guests I welcome all of you here again I congratulate the students one more time for making this happen so enjoy and welcome to the University of Houston are you so before we begin tonight I want to take just a minute to tell you about the origins of this event and what it means to us as a college of Social Work at the Graduate College of Social Work our mission is to prepare students to do the work necessary to achieve social racial economic and political justice for all I tell every one of our students that when they graduate I expect them to not only be advocates for change but to be activists and leaders to bring about the changes necessary in our society to achieve justice and this event began because one of our students who took on that responsibility a couple years ago shortly after my first year as dean summer of 2016 one of our students Miranda Harris came to me because she was concerned about what was becoming an epidemic of police violence in the african-american community and she wanted to know what she could do about this and what we as a college could do to address this and this was just shortly after the murders of Alton sterling and falando Casteel at the hands of law enforcement and we knew that this was something that we needed to talk about as a community of social workers not just to educate our students about the issue but to equip them with skills to identify solutions so our first event was held in the fall of 2016 and focused on what we could do as a community to address police violence but we realized that we couldn't stop the conversation after just one event we have to continue having conversations about these critical issues and look for ways that we can all be involved to bring about change which leads us to tonight I have to tell you how inspiring it was to see just three days after we announced tonight's event tickets were completely sold out and it reaffirmed the importance of this conversation frezz it really affirmed how important it was for us to continue to engage in these conversations not just here in Houston tonight but all over the country that response has been overwhelming we have a packed house in here tonight and even more joining us online via our livestream so I encourage all of you to participate share your thoughts your comments your ideas using the hashtag social justice you H and now I'd like to invite our students who once again provided the inspiration for tonight's conversation nihilus Palomo and Shan Cuellar Williams good evening my name is neo Lee's Palomo and my name is Shane koala Williams we would like to thank the Graduate College of Social Work the Symons Foundation and the ACLU of race and privilege our two social constructs rooted in the history of the United States that continue to make us feel uncomfortable these two social constructs are not only ingrained in our history they are also at the core of institutionalized racism racial divide police brutality mass incarceration white supremacy school discipline disproportionality health disparities in a discriminatory criminal justice system it is time to further our conversations about race and privilege before it continues to harm our brothers and sisters and deepens our segregated understandings of one humankind as social workers we strongly believe that in order to get to the root causes of systemic injustice we must first fully comprehend all the systemic injustice that are happening in this country we must first comprehend all the different challenges the marginalized and oppressed communities experience it is our hope that this conversation will bring awareness on how to start a dialogue on raising privilege and move to actionable steps to create change and marginalized and oppressed communities we all have a responsibility to be positive change agents in our respective fields this is our call to action without further ado we would like to introduce dr. Jean Maron [Applause] dr. leading served as a professor at the University of Houston graduate college of Social Work for 37 years now four years after teaching now four years after teaching her last class dr. leading is still champion social change and the University of Houston continues to be a part of her life dr. Larry Sergey is an organizational consultant and co-director of leading consciously an organization dedicated to building community among those who wish to make a difference ladies and gentlemen dr. Gina Lehren all right are we excited great okay it is my ABS try to think of the adjective excruciating pleasure extreme pleasure let's try excruciating my scruciating pleasure to introduce to you the two speakers today Angela Davis isn't [Applause] detective did I tell you they were excited did I tell you they're excited [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Angela Davis is an activist scholar and writer who advocates for the oppressed she is professor emeritus of history of consciousness and feminist studies at the University of California at Santa Cruz and a distinguished visiting professor in the Women and Gender Studies department at Syracuse University the author of five books including the seminal women race and class she advocates for gender equity prison reform and alliances across color lines Jane Elliott [Applause] alright y'all we gotta have fun tonight Jane Elliott is an internationally known teacher lecturer and diversity trainer in response to the assassination of dr. Martin Luther King junior in 1968 she devised the controversial and startling blue eyes brown eyes exercise [Applause] [Music] the now-famous exercise labels participants as inferior or superior based upon the color of their eyes and exposes them to the experience of being a minority so welcome to both of you thank you the format we're going to use this this I'm going to I have moderate some questions I'm going to ask them some questions for 45 minutes we scheduled 9 questions however based on what happened in the room before we came we might not get to all that we'll see we have nine questions for and then you will be invited to come to the mic for 25 minutes to give your questions okay and so with that we shall begin please turn them off so we can see them okay they'd like them lights turned up so we can see people we need to know whether somebody has a gun [Applause] [Applause] okay so the first question is for Angela Davis and then I'll invite commentary from Jane Elliott Angela on the web you're quoted as saying racism is a much more clandestine much more hidden kind of phenomena but at the same time is perhaps far more terrible than it's ever been would you explain what you meant by that and why this conversation on race and social justice is still necessary but do you believe it first of all thank you okay is this better all right well I'll hold it up to so first of all I'm really honored to be here with Jane Elliott this is the first time I've had the opportunity to [Applause] [Music] and I'm very happy that the students initiated the series on social justice so that that question regarding a comment I I probably made during the period when people were talking about a post-racial America do you remember that it wasn't that long ago and I was probably responding to those who were arguing that racism was something of the past that with it so-called triumph of the civil rights movement we had overcome racism it may have been during the time Obama was it office because there was the assumption that the election of one black man to the White House magically eradicated you know all of the consequences of racism and settler colonialism for the last 500 years and so the question as to whether I believe that it is hidden today there are manifestations of racism that are certainly overt thanks to the person who occupies the but I would I would say that I don't know whether we grasp the extent to which racism has affected and infected the entire history of this country it's not a simple thing we cannot wish it away we cannot simply assume that by doing all kinds of trainings and trainings are really important and I totally appreciate the value of bringing people to consciousness about the way in which they are responsible for the perpetration and perpetuation of racism but racism is deeply ingrained in this in the economy in the school system in the prison system criminal justice and I would probably conclude by saying what we are addressing today are issues that should have been taken up in the immediate aftermath of slavery but there are also issues that should have been taken up with respect to the colonization of this part of the world the first victims of racism were indigenous people in this country and so that means we have a lot of work ahead of us okay Jane you want to comment you want me to come in yes ma'am Sara do you don't really want me to comment because I'm really angry I want you folks to do something I want every white person every person in this room who considers himself or herself a member of the white race to stand right now right now every person in this room who considers himself or herself a member of the white race not remain standing now remain standing now well every person in this room who considers himself or herself a member of the black race please stand and remain standing now the brown race anybody who considers himself or herself a member the brown race now the yellow race now the red race not well ever look around you people practically everybody's standing now well every person in this room who considers himself or herself a member of the human race please sit down now people you are all members of the same race the human race which started with black women between 300,000 [Applause] there's the Jackson don't interrupt me I don't have much time no white folks you don't like it but all you are is faded blacks that's the way it is every one of you if you take your trace your DNA back far enough you're going to find that some of your DNA came from Africa because we all have the same ancestor back there every single one of us and those of you who think you don't have are obviously from outer space now that means that every one of us is a 30th to 50th cousin to every other person in this room so I want you to turn to the person on your left or your right or behind her in front of you stick out your hand and say hi cousin [Applause] now now well every person in this room who considers himself or herself a bi-racial person stand don't you stand [Laughter] people we have to get rid of the language of racism words are important people words matter you have to be careful how you use them and you have to refuse to tolerate these ugly words being used in your presence now make no mistake about this I've been described as a teacher I'm not a teacher teachers dispense facts and figures so that they can get their kids ready for the Ender school testing I've been called a trainer you trained dogs and horses and members of the military if I don't train people I'm an educator the word educator anymore people the word educator comes from the root duck deuce which means lead the prefix II which means out the suffix a te which means the act up and the suffix o R which means one who does an educator is one who is engaged in the act of leading people out of ignorance now in this in this country we spend a lot of money on what we call education it isn't education its indoctrination it takes us 13 years to teach a student to educate a student to be ignorant about race and to support ideas that make this a better country this is a word for this in my vernacular since I was raised on a farm is [ __ ] don't write that down people I recognize it when I see it and that's what we're living with right now if we weren't in a if we were if we were in post-racial society dinosaurus tea rump would not be in the White House [Applause] he he got elected because white people resented having a black man in the White House for eight years it's time to face the truth and say the truth and it's time for women all women and all people of color to stop playing defense and defending what they are and go on the offense we were here first we don't have to apologize for what we are or for what we do now I know some of you are thinking boy this look is she a [ __ ] yes I am now how many of you women have been called the B word look around fellas everybody's heard of come up with a new word now how many of you are called that by a male all right people for me the B word is an acronym for being in total control honey [Applause] and when women are seen in control the men around them call to the b-word you need to say you're right darlin I am and then you need to whip out your little Lorena Bobbit fruit knife now don't do that because some of these boys are scared to death now some of your thinking she doesn't like men oh god do I like men Oh find me one please please some of my best friends are men I was married to one for 59 years when I married him he looked just like Marlon Grendel you bet he did when he died he looked like Teleservices live with me for 59 years and what's your next question [Applause] oh I'm already cutting out questions okay let's talk about privilege the spirt and this goes to you Jane first how did you first become aware this is a reflective question how did you first become aware of your own privilege and how did you first become aware that others had more privileged than you and I'm going to ask the same of you also so you go first I never thought of it as white privilege I just thought if you do the right thing people will do the right thing where you're concerned and because I'm white they did and they were wrong because I've been doing the wrong thing for about well for about 33 years I did the wrong thing I thought I was all right and then I did the blue-eyed brown-eyed exercise and I watched a brilliant little blue-eyed white girl turned into a frightened intimidated unable to learn child in the space of 15 minutes because I accused her of not being smart enough because she had their own color eyes and I watched for dyslexic brown-eyed boys read words they had never been able to read and spell words they had never been able to spell because nobody had ever told them that they could learn to read or spell but on that day they had brown eyes it was obvious it was obvious that the world was theirs they could do anything I found out about expectations that day and I realized that what we have done what we've white folks have done in this country ever since we got here is treat people positively or negatively not on the basis of the color of their skin but on the basis of our ignorance about skin color where it comes from and what it causes this is not about skin color this is about ignorance and the answer to ignorant is education it is not indoctrination it is not schooling and is not training it is education but you have to have teachers who know better if they're going to teach better and teachers can only teach what they learn unfortunately for all of us we've all been led down the same ugly path of thinking that it's all right to claim privilege when what we should be claiming is ignorance we've got the wrong we've got the wrong word here people this problem is white ignorance and white people are running the show now you said you're gonna think she she's a she's a traitor to her race I'm not a traitor to the human race and that's the only race I see make no mistake about that and as long as we start acting as long as we keep on acting as though there are several races we can have panels like this at which we discuss white privilege instead of discussing white ignorance and deciding to do something about it we need to start really furnishing education in these schools instead of furnishing indoctrination that answer your question yes partially all right the rest of the question is so how did you become aware of your own privilege or others having more privileged than you you're talking about pretty much my students it was watching this news I realized watching them that they were exhibiting the behaviors that they were copying from me they acted hey my little brown eyed students the day they were on the top and that exercise became me and it made me sick to my stomach and it does to this day I hate I hate to remember that day because I watched my brown-eyed children who we just loved one another in my classroom we really did and on that day I found out that I don't want to be tolerated because in that classroom my kids tolerated me because I'm who lied the first thing that was said after I told the kids that blue-eyed people are smart is brown-eyed people little blue-eyed a little brown-eyed child in the white role in the front row Debbie Hughes looked up at me and said how come here the teacher here if you got them blue eyes I got a real experience that day and a real educational experience people I found out how I look to people of color and I have spent the last 50 years trying not to look like that and trying to encourage others to stop it say another do I have a few more minutes here my father at the age of 60 watched the film that the CBC made in my classroom the second year I did the exercise they sent me a copy of it and I showed up my father and my mother my father was 60 years old the most honest man the most moral man I've ever known I showed him that film when it was over he stood up and in his bib overalls and his blue chambray shirt rolled up with it to the elbows he reached in his back pocket took out his red hankerchief and with tears in his eyes he blew his nose and said I wish somebody had taught me that when I was nine years old you can criticize what I do until the cows come home and psychologists do until they get smart I don't listen anymore because my father said I wish somebody had taught me that when I was nine years old if somebody had taught my father that when he was nine years old we would never have had to listen to some of the ridiculous racist remarks that he made and he never made them again after he watched that film don't tell me that you can't change people don't tell me that you're too old to change there isn't a person in this room who is too old to change white folks you got to change because within thirty years you will be a numerical minority in the United States of America and you had better proof pray pray to whoever you pray for - or for that people of color are not going to get even with us and treat us the way we have treated them if you can't think if you can't think of any other reason for treating people like equal human beings think of that one because what you do today is creating the future I don't think you want the kind of future that you have provided for people in the present I may be mistaken you may not know what's going on you know what's going on and if I asked you if every white well every white person in this room wants to be treated the way we have treated people with color in this in this country if you'd like to be treated that way all your white folks if you want that for the rest of your life please stand did you understand the directions if you're white and you think blacks have got it so good in this country and you want to be treated the way they have been for the rest of your life just stand up you know why you aren't standing you know it's ugly and you know what's happening and you know you don't want it to happen to you so I want to know why you're so willing to allow it for others in this post-racial society [Music] okay so we're talking about privilege and how you first became aware that others had more privileged than you and how you might have been aware that you had more privileged than others first of all can't explain the workings of racism altogether okay so make that distinction that's really important well do you want me to tell you when I first yes yes yes I had I don't know whether I would say good fortune or bad fortune of growing up in the most segregated city in the United States of America during the 1940s of the 1950s Birmingham Alabama so I can't really tell you when I became aware of racism I think that as I learned to think and learn to conceptualize racism was always in in the forefront I can tell you that I remember when I was about 2 years old I was I was washing my shoelaces my white shoelaces because I was gonna wear them to Sunday school the next day and then suddenly I heard this sound this this this thunderous sound as it turned out the house across the street was being bombed by the Ku Klux Klan because I lived in an area of Birmingham that was right on the edge of the zone that had been created for black people so we were able to live on one side of the street white people on the other side of the street when black people bought a house on the other side of the street it was bombed by the Ku Klux Klan but let me say something parenthetically here because you might you might ask well how is it that black people were able to buy a house in the white neighborhood because of course white people would have to sell it to them it was because white people bought the house white people who were involved in the anti-racist movement bought the house so that black people could challenge the racial zoning laws this was in Birmingham Alabama you might you may have heard of of an Grady from Louisville Kentucky who was one of my mentors I met her when I was very very young and she and her husband car ended up doing the same thing in Louisville they bought a house for a black couple Carl ended up going to the federal penitentiary as a result because he was charged with some incredible racism and I was very fortunate to be raised by a mother who was a teacher my father was a teacher as well I would like to say an education what it means to be an educator because as I've said many times from the moment when I became aware of the fact that black people were treated as inferior I can remember hearing my mother's voice say this is not the way things are supposed to be this is not the way the world is supposed to be organized and one day they will be different so as a result I learned how to imagine a different world early on when I was I don't know three four or five years old and I have I it wasn't so much a personal awareness and I think that often times we tend to only think about racism and personal and personal terms if there's you know something wrong with the this white person because this white person has racist ideas but it's about ideology it's about it's about how larger forces are doing the work through our emotion and our consciousness and the fact that that during that period so many white people not all not all but the vast majority of white people were convinced that that my people were it had something to do with the the way in which we conceptualized freedom I mean white people know that they were free you know during slavery this was supposed to be first great democracy in the world how did people who experienced that democracy know that they were free because they looked at slaves and they were able to say I am because I am NOT a slave I am free because I am not black I am free because I'm not in prison so I think that it's it's really important to to ask ourselves how these larger forces how the state how racist ideology works through individuals assume that is their ideas it's not their ideas before the ability to think they think it has to do with larger forces I've always been interested in and and how these forces connect so when we speak about racism it's not just empty black racism it's it's racism that affects you know all of the communities latina communities indigenous communities but it's also about the relationship between racism and class exploitation it's about the relationship between racism and misogyny racism and transphobia so the term that we often use now intersectional which means to to try to think these things together and ask you know how they reinforce each other and how they they they they create modes of oppression especially violent and dangerous perhaps the community that is most subject to violence both state violence institutional violence and also individual violence [Applause] [Music] often times we're in institutions such as universities we're taught to isolate and analyze and we forget that when we engage in these processes of isolating a concept for the purpose of understanding it we forget that this is not the way the real world works you know we assume that what's in our head is out constitute social reality but social reality is very messy it's not it's not the kinds of as someone who has been a teacher at the university level for many many years 20 years or so training a PhD candidates I can tell you that the hardest thing to teach is the difference between the tools that we use to learn how to understand the world our ability to fully [Music] question let me follow up with her and then I'll come back to you I'm doing this on behalf of the students who organized this event because the word privilege is something they specifically want you to address you said you'd made a distinction between racism and privilege how does privilege fit in to what you're talking about I think concept and in the sense it comes from w EBD voice and his notion of the wages of whiteness you know what you the wages the metaphorical wages that you are paid simply because you are white or someone like Cheryl Harris who writes about whiteness as property a whiteness as a kind of valuable property for peggy mcintosh who of course writes about privilege as being all kinds of codes and you know ways in the world I think about what's-his-name in the White House but I was watching I was watching one of his I don't know why I was watching one of his I really don't but but what struck me was that there is always a black person sitting right behind him there's always a black person and that black person holds up a sign saying blacks for Donald Trump or something something ridiculous like that I want to make is that black people are also implicated in the way racism works particularly when one considers that now more than ever before there are black people at in in in the corporate world the thing I didn't speak about was capitalism the origins of racism has always been racial we should say racial capitalism and therefore white workers who are clearly exploited and oppressed by the capitalist system should recognize that until we purge our planet of racism there will be there will be no way to move beyond this exploitative a way of providing the things that people need the world just and I'll say you know what you know why is it that production happens economic production happens not because we as human beings and we are all one as jane pointed out have needs and we need to eat and we need clothing and we need chairs and all of these things but it happens in order to provide profit really small number of people in the world [Applause] eight men because they're all men on the planet oh and that is obscene that's the ultimate privilege I would say and I'll be quiet I'm gonna stop teaching here they came to hear you you wanted to say something today I asked a young woman how long she thinks this has been going on this racism against Blacks how long do you think it's been going on forever you're wrong five hundred years during the Spanish Inquisition the people who were running the Spanish Inquisition killing people because their religion found out that they killed a whole lot of people who had the right religion they couldn't tell what their religion is by looking at them so they decided they had to find another way to identify the people that they were going to kill and enslave and/or enslave so they set upon skin color people it's only five hundred years old now think of that it's only five hundred years old nobody was born a racist there is no gene for bigotry you were not born a racist you have to be taught to be a racist and you have to be carefully carefully taught and if you haven't seen that that musical in which the last song is you have to be taught to be afraid of people who's that who's begin as a different shade of people whose eyes are differently made you have to be carefully taught fact yes South Pacific you have to be taught before it's too late before you are six or seven or eight to hate all the people your relatives hate you have to be carefully taught that's what we have to do in this country to keep this racism alive if we want racism to stop we have to stop teaching racism in our homes in our churches people Jesus did not look like the little Pillsbury Doughboy [Applause] and God is not an old white man with a long gray beard that looks like Charlton Heston playing Moses and Mary did not have pale skin blond hair and blue eyes get over it and do it now you can make a difference if you choose to you young people how many of you have parents mothers who are really tired of sending Christmas cards I'll tell you how to solve that problem go down to the store buy a box of Christmas cards with the Holy Family picture on it take it home color and write when your mother sends those out this year she'll never get another Christmas card commissioners people people we have to absolutely refuse to tolerate the intolerable any felonies Elsa you must not tolerate the intolerable and if it's intolerable for you my cousin's been by the gods of war it's intolerable for me and I will not tolerate it I this has gone on long enough this has gone on long enough and we have gone along to get along long enough we need to put a stop to it and you can educators can educators can change this if I can you can get busy [Applause] this is a question that fits right with what you're saying how can we talk about race and privilege with openness and inclusiveness in a way that prevents people from shutting down people can shut down or not that's up to them okay I let me tell you something I am not responsible for how you respond to me you got it I flat out don't care if you learn something in here to this evening from this woman who has forgotten more than I'll ever know about racism and what little I know if you decide to learn something in here tonight you'll learn something if you decide to be mad you'll be mad go ahead I don't care that's your problem not mine I'm not responsible for how you feel I am responsible for what I say I'm responsible for what I do you're responsible for your response to it be responsible for your responses okay I want to hear what Angela has to say to this because well I totally agree with Jane okay how can I not accept as someone who has spent many many years teaching university students teaching graduate students I've learned that it's it makes no sense for me to simply tell my students what it is I think they ought to know you know they might they might learn enough to write a good paper and then they'll move on moving in another direction so so I've come to the conclusion that teaching really is about helping people to ask the right questions to ask the right questions and to be able to come to the conclusion themselves that there is something really terribly wrong with the way racism has shaped the history of this planet so I I mean I think education is is about unleashing the imagination what what teachers unfortunately most often do is shut down the imagination and to prevent people from exploring the world in their own ways and so I think that certainly there are many questions to be asked about about race and racism about the fact that race is a fictive concept as Jane was pointing out we're all members of the same human race race is a social construction race was produced by racism but of course this does not mean that it doesn't cause damage in the world that it hasn't been the producer the generator of the worst kind of violence of one can imagine but I think that that that what we try to do is to get people to come to that conclusion on their own and not on their own as individuals see one of the reasons we have so many problems in this country and in this world particularly during this neoliberal era is because we have been encouraged to think of ourselves as individuals primarily and not members of a larger community you know so when we think about getting rid of racism we think about changing individuals it's not going to happen simply by changing individuals the structures are produced racism even when the individuals assume that they are anti-racist you know what how is it that we ended up with a a prison system with with such a vast majority of people of color you know how is it that that there are over two million people in the jails and prisons and immigrant detention facilities and jails in an Indian country and military prison how did that how did that happen if we if we don't you know ask the kinds of questions that will allow us to understand how racism shapes all of the important institutional structures in this society and that simply simply changing people's minds is going to solve the problem I mean we right now we're watching the trial of what is Nate what is his name Jason van Dyke in Chicago laQuan McDonald you remember the killing of I think the policeman's name is Jason that's right okay you checked it you probably googled it huh and no longer can we assume that simply by holding this individual police officer responsible for what was a horrendous murder because we saw the tape right where you shot him how many times 14 15 16 16 16 16 and even if someone like this police officer gets sentenced to to prison for life that's not going to change the police apparatus that's not going to make any such and so we also have to learn how to think in terms of changing these institutions and these repressive apparatus is and and this is why we need to see ourselves as a part of a community of struggle a community of resistance of people who are like-minded and who are committed to engaging racism and all of the relations over decades okay it's gonna take to purge this world okay so people came to hear you and you have issued a call both of you that things do need to change you're talking about systemic change and changing minds what are three things that each person in this room can do as individuals at home work communities to advance the understanding of race and privilege and its role in social justice issues what's the call for action you would issue to this group turn off your television pick up a book [Applause] go out of your way to meet somebody you would never have wanted to meet before look at that person as a cousin to say I want to know what I can do to make my life less ugly where you're concerned and never white people walk up to the nearest black person and say what's it like to be black and never when I come to speak to your school your your college or university never say to me I think we should ignore differences and talk about similarities similarities are more important than differences and never let me hear you say when I see people I don't see people as black or brown or red or yellow I just [Applause] and how about this one from a teacher I don't care whether you're black brown red yellow or green with purple polka dots I'm gonna treat you all alike how many of you have heard that one out of a teacher how many of you have ever seen people who are green with purple polka dots well you see when a teacher lumps all those people in with those who are green with purple polka dots she say you're all like aliens from another planet she never says white in there she never says white because it's alright to see white how many of you have had a person stand up when you were speaking and say I just look for the person's art people the next time somebody says that to you you need to say if you can see my heart from where you are you should go down to the local hospital and volunteer to be their x-ray machine you see this whole thing is ridiculous to treat people positively or negatively on the basis of your ignorance about skin color is ridiculous now here's something else you can do go to my website a teacher and a teacher of your educator quite frankly gave me a list of commitments to combat racism go to my website Jane Elliott com take that list download it go through a check yes those that you have done check know those that you haven't done Circle one that you check no and do it for a month at the end of the month take out the paper and make note side as to how your life has changed as a result of doing that one thing there are 18 things on that paper then read the list of typical statements that white folks make that think they are greatest check those that you would be inclined to say that you have heard then read the clarifications of those statements how they are being heard by the person to whom you're saying them if you do that that will change your quite awareness and our problem is white lack of awareness make no mistake about this people of color know about racism they recognize it when they hear it and when you say to a person of color I don't see you black you ought to have your tongue cut out first you can't have I can't examine your heads but people if what you are saying is being perceived as racist say something else perception is everything if what you are saying is being perceived as racist change your language you can do that if you choose to you better choose to but you better choose to there are 18 things on that list of commitments to combat racism I challenge you to do three of them in the next three months it'll change people's attitude toward you and your awareness of the world and a call to action what could they do concretely well you know I am a person who has always believed in the power of unity and United struggles so I would say find some kind of organization whether it's a cultural organization a political organization figure out a way to become a part of a larger community a community that is larger than your own individual self but there's the things that individuals can do and since you asked for three that's the first one join an organization the second one is and this holds true for white people as well as for people of color whenever you hear a racist comment being offered call them on it right there wherever and you are that's right don't don't let it pass and I would also like to say that it's especially important for us to recognize the differences among different communities of color and to become aware of of those struggles for example what can black people do to support the the struggle to defend the immigrant rights movement and why it is it is absolutely racist to assume that citizenship is equivalent to documents that you can determine a person's commitment based on a piece of paper that they have or don't have and especially now during this period we all have to stand up in support of undocumented immigrants and because because of the impact of Islamophobia an anti-muslim racism all over the world and because of the ways in which the whole functioning of racism has been transformed considered local police departments all over this country that have been trained in counterinsurgency tactics and strategies anti-terrorist approaches and in many instances I have to say they're trained by the the State of Israel and the Israeli army and recognize that because of the fact that the US is responsible for the continuation of the occupation of Israel our struggle against racism here in the United States is contingent on our ability to support our Palestinian sisters and brothers I mean after all Palestinian activists on the ground in Palestine were the very first to offer solidarity for those who were demonstrating at Ferguson there was a very first okay one because I just I have to urge us to think about the way in which racism gets reproduced through sexism and misogyny and vice versa so if it's true that you should not you should never allow a racist statement to go unanswered wherever you are it is also the case I'm saying this especially to the men in the audience that when and particularly when you are in all-male circles and someone makes an officer Maher off-the-wall remark about women you have to stand up and say no you have to say no longer will this be and and so I think that if we get a sense that we're we're all in this together we're all in this together and women have to recognize that this is our time black women are in the leadership of movements all over the world and I'm I'm thinking about someone like Mariela Franco who was assassinated in Brazil because of her work and you know we say that when when when women rise up when black women finally stand up the whole world stands with them [Applause] okay so I'm going to if you have questions start getting them read in your head we're not gonna have much time so you're gonna have a limited time in the mic I want to just make a comment on what you said about Israel because a friend of mine who's Jewish says to me that one of those distressing things that she encounters is people who confuse Jewishness as a religion with Israel as a political state so I just wanted to make sure that you you are talking about a political state you're not generalizing to a religion there are large numbers of Jewish people that you are involved in the campaign against the occupation of Palestine you know as a matter of fact I mean I work I work with an organization that is called Jewish Voice for Peace and they're in the forefront of encouraging an understanding of the religious 'm the relationship between anti-semitism Islamophobia anti let latinos racism etcetera I just wanted to make sure cuz we have to say that yes and that shows you the way ideology functions okay questions okay okay go stop Rena go for it is the mic working the mic is not working do you want to use mine okay I'll stare we can share this is this one okay geez so on behalf of the Graduate College of Social Work in the University of Houston we wanted to thank you so much for coming and sharing your time with us so we have a huge live streaming audience that is tuning in and capturing every awesome second of this so we wanted to start the Q&A with a question from our social media audience so the question that we received the most is and this is open to both of you for response what has Colin Kaepernick's take a knee protest taught us about race and privilege [Applause] oh I sure do thank you very much for that the star-spangled banner is one of the most racist songs ever number two the last line of the star-spangled banner says will say shall that star-spangled banner yet wave or the land of the free and the home of the brave now make no mistake about this on this stage because of the situation in this country I represent the land of the free and so the people in the stands at those football games those black players on them on the field represent the home of the brave and she represents the home of the brave I can say the things I say and I've been saying him for 50 years because I'm white and I can get away with it and I've been and I've been threatened with death and they had to take me out of Uniontown Pennsylvania at midnight because the teachers call the superintendent said if you don't get that [ __ ] out of town we're gonna shoot her so they got me out of town cuz he didn't want me shot in Uniontown they didn't care if I was shot him Paris Harrisburg but they didn't never want me shot in Uniontown people we live in the land of the free and the home of the brave a month that three months ago I was at the University of Indiana and they said we think we should forget about differences and talk about similarities so I had a tall white male stand on my left and a tall black female stand on my right on the stage and I said now you folks any differences here and of course the first thing they said was height and I thought you fools you just you just failed the test I knew what they would say because I've done it so often so I said to this tall white male is your height important to you he said well I said did you earn it no is it a physical characteristic over which you have no control yes does it give you power yes ask the black female the same thing she said well but there are other issues to deal with I said we're going to deal with him so then we dealt with sex they said sexist I asked this white man if he if sex is important to him I turned him into a man of color immediately during rape and brick read then then I had to stop wouldn't say is the fact that you're male important to you yes does it gives you power yes she has power as a white male he has power at all male at all male so they said then they said age and then finally somebody said color and I said thank you very much in 50 years of asking these questions you are the first group in which somebody has said color now are you talking about skin color or hair color this woman said skin color so I said this tall white male is your skin color important to you and this is an administrator at a college in a university he said I never have to think about it think about that I never have to think about I was just furious and I said did you earn it no is it a physical characteristic over which you have no control yes there's your skin color give you power yes I said as are you pretty free to do and say and be and go wherever you choose as long as you stay within the confines of law he said yes I'm free and I'm not afraid of anything I turned to this tall black beautiful woman and I said to her he's a totally free man sometimes does it get Curt take courage for you to get out of bed in the morning and she's paused for a long loan and then she said I'm going to say something I've never seen in public out loud before because I've been ashamed to I said and that is she said I have two children they're both daughters both times when I was pregnant I prayed that I wouldn't have a son because I didn't want to think of what he'd have to go through I didn't want to think about what I'd have to go through when I lost him I looked up at that black woman and there was one tear slowly coursing its way down that left cheek of that beautiful black woman this tall white man beside me was going to eat and I thought you I thought ugly things I said to that group what the hell have we done how long will you continue to educate in ways that make this woman hope she doesn't have sons because of what this society might do to them I'll never forget that moment that was the probably if we had had a tape of that we could change the world white women you don't want to be thought of the way we were thinking of you at that moment women white women want to have sons to carry on the family name we live in the land of the free and the home of the brave the white man on that stage was in the land of the free that black woman was in the home of the brave people you need to realize that I know there are some brave white men but they choose to be or not to be brave black women have no choice they have to be brave every day [Applause] I really love : company he's he's quite remarkable and I think that when one looks at what is happening within culture music and sports one gets a sense of of the changes that can potentially happen in the larger society when when when football players begin to speak out against racism that means that the world has got to change and and let me just say this it because you know Trump he's he's a very confusing person and he confuses everything and his assumption is that that kneeling when the star-spangled banner is is played and I agree with you it's a militarist racist anthem we should have had lift every voice and sing [Music] [Applause] but Colin did not want to give the impression that he was speaking out against the country but rather that he was protesting of the racists violence of police departments and the fact that you know young black people were being killed and and at first he said and this veteran told him well that's really not cool to just sit because it seems like you're being unpatriotic and you know there's a way to be patriotic as a matter of fact for many years we talked about people in struggle as the other America you know the America to which we dedicate our energy and resources for change but anyway this this veteran said well you know when we want to pay tribute to people who have fallen we kneel and so that was the origin of the gesture to pay tribute to those who have fallen [Applause] and it is also it is also related to Neil Innes which happened during the civil rights era where there would be Neil Innes against segregation so I'm I am so happy that : camper Nick continued to speak out and people like Michael Bennett I don't know if you're familiar with Michael Bennett who was who just recently got traded by the Seahawks he's then Philip where is he football fans he's in Philadelphia right well Michael Bennett has written an amazing book called things that make white people uncomfortable so I would suggest that you you you you look at that when sports and culture begin to reveal the signs of resistance that means that something is really going on in this country [Applause] Conny with somebody get Ally would you find Connie okay next question yes hi my name is Sam Oh Sara I'm a local independent journalist in Houston Houston I came close to having a democratic system replaced completely removed and replaced with appointed managers there are two bills and taxes that are Pro Charter Pro privatization of public schools thank you and they almost removed a democratic system here in Houston activists including black lives matter Houston rising Houston Democratic Socialist they urged Houston elected officials and board trustees to sue the Texas Education Agency who is Pro charter and they haven't what is your take on this what words of advice would you give to elected officials who are in this room mind you [Applause] and and what words of advice would you give to people in this room to fight neoliberal systems that are in Houston [Applause] with poison okay alright there are some elected officials in the house I understand and you know let me say that electoral politics a problematic I mean our two-party system is really messed up because it shuts out so many people and so many ideas but but us let me set that aside and point out the importance of local politics especially at a time when we are witnessing the effort to turn the country back to the period when you know White was really right it's a make America great again make America white again you know that's what it's all about and as you were pointing out privatization is a major threat it's the production of global capitalism privatization of Education privatization of punishment as a matter of fact what's interesting is that before Trump was elected Obama had and you know I have a lot of critiques of Obama as well but though we wish we had him now but Obama had had announced the intent to end all federal contracts with private prisons and as a matter of fact their stocks were beginning to decline all of the private prison companies Corrections Corporation of America core civic geo and and because prison privatization considers the most profitable dimension to be the incarceration of undocumented immigrants and Trump announced the intent well we don't even have to talk about the way in which he used the issue of undocumented immigrants to ideologically confuse the electorate and that's basically why he was elected so so I think that it's the responsibility of local officials to speak out against that and and to to recognize that that there is no future for this planet if we assent to the kind of privatization that has run run amok it's a juggernaut of privatization all over the world it's about increasing increasing the wealth of the planet and ever decreasing numbers of hands and if local of public officials can't stand up against that then then we have to we have office we have to replace them but also I think more importantly we have to create the kind of movements outside of the electoral arena that will force elected officials to understand where it is we need to be going in the world how many of you didn't how many of you are old enough to vote in the last election how many of you didn't vote in the last election if you want to change the local officials you go to the local official and say I have this many people who are gonna vote you out of office now what do you want to do you can either we give you six weeks to change your behaviors and if you haven't changed your behavior in six weeks we as a group are going to vote you out of office that that means people they did it with the union movement and President Reagan destroyed the union movement you need to get together and go to these people and say here are the things that are wrong write them or gold are you afraid of them yes you are and you should be because they can vote you out of life and you know I'm so do I join groups that are determined to change the situation don't tell me that one person can't make a difference that woman is only one person and she has made a difference all over the world [Applause] and I'm an angry old white woman and I'm sick of this and if you want to make a difference go to the polls and take people with you do it that's why I have votes we are all the time I've just got instructions two more questions I'm so sorry to the rest of you in line there will be two more questions if anybody has to leave feel free to get up now we'll tip if you leave we'll take your questions can y'all hear me okay all right sir so before I ask my question I definitely want to like a shout out to student groups on campus that are definitely trying to make a difference for undocumented students if you're trying to highlight for undocumented immigrants that there's a youth empowerment Alliance at UAH find them on Facebook and then there's also the students for justice in Palestine yeah I'll just go with my question cuz I don't want to take some too much time but I have a question about erasure and forgetting I've been seeing it two times so one on the news with John McCain like everybody but I don't respect lies so and then I've sent it I've seen it a second time here in one of my own Social Work classes where I'm showing a film about the history of nonprofits but they don't include anything about the Black Panthers right so I'm wondering what do you have to talk about when it comes to keeping narratives as pure as possible and reminding so we don't forget these things keeping narratives as pure as possible you know I'm not sure whether we need to keep the narratives pure but I do think that we have to try to play a role in reversing this historical amnesia and you're absolutely right it was the Black Panther Party that originally came up with the idea of of serving breakfast to children who were unable to learn hungry and it's of course it's interesting now that there are official governmental free breakfast programs run by the Department of Agriculture but the Department of Agriculture never never refers that program to the Black Panther Party and I think that that we we create counter narratives and we're never certain whether those counter narratives are actually going to become hegemonic to use a term that some of you who are academics are familiar with where we're never absolutely certain but if we don't do that work that will be lost forever and you know the fact that finally now Rosa Parks is recognized not as a tired old woman and she oh she pointed out that she wasn't even old when she refused to and she definitely wasn't tired but that she was an organizer she was a leader she had done work chipton auntie rape investigation she had done investigations of white supremacist groups flow gang raking gang raping gang raping black women in Alabama before she refused to move to the back of the bus so and so now we're recognizing this but that would have been lost forever her role as an organized if we hadn't continue to develop the what what I guess there's some academics in the audience right yeah are there what Foucault calls subjugated knowledge and I you know we we do it graduate students can do it by changing your citational practices [Applause] you know you assume that in order to footnote something it has to have already made its way into academic discourse but as a matter of fact many of these ideas have other origins knowledge this isn't the only venue for the production of knowledge knowledge --is is produced and movements it's produced in the trade union movement it's produced in prisms and I try I've tried to teach my graduate students to develop more imaginative ways of citing and recognizing that you know something that happened at an activist conference can be cited as a legitimate form of the production of knowledge and I'll just you know I'll say finally I do a lot of work in prison studies we haven't really had the opportunity to talk a great deal about prisons this evening but you know ever since I was arrested and well actually I was already doing prison work when I was placed on the FBI's ten most wanted list and ended up going to prison myself but we have an academic field that is now called critical prison studies it's interdisciplinary it involves it involves the social sciences it involves the humanities it involves the arts and this field this field which can now claim many many scholars who are doing work in it came about as a result of the work of Chris and intellectuals of people in prison who were trying to understand the working of of that apparatus so I think that your your question is really really important to keep looking for ways to make sure the subjugated knowledge isn't isn't completely eradicated last question friends the rest of you a headline I'm so sorry good evening my name is July McShea I'm a professor here in Houston I used to be across the street at Texas Southern now I'm down at Pasadena San Jacinto College it's a top ten junior college in the nation and we're being reviewed as the number one in the nation so y'all support sanjak so it's our honor to stand here to represent such a renowned institution but I'm not just standing here representing San Jacinto or Texas Southern which I am an alumnus and a former Oh shorten time I know I'm here right I'm representing all of that as a black woman a black woman from the south because that's what people see first they see my color and as a political science professor I'm charged with bringing what's happening in the world into the classroom every day there's plenty going on with Labor Day having been Monday I wanted the students to like discuss labor issue so with it being the 50th anniversary of the Sanitation strike in Memphis I shared that photo and I asked them tell me what you see and you know they had the long guns and they had the tanks and all of that I was like we had discussed last week the militarization responses that have been going on with like Ferguson and so I let them know that that was nothing new but for some odd reason that I just can't understand and maybe you can give me some tools to eradicate this the students still found excuses for the militarization they still found some excuse these men had picket signs that's it and they still found an excuse when I showed them the new Nike commercial they still found excuses they said well it's disrespect it's disrespect worth a hole in the top of Brown's head so please equip me with some tools that I can share with my students to get them out of that foolishness of saying oh it's disrespectful to the flag because I've gone over the lyrics to the star-spangled banner with them so just help me understand the question it's time not only to change the narrative of a change to start telling the truth it's time for kids to know all kids of all kinds and grown-ups to normal all kinds that black history didn't start with slavery if you haven't if you haven't introduced your students to Anthony browsers nile valley contributions to civilization you haven't done your students a fair job if you haven't introduced your students to the book stop falling for the okey doke you haven't done your students a fair job it's time for these kids to go hear from Robert Wald Sussman's book which is the myth of race that this whole thing is a myth and it's time to stop believing the myth and it's time to stop teaching the myth and it's time to realize that blacks were doing cataract surgery with metal instruments before there were hospitals in Europe it's time to it's time to realize that blacks will intelligence creative adventurous curious brilliant people before you like books evolved it's time to start teaching the truth if you if we don't start teaching the truth pretty soon people we're in really big trouble it's time to start teaching the truth now what people aren't going to be happy with those truths but eventually they'll be better off eventually they will realize that they have been they have been misread for the last 400 years it's time to give up the myth it's time to tell the truth in history people what were the names of Columbus was three ships people vine deloria says he left the old country with four ships but one fell off the edge now it makes as much sense to tell that as it is to tell as it does to tell that Columbus discovered America people you can't discover up late people a place where people are already living they discovered it before you got there it's time to demythologize the schools and history we are not teaching history we're teaching hysteria it's time to it's time to start teaching the truth we can make a huge difference just by doing that for one day at a time just one day at a time if you tell your kids is something they have never heard before and they call them tell it to their parents especially as mind in and one of the parents was a head of the school board it changes the way that the way the system operates because that parent has to start thinking in new ways in order to get along with that kid you want to make there you want to make home uncomfortable people by telling the truth we need some discomfort [Applause] well you all have been offending phenomenal audience our speakers have informed us delighted us thrilled us and educated us and so thanks to all of you for being here and for this evening thank you [Music] [Applause] thank you [Applause] [Music] thank you all again for being here this evening oh and just once again thank our speakers our moderator all of you for being here let's give all of you a round of applause for being here tonight I also want to thank our sponsors the Simmons foundation and ACLU of Texas for their support thank you and as I mentioned when we began at the Graduate College of Social Work we're committed to continuing these conversations so I hope that you'll stay connected to us you could follow us on our social media channels follow us at our website sign up for our electronic newsletter if you're interested in learning more about the Graduate College of Social Work particularly if you're interested in being a student here there's information out in the front lobby and I want to invite you all to continue celebrating our 50th anniversary with us by joining us for our next event on October 10th our speaking of social justice lecture featuring two-time National Book Award winner Jasmine Ward October 10th I hope to see you all there thank you and have a wonderful evening [Music]

Channel: UHGCSW

Views: 647,408

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Id: S0jf8D5WHoo

Length: 102min 40sec (6160 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 07 2018