Back When We ALL Cared About Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice

Four years ago my second TEDx Talk, Beyond Empathy: Next Steps in Talking About Race, was published. I admit that it is a lot rougher than my more popular first Talk (What I Am Learning From My White Grandchildren: Truths About Race) published 6 years earlier. On that first occasion, we presenters had gathered for months honing each other’s Talks. On the day of presentation, we had an auditorium, stage and audience. We can’t underestimate the value of an attentive audience when “performing” on stage.

This second Talk was during the pandemic. In fact, I had just been released from COVID quarantine. My body has some visible ways of telling me when it’s not totally okay. When I’m presenting, one of the signs is the “stutter” that appears. But if I’m up there speaking, it’s because I think I have something important or maybe even unique to say, so when given the opportunity, I push through even if the outcome isn’t pretty. Also, for this Talk there was no audience. I got no immediate feedback. We recorded in a music studio. The only other person present was the engineer behind the glass. And I was expected to use a teleprompter, something I had never used before. These were all my words, of course, but the teleprompter was supposed to help with timing. Instead it bred anxiety.

With all those caveats, I am proud to repost this Talk. Unfortunately it has aged pretty well. Seems we might even need it more now than we did then. This Talk is a tiny drop in the broad information that circulated 4 years ago about how we got into a racial mess and how we can all be better human beings with one another. Scholars, activists, authors and ordinary people seized the moment.

It was a turning point. Until it all reversed upon itself.

So here we are. And I am happy to re-launch this salvo with hopes that it can help some of us regain our bearings.

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This post was previously published on medium.com.

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