An interview with the founders of Black Lives Matter
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0:02 - 0:06Mia Birdsong: Why is Black Lives Matter
important for the US right now -
0:06 - 0:08and in the world?
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0:09 - 0:12Patrisse Cullors: Black Lives Matter
is our call to action. -
0:12 - 0:17It is a tool to reimagine a world
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0:17 - 0:20where black people are free to exist,
-
0:20 - 0:22free to live.
-
0:22 - 0:26It is a tool for our allies
to show up differently for us. -
0:26 - 0:29I grew up in a neighborhood
that was heavily policed. -
0:30 - 0:34I witnessed my brothers and my siblings
-
0:34 - 0:38continuously stopped and frisked
by law enforcement. -
0:38 - 0:40I remember my home being raided.
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0:41 - 0:44And one of my questions
as a child was, why? -
0:44 - 0:46Why us?
-
0:46 - 0:51Black Lives Matter
offers answers to the why. -
0:52 - 0:57It offers a new vision
for young black girls around the world -
0:57 - 1:00that we deserve to be fought for,
-
1:00 - 1:06that we deserve to call
on local governments to show up for us. -
1:07 - 1:09Opal Tometi: And antiblack racism --
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1:09 - 1:12(Applause)
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1:12 - 1:16And antiblack racism is not only
happening in the United States. -
1:16 - 1:19It's actually happening
all across the globe. -
1:19 - 1:23And what we need now more than ever
is a human rights movement -
1:23 - 1:28that challenges systemic racism
in every single context. -
1:28 - 1:31(Applause)
-
1:32 - 1:36We need this because the global reality
-
1:36 - 1:41is that black people
are subject to all sorts of disparities -
1:41 - 1:45in most of our most challenging
issues of our day. -
1:45 - 1:48I think about issues like climate change,
-
1:48 - 1:53and how six of the 10 worst impacted
nations by climate change -
1:53 - 1:56are actually on the continent of Africa.
-
1:57 - 2:02People are reeling
from all sorts of unnatural disasters, -
2:02 - 2:05displacing them
from their ancestral homes -
2:05 - 2:08and leaving them without a chance
at making a decent living. -
2:09 - 2:13We also see disasters
like Hurricane Matthew, -
2:13 - 2:16which recently wreaked havoc
in many different nations, -
2:16 - 2:19but caused the most damage to Haiti.
-
2:20 - 2:24Haiti is the poorest country
in this hemisphere, -
2:24 - 2:27and its inhabitants are black people.
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2:28 - 2:30And what we're seeing in Haiti
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2:30 - 2:33is that they were actually facing
a number of challenges -
2:33 - 2:36that even preceded this hurricane.
-
2:36 - 2:38They were reeling from the earthquake,
-
2:38 - 2:42they were reeling from cholera
that was brought in by UN peacekeepers -
2:42 - 2:44and still hasn't been eradicated.
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2:45 - 2:47This is unconscionable.
-
2:47 - 2:53And this would not happen if this nation
didn't have a population that was black, -
2:53 - 2:55and we have to be real about that.
-
2:55 - 2:57But what's most heartening right now
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2:57 - 2:59is that despite these challenges,
-
2:59 - 3:02what we're seeing is
that there's a network of Africans -
3:02 - 3:04all across the continent
-
3:04 - 3:08who are rising up and fighting back
and demanding climate justice. -
3:08 - 3:10(Applause)
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3:12 - 3:13MB: So Alicia,
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3:13 - 3:16you've said that when
black people are free, -
3:16 - 3:18everyone is free.
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3:18 - 3:20Can you talk about what that means?
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3:20 - 3:21Alicia Garza: Sure.
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3:21 - 3:25So I think race and racism
is probably the most studied -
3:25 - 3:29social, economic and political
phenomenon in this country, -
3:29 - 3:32but it's also the least understood.
-
3:32 - 3:35The reality is that race
in the United States -
3:35 - 3:38operates on a spectrum
from black to white. -
3:38 - 3:42Doesn't mean that people who are
in between don't experience racism, -
3:42 - 3:46but it means that the closer
you are to white on that spectrum, -
3:46 - 3:47the better off you are.
-
3:47 - 3:50And the closer to black
that you are on that spectrum -
3:50 - 3:52the worse off your are.
-
3:52 - 3:56When we think about
how we address problems in this country, -
3:56 - 4:00we often start from a place
of trickle-down justice. -
4:00 - 4:02So using white folks
as the control we say, -
4:02 - 4:05well, if we make things
better for white folks -
4:05 - 4:07then everybody else is going to get free.
-
4:07 - 4:09But actually it doesn't work that way.
-
4:09 - 4:12We have to address problems at the root,
-
4:12 - 4:16and when you deal with what's
happening in black communities, -
4:16 - 4:18it creates an effervescence, right?
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4:19 - 4:21So a bubble up rather than a trickle down.
-
4:21 - 4:23Let me give an example.
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4:23 - 4:25When we talk about the wage gap,
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4:25 - 4:30we often say women make 78 cents
to every dollar that a man makes. -
4:30 - 4:32You all have heard that before.
-
4:32 - 4:35But those are the statistics
for white women and white men. -
4:35 - 4:39The reality is that black women
make something like 64 cents -
4:39 - 4:42to every 78 cents that white women make.
-
4:43 - 4:47When we talk about latinas,
it goes down to about 58 cents. -
4:47 - 4:49If we were to talk about indigenous women,
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4:49 - 4:51if we were to talk about trans women,
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4:51 - 4:53it would even go further down.
-
4:53 - 4:54So again,
-
4:54 - 4:57if you deal with those
who are the most impacted, -
4:57 - 5:00everybody has an opportunity
to benefit from that, -
5:00 - 5:04rather than dealing with the folks
who are not as impacted, -
5:04 - 5:06and expecting it to trickle down.
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5:06 - 5:08MB: So I love the effervescence,
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5:08 - 5:09bubbling up.
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5:09 - 5:11AG: Effervescence -- like champagne.
-
5:11 - 5:12(Laughter)
-
5:12 - 5:14MB: Who doesn't love
a glass of champagne, right? -
5:14 - 5:16Champagne and freedom, right?
-
5:16 - 5:17(Laughter)
-
5:17 - 5:19What more could we want, y'all?
-
5:19 - 5:22So you all have been
doing this for a minute, -
5:22 - 5:26and the last few years have been --
-
5:26 - 5:27well, I can't even imagine,
-
5:27 - 5:29but I'm sure very transformative.
-
5:29 - 5:33And I know that you all
have learned a lot about leadership. -
5:33 - 5:36What do you want
to share with these people -
5:36 - 5:38about what you've learned
about leadership? -
5:38 - 5:39Patrisse, let's start with you.
-
5:39 - 5:42PC: Yeah, we have to invest
in black leadership. -
5:42 - 5:44That's what I've learned the most
in the last few years. -
5:44 - 5:47(Applause)
-
5:47 - 5:53What we've seen is thousands
of black people showing up for our lives -
5:53 - 5:56with very little infrastructure
and very little support. -
5:57 - 6:03I think our work as movement leaders
isn't just about our own visibility -
6:03 - 6:07but rather how do we
make the whole visible. -
6:07 - 6:10How do we not just fight
for our individual selves -
6:10 - 6:12but fight for everybody?
-
6:12 - 6:16And I also think
-
6:16 - 6:20leadership looks like
everybody in this audience -
6:21 - 6:24showing up for black lives.
-
6:24 - 6:28It's not just about coming
and watching people on a stage, right? -
6:28 - 6:30It's about how do you
become that leader -- -
6:30 - 6:34whether it's in your workplace,
whether it's in your home -- -
6:34 - 6:38and believe that the movement
for black lives isn't just for us, -
6:38 - 6:40but it's for everybody.
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6:41 - 6:45(Applause)
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6:45 - 6:47MB: What about you, Opal?
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6:47 - 6:50OT: So I've been learning
a great deal about interdependence. -
6:50 - 6:54I've been learning
about how to trust your team. -
6:54 - 6:56I've come up with this new mantra
-
6:56 - 6:59after coming back
from a three-month sabbatical, -
6:59 - 7:02which is rare for black women to take
who are in leadership, -
7:02 - 7:07but I felt it was really important
for my leadership and for my team -
7:07 - 7:09to also practice stepping back
-
7:10 - 7:12as well as also sometimes stepping in.
-
7:12 - 7:17And what I learned in this process
was that we need to acknowledge -
7:17 - 7:21that different people
contribute different strengths, -
7:21 - 7:25and that in order
for our entire team to flourish, -
7:25 - 7:29we have to allow them
to share and allow them to shine. -
7:29 - 7:30And so during my sabbatical
-
7:30 - 7:33with the organization
that I also work with, -
7:33 - 7:36I saw our team rise up in my absence.
-
7:36 - 7:39They were able to launch new programs,
-
7:39 - 7:40fundraise.
-
7:40 - 7:42And when I came back,
-
7:42 - 7:46I had to give them
a lot of gratitude and praise -
7:46 - 7:50because they showed me
that they truly had my back -
7:50 - 7:53and that they truly had their own backs.
-
7:53 - 7:55You know, in this process
of my sabbatical, -
7:55 - 7:57I was really reminded
-
7:57 - 8:02of this Southern African
philosophy of Ubuntu. -
8:02 - 8:04I am because you are;
-
8:05 - 8:06you are because I am.
-
8:07 - 8:11And I realized that my own leadership,
-
8:11 - 8:13and the contributions
that I'm able to make, -
8:13 - 8:17is in large part due to the contributions
that they make, right? -
8:17 - 8:20And I have to acknowledge that,
and I have to see that, -
8:20 - 8:23and so my new mantra is,
"Keep calm and trust the team." -
8:24 - 8:26And also,
-
8:26 - 8:28"Keep calm and thank the team."
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8:28 - 8:31MB: You know, one of the things
I feel like I've heard -
8:31 - 8:34in the context of the Black Lives Matter
movement more than anywhere else -
8:34 - 8:37is about being a leaderful movement,
-
8:37 - 8:38and that's such a beautiful concept,
-
8:38 - 8:40and I think that something
-
8:40 - 8:43that women often bring
to the conversation about leadership -
8:43 - 8:44is really the collective piece.
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8:44 - 8:45What about you, Alicia?
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8:46 - 8:48AG: Yeah ...
-
8:48 - 8:51How many of you heard that saying
that leadership is lonely? -
8:53 - 8:56I think that there is an element
where leadership is lonely, -
8:56 - 9:00but I also believe
that it doesn't have to be like that. -
9:00 - 9:02And in order for us to get to that point,
-
9:02 - 9:05I think there's a few things
that we need to be doing. -
9:05 - 9:09So one is we have to stop
treating leaders like superheroes. -
9:09 - 9:15We are ordinary people
attempting to do extraordinary things, -
9:15 - 9:17and so we need to be
supported in that way. -
9:18 - 9:20The other thing that
I've learned about leadership -
9:20 - 9:27is that there's a difference
between leadership and celebrities, right? -
9:27 - 9:32And there's a way in which we've been
kind of transformed into celebrities -
9:32 - 9:35rather than people
who are trying to solve a problem. -
9:36 - 9:39And the way that we treat
celebrities is very fickle, right? -
9:39 - 9:40We like them one day,
-
9:40 - 9:42we don't like what they're
wearing the next day, -
9:42 - 9:45and all of a sudden we have issues, right?
-
9:45 - 9:47So we need to stop deifying leaders
-
9:47 - 9:50so that more people
will step into leadership. -
9:50 - 9:52Lots of people are terrified
to step into leadership -
9:52 - 9:55because of how much scrutiny they receive
-
9:55 - 9:58and how brutal we are with leaders.
-
9:58 - 10:01And then the last thing
that I've learned about leadership -
10:01 - 10:04is that it's really easy to be a leader
when everybody likes you. -
10:05 - 10:09But it's hard to be a leader
when you have to make hard choices -
10:10 - 10:12and when you have to do what's right,
-
10:12 - 10:15even though people
are not going to like you for it. -
10:15 - 10:16And so in that way,
-
10:16 - 10:18I think another way
that we can support leaders -
10:18 - 10:21is to struggle with us,
-
10:21 - 10:23but struggle with us politically,
-
10:23 - 10:24not personally.
-
10:25 - 10:28We can have disagreements
without being disagreeable, -
10:28 - 10:32but it's important for us
to sharpen each other, -
10:32 - 10:33so that we all can rise.
-
10:33 - 10:35MB: That's beautiful, thank you.
-
10:35 - 10:37(Applause)
-
10:40 - 10:43So you all are doing work
-
10:43 - 10:47that forces you to face
some brutal, painful realities -
10:47 - 10:49on a daily basis.
-
10:50 - 10:52What gives you hope
-
10:52 - 10:54and inspires you in that context?
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10:55 - 10:58PC: I am hopeful for black futures.
-
10:58 - 11:03And I say that because
we live in a society -
11:03 - 11:05that's so obsessed with black death.
-
11:05 - 11:10We have images of our death
on the TV screen, -
11:10 - 11:12on our Twitter timelines,
-
11:12 - 11:14on our Facebook timelines,
-
11:14 - 11:18but what if instead
we imagine black life? -
11:18 - 11:22We imagine black people
living and thriving. -
11:22 - 11:23And that --
-
11:23 - 11:24that inspires me.
-
11:27 - 11:31OT: What inspires me
these days are immigrants. -
11:32 - 11:36Immigrants all over the world
who are doing the best that they can -
11:36 - 11:41to make a living,
to survive and also to thrive. -
11:41 - 11:44Right now there are
over 244 million people -
11:44 - 11:46who aren't living
in their country of origin. -
11:47 - 11:51This is a 40 percent increase
since the year 2000. -
11:51 - 11:53So what this tells me
-
11:53 - 11:58is that the disparities across the globe
are only getting worse. -
11:58 - 12:04Yet there are people who are finding
the strength and wherewithal to travel, -
12:04 - 12:05to move,
-
12:05 - 12:07to eke out a better living for themselves
-
12:07 - 12:10and to provide for their families
and their loved ones. -
12:10 - 12:13And some of these people
who are immigrants -
12:13 - 12:15are also undocumented.
-
12:15 - 12:17They're unauthorized.
-
12:17 - 12:19And they inspire me even more
-
12:19 - 12:23because although our society
is telling them, you're not wanted, -
12:23 - 12:24you're not needed here,
-
12:24 - 12:28and they're highly vulnerable
and subject to abuse, to wage theft, -
12:28 - 12:32to exploitation and xenophobic attacks,
-
12:32 - 12:36many of them are also beginning
to organize in their communities. -
12:36 - 12:40And what I'm seeing is
that there's also an emerging network -
12:40 - 12:44of black, undocumented people
who are resisting the framework, -
12:44 - 12:47and resisting the criminalization
of their existence. -
12:47 - 12:50And that to me is incredibly powerful
-
12:50 - 12:52and inspires me every singe day.
-
12:52 - 12:54MB: Thank you.
-
12:55 - 12:56Alicia?
-
12:57 - 13:01AG: So we know that young people
are the present and the future, -
13:01 - 13:05but what inspires me are older people
-
13:05 - 13:09who are becoming transformed
in the service of this movement. -
13:09 - 13:11We all know that as you get older,
-
13:11 - 13:13you get a little more
entrenched in your ways. -
13:13 - 13:16It's happening to me, I know that's right.
-
13:16 - 13:21But I'm so inspired when I see people
who have a way that they do things, -
13:21 - 13:23have a way that they
think about the world, -
13:23 - 13:28and they're courageous enough to be open
to listening to what the experiences are -
13:28 - 13:32of so many of us who want
to live in world that's just -
13:32 - 13:34and want to live
in a world that's equitable. -
13:34 - 13:39And I'm also inspired by the actions
that I'm seeing older people taking -
13:39 - 13:41in service of this movement.
-
13:41 - 13:45I'm inspired by seeing older people
step into their own power and leadership -
13:45 - 13:48and say, "I'm not passing a torch,
-
13:48 - 13:50I'm helping you light the fire."
-
13:51 - 13:52(Applause)
-
13:52 - 13:54MB: I love that --
-
13:54 - 13:55yes.
-
13:55 - 13:57So in terms of action,
-
13:57 - 14:02I think that it is awesome to sit here
and be able to listen to you all, -
14:02 - 14:06and to have our minds open and shift,
-
14:06 - 14:09but that's not going to get
black people free. -
14:09 - 14:13So if you had one thing
you would like this audience -
14:13 - 14:16and the folks who are watching
around the world to actually do, -
14:16 - 14:17what would that be?
-
14:20 - 14:23AG: OK, two quick ones.
-
14:23 - 14:25One, call the White House.
-
14:25 - 14:29The water protectors
are being forcibly removed -
14:29 - 14:35from the camp that they have set up
to defend what keeps us alive. -
14:35 - 14:38And that is intricately
related to black lives. -
14:38 - 14:42So definitely call the White House
and demand that they stop doing that. -
14:42 - 14:43There are tanks
-
14:43 - 14:47and police officers arresting
every single person there as we speak. -
14:48 - 14:51(Applause)
-
14:51 - 14:55The second thing that you can do
-
14:55 - 14:58is to join something.
-
14:58 - 15:00Be a part of something.
-
15:00 - 15:02There are groups, collectives --
-
15:02 - 15:05doesn't have to be a non-profit,
you know what I mean? -
15:05 - 15:08But there are groups that are doing
work in our communities right now -
15:08 - 15:12to make sure that black lives matter
so all lives matter. -
15:12 - 15:14Get involved;
-
15:14 - 15:17don't sit on your couch and tell people
what you think they should be doing. -
15:17 - 15:19Go do it with us.
-
15:20 - 15:22MB: Do you guys want to add anything?
-
15:22 - 15:24That's good? All right. So --
-
15:24 - 15:26And I think that the joining something,
-
15:26 - 15:30like if you feel like there's
not something where you are, start it. -
15:30 - 15:31AG: Start it.
-
15:31 - 15:33MB: These conversations that we're having,
-
15:33 - 15:35have those conversations
with somebody else. -
15:35 - 15:38And then instead of just
letting it be a talk that you had, -
15:38 - 15:40actually decide to start something.
-
15:40 - 15:41OT: That's right.
-
15:41 - 15:43MB: I mean, that's what you all did.
-
15:43 - 15:45You started something,
and look what's happened. -
15:45 - 15:48Thank you all so much
for being here with us today. -
15:48 - 15:49OT: Thank you.
-
15:49 - 15:52(Applause)
- Title:
- An interview with the founders of Black Lives Matter
- Speaker:
- Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi
- Description:
-
Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi speak at TEDWomen 2016
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 16:05
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for An interview with the founders of Black Lives Matter | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for An interview with the founders of Black Lives Matter | ||
Brian Greene approved English subtitles for An interview with the founders of Black Lives Matter | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for An interview with the founders of Black Lives Matter | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for An interview with the founders of Black Lives Matter | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz accepted English subtitles for An interview with the founders of Black Lives Matter | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz edited English subtitles for An interview with the founders of Black Lives Matter | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz edited English subtitles for An interview with the founders of Black Lives Matter |