How to Tell People they Sound Racist

It should come as no surprise that we here at LEE & LOW BOOKS are rather fond of the written word. A lot.

But we also like the spoken word, so in addition to great posts and articles on race and diversity, we’re going to be sharing some great videos we’ve found around the web.

Like this one, from Ill Doctrine:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Ti-gkJiXc&w=475]If the video does not appear, you may need to download the latest version of Adobe Flash Player.

I love it when someone’s funny and right.

I do want to expand on one thing: he says “When you say ‘I think he’s a racist,’ that’s not a bad move because you might be wrong; that’s a bad move because you might be right.” I think it’s a bad move either way; if he (or she) is a racist, as the video says, you don’t want to let her (or him) off the hook, but if he (or she) is not racist, you don’t want to risk derailing the conversation because that conversation could lead to that lovely non-racist person behaving better in the future. And that one person takes us a step toward better race relations.

One step at a time.

One thought on “How to Tell People they Sound Racist”

  1. Another interesting thing that this video brings up for me is, what does it actually mean to BE a racist? Is it really a question of whether someone is or is not a racist? If prejudice is a spectrum spanning from complete colorblindness to the KKK, most of us probably fall somewhere in the middle, whether we like to admit it or not. So acknowledging someone’s prejudice without making an overarching judgment about that person’s character is a way to create a safe space in which to talk about racial issues openly and honestly.

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