You Can Help Stop the Violence Against Young Black Men

December 4, 2014 2 Comments

In a recent TEDx talk, attorney and diversity consultant Verna Myers shares powerful stories and three concrete ways we can all intervene on our own and others’ biases and help stop the violence against young black men:

  1. “Get out of denial!” Acknowledge unconscious bias; “stare at awesome black people!” and look for data that discomfirms stereotypes.
  1. “Move toward young black men instead of away from them. Go away from your comfort into a bigger, brighter thing.”
  1. “When see something, we have to have the courage to say something, even to the people we love … and not shelter our children from the ugliness of racism. We have an amazing country with incredible ideals … but we are not done yet …

 

 

2 Comments

  • Maria says:

    This doesn’t seem enough. I do speak up with family and friends. I have made an effort to look up and make eye contact and smile when out and about instead of my usual daydreaming and not really paying attention. I did educate myself and seek out other opinions about the senseless long sentences and gunning down of black men especially heartbreaking is young men who haven’t even begun to become who they will with time and life experiences… Key here is LIFE. Yet I’ve lead a wonderful life of opportunity despite a few hardships so I don’t think I’ll ever totally truly know another’s life situation. But something MUST change.

  • Cynthia Silva Parker says:

    Yes Maria. I am the first to agree with you that the individual and interpersonal actions that Verne lifts up are A PART of the solution, not THE solution. And we also need solutions that intervene at the systems level, changing policies and practices as well as changing the underlying societal narratives that generate such persistent fear and “othering” of black people and other people of color. Racism a multi-headed hydra that requires a multi-pronged approach. It’s a wearying and infuriating time we are living through, and I want to encourage you to keep pushing forward at all the levels you can.

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