What it takes to be racially literate | Priya Vulchi and Winona Guo

Over the last year, Priya Vulchi and Winona Guo traveled to all 50 US states, collecting personal stories about race and intersectionality. Now they're on a mission to equip every American with the tools to understand, navigate and improve a world structured by racial division. In a dynamic talk, Vulchi and Guo pair the personal stories they've collected with research and statistics to reveal two fundamental gaps in our racial literacy — and how we can overcome them.

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92 Comments on What it takes to be racially literate | Priya Vulchi and Winona Guo

    • This democratic method of resolving contradictions among the people was epitomized in 1942 in the formula “unity, criticism, unity”. To elaborate, it means starting from the desire for unity, resolving contradictions through criticism or struggle and arriving at a new unity on a new basis. In our experience this is the correct method of resolving contradictions among the people.
      -Mao Zedong
      On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People, (February 27, 1957), 1st pocket ed., p. 12.

    • Communists must use the democratic method of persuasion and education when working among the laboring people and must on no account resort to commandism or coercion. The Chinese Communist Party faithfully adheres to this Marxist-Leninist principle.
      -Mao Zedong
      On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People, (February 27, 1957), 1st pocket ed., p. 15.

    • Our educational policy must enable everyone who receives an education to develop morally, intellectually and physically and become a worker with both socialist consciousness and culture.
      -Mao Zedong
      On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People, (February 27, 1959), 1st pocket ed., p. 44.

    • Except this talk has nothing about to do with liberalism. World would be a bit better if ppl could just spent some time on self education in politics and would stop using political views of others as an offense.

  1. I love when 23 year old girls try to teach people about racism like they’re sitting in a first grade classroom

    • i cant believe their are people who actually get it, racism may exist, but these petty issues are not examples of racism

    • Rebecca ‘Spooky’ Duran Spot on! I’m just to add that they communicated the food thing as coming from her parents generation, in poverty. There were similar psychoses among those who grew up during the depression in the US. It’s definitely not a racial issue.

    • Millennial people are so conditioned that when they see hyper accentuated facial expressions, hand movement, and a tone of voice that treats them like a child, they sit down, shut up, and act like students in a class. They were raised by single moms, in the classroom, day care centers with low IQ minimum wage idiots, and this is the result.

    • Alex Martini any is able to speak freely of racism except children below the age of 5 for obvious reasons and the fact that you don’t understand that shows your level of intelligence and ignorance.

    • Joannot Fampionona,
      Congratulations on presenting the second most ignorant analogy about this thread.

      Both rape and bullying are actions take by choice by a single individual. Race is a result of your biology and is not a choice. Big difference.
      Next the idea that everyone can be defined by their race is the worst form of racism. Depending on which school of thought you subscribe to there are either 4 or 5 races making this an absolutely worthless measure of “who” an individual is. If you did want a more accurate generalized measure for people it would be their ethnic group but considering that there are in excess of 5000 ethnic groups globally this is a much harder metric in which to be “woke”.

      Now while a realize this is a very difficult concept for an intersectionalist to grasp, try judging each person on their individual character, actions and accomplishments not on the color of their skin. That is how we erase racism, from both the left and the right.

    • There are genetic differences between the races which have practical consequences. Example: different bone structure, different muscle density, different reaction to medicines, etc. Also different average IQ levels, average temperaments, etc.

    • NietzscheanMan The physical differences are true, and can be explained by our different evolution (because each race was basically isolated from the others)
      IQ and temperament can be explained by culture and education.

      We live in a era of globalisation. More and more people are going to be mixrace in the next generations. Also race should not define you…
      Race is such a wide and not well limited concept. Is it skin color? Is it more a cultural thing? Is it because of your country?
      I don’t even know what fucking race i am supposed to be hahah

    • iria eire, biological differences and the underlying evolutionary pressures lead to differing temperament and iq by themselves, culture is a result and not a cause of that, education only a small part that diminishes with age. The empirical evidence is irrefutable at this stage.

    • iria eire, i also never said anything about race defining you, that is projection. Individuals can vary from the average, that is basic statistics. Basic statistics in turn shows that different racial groups exhibit different physical and psychological traits at the aggregate level, individual variation notwithstanding. Different groups have different genes, with all the consequences thereof, also in terms of iq and behaviour. That biological fact is unaffected by anybody’s like or dislike of it.

  2. “We want white nations to abandon their countries, culture and traditions. We don’t want to be your guests, we want total control.”

    • Maddie Infires The US is a white country not only by the majority of its population but by the core values of white Christians upon which it was founded: democracy, equality of opportunity, equality under the law, presumption of innocence, freedom, private property, competition, individual responsibility… These values are written in the Constitution and are to be maintained no matter who comes here. People of different races have already been treated with equal respect for a long time, but some of them are not content with equality and want more than that: they want to be given extra power on the sole basis of their identity group, which is fundementally anti-American and thus not acceptable.

    • Adam Blade the US is not in any way tied to christianity. Democracy has nothing to do with white Christians, in fact, Jesus was basically a communist. He believed you should give up all your possessions to help the poor. “The meek shall inherit the earth”, he said. Sounds pretty Marxist to me.

    • Lincoln Strong Last time I checked, Jesus never put a gun to anyone’s head and forced them to give away their private property. What Jesus promoted was charity, i.e. the typically capitalist system of giving resources to individuals in need (not to governments) based on the principle of freedom of association; a good deed means nothing if it’s not done out of free will. Besides, Christians have been setting up charities for centuries and in every single continent, voluntarily giving away far more than any other group on Earth… Communists? Lol, never did any of that.

    • dudelolxp You’re still allowed to recieve backlash to anything you say….that’s what separates us from communist and fascist countries

    • Yes, it is allowed, but that does not mean it’s the right action to take. It is not forbidden by law to bang your gf’s sister, but that does not make it the right thing to do.

    • kundan kumar Why would you report this. People need to see what is wrong with the world. If this video goes away nobody will be able to see how our kids are being taught to feel guilty for having “a white mans last name.”

      This needs to be seen by all of America so we can put a stop to this delusional type of thinking. This is getting out of hand. They really just talked about SJW being a good thing.

    • kundan kumar That is EXACTLY what the left does. NEVER use their own tactics against them. It only reinforces their delusions

    • ThatAussieGirl You literally grouped me with the far right because you think I grouped her with the far left. You are literally proving a point against yourself. You realize that right? Yup go ahead and delete your self disrespecting comment.

    • Racists usually justify their racism by claiming that they are fighting against racism. They frame themselves as victims of identity politics and therefore have no choice but to engage in identity politics themselves to survive. I don’t think you’ll find many people who are racist bigots just for the sake of it.

    • @Kintsugi G “If you do not want to be grouped with them then *stop allowing them to be this way*.”

      This sentence is just what it took to discredit any argument you could have. It proves how much closed you are to any outside thought or different opinion and outright cuts you out of the debate. If for you comment sections like this is a place to impose your view on people to “not allow them to be this way” why would anyone listen to you? My point was that we’re not here to be schooled by girls like those who made this video, so what makes you think we want to be schooled by you ?

      What interests me, the sole reason I’m even here is to expand my worldview, regardless of if I agree with what I absorb or not. And I honestly expect better from a Ted comment section than people thinking we should “not allow people to be this way” if they think different than us.

    • Dehrild Oh so what you are saying is that my racist right winger counterparts should not be told by someone like me who they are more likely to reason with that they shouldn’t be racist. That is literally what your saying. You are trying to justify why radical leftists should be left alone and aloud to continue this destructive behavior?

      Ok, I guess I’ll stop trying to get my racist counterparts to stop being racist and let them do their thing.

    • Dehrild You do realize a majority of their delusions are started by trolls spreading delusional thinking online right?

      I’ve been a PC user since I was 10. I’m 28 now and I can tell you one thing. It is very easy to join a forum and feed into the delusions of the left in an effort to make them look…..(fill in the blank)

      It is up to other leftists to fix that. The right, they don’t listen too. Just like racists don’t listen to leftists. That means it is my job to help thwart delusional thinking on my side.

      You seem like more of the problem then the solution. I kinda don’t care it only brings the left farther down I’m kinda trying to help here but whatever think what you want. I used to be a lefty 10 years ago until it got overrun with delusional thinking. I don’t consider myself on the right either.

      Deep down I wish governments didn’t exist and we could all get along and live off nature instead of destroying it. I hate politics in general but here I am. smh

      I’m about love not hate and I’ll end with that.

  3. Not getting into the politics of this, who’s idea was it to have them split the speech? That back and forth sounds forced and gimmicky. It feels like it was done simply to to have two people on stage for “more diversity”. Can’t take it seriously…..

  4. Two members of a cult prattles on and on about what their marxist teachers have taught them during brainwashing.

    • Hardin9, you miss out the fact that these girls at 18 and on TED.
      To answer your first question. Design a society… This topic is very important for that.

    • Stephan Sockel wtf are you talking about? No, what I’m saying is that the video has absolutely nothing to do with Marxism, and OP’s mere mention of the subject shows that he never read/studied/studied people who read/watched a video on Marx.

  5. This is so irrelevant.
    You are both just blowing out of proportion the racism problem. Welcome to 2018. We are already fighting and beating racisim.

    • decentradical how is this racist? They didn’t even mention white people in a negative way. Having privilege doesn’t mean you’re a bad person

    • And how do I have privilege as a white person? Or is it better to say that while you sit comfy at home preparing for your genderstudies lectures and having the college paid by mummy and daddy while I have to work for the things I want and need, like money to pay my university fees?

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