What I Can Teach You About Racism
Renowned political science professor Carol Swain began life with every possible downside. She ended up teaching at 2 of the most prestigious universities in the country. How did she do it? She shares her story and her wisdom in this motivating video.
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Script:.
Let me inform you how my story ends:.
I become a tenured, acclaimed teacher of government at an Ivy League university and after that at one of the leading universities in the South.
Now let me inform you how my story starts:.
I mature in rural Virginia actually dirt poor. I leave of school in the 8th grade and have 3 children by the time I’m 20.
I consider myself to be a fairly modest individual, but even I have to confess that’s quite a journey.
How did I do it?
I strove. Not crazy, 24/7 hard. Simply hard.
I made good decisions. Not brilliant, three-dimensional chess decisions. Just great ones.
I satisfied people along the way who helped me and best regards wished to see me be successful, not due to the fact that they had something to acquire, however because they were decent people. Nearly all of these people, by the way, were white.
Primarily, I think I was blessed in one important way.
I was born in America, a real land of chance for anyone of any color or background. In this nation, where you begin your life does not determine where you wind up.
That operates in both directions, by the method. You can start with every benefit and lose them all. Or start out with absolutely nothing and become a success.
It all depends on you. Your attitude is even more essential than your race, gender, or social class in determining what you will accomplish in life.
When I hear young blacks, or anybody for that matter, discuss systemic bigotry, I do not know whether to laugh or cry. I want to laugh since it’s such rubbish. I wish to sob since I understand it’s pressing unknown numbers of young blacks into a dead end of self-pity and despair. Rather of seizing the incredible opportunities America offers them, they seize a reason to explain why they’re not prospering.
I was born into a world where systemic racism was genuine– no fooling, straight-out bigotry, back-of-the-bus genuine. Here’s what you need to understand: yes, that racism shaped the black experience, however even then it did not define it.
Modification was in the air.
Call it systemic reform.
The modern-day civil liberties movement was in its infancy, and the leaders who fought for equivalent rights for blacks were men and women of all races.
They thought in America and were determined to see it live up to its greatest perfects– perfects manifest in the Declaration of Independence, and the United States Constitution.
Did I understand growing up that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned slaves? I do not believe I ever thought about it. If I did, I ‘d like to think that I would have had adequate common sense to understand that we can’t judge males who lived 250 years earlier by the ethical requirements of our own day.
I know that Jefferson wrote the words in the Declaration of Independence that made slavery ultimately difficult; that all men are produced equivalent. And, I know that Washington, Hamilton, Franklin, Adams, and the rest of the Founders risked whatever to make my world, my America, possible.
How could I not be grateful for that and for the sacrifices so many others have made to protect it?
The reality is, I can not remember a time when I did not like America and feel pride in the belief that I live in the greatest country on the planet.
I understood if I diligently pursued my aspirations, I could leave the poverty of my early years, with all its abuse and anxiety, behind me.
I was fortunate in another way. I was spared the life-sapping, unfavorable messages about America that are crippling a generation of young people.
These ideas are poison:.
White opportunity.
Whiteness as a type of home.
Unconscious racism.
Reparations.
Microaggressions..
Authorities have it out for blacks..
That the United States was created to protect and promote slavery..
These are the ideas youths are informed they need to accept..
For the total script visit https://www.prageru.com/video/what-i-can-teach-you-about-racism.
source
Renowned political science professor Carol Swain began out life with every possible disadvantage. I made great choices. Instead of taking the remarkable opportunities America provides them, they seize an excuse to discuss why they’re not being successful.
Did I know growing up that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned servants? If I did, I ‘d like to believe that I would have had sufficient typical sense to know that we can’t judge guys who lived 250 years ago by the moral requirements of our own day.
