(music)
(applause)
- Good evening, everyone. I
hope everybody's still with me.
The only thing that's
missing from that clip is
lots of the advancements
and triumphs of many
people of color as well.
There were lots of advancements
and positive as well.
But it such a great,
great visual aid to what
we're talking about today.
Thanks for having me again,
I'm Keith Brooks and I want
to talk a little bit about
critical race theory,
fact versus feeling.
So, I always like to share
with people, that, okay, hey
you don't agree, hey, you don't like it,
hey, you're offended, hey,
you're defensive, fine,
but the momentary, temporary discomfort
that you experience is nothing...
let me say that again,
it's nothing compared to
the people that are on the
receiving end of what we
just saw in that clip.
Historically and current day,
so you can be uncomfortable
for twenty minutes, what's twenty minutes
between friends, between
educators, between community
members, okay?
So, I also like to share
with people, to me there's
no such thing as a broken system.
Every system is doing what it
was originally designed to do.
So, I'm not really shocked
or surprise at a lot
of the things that we are looking
and experiencing on today.
If I had more time, what I like
to do, is, it's a fun game,
it's a fun activity, when I go and do
professional development
and staff development
at schools and school
districts or other spaces,
is I ask people to give me
one person of color, pre-1970
in the United States, who was
famous or significant figure,
just one person, so I'll cut to the chase.
Usually what happens is that
I get a load of athletes
and entertainers and
musicians and mostly just
African Americans, so the Native American,
the Asian American, the
Latin American narrative
is also left out.
I think it is very indicative
and telling of our curriculum
in our P-12 and our higher ed settings.
And then, you see a few
categories that are highlighted
in red, and I don't think it
is any surprise to maybe most
of you all, if you all are
connected, in most education circles,
at least, that these
represent the disparities
that exist across the country,
and the state of Minnesota,
has some of the widest disparities
in all five: education,
employment, homeownership,
law enforcement policing,
and health.
So, again, because I have
short time period, and again,
I don't expect everyone to
understand, but at the root
of what we're talking about,
if somebody wants to say,
well hey, what is the
problem, what's the challenge,
why this, why that?
This is it.
It's not a bad word, white
supremacy is not a bad word.
It's a mindset, I'm not
walking around concerned about
individuals in hoodies and
burning crosses, they are who
they are, I'm not
concerned about the them.
It's the daily, the daily
individuals that I'm around who
ascribe to white supremacist
thinking, and don't know it;
they're the most dangerous.
And so that's why I'm glad
to have the opportunity to be
with you all today.
And I'm I know I'm going very
quickly, but I will share my
powerpoint with whoever sends me an e-mail
and says that they want it.
Critical race theory, so I want
to acknowledge a few of the
individuals that I have drawn
from because there's nothing
new under the sun and
these are individuals
that are phenomenal authors and speakers.
Derrick Bell, Gloria
Ladson-Billings, and you see the rest
of the names.
So in the original literature,
most of them just say race
as a factor, but it's not
race as a factor, per se,
it's the concept of race.
Meaning, it's not real, right,
there's no Norwegian gene
or Nigerian gene, or Irish gene,
right, it's something based
on skin color, so what you
saw the past 400 years or so,
there's all these things
loaded up on the meaning
of a person's skin color and
we have just inherited it,
and many times don't process and think
about what those things
are, and then it's lived out
in our daily realities and interactions.
So, for example, even as a
professional, even somebody with
a doctorate degree, I can't
tell you how many times in
professional settings, where
my questioning, or asking
questions, or looking at
things through an equity lens
comes off as belligerent
or angry, or insubordinate.
So there's really no difference
between me or Tamir Rice,
or Trayvon Martin or Jamar
Clark, Eric Gardner, on and on,
there's no real difference.
We're viewed the same.
So, U.S. society is
based on property rights.
I always encourage people
to look up the concept
of whiteness to understand what
that is and racial identity
developemet to understand
truly what we're dealing with.
So the narrative many times
is told from the perspective
of a group that has historically
and continually exploited
and manipulated situations
and people to overlook
wrongdoing; that needs to
be addressed and if we don't
address it, then what we're
indirectly saying is that we're
okay with the current state of affairs.
Talk a look at this, now,
I think it's strategic
that civilization prior...
Africans, prior to coming to
the United States, or
brought to the United States,
is a better term, there are
so many advancements in terms
of the civilization from the
continent of Africa that are
not included, so many times,
in most cases, in many of
the most classrooms, kids
of color, specifically
African Americans, are very
invisible in regards to the
contributions that they
have made to our society.
But when you look at this
diagram, right here, it says
bondage and Jim Crow, so
African Americans specifically
have been in bondage and Jim
Crow for 345 years, and only
had somewhat increased
opportunities for just 52.
I'd like people to process that,
because what I find is that
I talk to individuals about
these issues but they don't have
the background or the
comprehensive understanding or
the historical knowledge and
the understanding of systems
and how the United States
actually works and they're trying
to have conversation with me,
and it's like, okay, I can't
have a conversation with you,
because we're not working
from the same amount or depth
of understanding of how our
country actually operates and works.
So, I always ask people,
divide it by the whole story,
don't just tell me, I was
raised to believe, my parents
raised me to believe that a
half- truth is a whole lie,
so it's important to
understand these things.
So, here's what I'd like to
do during the time that I have
left, and I'm going to go very quickly.
I was really struggling with
this, I was really struggling
with, and when I say this,
meaning even coming to do it.
Because, I had to say, okay,
well Keith, if you have
an opportunity to tell the
socially and racially unconscious
and the culturally incompetent
white brothers and sisters
what would you say to them?
And that's, so that's
what I'm getting ready
to share right now.
(light applause)
(laughter)
So, it's comments, events and
questions, things that just
pop up, okay?
First of all, if you can
receive this information better
from Tim Wise, something's wrong.
I hear this a lot, "Hip
hop degrades women."
I always want to ask
them, okay, wait a minute,
you don't know Trace Adkins?
You've never seen Honkey Tonk Badonkadonk?
Google this, alright,
and look at this video,
Honky Tonk Badonkadonk, it's
like okay, you never heard of
John Mayer or Kidd Rock or Donald Trump?
You never heard of any of these folks?
Stop acting like hip hop is
destroying the black community,
it's like, no, look at history
and you'll see what and who
destroyed the black community, whatever.
So, right here, unthinkingly
criticize a person of color
for doing the same things that
white people do all the time.
So, here's the thing, I'm
trying to figure out why
Cam Newton, the quarterback
for the Carolina Panthers gets
attacked so much, so now, I
don't condoned it, I don't
support it, just in terms of
my faith and how I was raised,
but I don't judge anybody,
but here's my point.
He recently had a child
out-of-wedlock, and there was this
open letter to Cam Newton
that people posted about him
doing that and calling him
such a bad role model, but did
anybody do that to Tom
Brady when he had a child
out-of-wedlock?
I always like to ask those
questions, because there always
seems to be a double standard,
and, okay, so Payton Manning
basically commits sexual assault,
like almost 20 years ago,
but how does he keep such
a squeaky clean image?
You're so, I've heard many of
my white brothers and sisters
say this, "You're so lucky
you don't have to tan."
And I'm, like, okay, you don't
really want to trade places,
but okay.
There you go bringing out the race card.
Race is not a card that I
play, it's my lived reality
and experience and there's
so many things that happen
on a daily basis that happen
to remind me that I'm black.
I don't go outside my house
saying, "Hey, I'm black," no,
things just happen.
I've heard this, the Trayvon
Martin killing wasn't
about race, or, some of them
get offended easily and are
hurt when someone calls them
out, or where they've been
perceived as racist, and
I always tell people,
hey, it's not about you.
Here's very good article,
you can google, White Guilt
is White Narcissism,
google that when you get
an opportunity, it's a great article.
And then I always like to
ask people can my sons marry
your daughters.
And then, it's like, oh,
Dr. Brooks, of course...
No, no, no, I'm saying it
doesn't haven't to be Dr. Brooks,
can it be just anybody, alright?
Alright.
When I see you, I don't see
race, the colorblind mythology.
People are just people, I
don't see color, we're all just
human, character, not color,
is what counts with me.
Well, once again, based on the
history, who is defining what
character is, and but then,
also, colorblindness denies the
cultural values, norms,
expectations and life experiences
of people of color, even if
an individual white person can
ignore a person's skin
color, society does not.
Claiming to be colorblind can
also be a defense for shutting
the conversation down, that's
what I've found, is that
people use that in a manipulative
way to not talk about it.
White people don't want to
accept how affiliation and social
benefits gave and continue to
provide them advantages people
of color don't have and some never will.
I've heard this statement,
"These protestors speak so well,
but they're such violent people."
You know, look at a few, look at
Slavery in the Making of America,
Slavery by Another Name,
Race, the Power of Illusion,
look at all the volumes
of Eyes on the Prize
and talk to me about violence.
If black men don't want to get
stopped by the police, maybe
they shouldn't dress that way.
So what do criminals look like?
And again, I said, i.e.,
Bearns Sterns, and all
of the other.
That was a good movie I saw
last week, The Big Short.
And talk to me about criminal activity.
People get arrested because
they're committing crimes.
Look up the Innocence Project
when you get a chance.
You don't necessarily have to
be committing a crime to get
arrested and thrown in jail.
Racism ended in the sixties,
stop making such a big deal
out of nothing.
Now just look at a few
of these statements.
If anyone works hard, they will get ahead.
Well, we just saw a clip that
just said that that's not
accurate or true.
Some people excuse themselves
for responsibility for racism
because you weren't born yet
when people were enslaved.
Some also insist that people
of color should look at their
intent and not the impact of
what you do or support, because
of good intentions.
Alright, very quickly,
I'm about done here.
Some of you all may saw,
Ahmed, did you all see this
last year, 14 year old man,
young man, makes a clock, gets
arrested, because they
panic and think it's a bomb.
See some comments here from
Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook,
and think he also had a chance
to visit the White House,
but I get concerned about the
talented kids of color who
have similar experiences and
don't get a chance to go to the
White House, or get
acknowledged in this way
for the intelligence that they have.
What I find, is that many
kids sometimes are just very
bored, like I was, in most of my classes.
Did you all see a lot of the
posts that came out during the
Annie movie?
So lots of people were just bothered.
These are some of the posts, right here.
WTF... I've got my kids in the
room, so I'm not going to say
what WTF means, alright?
Since when is Annie and
Daddy Warbucks black?
Look at this one.
Why not do a movie of a
white Martin Luther King?
Isn't that strange?
You're talking about a
fictional movie and you're going
to compare that with a civil rights icon.
Alright, It doesn't even match up.
Alright.
And then, also, one of the
reasons I'm writing children's
books right now so is that
my sons can see themselves
represented a lot more.
And so what about super
heros and sheros, cartoons?
Lots of people were bothered
by the black male that was
a lead character in the
recent Star Wars movie.
There was a huge fiasco around
Santa being white and that he
couldn't be anything else.
These are college students
across the country, so the place
where there's supposed
to be higher learning,
critical thinking, analytical reasoning,
scholarship, strong intellect.
There seems to be a fascination
with people of color,
but stereotypical images, okay.
Does anybody know who this is?
The 2015 Miss America, I
think her name is Miss Nina.
So here is some of the
comments that were posted,
some of the Twitter posts.
So, they not only called,
now she's from India, she's
Indian-American, she's from
New York, they called her
Arab, they connected her with
911 for some reason, then they
connected her to Al-Qaeda,
and then, let's see here,
something around Miss Arab,
or something like that,
oh, look, Miss 7-11, so
Miss America's a terrorist.
So, this is who people wanted,
this is who they thought
should have won, they needed
their Barbie, nobody else
can fit that image, this
is the standard of beauty,
supposedly, in the United
States, loves tattoos, loves
her country, loves hunting,
the real Miss America.
So, what's been going on?
You ought to know about the
recent violence of unarmed,
people of color, specifically
African Americans, being
murdered by law enforcement,
not all law enforcement
people are bad, or make those
types of decisions, I want
to be sure to say that.
So, you all may remember this,
in Waco, Texas, white gang
members and they're just,
like, chillaxin', chilling
on a curb, looking at their
phones, right here was this,
Ferguson, black man going home,
and he's treated like he's
the Incredible Hulk or something.
Now, I don't want to stay on
this right here, because this
makes me tear up, because
when I see them, I see my own
sons and I see my own
background of growing up in
South Central L.A., and
living through the '91 riots.
I don't want to believe the
most of the country is at ease
with current state of affairs
and feels as though people
of color are supposed to
be on the receiving end of
this constant harm and these road blocks.
So, people always want
answers, what's the solution,
what should I do?
Well, there's lots of things.
One, always be real with
yourself, increase your cultural
competence, start with a
cultural autobiography, look at
literature, films, go to
community learning events,
events like this.
Understand white identity
development, whiteness,
and understand racial
identity development.
So, who can I trust with my own boys?
I should be able trust
people of color and whites.
This is my oldest son, Jonathan.
This is my youngest son, Gordon,
who is sitting right here.
And see, I trust Tom
Rademacher, Mike Spangenberg,
Courtney Caldwell, Nancy
Heitzeg, Leann Stevens,
Ryan Vernosh, and I
trust them with my boys,
most of the, the four of the
five names are some of my
white brothers and sisters, I trust them,
because they will challenge
my boys' intellect and they'll
affirm my identity.
They'll see them individually
and they'll see them
holistically, in terms of
what it means to be them
in the United States.
Thank you for your time.
(applause)
