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What I've Been Thinking About

2017-08-18 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:47 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook, heavy topic

After Charlottesville, Hank tells a story from their mom, raised in segregated Birmingham, who worried that black teachers in Orlando would not teach her sons as well; he argues that white Americans must talk about race because not needing to is a privilege, that tribalism is innate but empathy can be expanded, that racism is America too, and that progress in tolerance is an unfinished process he wants to work on for life.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Mom's story: growing up in segregated Birmingham, then worrying about black teachers in Orlando

  • ★★ Hank says Mom told him a story a couple of months ago; as context, she grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, during segregation. — 00:00:00 · Sydney Green
  • ★★ Hank says that in segregation-era Birmingham interracial marriage was illegal, black and white kids went to different schools, and racism wasn't called racism because it was just how the world was. — 00:00:08
  • ★ Hank says a lot changed for Mom in the 1970s as the civil rights movement happened and she went to college. — 00:00:17 · Sydney Green
  • ★★★ After the family moved to Orlando, Mom was surprised that her sons would have black teachers and worried, like others in her friend group, that they couldn't teach as well as white teachers. — 00:00:23 · Sydney Green

00:00:46 — Why talk about race: it is hard and uncomfortable; not needing to think about racism is a white advantage

  • ★★ Hank thinks it says a lot about Mom that she let him share the story, which does not make her look good and which she hadn't brought up for about 25 years. (hedged) — 00:00:46 · Sydney Green
  • ★★★ Hank says it is hard to talk about race and we need to do it more; Mom wanted to help them talk about it. (hedged) — 00:00:57 · Sydney Green
  • ★★ Hank feels uncomfortable talking about race and worries about doing wrong or hurting someone, but wants to because it is important and serves the world he hopes for. (hedged) — 00:01:05
  • ★★ Hank thinks many white Americans consider it rude or even racist to notice race, while black people he knows can hardly imagine race not being a normal topic. (hedged) — 00:01:16
  • ★★★ Hank says racism in America is still very real: overwhelming data show it affects many facets of people's lives. — 00:01:27 · United States
  • ★★★ Hank says not needing to think or talk about racism is an advantage he has as a white person, and that is one of many good reasons he should think about it. — 00:01:33

00:01:45 — Mom neither hero nor monster; hate is easy; innate tribalism and America's history of oppressing black people

  • ★★ Hank says that ultimately, unlike some of his classmates, Mom kept them in the classes they were assigned to. — 00:01:45 · Sydney Green
  • ★★★ Hank says her decision wasn't heroic and her thoughts don't make her a monster: she was neither hero nor monster, and he can still be proud of her. — 00:01:49 · Sydney Green
  • ★★ Hank says Mom told him something he found really important: hate is so easy. — 00:02:01 · Sydney Green
  • ★★ Hank says Nelson Mandela's line is true: no one is born hating another person because of the colour of their skin. — 00:02:07
  • ★★★ Hank also thinks tribalism is innate: we find it much easier to empathise with people who are like us, however we define that. (hedged) — 00:02:13
  • ★★★ Hank says America has a long, consistent history of not defining black people as 'like us' and of oppressing them, a tradition that runs up to today. — 00:02:21 · United States
  • ★★★ Hank says breaking down innate tribalism, living in productive diversity and expanding our sphere of empathy is work, and the work done in America is real progress. — 00:02:32 · empathy, United States

00:02:43 — This is America too; progress as a process; what Hank wants to learn in his life; sign-off

  • ★★★ To those who say 'this is not America', Hank answers that it is America, which doesn't mean he doesn't love the country. — 00:02:43 · United States
  • ★★★ Hank says the great story of human progress is not only science and technology but increasing tolerance, diversity and human-to-human understanding: a process, not an event. — 00:02:50 · progress

  • ★★ Hank says we are not done and won't finish in his lifetime: like all great human endeavours, if it can be done before you die, it is too small a goal. — 00:03:06 · progress

    “if it’s gonna be done before you die, it’s too small a goal.”

  • ★★ Hank wants to get better at listening, talking and understanding and wisely using the gifts he's been given, and to read more diverse books. — 00:03:16

  • ★★★ Hank wants to learn from Mom that beliefs can change, empathy can grow, and the lifelong work toward a more compassionate, tolerant and just world is never done. — 00:03:22 · Sydney Green, empathy

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says race is uncomfortable for Hank to talk about and he tends to stay in his lane and amplify more credible voices, but black friends and Nerdfighters encouraged him to speak as an American too. — video description · Nerdfighteria, United States
  • ★★ The description says watching the situation in Charlottesville unfold was a horror that has stayed terribly present in Hank's mind. — video description
  • ★★★ The description says America has a shameful history but also a history of progress, which continues now as people fight a new wave of hate. — video description · United States, progress
  • ★★★ The description says having racist thoughts does not make you a Nazi: everyone has bias, fear and sometimes hate, and what matters is whether we give in to them or work to keep hate from creeping in. — video description
  • ★★ Hank recommends pieces he read that week: Rhett McLaughlin's thoughts on Confederate statues as a Southern white man, a Washington Post piece on what white parents can do for black parents, a tweet on 'white pride' and Slate's 'White Americans Have to Make a Choice'. — video description
  • ★ The description says the Secret Project email has already gone out, linked as a call to build a turtle cake for John's birthday. — video description · John Green

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: African Americans · racism · Sydney Green · United States

Also: People: Nelson Mandela

Groups: White Americans

Concepts: empathy · interracial marriage · progress · Racial segregation in the United States · social privilege · tribalism

Places: Birmingham, Alabama · Orlando, Florida

Events: Civil rights movement

Only in the description or credits: Charlottesville, Virginia · Rhett McLaughlin · Slate · The Washington Post

Also centred on African Americans: Racism in the United States: By the Numbers · On Lives and Mattering · ---

Also centred on racism: The Best and Worst of 2014 · Racism in the United States: By the Numbers · ...Not My Proudest Moment · --- · So Much to Do

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