Skip to content

---

2020-06-02 · letter vlog · John · 3:03 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society · mode: Advocacy & fundraising · tags: timely hook, heavy topic, civic or action cta, community lore

Immensely sad during the US protests, John says their root cause is 400 years of violence and discrimination against Black Americans, that white people's context for racism is often inadequate, and that he needs to listen better, so he shares a playlist of Black creators and readings.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Pause in the title bit; John's sadness and worry about virtue signaling; sustained work of movements

  • ★ John apologizes for pausing the brothers' silly title bit because he is immensely sad today. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ John worries his talking about the US protests may sound like, and could be, virtue signaling: making a statement is easy, long-term work toward justice is hard. — 00:00:00 · United States
  • ★★ John says movements such as Black Lives Matter, We Need Diverse Books and Partners In Health changed the world by responding to crisis and through sustained, little-noticed work. — 00:00:00 · Partners In Health

00:00:29 — The root cause is ongoing racism against Black Americans; white people's inadequate context; the Red Summer of 1919

  • ★★★ John says the root cause of the US crisis is the ongoing violence and discrimination Black Americans have experienced for over 400 years. — 00:00:29 · United States
  • ★★★ John says this continuing racism is in every facet of American life. — 00:00:29 · United States
  • ★★ John says schools with mostly Black students receive far less funding than schools with mostly white students. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ John says Black mothers in the US are far more likely to die in childbirth than white mothers, regardless of economic or educational background. — 00:00:58 · maternal death, United States
  • ★★★ John says people who think racism is over or minor may feel so because white people's context for understanding racism is often hugely inadequate: education, benefiting from injustice, and information feeds. (hedged) — 00:00:58
  • ★★ John says the way you understand the world is shaped by the voices you listen to and by those you don't. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ John says many white Americans have never heard of the Red Summer of 1919, when state-sanctioned violence against Black people occurred alongside a global pandemic. — 00:01:27

00:01:57 — A playlist of Black creators and readings; listening with openness and empathy

  • ★ John admits he didn't know much about the Red Summer until recently. — 00:01:57
  • ★★ John says he doesn't feel his voice is the one we most need to hear right now. — 00:01:57
  • ★★★ With input from friends and colleagues, John made a playlist of videos by Black creators on the long history of African American experience, from the Red Summer to poetry and vlogs. — 00:01:57 · United States
  • ★★★ John hopes viewers will watch the playlist with him and consider subscribing to its creators. — 00:02:26
  • ★★ John points to reading and non-YouTube video below that helped him, including a beautiful and wrenching essay by Clint Smith. — 00:02:26
  • ★★ John repeats his belief that how we orient our attention is, in the end, how we orient our lives. — 00:02:26
  • ★★★ John says he must listen better to Black Americans and marginalized people, believing that listening with openness and empathy moves us toward generosity, advocacy and justice. — 00:02:26 · empathy

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description recommends online essays: Clint Smith on parenting in the age of Black Lives Matter, Carol Anderson on 1919 and now, Ibram X. Kendi's 'The American Nightmare', and The 1619 Project. — video description · United States
  • ★★ The description lists books and essays John found helpful on racism's centrality to American life, by Kendi, Anderson, Lorde, Coates, Morrison, Evans, Baldwin, McWhirter, Woodson, Hurston, Wilkerson and Washington. — video description · United States
  • ★★ The description says John and Sarah focus on supporting underfunded public libraries serving large African American communities and on criminal justice reform, including bail misuse (The Bail Project). — video description · Sarah Urist Green, United States
  • ★★ The description says Hank has been fundraising for the National Police Accountability Project. — video description · Hank Green
  • ★★ The description says philanthropy should begin from listening: both brothers learned their priorities by listening to people affected by anti-Black racism, and are still learning. — video description
  • ★★ In a comment John backs his claim with sources: school systems with mostly Black students receive $23 billion less funding than those with mostly white students. — creator comment
  • ★★ In a comment John says he still doesn't think they should talk like Trump, but he was '1,000% wrong' about the best way to counter Trump's rhetoric. — creator comment · Donald Trump

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: African Americans · George Floyd protests · institutional racism · Playlist of videos by Black creators · racism

Also: People: Clint Smith

Organizations: Black Lives Matter · Partners In Health · We Need Diverse Books

Groups: White Americans

Concepts: empathy · maternal death

Places: United States

Events: Red Summer · Spanish flu

Only in the description or credits: Audre Lorde · Cameron McWhirter · Carol Anderson · Harriet A. Washington · Ibram X. Kendi · Isabel Wilkerson · Jacqueline Woodson · James Baldwin · Mari Evans · National Police Accountability Project · Sarah Urist Green · Ta-Nehisi Coates · The 1619 Project · The Bail Project · Toni Morrison · Zora Neale Hurston

Also centred on African Americans: Racism in the United States: By the Numbers · On Lives and Mattering · What I've Been Thinking About

Also centred on institutional racism: The Best and Worst of 2014 · 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 · What I've Been Thinking About · ...Not My Proudest Moment · So Much to Do

← Previous: Get Paid · Next → So Much to Do