Playlist: Undoing the Damage

The idea of American exceptionalism hopes to preclude the reality of our country's prejudices. But presenters Ibram X. Kendi, Katherine Franke, Eli Saslow, Jane Elliot, and Kenyatta Forbes are empowering us to confront our history and reimagine the future.

In an era in which there is no shortage of bad news, it can be tempting to throw up your hands in disgust or frustration, or curl up in a ball on the couch. No, say these speakers. Inaction is part of the problem. All is not lost—but it’ll take action and courage to undo what got us here.

Bestselling author, Atlantic columnist, and professor, Ibram X. Kendi’s new book, How to Be an Antiracist, makes it clear that simply “not being racist” won’t be enough to rid the nation of its deeply embedded problem. Achieving an equitable society will take work. Actual, physical, systemic challenges and changes must occur, yes—but also the adoption of a brand-new mindset that reexamines the systems, policies, and social arrangements we’ve come to see as set in stone. What if we could start all over? How would we build an antiracist society from scratch? And how can we do some of that right now?

The debate over Reparations isn’t a new one, but racial justice scholar Katherine Franke’s book, Repair, promises a new angle. In it, Franke highlights two historical case studies of post-emancipation land reparations in the south. Reparations at that time, she argues, were considered an integral part of emancipation—partly as a gesture of justice and remedy to help offset the severe and systemic damages that were done to enslaved peoples and their descendants for generations—but also in recognition that “freedom without material resources would lock Black people into peasant status for generations.” Reparations, argues Frank, are neither novel, nor extreme, nor unnecessary, nor impossible.

Derek Black is the son of a neo-Nazi and godson of KKK figurehead David Duke. By all accounts, he was an up-and-comer and future leader in the white nationalist community. And then Black experienced a turnaround—not only waking up to the damage he had done, but also actively dedicating himself to undoing it. In Rising Out of Hatred, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Eli Saslow shares the journey of the book he wrote about Black’s transformation, and reveals the path Derek Black took through white nationalism and out the other side.

Diversity trainer and anit-racist activist Jane Elliott doesn’t want to make it easy for people to say they’re not racist. She wants them to feel the impact of prejudice and bigotry first-hand. To understand the irrationality and injustice of it, and to feel provoked and emboldened in a very real and personal way to start dismantling it, daily, in their own lives. The Anatomy of Prejudice is an immersive, two-hour, fully interactive program that will have you looking at your own roles and assumptions with fresh eyes.

In 2017, multi-disciplinary artist Kenyatta Forbes opened a Kickstarter campaign with the headline, “Can you out-black your opponent?” Her game is called Trading Races, and the rules are simple. Each player gets 5 cards. One player plays a card, and everyone else responds by playing a card that they think reflects a higher level of Blackness. Then the conversation starts...and goes for who-knows-how-long, because each hand is won only by consensus. “Really tho?” the original campaign asks. And answers it, too: “Yes, absolutely. We all have a construct of how we define Blackness. So why not have a conversation about it? (…) Let's talk about the constructs in a humorous and fun way and redefine them.” In this Shortlist program, Forbes will join us to describe how she came up with the idea for the game, and even deal a few hands.

Header image: Alex Radelich | Unsplash