For there to be social changes, people who don’t get affected by the changes would need to fight for it. The Ted Talk, “Want a More Just World? Be an unlikely ally” and the NPR podcast, “The Air We Breath: Implicit Bias and Police Shootings show this.
In the Ted Talk, speaker Nita Mosby Tyler talks about a time in the past when she wanted to do ballet, but no ballet school would accept a “negro” student. The author stopped liking ballet until a white ballet teacher agreed to teach ballet at the speaker’s segregated school. She uses this point for her argument that change cannot occur unless people who it does not affect become involved. One historic example she used in the podcast was the Civil Rights movement; when white Americans, especially ones in positions of power, needed to support change for that change to occur.
In the podcast, researchers discuss bias and how it relates to police shootings. One experiment the podcast mentioned was one that took place on a simulator. The simulator had participants identify whether or not a person was a threat and whether or not to shoot him or her. The simulation was set so that white and black people would be performing the same actions. The study found that people had a bias to perceive black people as more of a threat than white people. The researchers then had police officers participate in the same experiment, expecting the same or a more biased outcome. The officers from the Denver Police Department actually exhibited less bias than the general public. It was concluded that police officers are not inherently more biased against African Americans, African Americans are killed more often by police because of the bias that exists in American culture.
Both the podcast and the Ted Talk preach the same idea. For change to occur, we need unlikely allies that the change isn’t effecting. These two pieces altered my perspective on change. As a white American I am responsible to help facilitate change in society for those who aren’t given the same rights. I personally have to stop watching and start doing in order for us to live in a country of true equality for all.
I thought you explained the podcast and the Ted talk well showing a good understanding of both. I agree that as white Americans we have a responsibility to assist in change if we want to see a country of equality, and the more that people watch and do not do anything to help, the longer the seemingly never-ending battle will take.
I like how you used examples throughout your writing to back up your reasoning. One example that stood out was when you talked about the Civil Rights Movement existing because of unlikely allies helping create and push for change. I agree that as a White American I need to be an ally to these communities and help fight for change. We can’t just focus on one community to support, we need to try to support all the communities. Nice Job!