We’re in SUCH fragmented times, and top of it, we become more divided as we’re increasingly terrified to do or say the wrong thing. Being curious and/or talking about race is like fishing with dynamite. What this video here boils down to is a white woman trying to learn about a black man’s experience. If any part of it is politically incorrect, well, then, too bad. We won’t bridge the gaps if we don’t have these open conversations.
I was shaken to my core watching Ava DuVernay’s Netflix series When They See Us, chronicling the Central Park Five and their heartbreaking story. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a must. 18-year-old Ethan Erisse plays a young Yusef Saalam, one of the five New York teens who was wrongly convicted for raping a white woman in 1989 Central Park. The sad thing is: Things haven’t changed. And I wanted to know from Ethan:
Have things become worse?
In our chat we talk about realities of being a black man driving a car (like a recent time he pulled over out of pure fear), why #AllLivesMatter naturally ticks him off, and what people can do to actually walk the walk and help ease the racial tensions destroying this country versus just throwing out hashtags. Take a watch and let me know your thoughts in the comments.
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