full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Baratunde Thurston: How to deconstruct racism, one headline at a time

Unscramble the Blue Letters

From 1877 to 1950, there were at least 4,400 documented racial terror lynchings of black people in the United States. They had headlines as well. "Rev. T.A. Allen was lynched in Hernando, mpiipissssi for oaniingrzg local sharecroppers." "Oliver Moore was lynched in ecmegodb coutny, notrh Carolina, for frightening a white girl." "Nathan Bird was lynched near linlug, Texas, for refusing to turn his son over to a mob." We need to change the action, whether that action is "lynches" or "calls police."

Open Cloze

From 1877 to 1950, there were at least 4,400 documented racial terror lynchings of black people in the United States. They had headlines as well. "Rev. T.A. Allen was lynched in Hernando, ___________ for __________ local sharecroppers." "Oliver Moore was lynched in ________ ______, _____ Carolina, for frightening a white girl." "Nathan Bird was lynched near ______, Texas, for refusing to turn his son over to a mob." We need to change the action, whether that action is "lynches" or "calls police."

Solution

  1. county
  2. mississippi
  3. organizing
  4. north
  5. luling
  6. edgecomb

Original Text

From 1877 to 1950, there were at least 4,400 documented racial terror lynchings of black people in the United States. They had headlines as well. "Rev. T.A. Allen was lynched in Hernando, Mississippi for organizing local sharecroppers." "Oliver Moore was lynched in Edgecomb County, North Carolina, for frightening a white girl." "Nathan Bird was lynched near Luling, Texas, for refusing to turn his son over to a mob." We need to change the action, whether that action is "lynches" or "calls police."

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
calls police 8
black woman 7
calls cops 6
woman calls 5
white people 3
white man 3
woman donating 3
donating food 3
baratunde rafiq 2
rafiq thurston 2
unarmed black 2
law enforcement 2
bbq becky 2
subject takes 2
target engaged 2
man calls 2
black oregon 2
oregon lawmaker 2
black real 2
real estate 2
black people 2
california safeway 2
white woman 2
damn business 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
woman calls police 4
black woman donating 3
woman donating food 3
baratunde rafiq thurston 2
man calls police 2
black real estate 2

ngrams of length 4

collocation frequency
black woman donating food 3

Important Words

  1. action
  2. allen
  3. bird
  4. black
  5. carolina
  6. change
  7. county
  8. documented
  9. edgecomb
  10. frightening
  11. girl
  12. headlines
  13. hernando
  14. local
  15. luling
  16. lynched
  17. lynchings
  18. mississippi
  19. mob
  20. moore
  21. north
  22. organizing
  23. people
  24. police
  25. racial
  26. refusing
  27. sharecroppers
  28. son
  29. states
  30. terror
  31. texas
  32. turn
  33. united
  34. white