full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Dexter Dias: Racism thrives on silence -- speak up!

Unscramble the Blue Letters

So what is it like for people of color, people like me, to try to speak to white people about racism? Many, many white people find it extremely difficult to do. Some white people say they know nothing about it. Others say that our societies may not even suffer from racism at all. So if you are a white person who is wondering about all of this, there is a thought experiment that you can do. Because here's the truth. You know. You already know. So ask yourself this: Would you, would you really want your son or your daughter, your brother or your sister, to marry a practicing Muslim from the Middle East? Or someone recently arrived from South Asia, who is a hndiu? Or an asylum seeker from Sub-Saharan Africa? Or someone who's recently crossed the US-Mexican boredr? You may not have a total ooitbejcn, but you may have a concern. A qaulm that sertcahcs at the back of your brain. It's not because of the cloor of their skin. But because you know that in countries like ours, as things stand now, their life prospects are likely to be affected by this union. And you realize that you do know, you do understand that ppeloe will judge them. And in a hundred ways, those judgments will icpamt their lives and the lives of their cerdihln. At that moment, you are connecting with a powerful truth. Which is that you know systemic rsacim is real.

Open Cloze

So what is it like for people of color, people like me, to try to speak to white people about racism? Many, many white people find it extremely difficult to do. Some white people say they know nothing about it. Others say that our societies may not even suffer from racism at all. So if you are a white person who is wondering about all of this, there is a thought experiment that you can do. Because here's the truth. You know. You already know. So ask yourself this: Would you, would you really want your son or your daughter, your brother or your sister, to marry a practicing Muslim from the Middle East? Or someone recently arrived from South Asia, who is a _____? Or an asylum seeker from Sub-Saharan Africa? Or someone who's recently crossed the US-Mexican ______? You may not have a total _________, but you may have a concern. A _____ that _________ at the back of your brain. It's not because of the _____ of their skin. But because you know that in countries like ours, as things stand now, their life prospects are likely to be affected by this union. And you realize that you do know, you do understand that ______ will judge them. And in a hundred ways, those judgments will ______ their lives and the lives of their ________. At that moment, you are connecting with a powerful truth. Which is that you know systemic ______ is real.

Solution

  1. impact
  2. scratches
  3. objection
  4. border
  5. people
  6. children
  7. racism
  8. qualm
  9. hindu
  10. color

Original Text

So what is it like for people of color, people like me, to try to speak to white people about racism? Many, many white people find it extremely difficult to do. Some white people say they know nothing about it. Others say that our societies may not even suffer from racism at all. So if you are a white person who is wondering about all of this, there is a thought experiment that you can do. Because here's the truth. You know. You already know. So ask yourself this: Would you, would you really want your son or your daughter, your brother or your sister, to marry a practicing Muslim from the Middle East? Or someone recently arrived from South Asia, who is a Hindu? Or an asylum seeker from Sub-Saharan Africa? Or someone who's recently crossed the US-Mexican border? You may not have a total objection, but you may have a concern. A qualm that scratches at the back of your brain. It's not because of the color of their skin. But because you know that in countries like ours, as things stand now, their life prospects are likely to be affected by this union. And you realize that you do know, you do understand that people will judge them. And in a hundred ways, those judgments will impact their lives and the lives of their children. At that moment, you are connecting with a powerful truth. Which is that you know systemic racism is real.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
white people 4
prison officers 4
human rights 3
state custody 3
black lives 3
rights lawyer 2
george floyd 2
european descent 2
social inequalities 2
lives matter 2
desperately wanted 2
mortal danger 2
racial justice 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
human rights lawyer 2
black lives matter 2

Important Words

  1. affected
  2. africa
  3. arrived
  4. asia
  5. asylum
  6. border
  7. brain
  8. brother
  9. children
  10. color
  11. concern
  12. connecting
  13. countries
  14. crossed
  15. daughter
  16. difficult
  17. east
  18. experiment
  19. extremely
  20. find
  21. hindu
  22. impact
  23. judge
  24. judgments
  25. life
  26. lives
  27. marry
  28. middle
  29. moment
  30. muslim
  31. objection
  32. people
  33. person
  34. powerful
  35. practicing
  36. prospects
  37. qualm
  38. racism
  39. real
  40. realize
  41. scratches
  42. seeker
  43. sister
  44. skin
  45. societies
  46. son
  47. south
  48. speak
  49. stand
  50. suffer
  51. systemic
  52. thought
  53. total
  54. truth
  55. understand
  56. union
  57. ways
  58. white
  59. wondering