In the TED talk, Baratunde Thurston narrates how racism is demonstrated against blacks by calling police officers even in cases when they are innocent. He gave instances when whites called officers: when a young girl was selling water, a black woman was donating food to the needy, and a black man was playing golf slowly. Thurston makes it clear that not all whites are racist, and there is a better way to handle blacks rather than calling 9-11. Such ways include thanking the black woman for charity, buying their products for the water seller, and white people minding their businesses for the case of the black person inspecting his property.
The story of dominant power and privilege relates to law enforcement actions is that people of color are dangerous and need to be controlled. This narrative is often perpetuated through media headlines that sensationalize crimes committed by people of color while ignoring or downplaying the crimes committed by white people. Thurston states that a white calls the police on a black woman using his neighborhood pool (00:08:20). The narrator asks if the man was forcefully trying to touch the woman’s hair. I think the narrator stresses that police officers must always conduct more investigation before harassing blacks. The narrator concludes that the white racists should find another way to deal with blacks apart from calling the police since the officers always use more force against blacks as compared to whites. He equally mentions that black people live in fear, so when stopped by the police, they move to the brightest light for the cameras can capture their murder.
The Karen concept is an act of prejudice that associates all non-white people with undesirables. The narrator held that when the police stopped him in the suburbs of Wisconsin, the shooting of the unarmed black ran through his head. He believed that blacks could easily be killed by the police without committing a crime. Baratunde also uses the concept of subject, actions, target, and activity to explain racism. He explains that subjects were always white people: ‘woman,’ ‘a white woman,’ safe way employees,’ ‘golf club employee,’ and ‘college employee.’ Conversely, the targets were ‘black girl,’ ‘black man,’ black family,’ ‘black boy,’ and ‘black real estate investor’ (00:10:01). I believe that the narrator was insinuating that black people were hated since they could be punished for innocent activities.
Reference
Thurston B. (2019). How to deconstruct racism, one headline at a time (Video). TED Talk.