@@johngalt671 you don't let society control how YOU define you. But they're trying their hardest to control how our kids define us. We should try and start doing something about it sooner than later.
@@Milfuelle100 Muslims were killed in millions Christians too Everyone suffered at some point in history You don't find us telling ooh Muslims suffered we shouldn't talk about their religion or what they do
My ancestors are mainly composed of war veterans who started as humble farmers in Scotland, Ireland, Germany, and Wales. The ones who aren't were Native American. Tell me to be guilty about my ancestors working their asses off for generations to put food on my table. Go ahead.
Your Scots/Irish/German/Welsh/Native American ancestors, just like my Tahitian/Japanese/RomanianRoma ancestors -- they gave you and me the gift of being born in this country. We're all Americans. And for that, I'm very grateful. I won't judge anyone by race. Sometimes people do that to me, but I refuse to sink to their banal level. Character is what matters.
You absolutely should not feel guilty about that. What you should do is understand how our society today functions, how historical systems influence us, and how we can work together to make our society a more just one.
Utterly fails to understand that in EVERY society majority population have advantages. Japanese have majority privilege in Japan, Chinese have majority privilege in China etc
Blackness is discussed all the time, but it's not a diametric system. The idea that any time we need to have a critical conversation about white people and whiteness, we also need to have a critical conversation about blackness or any other racial beingness that you'd like to pit in opposition to whiteness highlights the need for conversations about how racism operates. Whiteness is almost exclusively defined in opposition to other racial categories. We as individuals need to work in recognition of others towards undoing this system.
I have a question because it's good to ask and learn: what about mixed people? Does that include passing for white? Looking more white? Having darker skinned relatives but you're more white. Just wondering.
These seem like questions more befitting a later discussion. This is very much an introductory talk. And I personally don't know the "right" answer, but: to some degree, a person's race what society tells him or her it is. Think of the "one drop rule".
@@Encyclopedist race is a social construct created by white supremecists. We should be abolishing it entirely. Do not judge based on the color of someones skin or the shape of their body. Period.
Free blacks were counted as whole persons, not three-fifths. Slaves were counted as three-fifths of a person when determining congressional seats. It was the free states that didn't want to count slaves as whole persons.
@@Luke-cp9uj Unnecessary to say unnecessary. Just goes to show that assertions made to invalid someone's self-worth, or aspects of one's derived self-value, are often driven by a conflict of interest by an opposing and/or competing interest in many cases.
This lady's family was part of the white flight out of Pittsburgh, which is what lots of well to do white folks did back then. If you are white and poor or even Middle class you likely stayed put and learned to get along. I'm from the Burgh and my family proudly staying in our neighborhood and learned to get along with non-white people, this ladies family fled and probably felt bad in retrospective and projected a positive spin on it to her growing up.
Why don't we just call people people and stop using silly terms like whiteness blakness. I have white skin but my ancestry is Slavic. I identify as Slavic not white. Just like people of color are not all from Africa. Am I supposed to feel guilty for being born with white skin. What kind of nonsense is this. I respect people of all colors and cultures.
yes unfortunately the racism they think they are minimizing is just being transformed, "its not about skin color yet,, thats all its focused on." Theres only one racial identity model supported for "whites" and its really something.
You mean like extreme violence, low IQ, extreme criminality, extreme poverty, extreme levels of hate and bigotry toward all other races. Which racial group am I describing. If race was irrelevant, you'd have no clue. BUT you do.
@@Kyiverdam Exactly! As she herself says about that exchange at 12:35, "This too has not been a victory for racial justice." She acknowledges that blowing up at that compliment was not helpful.
The fact that you retaliated against someone's compliment about your daughter and saw your daughter wanting to change her hair color for fun as correcting a flaw is very troubling. Makes me wonder about your opinion of her between her birth and that phone conversation with your South African friend. Also, why do you know that your friend is right? Is it because of how she looks or because of how she thinks? I hope it's the latter.
I have a positive white identity, and I am as white as they come; I am a WHITE SCANDINAVIAN. :) It is awesome to be white! White Swedes have invented a shitload of things that improved the world. Most teachers in Sweden are white...and I think that is absolutely AWESOME too! Sweden should have WHITE teachers and white people!
6:30 is when she really starts to get to a lot of it.. when she talks about the federal, state and local efforts to create and preserve whiteness.. you gotta understand that.
I am honestly surprised by the amount of dislikes this video has. A lot of what she is saying makes sense to me... I guess I don't understand, even from reading the comments, why so many people disagree. Anyone want to try and clue me in (in a level-headed, polite, non-exaggerated way if possible :)? Why do you disagree with her perspective?
Read the other comments and you'll get the gist: white people don't like being reminded that they have benefitted from their race. More broadly: people don't like to admit that their success largely is out of their hands.
From what I am understanding we confront racism not with moving past it but recycling it. Is her reaction to her daughter getting a compliment not a major red flag that something is mentally wrong with her?
She didn't answer the question. On a meta level, it seems that this talk is about her search for a positive white identity and failure to find it. You can't find a positive white identity by focusing on slavery. That isn't a positive thing. You can find a positive white identity by focusing on the renaissance and science and the modern world, which has played a huge role in greatly eliminating slavery and extreme poverty and violence around the word. If you need to split humans up by race, then that is at least a "positive" way for a white person to have a positive racial identity.
Shocking that in a fifteen minute talk she didn't solve anything. She began the process of helping white people realize they ought to think about their whiteness.
@@Encyclopedist she didn't help anyone. she complicates and dwells on something otherwise pointless and contributes to racism by regressing individuality to focus only on skin color
I am confused by the fact that people do not value another's opinion other than their own. People made comments about her hair and that she is Jewish rather than the substance of what she was talking.
This resourceful race hustler has found a new angle. Her kind of wordy, self-serving lecture should be recognized for its perpetuation and exploitation of the bloated myth of racism that is distracting our country from the business of refining Primary education, stigmatizing narcotics and criminality, and discouraging single-parent child rearing.
The whole idea of "criminality" fosters a culture of obedience and conformity, not justice. And stigmatizing narcotics (which is a pretty slippery definition, tbh) only leads to wholesale throwing people away instead of even attempting real treatment. You would be well-served to talk less and listen more to the actual lived experiences of people who are different from you.
You do know that White people have all sorts of divisions among themselves just like Asians, Blacks and every other group. I'm white to anyone who isn't and to other white people I'm some type of swarthy Southern European who has a natural base tan (which yes I've literally had other white people tell me in mid-conversation that my opinion isn't really valid on a issue because I'm only "kinda" white.)
TheEvolver, no we don't. No "divides" among whites. And believe it or not we don't base our identity on our color. We base it on our behavior. Anyone with adequate civil, social behavior will be accepted by most whites regardless of their skin tone. I say white because that's typically the easiest identifier for the core of the group we're talking about.
I'm not sure your approach is right for everyone or always helpful or that it necessarily leads to better outcomes. I fear current mechanisms are making us so race obsessed that we can't possibly act natural in mixed-race situations. I'd argue that previously lots of people had both a healthy self-concept and had no problem having healthy interactions with diverse groups of people. Now we're getting all neurotic about "whiteness" and wanting to be less white (or less blond). OMG why do the arbiters of culture always have to force everyone into a tiny ideological box? Why can't they give people a little space to work it out for themselves?
Be proud to be White. Work to conserve the advantage given to White people within the US. Work to spread pro-White racial bias by being a fierce self advocate, model citizen, and decent human being. Reject all anti-White racism. Love your family, protect, and encourage them.
What a powerful and critical look at race dynamics, racial identity and racial justice. The notion of acknowledging the way race and racism plays a role in ALL people's lives and confronting that reality together in order to truly heal society is powerful. The purpose of her message is clear and her commitment to this work is undeniable. I look forward to hearing more from Ali Michael.
If you split the world up into race based outcomes, eg. blaming white people for slavery in the US. Then a positive white identity would include the many incredible things the same "white" system produced, eg, the computer and internet you are communicating through. A positive white identity would include the amazing things the system produced, hopefully in addition to the negative things the system produced. She didn't do that. She seemed to just try to feel better about the negative things the system produced. That isn't positive. It's still a negative identity with a happy face emoji stuck on top.
Well spoken Ali Michael! You can never go wrong by reading authors of a different skin colour than you and broadening your knowledge of how other people live, while still accepting yourself.
I get where you're coming from. I would phrase it differently. Racial identity is a construct. It's ultimately made up, true. But the impact on people's lives is still just as real, and closing our eyes doesn't make that go away.
She and Robin D'Angelo as well as Barbara Lerner Spectre all look so much alike.. I wonder if there is any relation... hmm..
My identity is not defined by the amounts on melanin in my skin.
That's nice. Society disagrees, and they control the flow of information to the next generation of children.
I dont let society define me either. Regardless of whether it agrees or not.
@@johngalt671 you don't let society control how YOU define you. But they're trying their hardest to control how our kids define us. We should try and start doing something about it sooner than later.
@@michaelfranciotti3900 Lol @ your victim complex
@@michaelfranciotti3900 we live in a society
Okay fellow white
She digs deep into the white psyche as she confronts the traditional narrative of what it means to be a white American.
This woman has a jewish identity why doesnt she ever talk about that??? makes you think hmmmm....
The reason is that our society generally classifies Jewish people as White.
Because of worthless antisemites like you
@@Milfuelle100 antisemitism is a canard to avoid criticism
By the way even some jews said that Google it
@@Milfuelle100 Muslims were killed in millions
Christians too
Everyone suffered at some point in history
You don't find us telling ooh Muslims suffered we shouldn't talk about their religion or what they do
@@Milfuelle100 you’re IQ is nonexistent
My ancestors are mainly composed of war veterans who started as humble farmers in Scotland, Ireland, Germany, and Wales. The ones who aren't were Native American. Tell me to be guilty about my ancestors working their asses off for generations to put food on my table. Go ahead.
Nobody does that. Ever. You just want people to do it so you can feel oppressed. And if they don't, you pretend that they do.
Your Scots/Irish/German/Welsh/Native American ancestors, just like my Tahitian/Japanese/RomanianRoma ancestors -- they gave you and me the gift of being born in this country. We're all Americans. And for that, I'm very grateful. I won't judge anyone by race. Sometimes people do that to me, but I refuse to sink to their banal level. Character is what matters.
You absolutely should not feel guilty about that. What you should do is understand how our society today functions, how historical systems influence us, and how we can work together to make our society a more just one.
Oy I'm white
"Immigrants have the power to change the outcome of elections & to change the face of pale, male, stale leadership."
TEDx
Utterly fails to understand that in EVERY society majority population have advantages. Japanese have majority privilege in Japan, Chinese have majority privilege in China etc
America claims to be better than the rest of the world, so we shouldn't be content with our racial inequities.
Can we talk about "blackness"?...I didn't think so
Why not?
Blackness is discussed all the time, but it's not a diametric system. The idea that any time we need to have a critical conversation about white people and whiteness, we also need to have a critical conversation about blackness or any other racial beingness that you'd like to pit in opposition to whiteness highlights the need for conversations about how racism operates.
Whiteness is almost exclusively defined in opposition to other racial categories. We as individuals need to work in recognition of others towards undoing this system.
Does she think she's white?
I have a question because it's good to ask and learn: what about mixed people? Does that include passing for white? Looking more white? Having darker skinned relatives but you're more white. Just wondering.
These seem like questions more befitting a later discussion. This is very much an introductory talk. And I personally don't know the "right" answer, but: to some degree, a person's race what society tells him or her it is. Think of the "one drop rule".
@@Encyclopedist race is a social construct created by white supremecists. We should be abolishing it entirely. Do not judge based on the color of someones skin or the shape of their body. Period.
Oy vey, Iyz a vyte voman!
Based
Free blacks were counted as whole persons, not three-fifths. Slaves were counted as three-fifths of a person when determining congressional seats. It was the free states that didn't want to count slaves as whole persons.
White and proud. Wouldn't want to be any other race.
Unnecessary to say. Not as if you can change it.
@@Luke-cp9uj Unnecessary to say unnecessary. Just goes to show that assertions made to invalid someone's self-worth, or aspects of one's derived self-value, are often driven by a conflict of interest by an opposing and/or competing interest in many cases.
This lady's family was part of the white flight out of Pittsburgh, which is what lots of well to do white folks did back then. If you are white and poor or even Middle class you likely stayed put and learned to get along. I'm from the Burgh and my family proudly staying in our neighborhood and learned to get along with non-white people, this ladies family fled and probably felt bad in retrospective and projected a positive spin on it to her growing up.
Why would they feel bad for moving?
@@joedirt2862 because most people in retrospection don't like to think of themselves as reactionary bigots
@@TheEvolver311 Getting along with people is simple. Tolerance.
@Guy LeDouche right white flight was a national phenomenon go put your pointed robe away
@Vlad the Inhaler naw you the one who sounds upset
This lady is Jewish. That's her identity. Not white.
Thanks you just saved me 16 minutes
Al the Jews I know are white.
Jewish is not a race
According to the U.S. Census, that makes her white.
The point is society treats her and views her as White and she considers herself as such.
Racial identity and how I made a living out of dividing people - better title
If that's your take, you probably didn't watch it.
@@Encyclopedist If that`s your take you probably did not understand it
@@UncleMort
Well she doesn't talk about dividing people, so there's that.
Is it dividing people or does it just make you, a white person, uncomfortable? Because those are two different things.
@@graceold9468People of every hue should feel uncomfortable listening to such an openly racial indentitarian.
Why don't we just call people people and stop using silly terms like whiteness blakness. I have white skin but my ancestry is Slavic. I identify as Slavic not white. Just like people of color are not all from Africa. Am I supposed to feel guilty for being born with white skin. What kind of nonsense is this. I respect people of all colors and cultures.
yes unfortunately the racism they think they are minimizing is just being transformed, "its not about skin color yet,, thats all its focused on." Theres only one racial identity model supported for "whites" and its really something.
YES That is their goal and its wokring on the vast majority of white people.
The idea should be to embrace the positive qualities while working to correct the negatives.
Juliette Moss And that goes for every race and every individual because we are all flawed, and born sinners, so we all fall short.
You mean like extreme violence, low IQ, extreme criminality, extreme poverty, extreme levels of hate and bigotry toward all other races. Which racial group am I describing. If race was irrelevant, you'd have no clue. BUT you do.
no, the idea should be to stop perpetuating and creating "racial identity" it's the cause of both white guilt and racial nationalism of all races
Just like she describes with her mentor and her daughter's hair.
@@Kyiverdam
Exactly! As she herself says about that exchange at 12:35, "This too has not been a victory for racial justice." She acknowledges that blowing up at that compliment was not helpful.
The fact that you retaliated against someone's compliment about your daughter and saw your daughter wanting to change her hair color for fun as correcting a flaw is very troubling. Makes me wonder about your opinion of her between her birth and that phone conversation with your South African friend. Also, why do you know that your friend is right? Is it because of how she looks or because of how she thinks? I hope it's the latter.
I have a positive white identity, and I am as white as they come; I am a WHITE SCANDINAVIAN. :)
It is awesome to be white!
White Swedes have invented a shitload of things that improved the world.
Most teachers in Sweden are white...and I think that is absolutely AWESOME too!
Sweden should have WHITE teachers and white people!
yikes
Well said
What I learned from this is that she grew up in a great family and chose to become racists towards white people and is now profiting towards it.
c0oL3RtH4Ny0U You hit the nail on the head!
So you weren't paying attention.
Well stated
reading these comments makes me wonder if some of the viewers even made it to the end of the video...
She lost me at the description of her timeline and how she obsessed about race throughout and... You realize it's more about her than anything
Makes me wonder if people made it to 3 minutes in.
Took three minutes to cross the line. Longer than I thought.
6:30 is when she really starts to get to a lot of it.. when she talks about the federal, state and local efforts to create and preserve whiteness.. you gotta understand that.
I am honestly surprised by the amount of dislikes this video has. A lot of what she is saying makes sense to me... I guess I don't understand, even from reading the comments, why so many people disagree.
Anyone want to try and clue me in (in a level-headed, polite, non-exaggerated way if possible :)? Why do you disagree with her perspective?
Read the other comments and you'll get the gist: white people don't like being reminded that they have benefitted from their race. More broadly: people don't like to admit that their success largely is out of their hands.
She demonizes white skin.
From what I am understanding we confront racism not with moving past it but recycling it. Is her reaction to her daughter getting a compliment not a major red flag that something is mentally wrong with her?
@@marmer1327
No it's nothing of the sort.
@@estarr86 Somebody didn’t watch the video at ALL
She literally didn't solve anything....
She didn't answer the question.
On a meta level, it seems that this talk is about her search for a positive white identity and failure to find it.
You can't find a positive white identity by focusing on slavery. That isn't a positive thing.
You can find a positive white identity by focusing on the renaissance and science and the modern world, which has played a huge role in greatly eliminating slavery and extreme poverty and violence around the word.
If you need to split humans up by race, then that is at least a "positive" way for a white person to have a positive racial identity.
wait you thought she was gonna getvon stage a solve racism lol uhm ok
Shocking that in a fifteen minute talk she didn't solve anything. She began the process of helping white people realize they ought to think about their whiteness.
@@Encyclopedist she didn't help anyone. she complicates and dwells on something otherwise pointless and contributes to racism by regressing individuality to focus only on skin color
what is this nonsense?
Watch it and find out.
Why should someone be made to feel negative for the color of their? That is called discrimination.
It is terribly saddening
If its funny ,then laugh.
She's an ideologue.
I am confused by the fact that people do not value another's opinion other than their own. People made comments about her hair and that she is Jewish rather than the substance of what she was talking.
can someone explain cos i’m very confused by the mixed comments, want to understand the problems with this video better
This resourceful race hustler has found a new angle. Her kind of wordy, self-serving lecture should be recognized for its perpetuation and exploitation of the bloated myth of racism that is distracting our country from the business of refining Primary education, stigmatizing narcotics and criminality, and discouraging single-parent child rearing.
The whole idea of "criminality" fosters a culture of obedience and conformity, not justice. And stigmatizing narcotics (which is a pretty slippery definition, tbh) only leads to wholesale throwing people away instead of even attempting real treatment. You would be well-served to talk less and listen more to the actual lived experiences of people who are different from you.
All white people must have had her life lol
This woman is not white, she's Jewish.
Eli Mosley Jewish is not a race and there are white Jews, you know...
Oddly enough only whites and Jews believe there is any difference between the Jews and whites. It's honestly hilarious.
You do know that White people have all sorts of divisions among themselves just like Asians, Blacks and every other group. I'm white to anyone who isn't and to other white people I'm some type of swarthy Southern European who has a natural base tan (which yes I've literally had other white people tell me in mid-conversation that my opinion isn't really valid on a issue because I'm only "kinda" white.)
jews are white. there are many white mexicans. where you draw the line on race is completely arbitrary. biologically there is only one human race
TheEvolver, no we don't. No "divides" among whites. And believe it or not we don't base our identity on our color. We base it on our behavior. Anyone with adequate civil, social behavior will be accepted by most whites regardless of their skin tone. I say white because that's typically the easiest identifier for the core of the group we're talking about.
I'm not sure your approach is right for everyone or always helpful or that it necessarily leads to better outcomes. I fear current mechanisms are making us so race obsessed that we can't possibly act natural in mixed-race situations. I'd argue that previously lots of people had both a healthy self-concept and had no problem having healthy interactions with diverse groups of people. Now we're getting all neurotic about "whiteness" and wanting to be less white (or less blond). OMG why do the arbiters of culture always have to force everyone into a tiny ideological box? Why can't they give people a little space to work it out for themselves?
My mom is white
These mostly inane comments show why the type of work Ali does is so badly needed.
It's not needed at all. It's nothing but race hustling madness.
@@Flintlock1776 Agreed
Jesus help us
If he exists, he probably is helping us.
This woman is jewish and has rejected jesus.
She should seek help from professionals.
“Talk about whiteness”?
Just watch, learn and enjoy........
Oy vey, fellow Whites!
Wow she is making me angry. We dont have your life lady so how you gonna talk about the impact of being white affected me?
Be proud to be White. Work to conserve the advantage given to White people within the US. Work to spread pro-White racial bias by being a fierce self advocate, model citizen, and decent human being. Reject all anti-White racism. Love your family, protect, and encourage them.
IM WHITE DO NOT FEEL GUILTY...MY ANCESTORS ARE NOT FROM ENGLAND.
What a powerful and critical look at race dynamics, racial identity and racial justice. The notion of acknowledging the way race and racism plays a role in ALL people's lives and confronting that reality together in order to truly heal society is powerful. The purpose of her message is clear and her commitment to this work is undeniable. I look forward to hearing more from Ali Michael.
not really getting all the dislikes here..
she's talking about how to appropriately be guilty rather than just accepting her traditional white guilt
guilt for a new era
If you split the world up into race based outcomes, eg. blaming white people for slavery in the US. Then a positive white identity would include the many incredible things the same "white" system produced, eg, the computer and internet you are communicating through.
A positive white identity would include the amazing things the system produced, hopefully in addition to the negative things the system produced.
She didn't do that. She seemed to just try to feel better about the negative things the system produced. That isn't positive. It's still a negative identity with a happy face emoji stuck on top.
"We didn't drink from the same proverbial water fountain." What an appropriately misleading metaphor.
yikes
"fan of diversity"
I'm out.
Great video! Thank you!
Thank you Ali Michael for sharing your understanding and insight. The first guiding step for change is awareness. Looking forward to learning more.
jahari window
Well spoken Ali Michael! You can never go wrong by reading authors of a different skin colour than you and broadening your knowledge of how other people live, while still accepting yourself.
mmm, this is so lovely. Thank you for being a great human and not pretending to not see race.
This is embarrassing..
In other words: you feel embarrassed.
This Walmart Rachel Dolezal stand-up special sucks
Ridiculous!
Cultural anthropology and experimental psychology would like a word.
Does she think she's white?
Fabulous Ali--thank you for sharing your wisdom!
How about not racial identity doesn't exist
I get where you're coming from. I would phrase it differently. Racial identity is a construct. It's ultimately made up, true. But the impact on people's lives is still just as real, and closing our eyes doesn't make that go away.
White Liberal Malcom X Warned About lol
You can always tell where they're going by what they look like
said every bigot ever
@@LCatJams
She's at TedX and you're here.
such a nice nose this white women got!
Cultural hegemony...
@Vlad the Inhaler ?? What that mean??
Great talk Ali Michael! Thank you. Very helpful. Much appreciation for you and your work. Keep it up!
defend Germany against american hystery
she just wants a race war, and i find her terms acceptable