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AlexFromActTV87 karma

CLIMATE CHANGE! Jesus christ, I have a few terrifying videos about what we're facing over the next 10, 20, 30 years, but none of them have gotten any traction. It's also the toughest topic to write about, because I like having hopeful endings, and there's just very little to be hopeful about.

AlexFromActTV56 karma

I think writing a good story that explains a difficult topic clearly and in under 5 minutes, is by far the most difficult. Anyone can learn to draw and move things around visually. But condensing complex information into bitesized nuggets takes a lot of work. My favorite quote is "If I had more time, I would have written you a shorter letter."

Simplifying things is hard.

AlexFromActTV51 karma

All the sources are cited in the video itself (bottom left corner) anytime a stat or study is mentioned. In the past I've actually sent the same links to people who request it, but it's just impossible now with the sheer number of emails/messages.

AlexFromActTV43 karma

Hi and thanks! I noticed it was getting traction when my instagram started blowing up with people tagging me. Then friends started sending me links and messages that they'd seen a famous person share it. On Instagram it started with Viola Davis, then other celebrities picked it up from there.

If I'd known it would become relevant during this time, I would have loved to include some historical context around police violence. I think it's important for people to understand how far back this struggle goes for people of color in the US, and how much White Supremacy supporters have made it an explicit plan to infiltrate law enforcement at every level. That's actually the topic for my next video.

AlexFromActTV38 karma

I'll attempt to tackle these questions by acknowledging the most common misconception about people who talk about systemic racism: the misconception is that we're arguing for equality of outcome. Nope. We're arguing for equality of opportunity. And the fact that people don't understand that is what makes these discussions necessary.

The second misconception is generalizing that anyone that brings up racism, is saying that ALL problems someone has in life are due to racism. Of course that's not true. We're talking about probability, and what's more or less likely to happen.

Kevin and Jamal don't have the same opportunities, even though the have the same level of intelligence, and will work equally as hard throughout life. Assuming they work exactly as hard, Kevin will likely be about twice as successful as Jamal, mostly because of economics, and implicit bias. And before someone says "Aha! So this is an ECONOMIC problem, not a problem of racism," I'll clarify that the economic problem usually is a consequence of racism that happened 100+ years ago. I'm not even talking about how CURRENT racism is affecting economic opportunity.

"Is the fact that black men, 7% of the population commit 50% of the homicides in the US, vast majority of those intra-racial, (killing other black people) explained by systemic racism as well?" - I would say that yes. Racism keeps people trapped in poverty, and poverty and lack of education can lead to violence.

"You seem to be in favor of working toward an equality of outcome as it pertains to race, meaning that, since median black households have less money, this is a symptom of systemic racism in the US and until those numbers are equal, systemic racism is the problem." -I'm in favor of equality of opportunity. Show me schools that are staffed and resourced to the same level regardless of neighborhood wealth, and I would call that a crucial victory. What happens next is irrelevant, because all the kids can choose to take advantage of the opportunity, or not.

"How do you square that with the fact that almost every population of immigrants that came to the US has had to suffer through different levels of oppression and stigmatization yet the Asians came out on top of even the oppressive whites by a wide margin?" -This is a great question, and I honestly don't know the answer to that. Maybe the sheer size of Asians is creating a self-selection pattern, where we really only see the absolute hardest working immigrants? I would have to read up on some studies to get a clearer idea of what's happening.

"If we accept that the only explanation for a success of a certain population is historical or systemic instead of cultural should we now try to suppress the Asian population even further until they match the average, or are whites being held down by systemic racism so they can't perform as well as their Asian compatriots?" -See misconception #2. Systemic Racism isn't "the only" explanation for a success of a certain population. It just makes it more or less probable that you'll succeed, regardless of how hard, or how little you work.

Equality of opportunity. That's the entire issue.