ShmoopTube

00:03

Acceptance of Race... a la Shmoop.

00:06

Meet Dave and Dan. [Dave and Dan by a school bus]

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Two teenage boys who sleep too much, eat too much,

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aaaand smell slightly worse than their female counterparts.

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Nothing too out of the ordinary. Right?

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Well…except that there's something at play here that has caused bloodshed, misery and

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human suffering for centuries.

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And no, it isn’t Dan’s insistence on wearing jean shorts. [Dan wearing jean shorts with Dave on a sidewalk]

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You noticed it right away, didn’t you? Yup. It's the color of their skin.

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Racial prejudice has been the cause of some of the most awful atrocities ever committed.

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Again…that doesn’t include jean shorts. So when you look at these two stinky goofballs, [Hitler giving a speech]

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you might see a lot of differences...

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…different shoes, different hair, different clothes, different eyes, different heights.

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…but for some reason, the color of their skin tends to stand out.

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Now you might be thinking, [Dan speaking on stage]

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“Hey, I can make a light-hearted racist joke now because racism doesn't exist anymore.”

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Well, you’d be wrong. Really wrong. Like... thinking the Earth is flat. [A squashed Earth]

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Or that the universe revolves around Neptune wrong.

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Slavery might be over in this country, but systematic racism is still a serious issue. [Riot police preparing for protest]

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Big time. Life in these United States is flat-out tougher for people of color than it is for

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white people. Period.

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Turn on the TV, read a newspaper…if you can find one…log onto Facebook… [Girl reading a newspaper]

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chances are, you'll encounter racism in some form.

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Does it suck that that's still a thing happening in the 21st century? [Dave driving a car and is stopped by a police man]

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Uh…yeah. It sucks.

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Do we think we can change it overnight?

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Not unless the Blue Fairy grants us a wish.

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But we do know that, by at least acknowledging it's still an issue and hopefully increasing

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understanding over time…we'll be better equipped to put an end to it in the future.

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People are different in a million ways... what sports they like, their favorite movies are, [People playing basketball and a selection of DVD's]

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whether or not they can cook, who inspires them, their preferred method of slaying vampires, etc... [Blade in the woods looking at a vampire]

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If you're too busy focusing on the color of their skin,

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you might overlook all that way-more-important, on-the-inside stuff. [Martin Luther King Jr giving a speech]

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And by that we mean their personality, not their, um…pancreas. [Dave having his pancreas removed in surgery]

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So…thinking before you speak is an awesome idea. Even when you intend

01:59

to be complimentary – that’s based on a person’s skin tone…probably not a good idea.

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Think of all the clichés that you can give to people of darker skin or whiter skin and just don't say them… [Dan and Dave in a house eating chicken]

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Doesn't work. It's not a good idea. Right?

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It’s not about going overboard and being uber-PC about everything….

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…it’s just the idea of recognizing a struggle other people may have gone through that

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you…may not be able to relate to.

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And who are you to be the authority on what skin color makes you good or bad at? [Man giving a speech]

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So…the next time you feel like your tongue is about to trip you up… just stop.

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That's it. Just stop. Don't ask.

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Ask yourself if you really need to make some comment that might remind someone else

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of hundreds years of oppression, systematic racism, violence and murder. [Dan telling jokes on stage]

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Yeah…probably not a good idea.

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