Hanna Stokes

Cultural Learning Activity

Ted Talk #1- Brittany Barron- What Beyoncé taught me about race

This Ted Talk I watched called, What Beyoncé taught me about race, really intrigued me because

of the title and the fact that I have followed Beyoncé and listened to her music for a long time but

I haven’t looked specifically at her as a biracial women in the industry. While watching the Ted

Talk, Brittany talked about Beyoncé’s group that she first started with, Destiny’s Child, before

she started her own solo career. She explained how it wasn’t until Beyoncé started her solo career

that she actually started to make controversial content. The example of the controversial content

that Beyoncé made was her Formation song and music video she created. In her music video of

Formation, she mentioned issues such as police brutality, Black Panther, slavery, and her parents’

biracial relationship. Aside from Beyoncé being controversial in some of her songs, Brittany

speaks about society having these norms about black women in the industry and people think

artists like Beyoncé should stick to songs like bootylicious and she shouldn’t get into politics or

speak about any issues. This is society’s way of creating roles for certain races. Brittany

mentions that she has faced some of these issues in her own personal life as a black woman.

What she says to people who have those opinions she says to them, “First recognize that I’m a

black women, then forget I am a black women.” To her, her color of her skin does not matter and

she believes people shouldn’t see her differently or put her into certain categories just because

she is a black women. She also discusses that she believes it is very insulting when people say

that they don’t see color because those people don’t realize that our country has made these

thoughts present into people’s brains. Her solution to these issues is to recognize that there is an
issue in our country and we as the people of the country, need to be intentional and understand

that this is a long battle that people of color have been fighting and it is time for it to end.

Ted Talk #2- Jabari Lyles- Black Self/ White World

While watching this Ted Talk, Black self/ White World, Jabari explained how he was getting

interviewed for a non-profit that he really wanted to work for and the interview was going well

for the most part until they asked what is said was the inevitable. The interviewer asked him to

please describe a time where he had been discriminated against because of his race. His answer

to the interviewer was, “I’ve never experienced racism before.” Jabari was obviously making a

joke with the interviewer and he said that the interviewer wasn’t really sure how to react to his

response. Not only did the interviewer not know how to react to Jabari’s response but he also just

moved onto the next question and kind of skipped over the opportunity to talk to Jabari about his

experiences with racism. Jabari expressed that he was frustrated when he was asked this question

in the interview because he knows he got asked that question because he is a black man and he

knows that a white man would have never been asked that question. Even though the interview

was a little rocky, Jabari still got offered the job and accepted it soon after. He was conflicted

about this experience after her continued to work at that non-profit. He didn’t have anything

against the organization otherwise he wouldn’t have accepted the job but he was still conflicted

by the issue that was right in front of his face and that was racism. He felt that his entire life he

was changing the way his personality was, the way he talked, the way he dressed, and it was all

because he was trying to conform to our white society. He didn’t realize he had been doing this

until he got much older but when he realized it, he wanted to change it. He spoke to his parents

about his race and what it means. His parents talked to him about being black and they told him,
“You’re black and that means something.” After his parents said that to him, he was inspired and

felt like he finally understood who he was. He used that and was able to stop changing for

society and decided to do things for himself and no one else. Today he is working at a different

non-profit that helps people with mental illnesses and accepting themselves for who they are,

with an emphasis on the LGBTQ+ community. He explained how all of the lessons in his life

have prepared him for his job now and have also given him the ability to help people the way he

does today.