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3,432,942 views | Marc Bamuthi Joseph • TED2019

"You Have the Rite"

In a breathtaking, jazz-inflected spoken-word performance, TED Fellow Marc Bamuthi Joseph shares a Black father's tender and wrenching internal reflection on the pride and terror of seeing his son enter adulthood.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Keep the discussion going. Read Marc Bamuthi's piece on Medium, "You Have the Rite."

Check out The Just and the Blind at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, on Monday, September 9th.

In a breathtaking, jazz-inflected spoken-word performance, TED Fellow Marc Bamuthi Joseph shares a Black father's tender and wrenching internal reflection on the pride and terror of seeing his son enter adulthood.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Keep the discussion going. Read Marc Bamuthi's piece on Medium, "You Have the Rite."

Check out The Just and the Blind at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, on Monday, September 9th.

About the speaker

Marc Bamuthi Joseph

Writer, performer

See speaker profile

Marc Bamuthi Joseph investigates cultural erasure through performances that range from opera to dance theater.

Michelle Alexander | The New Press, 2012 | Book

The New Jim Crow

Ta-Nehisi Coates | Text Publishing Co., 2015 | Book

Between the World and Me

Ava DuVernay, 2016 | Watch

13th

Raoul Peck, 2016 | Watch

I Am Not Your Negro

Yak Films, featuring the poetry of Marc Bamuthi Joseph | YouTube, 2019 | Watch

"About Face"