We Are Not a Melting Pot

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Michelle Silverthorn |

TEDxLakeForestCollege

• November 2018

In 2018, Starbucks closed its stores after a manager called the police on two black men waiting at a table. The months that followed brought a rash of incidents of white people calling the police on people of color napping in a college dorm, BBQing in a public park, touring a university campus, and selling water on the side of the road. Each time an incident was reported, cries of racism came to the fore. And yet, if you asked any of those people, they likely would say, “I’m not racist,” or “I don’t see color.” How do we reconcile that? That’s where unconscious bias enters in. How do we interrupt bias? How do we see truth? And, crucially, how can we transform our thinking so we see people for who they are, not who we think they should be?