TED Salon Verizon
Ruby Sales: How we can start to heal the pain of racial division
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"Where does it hurt?" It's a question that activist and educator Ruby Sales has traveled the US asking, looking deeply at the country's legacy of racism and searching for sources of healing. In this moving talk, she shares what she's learned, reflecting on her time as a freedom fighter in the civil rights movement and offering new thinking on pathways to racial justice.
Ruby Sales - Activist, scholar, educator
Ruby Sales has preached around the country on race, class, gender and reconciliation. Full bio
Ruby Sales has preached around the country on race, class, gender and reconciliation. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:13
I want to share with you
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a moment in my life
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when the hurt and wounds of racism
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were both deadly and paralyzing for me.
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And I think what I've learned
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can be a source of healing for all of us.
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When I was 17 years old,
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I was a college student
at Tuskegee University,
at Tuskegee University,
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and I was a worker
in the Southern freedom movement,
in the Southern freedom movement,
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which we call the Civil Rights Movement.
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During this time,
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I met another young 26-year-old,
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white seminary and college student
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named Jonathan Daniels,
from Cambridge, Massachusetts.
from Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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He and I
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were both part of a generation
of idealistic young people,
of idealistic young people,
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whose life has been ignited
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by the freedom fire
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that ordinary black people
were spreading around the nation
were spreading around the nation
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and throughout the South.
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We had come to Lowndes County
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to work in the movement.
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And it was a nonviolent movement
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to redeem the souls of America.
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We believe that everyone,
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both black and white,
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people in the South,
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could find a redemptive pathway
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out of the stranglehold of racism
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that had gripped them
for more than 400 years.
for more than 400 years.
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And on a hot, summer day in August,
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Jonathan and I joined a demonstration
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of local young black people,
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who were protesting the exploitation
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[of] black sharecroppers
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by rich land holders
who cheated them out of their money.
who cheated them out of their money.
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We decided to demonstrate alongside them.
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And on the morning that we showed up
for the demonstration,
for the demonstration,
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we were met with a mob
of howling white men
of howling white men
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with baseball bats, shotguns
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and any weapon that you could imagine.
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And they were threatening to kill us.
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And the sheriff,
seeing the danger that we faced,
seeing the danger that we faced,
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arrested us and put us on a garbage truck
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and took us to the local jail,
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where we were put in cells
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with the most inhumane
conditions you can imagine.
conditions you can imagine.
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And we were threatened by the jailers
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with drinking water
that came from toilets.
that came from toilets.
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We were finally released on the sixth day,
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without any knowledge,
without any forewarning.
without any forewarning.
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Just out of the clear blue sky,
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we were made to leave.
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And we knew that this
was a dangerous sign,
was a dangerous sign,
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because Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney
had also been forced to leave jail
had also been forced to leave jail
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and were murdered because no one knew
what had happened to them.
what had happened to them.
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And so, despite our fervent resistance,
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the sheriff made us leave the jail,
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and of course, nobody was waiting for us.
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It was hot,
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one of those Southern days
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where you could
literally feel the pavement --
literally feel the pavement --
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the vapor seeping out of the pavement.
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And the group of about 14 of us
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selected Jonathan Daniels,
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Father Morrisroe, who had recently
come to the county,
come to the county,
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Joyce Bailey, a local 17-year-old girl
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and I to go and get the drinks.
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When we got to the door,
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a white man was standing
in the doorway with a shotgun,
in the doorway with a shotgun,
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and he said, "Bitch,
I'll blow your brains out!"
I'll blow your brains out!"
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And before I could even react,
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before I could even process
what was going on,
what was going on,
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Jonathan intentionally pulled my blouse,
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and I fell back, thinking that I was dead.
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And in that instant, when I looked up,
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Jonathan Daniels
was standing in the line of fire,
was standing in the line of fire,
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and he took the blast,
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and he saved my life.
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I was so traumatized
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and paralyzed by that event,
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where Tom Coleman deliberately,
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with malicious intent,
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killed my beloved friend and colleague,
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Jonathan Myrick Daniels.
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On that day,
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which was one of the most
important days in my life,
important days in my life,
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I saw both love and hate
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coming from two very different white men
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that represented the best
and the worst of white America.
and the worst of white America.
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So deep was my hurt
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at seeing Tom Coleman
murder Jonathan before my eyes,
murder Jonathan before my eyes,
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that I became a silent person,
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and I did not speak
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for six months.
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I finally learned to touch that hurt in me
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as I became older
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and began to talk about
the Southern freedom movement,
the Southern freedom movement,
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and began to connect my stories
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with the stories of my other colleagues
and freedom fighters,
and freedom fighters,
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who, like me, had faced
deadly trauma of racism,
deadly trauma of racism,
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and who had lost friends along the way,
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and who themselves
have been beaten and thrown in jail.
have been beaten and thrown in jail.
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It is 50 years later.
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Many people were beaten
and thrown in jail.
and thrown in jail.
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Others were murdered
like Jonathan Daniels.
like Jonathan Daniels.
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And yet, we are still, as a nation,
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mired down
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in the quicksand of racism.
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And everywhere I go around the nation,
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I see and hear the hurt.
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And I ask people everywhere,
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"Tell me, where does it hurt?"
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Do you see and feel the hurt
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that I see and feel?
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I feel and see the hurt
in black and brown people
in black and brown people
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who every day feel
the vicious volley of racism
the vicious volley of racism
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and every day have their
civil and human rights stripped away.
civil and human rights stripped away.
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And the people who do this
use stereotypes and myths
use stereotypes and myths
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to justify doing it.
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Everywhere I go,
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I see and hear women
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who speak out against --
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who speak out against
men who invade our bodies.
men who invade our bodies.
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These same men who then turn around --
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the same men who promote racism
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and then turn around and steal our labor
and pay us unequal wages.
and pay us unequal wages.
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I hear and feel the hurt of white men
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at the betrayal by
the same powerful white men
the same powerful white men
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who tell them that their skin color
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is their ticket to a good life and power,
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only to discover,
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as the circle of whiteness narrows,
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that their tickets have expired
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and no longer carry first-class status.
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Now that we've touched the hurt,
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we must ask ourselves,
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"Where does it hurt
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and what is the source of the hurt?"
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I propose that we must look
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deeply into the culture of whiteness.
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That is a river that drowns out
all of our identities
all of our identities
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and drowns us in false uniformity
to protect the status quo.
to protect the status quo.
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Notice, everybody,
I said culture of whiteness,
I said culture of whiteness,
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and not white people.
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Because in my estimation,
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the problem is not white people.
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Instead, it is the culture of whiteness.
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And by culture of whiteness,
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I mean a systemic and organized
set of beliefs,
set of beliefs,
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values, canonized knowledge
and even religion,
and even religion,
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to maintain a hierarchical,
over-and-against power structure
over-and-against power structure
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based on skin color,
against people of color.
against people of color.
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It is a culture
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where white people are seen
as necessary and friendly insiders,
as necessary and friendly insiders,
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while people of color,
especially black people,
especially black people,
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are seen as dangerous
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and threatening outsiders,
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who pose a clear and present danger
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to the safety and the efficacy
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of the culture of whiteness.
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Listen to me and see if you can imagine
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the culture of whiteness
as a dehumanizing process
as a dehumanizing process
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that melts away
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all of our multiple
and interlocking identities,
and interlocking identities,
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such as race, class,
gender and sexualities,
gender and sexualities,
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so that ...
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so that unity is maintained for power.
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I believe, because I know
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and believe that the culture of whiteness
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is a social construct.
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Each of us, from birth to death,
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are socialized in this culture.
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And it marks people of color also.
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And it makes people of color,
like white people,
like white people,
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vote against our interests.
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Some of you might ask --
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and my students always tell me
I give hard assignments --
I give hard assignments --
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some of you might ask, and rightfully so,
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"How do we fix this?
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It seems so all-powerful
and overwhelming."
and overwhelming."
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I believe that we must fix it,
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because we cannot humanize our future
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if we continue to be complicit
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with the culture of whiteness.
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Each of us must connect
with our authentic selves,
with our authentic selves,
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with our authentic ethnic selves.
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And we must connect
with the other aspects of our identities.
with the other aspects of our identities.
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And we must move out of the constructs
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of whiteness, brownness and blackness
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to become who we are at our fullest.
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How do we do this?
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I believe that we do this
through our collective narratives.
through our collective narratives.
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And our collective narratives
must contain our individual stories,
must contain our individual stories,
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the arts,
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spiritual reflections,
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literature,
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and yes, even drumming.
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(Laughter)
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It must be a collective telling,
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because individual stories
just create a paradigm
just create a paradigm
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where we are pitting one story
against another story.
against another story.
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These different models
that I have talked about tonight
that I have talked about tonight
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I think are essential
to providing us a pathway
to providing us a pathway
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out of the quagmire of racism.
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And I want to talk about
another very important model.
another very important model.
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And that is redemption.
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I believe that movements
for racial justice
for racial justice
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must be redemptive rather than punitive.
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And yes, I believe
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that we must provide the possibility
of redemption for everyone.
of redemption for everyone.
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And we must be willing,
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despite some of the vitriolic language
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that might come from
those very people who oppress us,
those very people who oppress us,
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I think that we must listen to them
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and try to figure out where do they hurt.
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We must do this, I believe,
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because our redemption
is tied into their redemption,
is tied into their redemption,
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And we will not be free
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until we've all been redeemed
from unredemptive anger.
from unredemptive anger.
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The challenge is not easy.
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And in a technological society,
it grows even more complicated,
it grows even more complicated,
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because often we use technologies
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to perpetuate the very values of racism
that we indulge in every day.
that we indulge in every day.
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We use technology to bully,
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to perpetuate hate speech
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and to degrade each other's humanities.
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And so I believe that
if we're going to humanize the future,
if we're going to humanize the future,
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we must design ways to use technology
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not to degrade us, but to elevate us
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so that we can live
into the fullest of our capacities.
into the fullest of our capacities.
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And I believe that technology
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must provide us larger vistas
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so that we might engage with each other
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and move beyond the segregated spaces
that we live in, every day of our lives.
that we live in, every day of our lives.
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I believe
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that we can achieve this
if we set our minds
if we set our minds
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and hopes on the prize.
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The question before us tonight
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is very serious.
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It is: "Do you want to be healed?
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Do you want to be healed?"
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Do you want to become whole
and live into all of your identities?
and live into all of your identities?
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Or do you want to continue
to cannibalize your multiple identities
to cannibalize your multiple identities
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and privilege one identity over the other?
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Do you want to join a long line
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of generations of people
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who believed in the promise of America
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and had the faith to upbuild democracy?
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Do you want to live
into the fullest of your potential?
into the fullest of your potential?
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I certainly do.
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And I believe you do, too.
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Let me just say, quite seriously,
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I believe in you.
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And despite everything,
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I still believe in America.
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I hope that this offering
that I've given to you tonight,
that I've given to you tonight,
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that I've shared with you tonight,
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will provide redemptive pathways
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so that you might claim
the fullest of your identity
the fullest of your identity
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and become a major participant
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in humanizing not only
the future for yourselves,
the future for yourselves,
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but also for our democracy.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Ruby Sales - Activist, scholar, educatorRuby Sales has preached around the country on race, class, gender and reconciliation.
Why you should listen
Ruby Sales is the founder and director of the Spirit House Project. She joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the 1960s as a teenager at Tuskegee University and went to work as a student freedom fighter in Lowndes County, Alabama. She is one of 50 African Americans to be spotlighted in the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC.
A deeply committed social activist, scholar, administrator, manager, public theologian and educator in the areas of civil, gender and other human rights, Sales has preached around the country on race, class, gender and reconciliation. She has done groundbreaking work on community and nonviolence formation, and also serves as a national convener of the Every Church A Peace Church Movement. Throughout her career, Sales has mentored young people and provided support and venues for an intergenerational community of developing and seasoned social justice performing and creative artists. She has a deep commitment to providing the education, practical experiences, and frame of references to contest racism and add their voices to the public conversations on the many streams of oppression that emerge from them.
Ruby Sales | Speaker | TED.com