TED2019
Marc Bamuthi Joseph: "You Have the Rite"
Filmed:
Readability: 4
1,713,613 views
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.
Marc Bamuthi Joseph - Arts activist, spoken word artist
TED Fellow Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a curator of words, ideas and protagonists. His bold, poetically-driven work investigates social issues and cultural identity. Full bio
TED Fellow Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a curator of words, ideas and protagonists. His bold, poetically-driven work investigates social issues and cultural identity. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
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Me and the boy wear the same shoe size.
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He wants a pair of
Air Jordan 4s for Christmas.
Air Jordan 4s for Christmas.
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I buy them,
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and then I steal them from his closet,
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like a twisted Grinch-themed
episode of "Black-ish."
episode of "Black-ish."
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(Laughter)
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The kicks are totems to my youth.
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I wear them like mercury
on my Black man feet.
on my Black man feet.
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I can't get those young
freedom days back fast enough.
freedom days back fast enough.
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Last time I was really fast I was 16,
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outrunning a doorman
on the Upper East Side.
on the Upper East Side.
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He caught me vandalizing his building,
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not even on some artsy stuff,
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just ... stupid.
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Of all the genders,
boys are the stupidest.
boys are the stupidest.
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(Laughter)
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Sixteen was a series of
barely getting away
barely getting away
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and never telling my parents.
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I assume that my son
is stewarding this tradition well.
is stewarding this tradition well.
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Sixteen was "The Low End Theory"
and Marvin Gaye on repeat.
and Marvin Gaye on repeat.
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Sixteen is younger than Trayvon
and older than Emmett Till.
and older than Emmett Till.
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At the DMV, my boy's in line to officially
enter his prime suspect years:
enter his prime suspect years:
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young, brown and behind the wheel,
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a moving semaphore, signaling
the threat of communities from below.
the threat of communities from below.
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On top of the food chain,
humans have no natural predator,
humans have no natural predator,
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but America plays out something
genetically embedded and instinctual
genetically embedded and instinctual
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in its appetite for the Black body.
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America guns down Black bodies
and then walks around them,
and then walks around them,
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bored,
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like laconic lions next to
half-eaten gazelles,
half-eaten gazelles,
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bloody lips ...
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"America and the Black Body"
on some Nat Geo shit.
on some Nat Geo shit.
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Well, he passes his road test at the DMV.
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He does this strut C-Walk
broken "Fortnite" thing
broken "Fortnite" thing
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on the way in to finish his paperwork,
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true joy and calibrated cool
under the eye of my filming iPhone,
under the eye of my filming iPhone,
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the victory dance of someone
who has just salvaged a draw.
who has just salvaged a draw.
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He's earned this win, but he's so 16
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he can't quite let his body be fully free.
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When he's three,
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I'm in handcuffs in downtown Oakland.
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Five minutes ago, I was illegally parked.
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Now I'm in the back of a squad car,
considering the odds that I'm going to die
considering the odds that I'm going to die
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here, 15 minutes away from my son
who expects that in 18 minutes,
who expects that in 18 minutes,
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daddy's gonna pick him up from preschool.
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There are no pocket-size cameras
to capture this moment, so.
to capture this moment, so.
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I learned a lot of big words
when I was 16 getting ready for the SAT,
when I was 16 getting ready for the SAT,
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but none of them come to me now.
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In the police car, the only thing
that really speaks is my skin.
that really speaks is my skin.
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I know this:
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I was parked on a bus zone
on 12th and Broadway,
on 12th and Broadway,
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running to the ATM on the corner.
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I pull the cash out just as
a police car pulls up behind me,
a police car pulls up behind me,
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give him the "Aw shucks, my bad,"
that earnest Black man face.
that earnest Black man face.
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He waits till I'm back in the car
and then hits the siren,
and then hits the siren,
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takes my license with his hand on the gun,
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comes back two minutes later, gun drawn,
another patrol car now, four cops now,
another patrol car now, four cops now,
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my face on the curb,
hands behind my back, shackled.
hands behind my back, shackled.
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I'm angry and humiliated,
only until I'm scared and then sad.
only until I'm scared and then sad.
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I smell like the last gasp
before my own death.
before my own death.
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I think how long the boy will wait
before he realizes
before he realizes
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that daddy is not on his way.
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I think his last barely
formed memory of me
formed memory of me
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will be the story of how
I never came for him.
I never came for him.
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I try to telepathically say goodbye.
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The silence brings me no peace.
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The quiet makes it hard to rest.
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In the void there is anger mushrooming
in the moss at the base of my thoughts,
in the moss at the base of my thoughts,
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a fungus growing on the spine
of my freedom attempts.
of my freedom attempts.
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I'm free from all except contempt,
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the spirit of an unarmed civilian
in the time of civil unrest,
in the time of civil unrest,
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no peace, just Marvin Gaye falsettos
arching like a broken-winged sparrow,
arching like a broken-winged sparrow,
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competing against the empty sirens,
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singing the police.
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Apparently some cat from Richmond
had a warrant out on him,
had a warrant out on him,
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and when the cop says my name to dispatch,
dude doesn't hear "Marc Joseph,"
dude doesn't hear "Marc Joseph,"
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he hears "Mike Johnson."
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I count seven cars and 18 cops
on the corner now,
on the corner now,
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a pride around a pound of flesh.
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By the grace of God,
I'm not fed to the beast today.
I'm not fed to the beast today.
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Magnanimously, the first cop
makes sure to give me a ticket
makes sure to give me a ticket
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for parking in a bus zone,
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before he sets me free.
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The boy is 16.
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He has a license to drive
in the hollow city,
in the hollow city,
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enough body to fill my shoes.
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I have grey in my beard,
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and it tells the truth.
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He can navigate traffic
in the age of autonomous vehicles.
in the age of autonomous vehicles.
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You know, people say "the talk,"
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like the thing happens just once,
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like my memory's been erased
and my internet is broken,
and my internet is broken,
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like I can't read today's martyred name,
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like today's the day
that I don't love my son enough
that I don't love my son enough
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to tell him, "Bro, I really
don't care about your rights, yo.
don't care about your rights, yo.
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Your mission is to get home to me.
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Live to tell me the story, boy.
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Get home to me."
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Today's talk is mostly
happening in my head
happening in my head
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as he pulls onto the freeway
and Marvin Gaye comes on the radio.
and Marvin Gaye comes on the radio.
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I'm wearing the boy's shoes,
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and the tune in my head is the goodbye
that I almost never said,
that I almost never said,
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a goodbye the length of a requiem,
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a kiss, a whiff of his neck,
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the length of a revelation
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and a request flying high
in the friendly sky
in the friendly sky
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without ever leaving the ground.
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My pain is a walking bass line,
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a refrain, placated stress
against the fading baseline.
against the fading baseline.
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Listen, this is not to be romantic,
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but to assert a plausible scenario
for the existential moment.
for the existential moment.
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Driving while Black
is its own genre of experience.
is its own genre of experience.
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Ask Marvin.
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It may not be the reason
why you sing like an angel,
why you sing like an angel,
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but it surely has something to do with
why heaven bends to your voice.
why heaven bends to your voice.
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The boy driving,
the cop in the rearview mirror
the cop in the rearview mirror
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is a ticket to ride or die.
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When you give a Black boy "the talk,"
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you pray he is of the faction
of the fraction that survives.
of the fraction that survives.
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You pitch him the frequency
of your telepathic goodbye,
of your telepathic goodbye,
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channel the love sustained
in Marvin's upper register
in Marvin's upper register
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under his skullcap.
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Black music at its best
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is an exploded black hole
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responding to the call
of America at its worst.
of America at its worst.
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Strike us down, the music lives,
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dark, like tar or tobacco
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or cotton in muddy water.
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Get home to me, son.
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Like a love supreme, a god as love,
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a love overrules,
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feathers for the angelic lift
of the restless dead,
of the restless dead,
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like a theme for trouble man,
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or a 16-year-old boy, free to make
mistakes and live through them,
mistakes and live through them,
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grow from them,
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holy, holy, mercy, mercy me,
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mercy,
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mercy.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Marc Bamuthi Joseph - Arts activist, spoken word artistTED Fellow Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a curator of words, ideas and protagonists. His bold, poetically-driven work investigates social issues and cultural identity.
Why you should listen
Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a steadfast believer in empathy as the most valuable currency in building community, and he seeks to spark curiosity and dialogue about freedom, compassion and fearlessness through pioneering arts stewardship and education. A 2017 TEDGlobal Fellow, Bamuthi graced the cover of Smithsonian Magazine as one of America's Top Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences; artistically directed HBO's "Russell Simmons presents Brave New Voices"; and is an inaugural recipient of the United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship, which annually recognizes 50 of the country’s greatest living artists. Dance Magazine named him a Top Influencer in 2017.
Bamuthi's evening-length work, red black and GREEN: a blues, was nominated for a 2013 Bessie Award for "Outstanding Production (of a work stretching the boundaries of a traditional form)" and he has won numerous grants including from the National Endowment for the Arts and Creative Capital Foundation. His noted work /peh-LO-tah/ is inspired by soccer and Bamuthi's first generation American experience, intersecting global economics, cross-border fan culture and the politics of joy.
Bamuthi is the founding Program Director of the non-profit Youth Speaks, and he is a co-founder of Life is Living, a national series of one-day festivals which activate under-resourced parks and affirm peaceful urban life. His essays have been published in Harvard Education Press; he has lectured at more than 200 colleges, has carried adjunct professorships at Stanford and Lehigh, among others, and currently serves as Chief of Program and Pedagogy at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.
Marc Bamuthi Joseph | Speaker | TED.com