Jun 9, 2020
This episode is for anyone trying to understand another person's experience.
I’ve wanted to have this conversation with my hometown friends since I made the BIAS series on Smartest Person in the Room in 2018. I preferred to do it in person back then, but when the recent protests started over the murder of George Floyd, I asked if they would be willing to record online instead.
LaToyia Brown, Monica Pickens, Danielle Williams and I grew up in Ardmore, Oklahoma, a town that sits on I-35 about halfway between Oklahoma City and Dallas. Population 25,000. Ardmore is 63.2% White and 10.2% Black. I am white and LaToyia, Monica, and Danielle are Black. As I’m learning more about the racial divide in our country, I wanted to ask these friends about their lives in our hometown. I wondered if they experienced discrimination, what was taught in their homes and churches, and what they think about America now versus when we were kids.
I had no idea what they were going to say when I pressed record. Our conversation is vulnerable, honest, and imperfect. But the point of 10 Things To Tell You is to forge connection through conversation, and I believe that is what happened here.
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