George Floyd, Racism, and Protests in America⎢English Lesson

59,588 views ・ 2020-06-09

Rachel's English


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:00
If you live in the US or you follow the news on the US, undoubtedly you’ve seen that
0
310
5279
00:05
Americans are protesting all across the country in response to the death of George Floyd at
1
5589
5661
00:11
the hands of a Minnesota police officer.
2
11250
2850
00:14
And as a non-native speaker of English, perhaps you’re seeing a slew of new terms.
3
14100
5400
00:19
What is the difference between a protest, a riot, and looting, for example.
4
19500
4310
00:23
Today we’re going to go over some terms that you’ll be seeing in the news cycle
5
23810
3660
00:27
about the current events in America.
6
27470
2289
00:29
We’ll talk about different kinds of racism and the ‘ism’ suffix.
7
29759
4561
00:34
Stick with me.
8
34320
2520
00:39
I did have another “Learn English with Movies” video planned for today, but we’ll just
9
39000
4580
00:43
push that to next week.
10
43580
2430
00:46
George Floyd was 46 years old when he was suspected of using a counterfeit $20 bill.
11
46010
6130
00:52
What does counterfeit mean?
12
52140
1790
00:53
It simply means fake.
13
53930
1430
00:55
You’ll notice that Americans will usually drop the first T there because it comes after
14
55360
5290
01:00
an N.
15
60650
1000
01:01
This is true of words like ‘internet’ and ‘interview’ as well.
16
61650
3920
01:05
Counterfeit, counterfeit.
17
65570
1469
01:07
On May 25, a group of police officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota apprehended him and took a series
18
67039
6690
01:13
of actions that violated the policies of their police department.
19
73729
3981
01:17
We’re going to talk about the words ‘policy and police’ in a moment.
20
77710
4850
01:22
One officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes, which killed him, in broad daylight,
21
82560
6199
01:28
with witnesses taking video, with George Floyd saying, “I can’t breathe”, with witnesses
22
88759
5301
01:34
saying “he can’t breathe”.
23
94060
2430
01:36
And so in news stories about what has happened and what is happening, you might see the phrases
24
96490
5610
01:42
‘excessive force’ or ‘police brutality’.
25
102100
4140
01:46
But first let’s talk about the words ‘police’ and ‘policy’.
26
106240
3370
01:49
They both come from the Greek word ‘polis’.
27
109610
2399
01:52
Polis, I’m probably not saying that completely right, but it’s the Greek word which means
28
112009
5301
01:57
a city-state, citizenship, a group of people all governed by the same government.
29
117310
5409
02:02
‘Police’, we have second syllable stress, first vowel is a schwa.
30
122719
5150
02:07
Police.
31
127869
1000
02:08
Policy, we have first syllable stress, and the vowel is the AH as in FATHER vowel.
32
128869
5040
02:13
Police, policy.
33
133909
1851
02:15
Only one letter is different, but the pronunciation is quite different.
34
135760
4410
02:20
Police, policy.
35
140170
1929
02:22
A policy is a course of action adopted by a government of a governing body.
36
142099
5021
02:27
So you might have heard the term foreign policy – each President puts his or her own spin
37
147120
5679
02:32
on foreign policy.
38
152799
1720
02:34
In the case of the Minnesota police department, it’s the course of action, the steps, the
39
154519
5451
02:39
rules of how to do things, when on duty.
40
159970
2609
02:42
The policy.
41
162579
1250
02:43
You might also see this at work: what is your sick leave policy, that means what are the
42
163829
4860
02:48
rules about when or how long a worker can take off when they’re sick.
43
168689
5130
02:53
Or, I was late for a dentist appointment the other day and I called ahead, and I said,
44
173819
4481
02:58
“what is your late policy?”
45
178300
2310
03:00
That is, how late can I still show up and see the dentist.
46
180610
3400
03:04
Other related words with this root: politics, metropolis, which is a large city, or metropolitan,
47
184010
6429
03:10
a characteristic of a metropolis, especially in culture, sophistication, accepting a wide
48
190439
6761
03:17
variety of people and ideas.
49
197200
2240
03:19
She became very metropolitan after moving to New York City.
50
199440
4500
03:23
Police force has two different meanings.
51
203940
1710
03:25
It can mean the group of officers all working for the same unit, a city, a county, for example.
52
205650
6179
03:31
She’s a member of the Philadelphia police force.
53
211829
2951
03:34
But it also means force, action, to get somebody to do something, physically.
54
214780
6480
03:41
How do you force them?
55
221260
1920
03:43
Police force.
56
223180
1320
03:44
So when an officer is arresting a citizen, what kind of force is needed?
57
224500
5519
03:50
Maybe no force at all.
58
230019
1200
03:51
Or maybe the citizen struggles or resists and the officer uses some force.
59
231219
5331
03:56
Was it appropriate force or was it excessive force?
60
236550
4950
04:01
Excessive meaning more than you need.
61
241500
3170
04:04
Excessive force, in the case of George Floyd.
62
244670
2520
04:07
The officer did not need to kneel on his neck for eight minutes to make the arrest, but
63
247190
5620
04:12
did.
64
252810
1000
04:13
And this is the definition of police brutality.
65
253810
3320
04:17
When officers use excessive force against a citizen.
66
257130
3170
04:20
And this actually doesn’t have to be physical force against a person.
67
260300
3480
04:23
It can be verbal harassment, it can be property damage.
68
263780
3840
04:27
So this brings us to the outrage of many of the citizens of the United States, myself
69
267620
4740
04:32
included.
70
272360
1000
04:33
And we’ll get to the protests in a moment, but first I want to say that I am disabling
71
273360
4000
04:37
comments for this video as you have probably already found.
72
277360
3270
04:40
Why?
73
280630
1040
04:41
Social media comment sections can be a place where our worst selves come out.
74
281670
3800
04:45
We can become very polarized.
75
285470
2729
04:48
Polarized means sharply divided.
76
288199
2881
04:51
And I’ve decided for myself that I don’t want to police the comments of the video.
77
291080
4809
04:55
Here I’m using the word ‘police’ as a verb, meaning to regulate or control.
78
295889
4310
05:00
If people get really nasty with each other in comments, which has happened before, I
79
300199
5601
05:05
don’t want to get in there and decide if some people have crossed the line, that means
80
305800
4470
05:10
go too far, like with negativity or insults.
81
310270
3310
05:13
There are lots of places where you can read about happened, what is happening, and commentary
82
313580
4710
05:18
on that.
83
318290
1000
05:19
There are lots of places where you can go leave your comments.
84
319290
2809
05:22
And I do encourage you to take in different media, different voices discussing what’s
85
322099
5501
05:27
happening in the US.
86
327600
1130
05:28
I think expanding our perspective is extremely important right now.
87
328730
4620
05:33
So many Americans are very angry.
88
333350
2200
05:35
And one of the ways that Americans can express this is through protest.
89
335550
5130
05:40
The right to do this was established in the first amendment, here’s a quote: “the
90
340680
4389
05:45
right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress
91
345069
5250
05:50
of grievances.”
92
350319
1750
05:52
To gather to let it be known, we don’t like the ways this is being done.
93
352069
4940
05:57
And so in the days since May 25th there have been protests against policing policies and
94
357009
6271
06:03
racism.
95
363280
1000
06:04
We’ll talk about racism in a minute.
96
364280
1889
06:06
Large groups of people are gathering, marching, holding signs, chanting.
97
366169
4530
06:10
And some of those protests have ended in destruction.
98
370699
3291
06:13
So a riot is different from a protest in that it’s when a group turns violent.
99
373990
5090
06:19
Burning things for example.
100
379080
2170
06:21
And then looting is when people break into storefronts and steal what’s there.
101
381250
5080
06:26
And right now, both riots and looting are happening in addition to the peaceful, emotionally
102
386330
6059
06:32
charged protests.
103
392389
2000
06:34
The amount of people looting, or causing destruction, is much smaller than the groups that are peacefully
104
394389
6161
06:40
protesting.
105
400550
1000
06:41
And, at least in Philadelphia, where I live, the rioting has largely subsided though the
106
401550
5610
06:47
protests continue.
107
407160
1990
06:49
This is due in part to a curfew.
108
409150
2000
06:51
A curfew is a time at which you must be inside.
109
411150
2770
06:53
Lots of teenagers have curfews imposed on them by their parents, but occasionally a
110
413920
5999
06:59
city will have an issue where it will issue a curfew where it asks all citizens to remain
111
419919
4881
07:04
at home after a certain hour.
112
424800
2230
07:07
For us, that’s 6pm right now.
113
427030
2789
07:09
These protests and riots are bringing to the forefront of the American conversation the
114
429819
5311
07:15
deep hurt and wrongs caused by racism.
115
435130
3120
07:18
There was a study done on the use of police force against black people in Minneapolis
116
438250
5150
07:23
over the last five years, and it was found that police force against black people was
117
443400
5690
07:29
used seven times more than police force against white people.
118
449090
5520
07:34
Racism is defined as prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of
119
454610
6780
07:41
a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior, that racial differences
120
461390
7010
07:48
produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.
121
468400
4019
07:52
A white supremacist is a person who believes that the white race is inherently superior
122
472419
6241
07:58
to other races and that white people should have control over people of other races.
123
478660
5360
08:04
Now, the policy and doctrines of the United States of America state that all men (and
124
484020
5840
08:09
women) are created equal.
125
489860
1790
08:11
But due to racism and systemic racism, that’s not how life plays out.
126
491650
5949
08:17
Systemic racism is also known as institutional racism.
127
497599
3751
08:21
What is it?
128
501350
1000
08:22
It’s different than individual racism, which is easier to see and understand.
129
502350
4900
08:27
A quote from “Black Power, the politics of Liberation” gives two examples to show
130
507250
5339
08:32
the difference between individual racism and institutional racism.
131
512589
5810
08:38
This is a quote:
132
518399
1000
08:39
“When white terrorists bomb a black church and kill five black children, that is an act
133
519399
4971
08:44
of individual racism, widely deplored by most segments of the society.
134
524370
5730
08:50
But when in that same city – Birmingham, Alabama – five hundred black babies die
135
530100
4570
08:54
each year because of the lack of proper food, shelter and medical facilities, and thousands
136
534670
6300
09:00
more are destroyed and maimed physically, emotionally and intellectually because of
137
540970
5450
09:06
conditions of poverty and discrimination in the black community, that is a function of
138
546420
5200
09:11
institutional racism.”
139
551620
1990
09:13
The ‘ism’ suffix is used to create a noun showing an action or practice, principles,
140
553610
6080
09:19
doctrines.
141
559690
1089
09:20
We have racism, ageism, sexism, ableism.
142
560779
5081
09:25
These all mean discrimination against.
143
565860
2690
09:28
Against older people, women, and discrimination in favor of able-bodied people.
144
568550
5810
09:34
But not all ‘isms’ mean discrimination.
145
574360
2560
09:36
You have baptism, a practice in the Christian church of sprinkling water on, or immersing
146
576920
5940
09:42
someone in water, symbolizing purification and admission into the Christian church.
147
582860
5920
09:48
You have activism – the action of campaigning to bring about political or social change.
148
588780
5960
09:54
There are over 800 words in English with the –ism suffix.
149
594740
3930
09:58
But the one most prominent in American conversation right now is racism, and how as a nation we
150
598670
7190
10:05
can recognize it, understand it, and grow to a place beyond it.
151
605860
5710
10:11
Next week we will continue our summer mission of learning English with movies, and the movie
152
611570
4630
10:16
we’ll be looking at is A Star is Born.
153
616200
2350
10:18
Lady Gaga is going to help you understand how Americans use reductions and linking in
154
618550
5490
10:24
a way that can help you understand Americans better, and also be more easily understood
155
624040
5840
10:29
when you’re speaking English.
156
629880
1639
10:31
Thank you all so much for joining me here, I love teaching you English.
157
631519
4301
10:35
I make new videos every Tuesday and I invite you to subscribe, we’d love to have you
158
635820
6170
10:41
as a part of our community.
159
641990
1149
10:43
That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.
160
643139
3761
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7