The story we tell about millennials -- and who we leave out | Reniqua Allen

87,258 views ・ 2019-07-29

TED


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

00:12
So on the surface,
0
12894
1928
00:14
Troy is the kind of millennial that think pieces are made of.
1
14846
3317
00:18
He's arrogant, self-centered
2
18187
2238
00:20
and convinced that he is smarter than people give him credit for.
3
20449
3089
00:23
His favorite topics of conversation are girls, sneakers and cars --
4
23562
4803
00:28
not a surprise for someone who was a teenager just a few years ago.
5
28389
3399
00:32
But Troy's mannerisms --
6
32340
1678
00:34
they reveal the patterns of someone who is scared,
7
34042
3858
00:37
troubled and unsure of the future.
8
37924
2237
00:40
Now Troy also embodies the many positive qualities
9
40617
4310
00:44
his generation is known for.
10
44951
1837
00:46
An entrepreneurial spirit,
11
46812
1710
00:48
an independent streak
12
48546
1447
00:50
and a dedication to his parents.
13
50017
2132
00:52
He believes in hard work
14
52173
1456
00:53
and has tried gigs in both the licit and underground economies,
15
53653
4420
00:58
but he hasn't had any luck
16
58097
1371
00:59
and is just trying to find his way
17
59492
1763
01:01
and still dances between both worlds.
18
61279
2120
01:04
When I met Troy a few years ago,
19
64055
2524
01:06
he had been employed as a golf caddy at a local country club,
20
66603
2898
01:09
carrying bags for rich men and women
21
69525
2323
01:11
who often never even acknowledged his existence.
22
71872
2823
01:14
Before that, he sold sneakers on Facebook.
23
74719
2828
01:17
He even tried selling candy bars and water bottles,
24
77571
3529
01:21
but he wasn't making enough money to help his parents out
25
81124
3429
01:24
or save up for a car any time soon.
26
84577
2663
01:27
So Troy saw how hard his immigrant mother from Jamaica worked
27
87570
4107
01:31
and how little she got back in return,
28
91701
2247
01:33
and he vowed --
29
93972
1234
01:35
Troy vowed to take a different path.
30
95230
1784
01:37
So he ended up selling drugs.
31
97038
1653
01:38
And then he got caught,
32
98715
1199
01:39
and right now, he's trying to figure out his next steps.
33
99938
2936
01:43
In a country where money equals power,
34
103533
2891
01:46
quick money, at least for a while, gives young men and women like him
35
106448
4694
01:51
a sense of control over their lives,
36
111166
2456
01:53
though he said he mainly did it because he wanted stability.
37
113646
3223
01:57
"I wanted a good life," he told me.
38
117310
1868
01:59
"I got greedy and I got caught."
39
119202
2213
02:01
Yet the amazing thing about Troy
40
121439
2703
02:04
is that he still believes in the American dream.
41
124166
2591
02:06
He still believes that with hard work,
42
126781
2141
02:08
despite being arrested,
43
128946
1689
02:10
that he can move on up.
44
130659
1727
02:13
Now, I don't know if Troy's dreams came true.
45
133287
3016
02:16
He disappeared from the program for troubled youth that he was involved in
46
136947
3614
02:20
and slipped through the cracks,
47
140585
1664
02:22
but on that day that we spoke,
48
142273
1775
02:24
I could tell that more than anything,
49
144072
2868
02:26
Troy was happy that someone listened to his dreams
50
146964
3116
02:30
and asked him about his future.
51
150104
1941
02:32
So I think about Troy and his optimism
52
152839
2463
02:35
when I think of the reality that so many young, black millennials face
53
155326
4259
02:39
when it comes to realizing their dreams.
54
159609
2163
02:41
I think about all the challenges
55
161796
1579
02:43
that so many black millennials have to endure
56
163399
2986
02:46
in a world that tells them they can anything they want to be
57
166409
3473
02:49
if they work hard,
58
169906
1210
02:51
but actually doesn't sit down to listen to their dreams
59
171140
2861
02:54
or hear stories about their struggle.
60
174025
2522
02:56
And we really need to listen to this generation
61
176571
3229
02:59
if we hope to have a healthy and civil society going forward,
62
179824
3415
03:03
because millienials of color,
63
183263
1870
03:05
they make up a fair chunk of the US and the world population.
64
185157
5367
03:11
Now when we talk about millennials,
65
191133
1675
03:12
a group that is often labeled as entitled, lazy, overeducated,
66
192832
3980
03:16
noncommittal and narcissistic,
67
196836
1988
03:18
the conversations often swirl around avocado toast,
68
198848
2707
03:21
overpriced lattes and fancy jobs abroad --
69
201579
2643
03:24
you probably have heard all these things before.
70
204246
2261
03:26
But millennials are not a monolith.
71
206531
1989
03:28
Actress Lena Dunham may be the media's representation
72
208891
4093
03:33
of this generation,
73
213008
1436
03:34
but Troy and other voices like his are also part of the story.
74
214468
4390
03:38
In fact, millennials are the largest and most diverse adult population
75
218882
4738
03:43
in this country.
76
223644
1242
03:44
44 percent of all American millennials are nonwhite,
77
224910
3948
03:48
but often, you wouldn't even know it at all.
78
228882
2316
03:51
Now sure, there are similarities within this population
79
231638
3039
03:54
born between 1981 and 1996.
80
234701
2781
03:57
Perhaps many of us do love avocado toast and lattes --
81
237914
2962
04:00
I know I do, right?
82
240900
1346
04:02
But there are also extreme differences,
83
242712
2814
04:05
often between millennials of color and white millennials.
84
245550
3532
04:09
In fact, all too often,
85
249106
1804
04:10
it seems as though we're virtually living in different worlds.
86
250934
3076
04:14
Now black millennials,
87
254613
1151
04:15
a group that I have researched for a book I recently wrote,
88
255788
3935
04:19
are the perfect example of the blind spot that we have
89
259747
3153
04:22
when it comes to this group.
90
262924
1777
04:24
For example,
91
264725
1730
04:26
we have lower rates of homeownership,
92
266479
2301
04:29
we have higher student debt,
93
269651
1693
04:31
we get ID'd more at voter registration booths,
94
271933
3157
04:35
we are incarcerated at higher rates ...
95
275629
2119
04:39
we make less money,
96
279557
1476
04:42
we have higher numbers of unemployment --
97
282183
2112
04:45
even when we do go to college, I should say --
98
285075
2405
04:47
and we get married at lower rates.
99
287504
2197
04:49
And honestly, that's really just the beginning.
100
289725
2563
04:52
Now, none of these struggles are particularly new, right?
101
292671
2667
04:55
Young black people in America have been fighting,
102
295362
3081
04:58
really fighting hard to get their stories told for centuries.
103
298467
2959
05:01
After the Civil War in the 1800s,
104
301864
2571
05:04
Reconstruction failed to deliver the equality
105
304459
2813
05:07
that the end of slavery should have heralded,
106
307296
2096
05:09
so young people moved to the North and the West
107
309416
2586
05:12
to escape discriminatory Jim Crow policies.
108
312026
2456
05:14
Then, as segregation raged in much of the country,
109
314800
3307
05:18
young black people helped spearhead civil rights campaigns
110
318131
2749
05:20
in the 1950s and 1960s.
111
320904
2189
05:23
After that, some people embraced black power and then became Black Panthers
112
323117
4786
05:27
and then the next generation,
113
327927
1384
05:29
they turned to hip-hop to make sure their voices were heard.
114
329335
2874
05:32
And then Barack Obama,
115
332233
1180
05:33
hopeful that he, too, may bring about change.
116
333437
2290
05:35
And when that failed,
117
335751
1464
05:37
when we realized we were still brutalized and battered,
118
337239
2742
05:40
we had to let the world know that our lives still mattered.
119
340005
3519
05:43
Now, when technology allows more video of our pain and struggle
120
343950
5823
05:49
to be broadcast to the world,
121
349797
1821
05:51
we wonder, like, what is next?
122
351642
2468
05:54
Our country feels more polarized than ever,
123
354134
3050
05:57
yet we are still being told to pull up our pants,
124
357208
3335
06:00
be respectable, be less angry,
125
360567
2494
06:03
smile more and work harder.
126
363085
2458
06:05
Even the attitudes of millennials themselves are overdue for an update.
127
365567
5163
06:10
Research done by the Washington Post in 2015 about this supposedly "woke" group
128
370754
6195
06:16
found that 31 percent of white millennials think that blacks are lazier than whites,
129
376973
5413
06:22
and 23 percent say they're not as intelligent.
130
382410
3206
06:26
These are, like, surprising things to me, and shocking.
131
386295
2783
06:29
And these responses are not that much different
132
389102
2229
06:31
than generations in the past,
133
391355
1453
06:32
and it shows that unfortunately,
134
392832
1622
06:34
this generation is repeating the same old stereotypes
135
394478
3783
06:38
and tropes of the past.
136
398285
1582
06:39
Now, a study conducted by David Binder Research and MTV in 2014 --
137
399891
4755
06:44
it found that 84 percent of young millennials were taught by their families
138
404670
4455
06:49
that everyone should be equal.
139
409149
1635
06:50
This is a really great thing, a really positive step.
140
410808
3076
06:53
But only 37 percent in that group
141
413908
2537
06:56
actually talked about race with their families.
142
416469
2346
06:59
So I could understand why things may be confusing to some.
143
419176
3395
07:02
There are definitely black millennials who are succeeding.
144
422595
3001
07:05
Marvel's "Black Panther,"
145
425620
1846
07:07
directed by black millennial Ryan Coogler and showcasing many others,
146
427490
3946
07:11
broke all sorts of records.
147
431460
1564
07:13
There's a crop of television shows by creatives like Donald Glover,
148
433048
3645
07:16
Lena Waithe and Issa Rae.
149
436717
1794
07:18
Beyoncé is, like, the queen, right?
150
438535
1722
07:20
She is, like, everything.
151
440282
1628
07:22
Young black authors are winning awards,
152
442352
1955
07:24
Serena Williams is still dominating on the tennis court
153
444331
3367
07:27
despite all her haters,
154
447722
1556
07:29
and there's a crop of new politicians and activists running for office.
155
449302
3445
07:33
So I don't want to, like, kill these moments of black joy
156
453381
2817
07:36
that I too revel in,
157
456222
1885
07:38
but I want to make it clear
158
458131
1579
07:39
that these wins are too few and far between
159
459734
3127
07:42
for a people that's been here for over 400 years.
160
462885
2656
07:45
Like, that's insane, right?
161
465565
1612
07:47
And most people still don't really understand the full picture, right?
162
467201
4086
07:51
Our stories are still misunderstood,
163
471311
2239
07:53
our bodies are still taken advantage of,
164
473574
2007
07:55
and our voices?
165
475605
1151
07:56
Our voices are silenced
166
476780
1444
07:58
in a world that still shows little concern for our everyday struggles.
167
478248
3946
08:02
So our stories need to be told
168
482541
1898
08:04
in a multitude of ways
169
484463
1831
08:06
by a range of voices
170
486318
1493
08:07
talking about diverse and nuanced topics,
171
487835
2506
08:10
and they really need to be listened to.
172
490365
1868
08:12
And it is not just here in America, right?
173
492257
2459
08:14
It's all around the world.
174
494740
1461
08:16
Millennials make up 27 percent of the world's population.
175
496225
3656
08:19
That's around two billion people.
176
499905
2315
08:22
And with countries like India, China, Indonesia and Brazil,
177
502244
3885
08:26
along with the United States,
178
506153
1871
08:28
accounting for 50 percent of the world's millennials,
179
508048
2858
08:30
it's clear that the white, often male, heterosexual narrative of the millennial
180
510930
5220
08:36
is only telling half the story.
181
516174
2238
08:38
Now, there's many people trying to broaden the palette.
182
518436
2593
08:41
They're fighting to get their stories told and bust the millennial stereotype.
183
521053
3740
08:44
Whether it's students in South Africa protesting statues of Cecil Rhodes,
184
524817
4242
08:49
Michaela Coel making us laugh from the UK,
185
529083
2996
08:52
or Uche Eze, who's framing views about Nigerian life, online.
186
532103
3888
08:56
But I want to make it clear --
187
536511
1452
08:57
I want to make it really clear to everyone
188
537987
2013
09:00
that just because things look more equal than they did
189
540024
2767
09:02
in the 20th century,
190
542815
1330
09:04
doesn't mean that things are equitable at all.
191
544169
2914
09:07
It doesn't mean our experiences are equitable,
192
547107
2265
09:09
and it certainly doesn't mean that a post-racial society,
193
549396
3257
09:12
that thing that we talked about so much,
194
552677
1996
09:14
ever became close to being a reality.
195
554697
2368
09:17
I think of Joelle,
196
557943
1151
09:19
a middle-class 20-something who did everything the "right way,"
197
559118
3680
09:22
but she couldn't go to her dream school, because it was simply too expensive.
198
562822
3882
09:26
Or Jalessa,
199
566728
1262
09:28
who knows she can't be mediocre at her job
200
568014
2620
09:30
the same way that her white peers can.
201
570658
2897
09:34
Or Trina, who knows that people judge her unconventional family choices
202
574202
4221
09:38
in a different way than if she were a white woman.
203
578447
2679
09:41
Or actor AB,
204
581150
1564
09:42
who knows that the roles he takes and gets in Hollywood are different
205
582738
3856
09:46
because of his skin color.
206
586618
1390
09:49
And then there's Simon.
207
589140
1470
09:50
So Simon, by all means, would be an example of someone who's made it.
208
590634
4221
09:54
He's a CFO at a tech company in San Francisco,
209
594879
3211
09:58
he has a degree from MIT
210
598114
2241
10:00
and he's worked at some of the hottest tech companies in the world.
211
600379
3335
10:04
But when I asked Simon if he had achieved the American dream,
212
604487
6309
10:10
it took him a while to respond.
213
610820
2314
10:14
While acknowledging that he had a really comfortable life,
214
614185
3406
10:17
he admitted that under different circumstances,
215
617615
2971
10:20
he might have chosen a different path.
216
620610
2008
10:23
Simon really loves photography,
217
623038
1957
10:25
but that was never a real option for him.
218
625851
2367
10:29
"My parents weren't able to subsidize me
219
629185
1933
10:31
through that sort of thing," Simon said.
220
631142
2002
10:33
"Maybe that's something my children could do."
221
633509
2172
10:36
So it's these kinds of stories --
222
636355
1731
10:38
the quieter, more subtle ones --
223
638110
2183
10:40
that reveal the often unique and untold stories of black millennials
224
640317
4328
10:44
that show how even dreaming may differ between communities.
225
644669
4112
10:48
So we really need to listen and hear the stories of this generation,
226
648805
3812
10:52
now more than ever,
227
652641
1532
10:54
as the baby boomers age and millennials come to prominence.
228
654197
3304
10:57
We can talk all we want to about pickling businesses in Brooklyn
229
657525
6156
11:03
or avocado toast,
230
663705
1784
11:05
but leaving out the stories and the voices of black millennials,
231
665513
3009
11:08
large swaths of the population --
232
668546
1689
11:10
it will only increase divisions.
233
670259
1844
11:12
So stories of black millennials, brown millennials
234
672127
2343
11:14
and all millennials of color
235
674494
1390
11:15
really need to be told,
236
675908
1162
11:17
and they also need to be listened to.
237
677094
1858
11:18
We'd be a far better-off country and world.
238
678976
3018
11:22
Thank you.
239
682448
1151
11:23
(Applause)
240
683623
3583
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