The symbols of systemic racism -- and how to take away their power | Paul Rucker

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4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 26 June 2018

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Multidisciplinary artist and TED Fellow Paul Rucker is unstitching the legacy of systemic racism in the United States. A collector of artifacts connected to the history of slavery -- from branding irons and shackles to postcards depicting lynchings -- Rucker couldn't find an undamaged Ku Klux Klan robe for his collection, so he began making his own. The result: striking garments in non-traditional fabrics like kente cloth, camouflage and silk that confront the normalization of systemic racism in the US. "If we as a people collectively look at these objects and realize that they are part of our history, we can find a way to where they have no more power over us," Rucker says. (This talk contains graphic images.)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This TED Talk features visual artist and cellist Paul Rucker, recorded live at TED 2018.
0:08.6	I collect objects.
0:11.5	I collect branding irons that were used to mark slaves as property.
0:17.4	I collect shackles for adults and restraints for adults, as well as children.
0:29.0	I collect lynching postcards.
0:32.2	Yes, they depict lynchings.
0:34.3	They also depict the massive crowds that attended these lynchings,
0:39.3	and they are postcards. They were also used for correspondence.
0:44.3	I collect pro-slavery books that portray black people as criminals,
0:48.3	or as animals without souls.
0:53.3	I brought you something today.
0:59.5	This is a ship's branding iron.
1:02.6	It was used to mark slaves.
1:07.1	Or they were actually not slaves when they were marked.
1:09.1	They were in Africa.
1:10.6	But they were marked with an S to designate that they were going not slaves when they were marked. They were in Africa, but they were marked with an S
1:12.6	to designate that they were going to be slaves
1:14.6	when they were brought to the US
1:16.6	and when they were brought to Europe.
1:22.6	Another object or image that captured my imagination
1:26.6	when I was younger was a clan robe.
1:29.3	Growing up in South Carolina, I would see Kutlux Klan rallies occasionally, actually more than occasionally.
	...

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