Confronting Racism Head-On

Jesse Lipscombe, an actor, athlete, and multiple business owner, begins his talk on racism by telling his audience about the first time he sang in front of an audience, when he was ridiculed by a judge who caused him to stop singing for years. With this, he shows how jusa few strong words can deeply affect someone.

Next, Lipscombe describes what happened to him when he was auditioning for a commercial, when a man rolled up in a car and hurled racial slurs at him. When this happened, Lipscombe decided to confront the man and ask him why he would say such words, which resulted in a awkward exchange that was caught on camera. Later, Lipscombe decided to share the video of it online in order to bring awareness to the issue, and to show how tackling it head-on can cause the perpetrator to backtrack and feel embarrassed.

The video soon gained traction and allowed people to come together and discuss the need to confront racism by "making it awkward." As Lipscombe shows, it's crucial for people to confront racism by calling it out when they come across it. He gives the example of an uncle's racist joke at a family dinner, and shows how simply asking him why he would choose to make such a problematic statement, or even just not reinforcing it with polite laughter, can help to prevent similar acts of discrimination from being spread in the future.