full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Candis Watts Smith: 3 myths about racism that keep the US from progress

Unscramble the Blue Letters


One of the things that I’ve learned is that Americans have an orientation toward progress. In this context, what that menas is that we often celebrate the distance between where we were and where we are now. But that same orientation can binld us from the gap between where we are and where we could or should be. The other thing I’ve learned about Americans is that we have a very, very narrow understanding of racism, mostly in the mnids and hearts of people, usually old plpeoe — old people from the suoth. And this really narrow definition can constrain our opportunities to produce a more racially eitrlaaiagn society. We like to hunt for races and distance ourselves from people who say mean things about whole groups of people or who idealize the 1950s. But the fact of the matter is that we might just need to look in the mirror.

Open Cloze


One of the things that I’ve learned is that Americans have an orientation toward progress. In this context, what that _____ is that we often celebrate the distance between where we were and where we are now. But that same orientation can _____ us from the gap between where we are and where we could or should be. The other thing I’ve learned about Americans is that we have a very, very narrow understanding of racism, mostly in the _____ and hearts of people, usually old ______ — old people from the _____. And this really narrow definition can constrain our opportunities to produce a more racially ___________ society. We like to hunt for races and distance ourselves from people who say mean things about whole groups of people or who idealize the 1950s. But the fact of the matter is that we might just need to look in the mirror.

Solution


  1. people
  2. blind
  3. egalitarian
  4. means
  5. south
  6. minds

Original Text


One of the things that I’ve learned is that Americans have an orientation toward progress. In this context, what that means is that we often celebrate the distance between where we were and where we are now. But that same orientation can blind us from the gap between where we are and where we could or should be. The other thing I’ve learned about Americans is that we have a very, very narrow understanding of racism, mostly in the minds and hearts of people, usually old people — old people from the South. And this really narrow definition can constrain our opportunities to produce a more racially egalitarian society. We like to hunt for races and distance ourselves from people who say mean things about whole groups of people or who idealize the 1950s. But the fact of the matter is that we might just need to look in the mirror.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
racial inequality 3
racial attitudes 3
racial disparities 2
special brand 2
white folks 2
research shows 2


Important Words


  1. americans
  2. blind
  3. celebrate
  4. constrain
  5. context
  6. definition
  7. distance
  8. egalitarian
  9. fact
  10. gap
  11. groups
  12. hearts
  13. hunt
  14. idealize
  15. learned
  16. matter
  17. means
  18. minds
  19. mirror
  20. narrow
  21. opportunities
  22. orientation
  23. people
  24. produce
  25. progress
  26. races
  27. racially
  28. racism
  29. society
  30. south
  31. understanding