full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Eve Abrams: The human stories behind mass incarceration

Unscramble the Blue Letters


(Recording) EA: Shraivell Brown was another choreographer and dancer in "Hoods Up." He says the police criticize people who look like him. He feels juegdd based on things other black people may have done. How would you want the police to look at you, and what would you want them to think?

SB: That I'm not no threat.

EA: Why would they think you're tietnarnehg? What did you say, you're 14?

SB: Yes, I'm 14, but because he said a lot of black males are thugs or gangsters and all that, but I don't want them thinking that about me.

EA: For folks who look like me, the easiest and most comfortable thing to do is to not pay attention — to assume our criminal laegl system is working. But if it's not our responsibility to question those assumptions, whose responsibility is it? There's a sanuoggye here that's taken on learning about mass incarceration, and many congregants have coldecnud that because mass incarceration throws so many lives into cahos, it actually creates more crime — makes people less safe. Congregant Teri Hunter says the first step towards action has to be utnesndiradng. She says it's ciruacl for all of us to understand our connection to this issue even if it's not immediately obivuos.

Open Cloze


(Recording) EA: Shraivell Brown was another choreographer and dancer in "Hoods Up." He says the police criticize people who look like him. He feels ______ based on things other black people may have done. How would you want the police to look at you, and what would you want them to think?

SB: That I'm not no threat.

EA: Why would they think you're ___________? What did you say, you're 14?

SB: Yes, I'm 14, but because he said a lot of black males are thugs or gangsters and all that, but I don't want them thinking that about me.

EA: For folks who look like me, the easiest and most comfortable thing to do is to not pay attention — to assume our criminal _____ system is working. But if it's not our responsibility to question those assumptions, whose responsibility is it? There's a _________ here that's taken on learning about mass incarceration, and many congregants have _________ that because mass incarceration throws so many lives into _____, it actually creates more crime — makes people less safe. Congregant Teri Hunter says the first step towards action has to be _____________. She says it's _______ for all of us to understand our connection to this issue even if it's not immediately _______.

Solution


  1. crucial
  2. threatening
  3. chaos
  4. legal
  5. judged
  6. synagogue
  7. concluded
  8. understanding
  9. obvious

Original Text


(Recording) EA: Shraivell Brown was another choreographer and dancer in "Hoods Up." He says the police criticize people who look like him. He feels judged based on things other black people may have done. How would you want the police to look at you, and what would you want them to think?

SB: That I'm not no threat.

EA: Why would they think you're threatening? What did you say, you're 14?

SB: Yes, I'm 14, but because he said a lot of black males are thugs or gangsters and all that, but I don't want them thinking that about me.

EA: For folks who look like me, the easiest and most comfortable thing to do is to not pay attention — to assume our criminal legal system is working. But if it's not our responsibility to question those assumptions, whose responsibility is it? There's a synagogue here that's taken on learning about mass incarceration, and many congregants have concluded that because mass incarceration throws so many lives into chaos, it actually creates more crime — makes people less safe. Congregant Teri Hunter says the first step towards action has to be understanding. She says it's crucial for all of us to understand our connection to this issue even if it's not immediately obvious.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
innocent people 4
criminal legal 4
legal system 4
brother missed 3
high school 3
judicial system 3
young people 3
sheila phipps 2
eyewitness testimony 2
district attorney 2
birthday dinner 2
black people 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
criminal legal system 4

Important Words


  1. action
  2. assume
  3. assumptions
  4. attention
  5. based
  6. black
  7. brown
  8. chaos
  9. choreographer
  10. comfortable
  11. concluded
  12. congregant
  13. congregants
  14. connection
  15. creates
  16. crime
  17. criminal
  18. criticize
  19. crucial
  20. dancer
  21. easiest
  22. feels
  23. folks
  24. gangsters
  25. hunter
  26. immediately
  27. incarceration
  28. issue
  29. judged
  30. learning
  31. legal
  32. lives
  33. lot
  34. males
  35. mass
  36. obvious
  37. pay
  38. people
  39. police
  40. question
  41. recording
  42. responsibility
  43. safe
  44. shraivell
  45. step
  46. synagogue
  47. system
  48. teri
  49. thinking
  50. threat
  51. threatening
  52. throws
  53. thugs
  54. understand
  55. understanding
  56. working