How to channel your presence and energy into ending injustice

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Rashad Robinson |

TED2020

• June 2020

The presence and visibility of a movement can often lead us to believe that progress is inevitable. But building power and changing the system requires more than conversations and retweets, says Rashad Robinson, the president of Color Of Change. To create material change in the racist systems that enable and perpetuate violence against Black communities, Robinson shares how we can translate the energy of global protests into specific demands, actions and laws -- and hold those in power accountable to them. "This is the time for white allies to stand up in new ways, to do the type of allyship that truly dismantles structures, not just provides charity," Robinson says. "You can't sing our songs, use our hashtags and march in our marches if you are on the other end supporting the structures that put us in harm's way, that literally kill us." (This video, excerpted from a panel featuring Dr. Phillip Atiba Goff, Dr. Bernice King and Anthony D. Romero, was recorded June 3, 2020. Watch the full discussion at go.ted.com/endingracism)