10 TED Talks that highlight the inequality in the world and why it needs to be changed.

For anyone looking for resources to educate yourself on racism, here’s a list of TED Talks that I found massively informative, honest, and eye-opening to understand the real stories of pain, suffering, and injustice that black people experience. They don’t by any means cover everything off, but it’s a start for anyone looking to understand more about the systemic racism that happens all over the world.

Donate, join marches and sign the petitions, but it's also vital to spend time learning about the varying challenges that exist and most importantly why. Coming up with solutions that you think could help might be completely irrelevant if you don't actually learn what the obstacles are.

These are just a few videos to watch but there is so much more free content on the internet to read, learn and digest in order to actively support with compassion and work towards long term change.

1. Verna Myers: How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly toward them

Diversity advocate Vernā Myers looks closely at some of the subconscious attitudes we hold toward out-groups. She makes a plea to all people: Acknowledge your biases. Then move toward, not away from, the groups that make you uncomfortable.

2. Clint Smith: How to raise a black son in America

As kids, we all get advice from parents and teachers that seems strange, even confusing. This was crystallized one night for a young Clint Smith, who was playing with water guns in a dark parking lot with his white friends. In a heartfelt piece, the poet paints the scene of his father's furious and fearful response.

3. Baratunde Thurston - How to deconstruct racism, one headline at a time

Baratunde Thurston explores the phenomenon of white Americans calling the police on black Americans who have committed the crimes of ... eating, walking or generally "living while black." In this profound, thought-provoking and often hilarious talk, he reveals the power of language to change stories of trauma into stories of healing -- while challenging us all to level up.

4. Kimberlé Crenshaw: The Urgency of Intersectionality

Kimberlé Crenshaw uses the term "intersectionality" to describe this phenomenon; as she says, if you're standing in the path of multiple forms of exclusion, you're likely to get hit by both. In this moving talk, she calls on us to bear witness to this reality and speak up for victims of prejudice.

5. Mellody Hobson: Colour blind or colour brave?

As finance executive Mellody Hobson says, it's a "conversational third rail." But, she says, that's exactly why we need to start talking about it. In this engaging, persuasive talk, Hobson makes the case that speaking openly about race — and particularly about diversity in hiring -- makes for better businesses and a better society.

6. Brittney Cooper: The racial politics of time

Cultural theorist Brittney Cooper examines racism through the lens of time, showing us how historically it has been stolen from people of color, resulting in lost moments of joy and connection, lost years of healthy quality of life and the delay of progress. 

7. Priya Vulchi and Winona Guo: What it takes to be racially illiterate

Over the last year, Priya Vulchi and Winona Guo traveled to all 50 US states, collecting personal stories about race and intersectionality. Now they're on a mission to equip every American with the tools to understand, navigate and improve a world structured by racial division.

8. Howard C. Stevenson: How to solve racially stressful situations

If we hope to heal the racial tensions that threaten to tear the fabric of society apart, we're going to need the skills to openly express ourselves in racially stressful situations. Through racial literacy -- the ability to read, recast and resolve these situations -- psychologist Howard C. Stevenson helps children and parents reduce and manage stress and trauma

9. T. Morgan Dixon and Vanessa Garrison: The trauma of systemic racism is killing black women. A first step toward change

T. Morgan Dixon and Vanessa Garrison, founders of the health nonprofit GirlTrek, are on a mission to reduce the leading causes of preventable death among Black women -- and build communities in the process. How? By getting one million women and girls to prioritize their self-care, lacing up their shoes and walking in the direction of their healthiest, most fulfilled lives.

10. Ruby Sales: How can we start to heal the pain of racial division

"Where does it hurt?" It's a question that activist and educator Ruby Sales has traveled the US asking, looking deeply at the country's legacy of racism and searching for sources of healing. In this moving talk, she shares what she's learned, reflecting on her time as a freedom fighter in the civil rights movement and offering new thinking on pathways to racial justice.