This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. In this Talk, Pastor Michael T. Smith argues that the “normalcy” of black murder is engrained in our American culture. Indeed, the idea that a black American would be involved in a homicide—either as perpetrator or victim—is so broadly accepted as to be largely unnoticed. Smith exposes the racism that underlies the appalling lack of outrage at high death rates in the black community, and highlights the hypocrisy of a society that glamorizes violence, but ignores its victims. “It doesn’t take action to keep racism going,” Smith observes, “it takes inaction.”
