“In terms of conversation, most things worth doing and certainly any path of growth involves discomfort.”
Baratunde Thurston is a comedian – he’s worked for “The Onion” and “The Daily Show” – and is a former White House adviser. He’s a Harvard-educated, New York Times bestselling author. And his TED Talk, “How to Deconstruct Racism, One Headline at a Time,” has been viewed more than 4 million times.
In other words, Thurston is uniquely adept at approaching hard topics with levity, wit and truth – all of which he brought to “Good Morning RE/MAX” to continue the conversation about racial equality in the U.S. and the world. Comfort, or rather discomfort, which triggers a response, was a common theme during the discussion with RE/MAX Chief Customer Officer and host Nick Bailey.
“Discomfort can be a sign that you’re moving out of a zone that you’ve always known and that you’re doing this thing called learning, that you’re doing this thing called growing,” Thurston said. “So having that conversation [about race] I think means being open first to the idea that discomfort is okay.
“Deprioritize comfort. Try to reprioritize openness to growing and changing and learning and recognize that that’s not always an easy feeling thing, but on the other side of it, we can all be better with each other, for each other.”
When it comes to taking action, it’s time to pause, he said. Businesses have made the grand statements and social media users have made the thoughtful posts. Now people need to turn the attention inward if they’re looking to make meaningful change.
“One temptation is instant symbolism. Another is to point out errors of behavior,” Thurston said. “I think that’s too comfortable. It’s too easy. Each of us has power and influence where we reside, where we operate, where we employ, where we work, where we worship, where we play. That’s a place to start. My advice is start here; start internally.”
That extends to anywhere someone has decision-making power, including hiring practices, choosing how to describe neighborhoods and even banking.
The goal, Thurston said, is to build a better system that’s more fair to all.
“Through no active choice of our own at birth but through life, we have a lot of passive choices and opportunities that we let go by, because we don’t see it as, ‘I didn’t actively set this up, so why do I have to actively deconstruct it?’ That’s the only way big change ever really happens. otherwise we’re just stuck in the past.”
To hear more of Thurston’s insights, RE/MAX Broker/Owners can register for the BOC and make plans now to attend the Closing Session.
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Written by Katharine Davis
