When Jamil Jivani was growing up, it was almost as if he and his mom lived in different neighborhoods — despite living in the same house.
See, his white mom never had a reason to distrust the cops. But for Jamil, unpleasant interactions with police were a huge part of his childhood … all because he has a black dad.
For Jamil, being racially profiled by the cops is not unusual.
But recently, he actually managed to turn the experience into a relatively positive one. How? He requested a mediated conversation after the fact with the officers who stopped him. And it actually went really well.
Are mediated conversations going to make racism and inequality just *poof* magically disappear? Um, no. But Jamil really believes they’re a solid step in the right direction.
Check out his full TED Talk below: