Olhos Azuis | Documentário | Jane Elliott

[Music] [Music] you [Music] [Applause] [Music] w [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] 5 score years ago a great American in whose symbolic Shadow We Stand today sign the Emancipation Proclamation this this decree came as a great beon light of PO for millions of negro slaves who had been seared in the Flames of withering Injustice but 100 years later the Negro still is not Free 100 years later the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination 100 years later the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in

the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity and finds himself in Exile in his own land [Music] what does that Say none what is your name can you read that sure well I can't cross it out and write it so I can read it okay what does that say Louie a Wright cross it out and write it so I can read it I'm done no don't pat me number one and number two you you follow the rules or you leave now get your name on there so I can read it that's they asked for

my signature that's it write your name on here so I can read no ma'am this man Is out of here we need your your name tag this man is out of here he isn't going to follow the rules he isn't going to stay you're out of here are you the security person this man is out of here okay sign in here down I'm not all the way up all the way up okay in goodness room sign in here according to I well I guess I'm over here in the mom I'm not brown sit down go

to meeting see stay there till we're com for you col Your Eyes Green one question signning underground Two Gentlemen have one question the question is would you want them back I don't want them back I don't want them back this is not a question of want if they can come back and conduct themselves according to the rules they Can come back but I'm going to put them out if they don't follow the rules it is not their choice okay this is not their choice they either follow the rules or they're out of here that's the

only choice they have all right thank thank you you want me to tell them that I'll be perfectly happy to do I can do well BL did you sign in sit down s I'm sorry I thought you in in there sit go to meeting room scene stay there Can come for you uh it's another one of those non Brown sit down I'm going to give you a piece of advice whether or not you like What's Happening Here you either follow the rules or you're out of here you have a choice now get rid of the

gum okay now there's a waste basket right back there put it in well go to meeting room see and stay there until I come for you Okay so you do print sit down Jan you have a call line Jan line move your legs I'd have to straddle your leg I'm going to warn you you may be big and you may be tall but you do exactly what I tell you to today do you understand that don't have a problem with that at all good for you so even though we Face the difficulties of today and

tomorrow I still have a Dream it is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream I have a dream that one day yeah this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its Creed we all these Jews to be self-evident that all men are created equ I want every white person in this room who would be happy to be treated as this Society in general treats our Citizens our black citizens if you as a white person would be happy to receive the same treatment that our black citizens do in this Society please

stand you didn't understand the directions if you white folks want to be treated the way blacks are in this Society stand nobody's standing here that says very plainly that you know what's happening you know you don't want it for You I want to know why you're so willing to accept it or to allow it to happen for others [Music] [Music] section the purpose of this exercise is to give these nice blue-eyed white folks the opportunity to find out how it feels to be something other than white in the United States of America and these people

today are going to learn more than they want to know the purpose of This exercise is to help these people walk in the moccasins of a person of color for a day what I am going to do is assign to these people on the basis of their eye color alone all the negative traits that we have assigned to females to people of color to G to gays and lesbians to people who have disabilities of any kind to those who are obviously physically different we are going to assign to these people all the negative stereotypes that

we have so easily Assigned to those groups we are going to lower our expectations for these people and we are going to force them to live down to our expectations of them wrote my name she said now write so I can read it how have they prepared to come in here not at all just just they're just sitting we just set them into a room in which there are three chairs for 17 people now it's hot in there it's hot in there is it hot in there well then it's Probably smelly isn't it because blue

light people sweat a lot and you know they don't smell good so I wouldn't want to be in that room after they've been in there we don't tell them anything we just send them the holy room a new reality is going to be created for these folks this morning now we're going to treat these people negatively on the basis of the color of their eyes and the reason I use eyes is because eye color is caused by the same chemical that skin Color is caused by if you have lots and lots of melanin in your

hair your skin and your eyes you have very dark hair dark skin and dark eyes if you have only a little melanin in your hair your skin and your eyes you have light skin light hair and light eyes now having light skin the first people on this Earth the first modern human beings on this Earth evolved near the equator in subsaharan Africa in about about 280,000 years ago they needed lots and lots of melanin to Protect their cells from the Rays of the sun that's what melanin does for you as people migrated farther and farther

north their bodies were exposed to less and less sunlight so their bodies produce less and less melanin so people in Northern climates have much less melanin in their skin than their hair and their eyes than people in southern climates did who evolved at that time now folks as people's hair and skin got lighter it didn't have a bad effect on Their brains but as their eyes got lighter it allowed more and more light to enter their eyes pierc their brain cells and damaged their brains and that's why blue-eyed people aren't as smart as brown-eyed people

make sense to you why are you laughing it's ridiculous isn't it people it is no more ridiculous to make that statement about eye color than it is to make the statement that we traditionally have made about skin color if it makes good sense to judge people By the amount of melanin In Their Skin then it makes equally Good Sense more good sense to judge them by the amount of melanin in their eyes and that's what we're going to do this morning all we're going to do is spend about 2 and a half hours treating these

people negatively on the basis of a physical characteristic over which they have no control now they aren't going to like this if you do your job right they aren't going to like this is that going To make me happy yes yes because I want them to be uncomfortable and I want you to help them to be uncomfortable now keep the noise down keep the noise down I'm not playing everybody keep the noise down and whoever mess with the door leave it alone that was them who was it keep the noise down I think we should

sing We Shall Overcome anyone what actor she you guys go you see what this bad says I'm not an actor keep the noise down in here blue white people aren't as smart as brown people I can prove that to you by giving you and them the dove counterbalance intelligence test now this is an intelligence test that was developed by a black male a number of years ago and the purpose of this test is to give white folks the opportunity to find out how it feels to take a test About which you know virtually nothing and

have your IQ based on your ability to pass a test about which you know nothing that you have learned nothing about we do this with people of color and with immigrants in this country all the time and we base their our Judgment of their IQs on their ability to respond to items about which they haven't learned the blue-eyed people aren't going to know many of these answers because they Aren't very intelligent because they haven't had to learn about people who are different from themselves because they have only had to learn about white culture this is

a test that is based on the black culture of a number of years ago in this country these blue-eyed people won't know many of these answers because they aren't smart they aren't caring they aren't curious they don't feel that they have to learn about those who are different from themselves that's The way they are you people you brown-eyed people are going to know at least half of these answers because you are smart and you are caring and you are curious about those who are different from yourselves and you've learned a whole lot about those who

are different from yourselves and I'm going to give you the even numbered responses now this is not cheating people this this is called reinforcing our position of power in this room Everybody understand that we did we do this all the time in the public private and broal schools in this country it is one of the ways we teach people who the superior people are we give culturally biased tests on our daily basis in this country make no mistake about that we use culturally biased textbooks we have culturally biased pictures on the wall we teach a

culturally biased history our maps are culturally biased and they are culturally bi in favor of white people Make no mistake about this people it's what we do I know how to do it I've been doing it as a public school teacher for I did it as a public school teacher for 25 years I know how to teach cultural bias and I know how to teach racism all you have to do is use most of the textbooks that are available in schools today now I'm going to give you the even numbered answers to this test I

want you to circle the letter of the correct response for number two Circle letter e Number four Circle C number six d as in dog number eight C 18 c 20 C 22 b as in Bluey okay now people when you take this test put an answer on every line on the left side of this page put an answer on every line don't just leave those answers Circle because if you do that they'll look over at your test and they'll say see you cheated now we aren't cheating we are simply Reinforcing our power has nothing

to do with cheating it's just the way Society is put your paper underneath your pad when you take the test move your chairs back so if they can't see your answers because if they can see your answers what will they do they'll copy them because that's the way they are you just have to realize that now we're doing this for their own good we expect them to be grateful the rules for the day are going to be that you will not look at These people unless you can either frown or snear at them it's all

right to laugh at them but do not laugh with them how many of you have friends in the blue-eyed group let me put it this way how many of you used to have friends in the blue-eyed group now some of these people are going to leave here very very angry make no mistake about this that is their choice when they leave here and they say they're angry you need to be prepared to Say to them wait a minute you had it for 2 and a half hours your home wasn't threatened your family wasn't threatened your

job wasn't threatened your income wasn't threatened your future wasn't threatened and you had it for 2 and a half hours and you knew it was temporary you knew it was going to be over at least by 6:00 this afternoon why are you so angry and if you are so angry after 2 and a half hours can you apply that the the way you feel about that anger to What it must feel like to live with this for a lifetime in order for this exercise to work it takes your cooperation now how many of you are

going to cooperate with this exercise raise your hand if you're going to cooperate why are you so slow at getting your hand up because it sounds like rude behavior and I would normally not I would go out of my way not to be rude so I will have to try to do This do you normally go out of your way to prevent other people from exhibiting these kinds of behaviors toward people of color and people with disabilities and gays and lesbians and go out of my way to prevent that treatment 50/50 I mean yes and

no yes sometimes they do sometimes no no no people the only thing necessary for the perpetuation of evil is for good people to do nothing and for the most part we white Folks do nothing so that we can say well we didn't do it we aren't responsible as long as we do nothing it is like giving our approval for those who are going to do the negative things it is not enough to do [Music] nothing I got the idea for the blue-eyed browney exercise from reading about what the Nazis did during what has come to

be called the Holocaust Hitler was going to found a nation of people of Aryan people Who were going to be blue-eyed and blond-haired and fair skinned and they were going to rule the world and one of the ways they decided who went into the gas chamber during the Holocaust was eye color I decided on the day after Martin Luther King was killed that I would do what Hitler did I knew it worked for him I thought it might work for me I decided that I would pick out a group of people on the basis of

a physical characteristic over which they have no Control and I decided that it would be eye color I didn't know for sure that that had really happened I had read about it I had heard about it and I had seen movies about it but I wasn't sure until I read the book mangela and also the book the Nazi doctors and realized that yes indeed this was true and in the book mangalo which which I have here and which is which is one of the really scary books I've ever read it talks about him doing these

experiments Without benefit of anesthetic either chemically or surgically on people of all ages to find a way to change people's eye color from brown to Blue so that they went when they found a brilliant brown-eyed Jewish person they could put that change that person's eye color and so make that person a member of the master race now this was in one of the most civilized societies on Earth some of the greatest philosophers the world has ever known came out of Germany And here this this man with this intelligence taught us all that if you have

enough brains and enough power you can kill other people who have a lot of brains who have no power and you can do it on the basis of a physical characteristic over which they have no control or Rel religious belief with which you disagree that's a scary scary thought it has happened before it will happen again unless well-meaning people Read things like this and realize that this wasn't a monster this was a man who was doing what he thought was right and had the power to do it this is an interesting book here's another interesting

book called the Nazi doctors that tell you exactly what it took to get people of intelligence and education to go along it's terrifying it is absolutely terrifying and the terrifying part of it was that in fact ultimately it was so easy to get Them to go along intimidation [Music] works so what's going to happen for the rest of the day so I mean we're really not afraid of anything happening to us we know realistically nothing is going to happen to us if we walk out the door but we can still play the game right we

want coffee we want air air would be good there's nothing that says we can't Have that we've just been passively sitting here because we're good people and they ask us to absolutely now we're going to call these females girl Honey Sweetie baby chick darling what we going to call these males boy boy boy boy and you don't say boy you say boy when it's properly said it's a two- syllable word boy and we use boy to keep black males in their place on a daily basis all we have to do to lower someone to the

age of 5 to 12 is call him a boy and we do It to accomplish black males over the age of 70 and we get away with it now now for two and a half hours we are going to make these people look inferior and feel inferior how many of you think these white folks can take this now people think about what you've just admitted you've just admitted that you think that adult sophisticated educated white men positions of some power and in A couple of cases I think real power can't stand for 2 and 1

half hours what you expect the child of color to live with from the moment he or she is born do you really believe that do you really believe that these white people can't stand two and a half hours of being treated verbally the way they treat other people for a lifetime because if you do you've just admitted something extremely interesting you have just said that people of color Are stronger than white fol that we have created a situation in this country in which we have built tremendous strength into people of color and in which we

have not built those same tremendous character strengths into white folks particularly white males does that bother you at all it's called survival it's called survival absolutely it's a survival skill keep in bear in mind that these people are in their child ego State and that's where they're Going to stay because people are most are easiest to control when they're in their child ego state so these people are being treated like children and they're going to act like children and it's what we do with females in this country every day we treat them like children and

when they act like children we say see you're acting like that because you're female now people if you are tempted to look at one of these people and wink at them to let them know Without me catching you that you really don't mean any of this I'll change your eye color so fast it'll make your headship so just let me catch you looking at your tall white friend here just let me catch you doing that friend let me see your eyes you'll join them quick you oh right away you want to be with them okay

brownie you're going to be a Bluey it will not make you comfortable do not give these people any kind of reinforcement people do not Smile at them do not look if you're sad for them don't let them see it and some of you are going to be sad for them you look like you're sad for them already and we haven't started yet you aren't sad for them not a good for you that's the right attitude just don't want to be one now people all I'm asking you to do is act white that's all I'm asking

you just act white you white people know how to act White you've been doing it all your lives do people of color know how to act white the way to get ahead in this Society if you're a person of color is to act as white as you possibly can now am I exaggerating here is is that the message that this Society sends assimilate assimilate really means act white assimilate means be as similar to the power group as you possibly can be which means act white and you can turn intelligent bright committed Conscientious ambitious people into

people who act lazy and slovenly and stupid and slow and unmotivated and you can do it in 15 to 20 minutes and that's what you're going to do this [Music] morning Martin Luther King was killed on April 4th 1968 I was teaching third grade in an allh all Christian Community I needed to explain the death of Martin Luther King to my students I didn't know how to do It except by allowing them to walk in the shoes of a child of color for a day the first time I did it no one knew until my

students wrote essays about it and those were published in the paper and then the Johnny Carson show called and asked me if I would come in and do the Johnny Carson show then people in the community found out about it then all kinds of unpleasant things happened happened I got vicious calls in the night we got oh probably between 5 and 600 letters a third of them so ugly and so obscene that I couldn't share them with my third graders uh in the that fall when people came to register their children for school they Offspring

for school 20% of those who had children coming into third grade said to the principal don't put my kid in Elliot's classroom every year after that the same thing happened only sometimes parents would call in and say I don't my kid in that Lover's classroom and the Principal never had to say which lover do you mean because we all knew there was only one my children were beaten and spit on my own offspring we have four children um they were abused by their peers by their teachers by the parents of their peers my parents lost

their business my father died totally isolated 3 years ago in the community in which his great-grandfather was one of the first settlers isolated because he had raised the town's lover I've Learned a whole lot about [Music] racism he do you trust that Bluey no I wouldn't trust that blue but you can if you want to now I want those collors on the outside of your coat collar or dress collar or blouse collar or shirt collar or whatever it is you're wearing and I want the collars Taken good care of at all times and I want

the pin under your chin put the tag of her dress will you that's so she got half dressed this Morning now people before you can't arrange that properly I guess not I guess not fix it get the sunglasses off your head put them in your purse with the rest of your junk should we have to tell her that no why do we have to tell her that they're slow they're unmotivated they lazy M they disinterested now do you have any physical problems that will be made worse by sitting on the floor for an Extended period

of time doubt don't give me I doubt it yes or no no back problems no hip problems no leg problems no heart problems no High Press high blood pressure nothing like that how about you how about you no you do you care no but I have to know because if something happens during this you're liable to to file a lawsuit so I want to know going into it whether or not you have any problems I don't want them made worse because I don't want to Have to take a lawsuit out of this do you understand

that no no well you don't understand that well your low IQ is another one of the problems I'm going to have to deal with today now do you have any physical problems that will be made worse by sitting on the floor for an extended period of time yes or no I'll say no he's going to say no does that mean he doesn't have or does that mean he's going to say no now and later he's going To accuse me of having made him trusted can I trust this boy no is he playing games yes am

I going to put up with him no do you have any physical problems that will will be made worse by sitting on the floor for an extended period of time yes or no do you or do you not you don't care honey typical honey if you want caring go to your mother do I look like your mother to you said then go to some other some other Nurturing female in your environment that is not what I am about do you have any physical problems that will be made worse by sitting on the floor for an

extended period of time what is difficult about answering that there's no sense in it if you don't care the purpose of this is to find out whether you are going to be in worse shape physically after this is over as a result of sitting on the floor I don't want you to be I care because I don't Want you suing me so there I care now I I care do you or do you not no I'm fine thank you thanks for car whoa friend I don't care about you you need to understand that I don't

care about you I care about me then you need to realize maybe I lied to you I care about me if you lie to me we have it on tape that you said no so now if you so now if you try to sue us forget it I care I care about the repercussions for my sake not for your own understand that but I care About you oh good good then don't make me spend my precious time messing with you anymore okay that's your all right all right yeah yes turn around and face the front

of the room turn around and face the front of the room now I know what you're thinking I'm going to see how far I can push this woman I'll tell you how far you can push me you can push me this far and you pushed enough already you either turn Around face the front of the room or you leave you're going to follow my rules or you're out of here turn around face the front of the room once again do we care no do some people like being treated like babies yes do we have to

take care of them yes do we have to see to it that they're sitting in the right place yes do we have to see to it that they're facing the right direction yes why do have to why do we have to do that most Of them are stupid because most of them are stupid and where do they spend most of their time in what ego State their child ego State have we seen examples of people spending time in their child ego State already this morning absolutely absolutely this boy wants to know that you care should

it matter to him one tinker's damn whether I care no does it really matter to him no no but does he want me to force me to care about him Yes can he do that by behaving the way he did no know people that is not the way it's done and women know that's not the way it's done now when people act the way this one just did he is in his child ego State he has gone to the age of about seven I want it my way and I want it now I don't have

to do it unless you care about me now I'm going to teach you the listening skills since you have already indicated that you have difficulty Memory remembering things I'm going to ask you to write these things down take out a piece of paper and a pencil write exactly what I say exactly as I say it number one good listeners have quiet hands feet and mouths write it down quickly before you forget it write it right now good listeners and what does yours say good listeners haveed hands feet now how many commas do you have in

that sentence no why I was writing fast and I Left the commas out give me your paper how many comments do you have in your sentence I have none why because I heard you say none he heard me say oh sweet Jesus but you don't well now Sunny you have a period on there don't you yes did you hear me say period I did hear you in the sentence but you did hear me in the sentence but you didn't hear me in the sentence say commas is your reasoning a little strange here You're right yes

are you looking for excuses for failure no yes and are you trying to bra blame your failure on me blame it on and blame it on yourself now get some commas in there do you need a comma after quiet well that's going to M no I don't no is that a mistake too yes I made a mistake have you made several so far this morning yes I'll make more what was the first one you made coming to the Workshop big mistake now what are you going to where are you going to put your commas your

hands feet and a period after mouth good for you what about you dummy do you want how do you spell quiet not like that how do you spell quiet spell it out loud for me right here as you have it right Qi T Qi T that's quite good isn't it it's not quite quiet is it that's right how do you spell quiet ordinarily q u i e t q u IE T why did you spell it this way today it's writing Fast cuz you were writing fast when you write fast you don't think as well

right that's absolutely right then I hope you Drive slowly on the way home I will cross it out and get it right remember it does not rhyme with right there we go now the second good listening I was just talking and you interrupted me and started to talk you're a real poor po case aren't you I was going to ask a question what's your question I was going to say if I Could have my paper and pencil back so I could take them get to my adult State now I'm going to give you a piece

of advice every time I look at you you're sitting there with that sick smirk on your face if you can't look up without smiling the next time I see that smile I'm going to come down on you real real hard okay you're going to feel like a cow Pat on a hot rock so if I were you if you Can't Hide Your Smile drop your Head so I don't have to see it just look down when I'm coming towards you so I don't have to see that smile does that make sense to you yes it

does if you have a nervous twitch and you can't help smiling put your face down so that I can't see you doing it because I take exception to it and that's not good for you do you understand that yes I do yes if you're going to get through this Workshop you are going to live down to my Expectations of you CU if you don't live down to my expectations of you we're going to call you an upper Upp Bluey and we're going to ride your tail until you do live down to our expectations of us

how do I know how to do this by your observations of what of what happens in society that's right that's right we in the power position in society know how to keep people in their place by lowering our expectations for them by forcing them to live down to our Expectations of them and we do it by such ways as when President Reagan signed the decree saying the establishing Martin Luther King's birthday as a national holiday as he signed the decree someone said Mr Raven he signed in front of the press was Martin Luther King a

communist and he threw down the pencil he said well we'll know in 30 years won't we so you've seen you hold out the rose with one hand and You Yank It back with the other we'll give you this day but we don't really want to and that was on network television everybody saw it did that send a message to the black community absolutely did it send a message to the White Community oh yes what message did it send to the White Community we'll keep them quiet we'll keep them in their place we'll go along with

this because there's something to Be gained for us by it but not because we really honor the man but because we want to cool things down does that bother you at all did you think about that when he did it you think about it differently now now why do you want this paper and pencil so that I can remember the things that you say because you don't trust yourself to remember them do no now did I teach him something yes yes was it a valuable lesson yes very much no it Wasn't no that isn't that

is not a valuable lesson to teach people to submit to tyranny get real that is not a valuable lesson that is a dastardly lesson and you need to realize it you need to realize that what I just did to him today n gangri is doing to you all the time by saying people who think like him are normal and other people are not and you're going along with that you are submitting to tyranny in Order to be called normal for God's sake you'd be better off to be called subnormal I didn't just teach him a

valuable lesson I taught him to go along to get along I taught him to submit to oppression I taught him the same lesson that we teach females and people of color and those who are other than Christian in and gays and lesbians and all those who are physically different all day every day and he's going along because he's going to be More comfortable he goes along is there any way he can win no did he win just now no he thought he did for a minute didn't he and you all thought he did for a

minute didn't you the second listening skill is good listeners Keep Their Eyes what are you doing good listeners keep their eyes on the person who is speaking write it quickly before you forget it good listeners keep their eyes on the person who is Speaking good listeners keep their eyes on the person who is speaking what are you doing you have it written no why not cuz my hands are still quiet from the first skill didn't I say write it down yeah write it down and violate the first one write it down I said write it

down do it do it now what are you waiting for now I'm going to warn you about something in case you don't recognize It I'm messing with your mind now I told him to conform and then I said it was stupid to conform so then you decided that you wouldn't conform so now you're in trouble now what did you better do you never know what to do that's right that's right just the minute you think youve caught on the rule what did I do you changed the I changed the rules people am I good am

I good do I know how To do this I'm a white female I learned how to do this at my mother's me I know exactly how to do this I can turn you Every Which Way but Loose and there ain't no way you can win and we can do this outside this room our society does this on a daily basis we build people up and then we tear them down we're doing it with Cole and Powell right now we're going to build that boy up and that's what we're calling him that boy we're going to

build him up and Then if he gets anywhere near where he wants to go where he doesn't really want to go but we're flattering him into going there and about the time we get him up there what are we going to do kick block out we're going to kick the blocks out and let him slide right down that soly slope unless I'm very much mistaken because do you really think that this country is prepared to vote in a black [Music] President oh Bo are you think this country is prepared to vote in a female vice

president right no [Music] this town calls itself the city of beautiful Maples and these are all hard maple trees lining both sides of most of the streets in town in two weeks they will all be these gorgeous yellow and orange and red and gold colors and people will come from miles around to see the color in our trees and this city Is just so proud of that wonderful wonderful color in these trees but they do not want people of color to come and reside in this community we love color in our trees we do not

want it in our skin and it breaks my heart because it is so cuz this is a be this is a beautiful little community and they're very proud of of their feelings for one another the size of their churches their churches are full every Satur every Sunday and every Saturday night it's wonderful it's a wonderful place to raise children as long as you don't want to raise children of color here it's heartbreaking the first time I did this exercise in uh 1968 my parents sold 42 lunches in their little hotel lunchroom in rville the day

after it was shown they sold two they never sold more than that again that was the end of their business their business Was killed by what I do somebody has said Good Deeds won't go long unpunished I found out how very true that is I learned a a lot about racism in short time and I wouldn't have it wouldn't have bothered me as much if I had been the only one they exposed to that kind of behavior but nobody confronted me in all those years to this day no one other than my peers one time

have confronted Me but they got at me through my children and my parents and I find that very very difficult to forgive uh the Jews have a saying they say you have the right to forgive others for what they do to you you do not have the right to forgive them for what they do to others I can't forgive them for what they did to my children my children have to do [Music] That see in retrospect I know that I could have made life easier for my parents could have made life easier for my father

could have made made my life easier for my husband and for my children and it took me a long time to get over the feeling that I had done something wrong I wish it hadn't been that way for my parents but I could not change people in rville in their attitudes toward them I wish it hadn't been that way for my Offspring but I couldn't change what people did I could have stopped doing what what I did but um there would have been a whole lot of learning that didn't take place and there would have

been some good things that didn't happen to my Offspring and if I had stopped it would have been saying to my kids when things get unpleasant just stop what you're doing just go along to get along that wasn't a message I wanted to send to [Music] them it's a new experience for most of you perhaps not for this one but for most of you it's a new experience you have to just be submissive just get your poop in a group and keep your mouth shut just do the very best you can so you don't call

my anger down on you now this is just for a little time I think you can do this for a little time I'm not sure that all of you Can this is going to be a good learning experience for you remember that in this situation you people have no power absolutely no power so quit trying to exercise what you don't have quit trying to run the show you need to decide how big a risk you want to take let me tell you something I will not soon forget the female who looked a lot like you

which is something unfortunate for you and Denver Colorado who decided when she came in as a blue-eyed person that she was going to not conform and she wasn't going to go along and she went up and down the two rows of blue-eyed people saying come on brothers and sisters come with me and defeat the oppressor come with me and refuse to go along with this do not do not go along with this do not take this abuse come on we can demonstrate and we can make a difference made a total fool of herself The blue

the rest of the blue-eyed people felt that there was an opportunity here she didn't want to learn it she in effect was saying to people of color if you would protest these things wouldn't happen to you if you do what I'm doing these things wouldn't happen to you when people of color have protested in this country what have we done to them killed them but you see as a white female in that situation she was in no danger Whatsoever and she could walk up and down that line protesting and demonstrating until hell fre was over

and she knew that she wasn't going to get put in jail and there were no dogs and there were no whips and there were no fire hoses and there were no guns in that room and she had andal gas chamber and she had absolutely nothing to lose now when you have nothing to lose what you when you're risk taking with nothing to lose that's not a risk no so what she Was doing was absolutely insulting to every person in that room and I didn't want to touch her and I didn't want the security people to

touch her because that was a corporation and I didn't want her to sue the corporation she finally went I said get this woman out of here she went up and lay down on the floor at the front of the room I said all right folks here's the way it is we're going to vote on this if she stays I Go now I'm going to leave the room and you participants vote on whether she stayed now I was getting paid for being there this a risk she's getting paid nothing I walked out of the room I

took all my stuff and I walked out of the room and I stood in the hall and I thought you dummy you dummy what have you just done you have probably just lost a large account I stayed out of the room pretty soon here two people came Out one blue eye and one brown eye one on each side of her leading her out of the room and they voted for her to leave why she was impeding their process of learning she was keeping them from learning and she wanted to keep them from learning and she

wanted to be the power in that room was I going to let her be the power in that room absolutely not no would that have sent a bad message to every person of color every Gay every lesbian every person with a disability every older person every person who wasn't blonde in that room would that have sent a bad message to them yes absolutely was I going to let that happen no no were the rest of them going to let it happen no who is responsible for them voting what I thought was the right way they

were they were they were and this constant arguing only says I as a white female have the power to argue in this Situation because I know I'm really not taking a risk at all I'm simply being seen I'm simply playing look at me third graders play look at me see me see how cute I am see how funny I am see how I can disrupt the process that's what she's doing therefore what is her mental state at this point what what is her ego State at this point she's in her child ego State now you

have a choice to make you can either be in your child ego state or in Your parent ego state or in your adult ego State now when you're on the floor it's going to be real hard for you to be in your parent ego State because you're going to have to look up at me I would suggest that you get into your adult ego State real real fast like in Stand it's my intent to be an adult when are you going to start it's my perception that's that an adult does speak up but I think

your point is well taken about in this Situation is is it a smart adult thing to speak up no no with if is it a smart thing for a buoyed person to speak up at this point no what does it do every time a buoyed person is disrupted at this point Mak him all the B makes them all look bad does it reinforce all the negative things we said about them absolutely she's proving all the negative things we said about them isn't she do you want her to do that for you do you want her

to do that for you no But you're going to be asleep anyway do you want her you didn't tell me you were taking a tranquilizer do you want her to do that for you do you want her to do that for you no do you want her to do it for you do you want her to do it for you what about you oh yeah you do it shows that she cares right it shows that she cares I'm going to do you a favor trade places with him now the second listening skill is now I

want you to talk to him oh I Think you're in the wrong place you Chade places with him now the reason I put you back here is when you're beside her her behaviors rub off on you and your behaviors rub off on her and you support and reinforce one another and I don't want that to happen so in order to keep that from happening and keep you from getting into trouble I put you back here where that won't happen to you did I do this to be mean to You probably in your mind no you

were helping me I am helping you and how should you feel about that I expect you should think I should be grateful and are you no why not because because you're an ingrate because you like having the support you are willing to take the support even if it means getting you in trouble yes this man like to suffer he doesn't know any about he like you like to suffer he's a Marty does martyrdom Appeal to you no no is there any way you can win here not under the present rules no have you won yet

not yet am I going to let you win you don't want me to win am I going to let you win where's the only place you can win in this situation I can can you win in your mind yes yes yes so within me I can within you you can win but will I know that you have won within you yes no I won't and Neither will they because we will use everything you do against you I won't know that you have reinforced yourself inside yourself but will you know that yes yes is that valuable

to you absolutely absolutely is that going to be hard for you to keep on doing that while I keep on badgering you yes yes are you going to have to keep working and working and working to make that happen is that fair every day no it isn't fair did you think this was going To be a fair day no no you think what goes on outside here is fair absolutely not absolutely not you spend a whole lot of time outside here holding it in and winning inside yourself even though Society doesn't want you to yes

yes and do you yes who do you think spends more time in that endeavor you or that man right there probably that man probably that man right there probably what I'm doing to that man and to you happens to his Children unless I'm mistaken in the school on a daily basis am I mistaken all the time all the time and when you watch that happen to your children and know youd better maintain a low profile if you want them to get through the school year what does that do to you tears me up tears you

up what does it make your sons think of you it's a difficult situation difficult situation and who makes that situation difficult you know who makes it I know Who makes difficult you damn right I know who makes difficult I make it difficult and people who look like me make it difficult and we spend a whole lot of time feeling badly about it we talk a lot about it if we didn't enjoy it what would we do stop we' stop doing it we stop doing it are you folks on the outside you brown ey people having

a better time here today than they are yes you have more fun than they are have you had fun yet why not I'm I'm a Blueeyed person yeah and what as a result of being a blue-eyed person what is going to happen to you being treated differently that's right is there anything you can do about it not one thing is there anything you can do to change my behavior none absolutely his tears bother me no no has wanting me to care about him bother me no his embarrassment bother me no does the embarrassment that females

suffer in the workplace bother the powerful males In workplace no if it did what would they do about it put a stop to it immediately immediately is what happens to people on reservations on Native American reservations in this country bother the people in power in this country no not one that we are going to increase that pain instead of ending it do we care do you care now you all could have learned Something in the last hour or hour and a half that you've been in here you could have learned something about how discrimination works

and how it feels to be on the receding end of it you could have learned about society and society's rules you could have learned about how hard it is to be in control when you have no control you could have learned something about power and the use and misuse of power and a reality that you have never experienced I think before Most of you I think have never experienced the reality that you are experiencing this morning have you before this have you you have you you not in this country you you I like the way

you say not in this country you no have you have you ever experienced anything like this before I've experienced discrimination because of being a woman yes of being a white woman do you think the Discrimination being visit upon you As a woman is the same as the Discrimination that is visited upon her as a woman her reality and your reality in this country you do not live in the same country that she does you live in the United States of America but you do not live in the same country that she does and neither do

I and neither does she and she says she has never experienced this this kind of treatment in this country how many of those of you who are Brown eyed have experienced this kind of treatment in this country the land of the free and the home of the brave in which you are [Music] [Applause] citizens you're going to interview some students tomorrow some former students of mine who were in my classroom the third year that I did this exercise they were in a film called the eye of the Storm and we took still photographs of those

children each day they of that exercise one when they were on the top and one were when they were on the bottom and I have some of those here the interesting part about these pictures is you can take a child who's a perfectly happy normal human being on one day and by putting a collar on him and telling him he's inferior you can turn him into a Frightened vulnerable intimidated suspicious child who cannot succeed on the day he's in the wrong place this is like the powerless and the powerful this is Rex on the days

he on the bottom you're going to meet Rex tomorrow this is Rex on the day he's on the top all of these students that going that you're seeing now and that are in the film The Eye of the storm are moderately to severely dyslexic none of Them were supposed to finish High School Rex now has his ma in elementary education Administration you're going to talk to him tomorrow he is going to be teaching children to make a difference this is Sandy on the day she was on the bottom and this is Sandy on the day

she was on the top sand is the one who said when we did our reunion 5 years after they graduated from high school I asked Sandy what whe whether having had this exercise when she was in third grade had Changed her life at all she's the one who said yeah now when I hear one of those bigoted remarks I wish I had one of those collars in my pocket and I could take it out and I could whip it around that person's neck and I could say now you wear that for two weeks and see

how you'd like to live that way for a lifetime Rex is the one who said I have I'll have that collar in my pocket for the rest of my life I can't get that collar out of my pocket this is How Lori you're going to meet Lori tomorrow this is how she looked on the day she was on the bottom of this exercise and this is how she looked on the day she was on the top now you think about what this is just one day in these children's lives and look at the difference what

if she had to live this way for if she expected to live this way for a lifetime he would soon begin to doubt her intelligence and so would She I don't think I had a picture of Milton in there did I but this is this is Milton's every day that of the exercise each day of the exercise the children had to draw themselves as they felt that day and this is how Milton Drew himself this is the day he was on the top and they drew these and colored them and Milton has an eye for

drawing like I have only seen in one other child in all the years that I've taught and but because he was dyslexic He got no respect from from the school and so his life is down the it's just a it's just a wash and it breaks my heart because he's probably the most talented child I have ever seen artistically but this was all in yellow and there's an angel on his head on the day he's on the top on the day he's on the bottom this is all in black and there are Flames red Flames

up in here and there's a little red devil on top of his head but if you feel like this when you Go to school in the morning every day or if you feel like this every morning when you go to school are you going to do a better job than when you feel like this see if you can create a situation in a school or in a society in which 11% of your Society feels like this and the rest of them feel like this which would you rather feel like which part of society would you

rather be in would you rather be one of the powerful or one of the powerless and how dare Society make Force people to live this way has been over 20 years now and it's just looking at these pictures and talking about it is just as if it happened yesterday it's very much um in my mind I started reading the book again and it brought back a lot of tears I remember the things that started remembering the things that kids said to each other and how they treated each other and I mean best friends were now

Fighting and and we hated our teacher just we had to draw a picture of her and I'll ever forget that cuz we all Drew like a picture of a devil and we had to stay in extra for reesus we couldn't like go back for seconds and some of the kids you know we couldn't share our food cuz you know we're dirty people and we had to use a cup to drink out of cuz we had to use the same cup all day otherwise we were wasteful but um I remember her she when She had said

that browney people were slow and they were um dirty and smelly and you know I was like you know here's this teacher you loved this teacher and she's telling you all of these things it's like I thought you were my friend you know and to go through this even though we all knew it was a um a project that we were doing once it started you forgot it was a project it was such a Reality that it's like I'm really going through this this isn't funny anymore it's not a joke and when they had the

collar on you just felt like you know that poor little dog outside who wants to go in and nobody will bring him in but um and then to take him off you just felt like you'd won the lotto you know it just really good the exercise has a lot to do with how I feel today it was just a a one- day thing for me but it has stayed with Me all these years but a you know a black child child has to live with this the rest of their life all those who have toll

of two right please stand you have two right yes check your paper where are the numbers on this paper they're not on there did you know that when you stood all I saw was that she said I got two correct I Wasing did you know you didn't put any numbers on this paper yes yes did you know you were wrong when you stood No did you hear me say those numbers did I say right number three first I guess I didn't hear that oh are these right I guess not do you have two right I

guess not how many do you have right none none are you taking credit for something you didn't do evidently and are you going to blame her for checking it wrong no no who's at fault for your standing when you don't belong there I am put a zero at the top of that page and cross out the two Okay will all those who have a total of one right please stand you thought I said one night stand didn't you show me your paper you want to check yours to be sure it's right before I look at

it well that is right you did get one right you're 25% right5 75% wrong you're right I keep forgetting what's the third listening skill supposed to say can't remember What's the third listening skill supposed to say third listeners uh listen from the beginning to the very end is that what yours says no I left out Barry sure left out Barry didn't you yes I do you have one right here and I should have zero correct there that's right do you have one right here yes I do is there one right no there is no one

no should you be standing no I should not so what are you going to do I'm going to sit down and change that to Zero good idea so two of these people got one right none of them got them all right this is too hard for blueeyed people mm this is a lot of work for blueeyed people to learn four simple sentences and then have to respond to them in a few minutes now what stress are you suffering from at this point um you're changing the rul your changing the rules your tone of voice is

talking down to People um you are setting it up so that making people feel dumb like if Mark makes a mistake that's bad as opposed to good you're standing over some people and that stressful to you I think to this group yes and to me is that stressful to you yes yes and also going too fast going too fast anything else is stressful to you those the big ones those are the big ones those are big ones for her that's not compare that to me and my wife in Independence right close to where she lived

getting told to walk away from a house that we couldn't rent because it's occupied and we drive around a block and come back and see a white couple going in there right here you you don't know stress would you consider that more stressful I don't even consider that stress I consider that just devastating were you devastated by it I tried to Explain it to my wife and stop her from crying there was no explanation at work no what's Big Time stress to you if you don't mind telling it every morning when I get up and

go in my bathroom and look in my mirror that's when my stress begins because I go to a school where I am one of two black teachers out of how many teachers 60 60 two black teachers in a school with 60 teachers and you're one of the two One of the two that's stress and are you treated differently on the basis of how you look in the mirror when you get up in the morning sure I am and you know it's happening sure I do and you recognize it yes I do and you can identify

it sure I can and if you describe it to your white peers what do they say Oh Linda please that's not happening it couldn't be happening what about you is this big time stress for you as far as you're Concern no no do you get stressed like this oh yes do you have to do you have to perform in spite of it yes I do you have to do your job whether the stress is there or not right if you give into the stress what do you have to give up my job your job this

look a lot like a lot of stress to you very much so it does yes do you think these people people are stressed a lot well they're stressed but not what we go through okay so it's this big time Stress compared to what you said very low very low what about you looks like a game yeah looks like a game does it feel like a game to you no no feel like a game to you you playing a game are you playing a game are you playing a game did you come in here prepared for

a game did you think this might be a game did you think this is going to be a little day off work or spend your Saturday this way does this feel like a Game to you quite a bit different quite a bit different why cuz we're on the spot rather than coming and changing roles and that's right moment now let me make something perfectly clear here we are not going to reverse this today yesterday I heard a couple of women say well I kept quiet because I thought she was going to reverse it and then

she'd Ed what we said against us I had no intention of reversing this Because if I reversed this it would no longer be reality that would be like saying to people of color after we white folks have been on top for a while then we're going to turn the tables and you're going to get your chance see if it's a game then everybody has the opportunity to win in this situation and in society at large not everybody has the opportunity to win we do not have freedom and justice for all we have freedom and Justice

for some but not for all this is not a game because not everybody in this room is going to have the opportunity to win you're never going to win Maggie if you keep writing while I'm talking this is not a game and are you role playing today yeah in a sense in a sense you are your memory is bad because you're pretending it's bad are you having trouble remembering things no are you having Trouble getting things right yes cour yes why cuz the deck is stacked against because the deck is stacked against you so no

amount of pretending is going to get you to pretend that you've got those written correctly is it correct correct so the RO playing hey forget that it's like Shelby steel saying as a black man I have transcended race now in your heart of hearts all you people know that I'm lying to you about Blue eyes eyes there's nothing wrong with having eyes of a color other than brown and you know I'm wrong does that give you any satisfaction whatsoever to know that I'm wrong is that making it all easier for you to go through this

no you can transcend your eye color can you transcend my behaviors on the basis of your eye color no can you trans and my Iism no can you change what is happening in here to you because you know that I'm wrong no all you can do is sit there and take it tell me what stress is now wait a minute he volunteered to tell me what stress is I do not ask people of color to bleed all over the floor for white F I don't do that you want to tell us go ahead and tell

us stress is knowing that U when you send a Son or a daughter to school that they have to start learning how to be the best and no matter what they say or what they do it's never good enough cuz I'm always going to find something wrong with you to the point of where I'm going to make you so frustrated that you get into a situation where you become unstable and you can't be taught so now you have to go over here now we have to test you and we're going to tell you What's wrong

with your child we're going to make him a statistic we're going to keep him in the background continuously and you have to day in and day out talking to him there's nothing wrong with you nothing wrong with you you can do it you can do it you can do it and he continues to come home hurt and sometimes in fights when you have to continue to keep doing it over and over and over and sad thing about it is is that we waste so Much time in trying to keep the self-esteem up that we lose

the time that he could be learning and they know that now that's what that's what stress is [Music] [Music] [Music] that oh my God oh my gosh Donna I'm so glad to see you you got you shine I don't want hear I heard Think I heard what you thinking oh my gosh you all look so great I'm so glad to see you all I I ran into once at in rville just that one time and you guys were sitting in the car long time ago I haven't seen you since oh you got to take your

kids to her house that's the fun that's you going to do it again I got the third one now so I can be more so now we can have more fun oh my gosh you all look so good oh where's Lori working they Said a shoot well so be oh I have I have something for you see this this is blue eyes ward off evil hey I need all the help I can get right so I brought you each one oh neat let's see these come from Saudi Arabia by way of Sarah through Saudi Arabia

so when you wear them think of Sarah in Saudi Arabia where men are men and the women laugh at them America it might be interesting to judge People today by the color of their eyes would you like to try this sounds like fun doesn't it since I'm the teacher and I have blue eyes I think maybe the blue-eyed people should be on top the first day I mean the blue-eyed people are the better people in this room oh yes they are blueeyed people are smarter than brown-eyed people they are cleaner than brown People and if

you don't believe it look at Brian the browney people do not get to use the drinking pountain you'll have to use the paper cups you browney people are not to play with the blue-eyed people on the playground because you are not as good as blue-eyed people well the brown-eyed people in this room today are going to wear collars so that we can tell from a distance what color your eyes are [Music] and it seemed like when we were down on the bottom everything bad was happening to us seemed like Mrs Elliot was taking our best

friends away from us what happened at recess were two of you boys fighting Russ call me names and I hit him hit him in the gut call you brown Eyes what's wrong with being called brown eyes it means that we're stupid not that oh that's just the same way as other people call black people nigers is that the reason you hait him John did it help did it stop him the first reaction I get from teachers who see this film or from hearing who hear me discuss what I do say to me how can you

do that to these Little children how can you put those little children through that exercise for a day and they seem unable to relate the sympathy that they're feeling for these little white children for a day to what happens to Children of color in this Society for a lifetime or to the fact that they are doing this to Children based on skin color every day and I'm only doing this as an exercise that every child knows is an exercise and every child knows is going to end at The end of the day let's take these

collars off what would you like to do with them throw them go [Applause] ahead don't eat bu your H this older woman in the middle of this group stood up and said Mrs Elliot I came here to tell you how much I hate you I said okay go ahead you know this isn't a new experience she said said I am Jewish I was born and raised in Germany she said we went to a Jewish school every morning when our Headmaster came in we would bow and say good morning her Headmaster she said one morning he

came in with two SS Troopers and one of the SS Troopers said to us in the future you decadent Jews will no longer bow and say good morning her Headmaster she you will salute and say h Hitler she said I watched those of us who valued our life more than our faith salute and say h Hitler she said those who valued their faith more than life Itself self continued to Bow and say good morning her Headmaster she said they disappeared and we never saw them again but we know what happened to them she said your

students are very fortunate they will never allow to happen in their society what we allowed to happen in ours they'll see it coming and they'll put a stop to it then she said something that frightens me to this day she said the atmosphere that you created for your students in your Classroom with your blue-eyed Browne exercise reminded me of the atmosphere and the environment that the Nazis created for the Jews in Germany now now people of color particularly blacks who see the film The Eye of the storm which was my in my classroom the third

year I did the exercise say to me when it's over that's the way I live every day of my life and that's in what we call the land of the free and the home of the brave we have created an environment in This country for 11 to 12% of our population in which they feel the way the Jews felt in Nazi Germany white people say to me I don't see it that that way of course they don't see it that way they don't live it that way we do not live the same reality in this

country white people do not live as people of color do now I need to know how did you feel about what you went through this morning the words that you have written came out of your Feelings right nobody else's okay read your three words now they looked frustrated confused and angry frustrated confused and angry that's the way they look to you during this exercise now people listen to these words that these browney people have written and see how many of them are the words we usually use to describe females read yours confused sad and some

human um sad any of you people sad this Morning you look sad what were you sad about I'm sad because I stay on the carpet and I didn't get me coffee I donut Valley Girl like wow [Music] man and I'll tell you something else I'm going to give you a really valuable piece of advice get over cute okay I'm absolutely serious about this get over cute because you'll be cute until you're about 45 and then at 45 you won't be cute anymore you'll just be an old frog and there'll be a whole bunch of 18

to 40 year olds there who are cuter than you are and at that point you will say I want that promotion and somebody will say to you well would see I don't think of you as qualified I just think of you as cute and then you're going to how sexism females get over cute get competent get trained get Capable get over cute and those of you who are called Patty and that and suie get over that because we use those names to infantilize females we keep females in their little girl state by the names we

use for them get over it if you want to be taken seriously get serious get over it okay read your three words confused lonely and uncomfortable confused lonely and uncomfortable yours oh did anybody in here feel lonely during this thing What do you mean when you say lonely just like they're just all alone yeah they have no support group right here all these blue blue-eyed people are together but there is no support group and each of them knew there was no support coming didn't they did they catch on to that real fast you didn't even

seem to expect help from one another would you have appreciated some defense well yeah well yeah Where's where's darl where darl don't you say another word until I get my husband in here because you are so like my neighbor I can't believe it well yeah you would have appreciated defense yeah yeah did you resent the fact that none of them stuck up for you or did you think they' got to cover their own asses I figured that they knew that if they tried to come to my defense that you'd you'd Point Your Guns to them

and so I figured that's the reason That they weren't when I was picking on her why didn't any of you males defend her of course I wouldn't have defended her either but why didn't any of you defend her why didn't you defend her it's like if you're picking on her you're not picking on me and so by the rules I kind of saw it's like I'm just going to sit back and lay low and let her do it to him it's what makes racism work people it's what makes homophobia work people It's what makes sexism

work it's what's going to make agism work do sit back and do nothing is to cooperate with the oppressor as long as you folks did nothing I was free to do whatever I chose to read yours all I said they looked intimidated confused and scared scared any of you people scared this morning who are you scared about I was um I think the thing that made me most scared was when we talked About the uh just just doing this for a day and how it really is a lifetime thing for so many folks why does

that scare you it scared me I really got in touch with just the incredible Injustice that that I'm I'm a part of yeah yeah it really scared me yeah I I was really aware of my uh my stomach and I was I was really aware once I once I really allowed Myself to begin to really understand and really really accept you know the full impact of this it it started making me really sick I I just really felt physically sick at the uh now you felt sick to your stomach this morning in a two and

a half hour exercise could that have anything to do with why so many black males die N9 or 10 or 15 years before white males do and so many of them have high blood Pressure and problems with heart and all kinds of problems that kill them early and have nothing to do with violence could having to confront this and deal with it or not confront it and cope with it all day every day for yourself and your wife and your children and your parents and your grandparents make you sick I guess I guess probably the

biggest thing is that that it's really hard for me to Believe that one person can make a difference have I made a difference in you yeah how many people you think I am at the end of the second world war when they cleaned out the concentration camps in Germany a Lutheran Minister said when they came for the Jews I wasn't Jewish so I did nothing when they came for the homosexuals I wasn't homosexual so they did nothing when they came for the Gypsies I wasn't Gypsy so I did nothing when they came for me there

was no one left to do anything now think about it just think about that [Music] I still have a dream it is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream I have a dream that all men are created each [Music]