'You have to be 50 times smarter.' Understanding Racism with Roosevelt Ducelus

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It’s easy to focus on rioting when watching George Floyd protests. It’s harder to understand what it means to grow up black in the U.S. today. This episode of NARA podcast is an attempt to do that.

'For us, we have to be so far up to be at the door. But for the white man the door is just right there,' Roosevelt Ducelus, English language officer in Atlanta explains talking with Karolis Vyšniauskas in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Roosevelt managed to reach the door and open it. He works as a contractor with the US Department of State programs, which is how Karolis met him. He has two master’s degrees and speaks five languages. But he’s spending these days protesting in Atlanta so that other African-Americans would have more equal opportunities.

Roosevelt Ducelus in the Black Lives Matter protests in Atlanta.
Roosevelt Ducelus in the Black Lives Matter protests in Atlanta.
Black Lives Matter solidarity event in Morristown, New Jersey ©Giedrius Paulauskas
Black Lives Matter solidarity event in Morristown, New Jersey ©Giedrius Paulauskas

'I have three kids. If I don’t make it better for them, who’s gonna do it?'

This conversation discusses the logic of rioting, the legacy of slavery and why Roosevelt believes that discrimination of black people won’t end until Africa itself is in a better situation.

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