Rochester man to deliver TED Talk
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Med City Beat: YOUR TOPIC DEALS WITH DISCRIMINATION AND THE ROLE WE ALL PLAY IN CONFRONTING IT. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS SUBJECT?
Elegbede: I thought long and hard about what I wanted to share. For example, I considered doing a talk about leadership, strategy, and even project management, but there was something else inside of me that was yearning to be let out. My talk is about how we can make our community and world a better place by fighting discrimination, racism and Islamophobia. I chose discrimination because of my personal connection and stories to the topic as well as ideas I have put into action to address discrimination.
You see, I was born in Nigeria during a time military regimes gained power through coup d’état. I also lived in Lomé, Togo and observed the autocratic rule of a dictator who ruled the small West African country for thirty eight years until his death. I saw how prejudice and bias influences decisions that marginalize certain groups over others, and heard rhetoric from dictators that when left unchecked led to ethnic and religious discrimination.
Discrimination is also pervasive in the United States, and Minnesota is among the 10 worst states for Black Americans to live in the country in terms of racial disparity. The Midwest is pretty bad with Wisconsin being the worse in terms of racial disparity. It’s really all around us.
For example, in November of last year, a man was attacked with acid attack in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, simply for being Hispanic. In La Crosse, Wisconsin, just an hour away, a hate crime occurred last year when a racist and Islamophobic slur was graffitied on the property of local American Muslim business owner of Arab descent. In Rochester, Minnesota, bacon strips were left near the front entrance of the mosque. And in Minneapolis, racism and discrimination led to the death of George Floyd.
When I decided last year that I wanted to do a talk on discrimination, I had no idea that my timing would prove crucial in light of all the deaths and racial tensions in the country. I just wanted to share something positive, very personal, and an inspirational idea to tackle discrimination.
