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N Word, Power, and Racialized Violence

In this clip, two dialogue partners talk about what it means to grapple with racialized violence in the U.S. One of the partners is African and observes the differences in experiences with Blackness in the U.S. versus his home country. He recalls an incident where he was in a store and a man called him the n-word and received no repercussions despite the fact that he reported him to the employees. He mentions that there is an exhausting toll living in the U.S. and being Black because of the mental energy devoted to noticing being the only Black person in a space or being aware if someone might be verbally or physically violent toward you. Being African in the U.S. is a drastically different experience and he makes a pointed comment about how he feels freer at home without the weight of racialized violence:

It’s so freeing when you don’t have to think about that. It’s so freeing when you don’t have to think about your body, making sure your body is safe…