This is the home of Baratunde’s work on Living While Black, a TED talk that explored the weaponization of white supremacy, the deadly consequences of policing, and the power of language to write a better narrative for us all to inhabit. Brian Williams called this “one of the greatest TED talks of all time,” and he’s sometimes right!

BONUS: Link to one year later, a reflection on the talk Baratunde hosted just days before Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd.

If you like what happened here, please consider becoming a supporter on Patreon, subscribing to Baratunde’s email list, and connecting with him via text message.

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The UNEXPECTED Question

As Baratunde left the stage, TED curator Helen Walters kept asked an unplanned question.

The Data

Every headline in the talk is sourced from a verified news account. Baratunde used Airtable to organize them and has embedded a simplified view of all the unique cases he captured so far. The complete repository is available for your viewing or downloading.

The Process

Baratunde initially built this project for a performance at the XOXO Festival in September 2018 in Portland, Oregon. With help from Color of Change, he expanded his own collection of headlines by adding their research. He partnered with the creative community platform, Glitch, to make a playable prototype of one level of the game. That version is still live and playable.

In preparation for his April 2019 TED Talk, he further expanded and honed the data set using this Airtable as the repository.