Jay-Smooth, Aisha Harris and Ta-Nehisi Coates
On Auto-Tuning and Charles Ramsey

Racial conflict and controversy is not new, particularly not in America.  But usually the conflict starts out ugly, invites denial and gets uglier, creating more confusion, more heat than light.  The conflict and controversy surrounding the heroism of Charles Ramsey in Cleveland (already got t-shirts with his face on them) includes this familiar pattern-by-design but also has so much more, making it worth a closer examination.  Coates brings together three great voices doing just that. 

The video is, well, smooth and thoughtful and easy to digest.  Accessible and smart, as we expect from Jay-Smooth.  Thanks to Coates for reposting it along with his own thoughts and the link to Harris for some data.  Thanks Julie for introducing me to Coates a while back! 

Also, check out other Jay-Smooth videos as well. 

You can also listen to one of Charles Ramsey’s initial interviews for yourself: a real life hero who happens to love Big Macs.  It is very hard not to love this guy.  Thanks Charles Ramsey for being yourself...a leader in your own life and now a publicly acclaimed hero.

Joanna Weiss (Boston Globe) also provides a commentary on all of this that is worth reading.