WEBVTT

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<v ->The most important thing that I want people to hear</v>

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is that how often it is

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that we discriminate against people without knowing.

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We don't even know what our biases are

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until we're faced with the situation

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of being on the other side of the fence.

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I spoke at Southern University

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to a graduate class in public policy.

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There was a young man there.

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His name is Jacob.

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And Jacob

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had never been around anybody HIV positive.

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And when I spoke,

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Jacob participated in an event

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after hearing me speak.

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And I invited him to be a part of the forum.

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When he spoke,

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and he spoke about how he had no idea

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how prejudiced and biased he was

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against people living with HIV and AIDS

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and how he had had such a mental paradigm shift

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in 30 minutes (laughs)

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that he went home and got on the computer

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to learn all he could about it

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and decided that he wanted to work with me

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because it was so important for him

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to erase the biases from others that he had

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that he didn't even know he had.

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I think it's important

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for each of us to do some self-inventory,

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to look within ourselves and see where our biases lie,

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where our discrimination

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rises and what that does to us as a people,

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as an individual,

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how it affects us on the inside

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and what pains we inflict on others unknowingly.

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That is the one thing I would have to say

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if I could say something to anybody out there.

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Search yourself, do some self-inventory,

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and try walking in another man's shoes without judgment.