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TEDxJacksonville hosts ‘Small Great Conversations on Racism’

TEDx Jacksonville archive series

TEDxJacksonville continues a series of free, virtual “Small Great Conversations on Racism” this Saturday featuring Pastor Michael Smith, a TEDxJacksonville speaker the talk “Black Murder Is Normal.” (Event link)

This series highlights previous TEDx speakers and their ideas for confronting the challenges currently facing our community and the world. These events bring TEDxJacksonville speaker alumni to our audience in an online conversation on topics that cover systemic racism, activism and public policy debates.

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“Our team felt this was the best way we could meet our community and our neighbors where they are,” said Sabeen Perwaiz, TEDxJacksonville licensee and executive producer. “We’re engaging in difficult conversations right now, and we want to be intentional about the ways we can contribute to important dialogue.” 

Future events

Aug. 15: Pastor Michael Smith, a TEDxJacksonville speaker who shared the talk “Black Murder Is Normal.” (Event link)

Aug. 29: Phillip Singleton, a TEDxJacksonville speaker who shared the talk “Real Change Comes Through Policy, Not Protest.” (Event link)

Sept. 12: Dr. Jeffreen Hayes, a TEDxJacksonville speaker who shared the talk “Arts Activism in Simple Steps.” (Event link)

Sept. 26: Dr. Tammy Hodo, a TEDxJacksonville speaker who shared the talk “The Social Implications of Race.” (Event link)

Oct. 10: Brandon Griggs, a TEDxJacksonville speaker who shared the talk “The Illiteracy-to-Prison Pipeline.” (Event link)

TEDxJacksonville will not present a conference in October 2020 as originally planned, because of the risk of exposing speakers, volunteers, vendors and any other attendees to COVID-19. The next live conference will be planned for 2021. Applicants who applied to speak for the 2020 conference will have their applications eligible for the 2021 conference. 

This year featured the city’s first TEDx youth conference. Six high school students, all from Duval County Public Schools, delivered their talks live at the first TEDxYouth@Jacksonville on March 3, staged at the Florida Blue Conference Center. Those talks are now shared via the TEDx Talks YouTube channel with more than 20 million subscribers. 

Now in its ninth year, the TEDxJacksonville team is a group of volunteers committed to a mission of opening minds with inspiring ideas. 

At a TEDx event, TED Talks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.) 

Learn more about TEDxJacksonville on its website, on Twitter and on Facebook.