Analysis Of The Elephant In The Room By Melody Hobson

The Elephant in the Room
Whether it be toxic gas, laughter, the urgent need to urinate, or even lashing out in an overabundance of emotion, people react to uncomfortable situations in different ways. Albeit these reactions are not as common when it comes to the discussion of racism, there is clearly an uneasiness of those both leading and participating in the conversation. Throughout this TED talk speech, Mellody Hobson discusses the importance of acknowledging racism and the fact that this issue is prominent in America. From sharing the story of her going to a birthday party where she was the only African American, to the uniform situation where she and a friend were profiled and assumed to be kitchen help, Hobson openly discusses the “conversational
As previously mentioned, Hobson recounts her experiences, in her adolescence and adulthood, with racism. Throughout the speech, she gives her outlook and how she feels racism has affected corporate America. She explains in her uniform story how she and her friend, Harold Ford, were invited by her other friend to a media company in New York for an editorial board lunch so he could get some national press, as he was running for U.S. Senate in Tennessee. Rather than being escorted to the meeting area, she and Ford were taken to a room where the receptionist asked them where their uniforms were. Just as that was happening, her friend rushed in, speechless and embarrassed by what had taken place. At that point, Hobson states that she said, “Now, don’t you think we need more than one black person in the U.S. Senate?” While giving the audience a little bit of her background on dealing with racism, she encourages the audience to proactively have the conversation and be color brave. Though Hobson isn’t a social or civil rights activist, her encounters displayed her credibility and allowed her to engage and inform the audience from an experienced