- Welcome to "Ear to the Common Ground."

(acoustic guitar music) Here we celebrate the power of music and food to bring Americans together.

Filmed from a historic barn on Cash Lane in Music City, each episode of "Ear to the Common Ground" features one music artist and a diverse gathering of eight of their fans.

Everyone brings a dish to the table and they talk about one of the issues of the day, face to face with compassion replacing contempt as they keep their hearts, ears, and minds attuned to the common ground.

I am Gustavo Moradel, and these are eight of my fans.

Eko, Barbara, Felipe, Peter, Jenaye, Misael, Leslie, and Paris.

Tonight we're focusing on race.

Let's celebrate America's creator's diversity.

Diversity of thought, and shine a light on some common ground.

(Gustavo singing in Spanish) - I grew up in kind of rural Kentucky and Kentucky is still, historically has been part of southern culture.

And growing up I think my parents really tried to expose us beyond just the norm, but a lot of people we were around just looked similar to us and it sometimes it felt like, well, how do we break out of that?

And I love being a part of, you know, diverse areas, but sometimes it's hard to know for me, especially growing up white in a majority culture, just where to start.

You know, like branching out of your comfort zone and knowing that there's a lot of patterns in the way I grew up or the people I was around growing up.

Knowing that there's both a lot I have to learn and then a lot to unlearn as well.

And so sometimes, and even in situations like this, I'm afraid I'm gonna put my foot in my mouth saying something that I'm not even gonna realize, but just wanting to be open and having a humble posture knowing that I have a lot to learn and unlearn.

But with that, I think what prompted me originally was the comfort zone.

And it does really, at least for me, it's taken me going out of my comfort zone to seek out that community, because sometimes it's like, where do you start if you're just in certain areas or church or, you know, all these different social groups.

We just naturally are drawn towards people that are similar to us sometimes, and so breaking out of that I think can feel scary or just it's an unknown for sure.

- What about when someone else's beliefs are actually like really harmful to you or someone you love or or like put you in harm's way, because their beliefs turn into systems, turn into policy and, you know, really impact people in a really negative way?

Like how do you have respectful, kind discourse with people who have those kind of, such different ideas that it feels hurtful or detrimental?

- I mean, I don't think you have to agree, but you at least have to respect their opinions, you know?

- [Leslie] Exactly, yes.

- I mean, what other people think should not rule your life or not be your truth.

I mean, you have your truth and you just go by it and then you try to do better.

Okay, well I think of this, but you think of that, and what's the problem?

And I don't see, I mean, I don't see a reason most of the time that I talking with friends, like why should get angry about something that someone thinks?

Why should I be that reactive instead of just like listening?

And I mean when people comes from a standing situation, like this is my truth and I'm willing to respect it, like no matter what like you said, most of the people tend to be ignored or come from a position that they're being heard before because nobody pays attention to what I said.

It's just, I think with a little bit of patience and just love and thinking, "will I be offended if I said, if someone said this that I'm about to say?"

So just like common filters and you know, like there's some topics that you cannot talk with some people and that's okay.

- But I do think in your question, I do think that sometimes especially I've been thinking a little bit about the word race especially in America and it's been taken the wrong way, you know?

Like when they talk about race, of course, the first thing that everybody thinks about racism, you know, and that's a really hot topic.

And I've been guilty of being really lightheaded and getting into arguments really easy, 'cause I, you know, like I've done it since I was, even in my country, you know even in my country, like you might think, "oh yeah, you're from Latin America."

But even then, that was a hot topic, because you still get immigrants from your neighbor countries.

- Have you had anyone, I'm just curious, has anyone else had this, "go back where you came from," said to them?

No?

- I had.

I mean, as I said before, like when you're Hispanic and the only source of income you can find is working in construction, I had a lot of superintendents that feel entitled of their color and saying like, like just talking down to you, because they think you don't understand.

And it was always a problem when some of the my coworkers couldn't understand what the superintendent was asking us to do.

They will get angry and say that kind of stuff.

Like, "well, if you don't understand what I'm saying, just go back where you come from."

And I mean that's kind of insulting.

People don't understand the reason why you are here or what brought you here.

- I asked that question because this came up during 2020 during some of the madness and my husband, his parents are from Ireland, and so technically, our immigration status is the same.

We're both first generation Americans, second generation immigrants, and I had this conversation with him after this, you know, came in the news about, "go back where he came from if you don't like it here."

And I said, "I'm curious."

And he grew up in New York and I grew up in the south, and I said, "have you ever heard that before in your life?"

And he said, "no, of course not."

And I said, "I lost count how many times I heard it before the age of 10."

And I was like, "it's interesting, isn't it?

We're both technically second generation immigrants, we're both first generation Americans."

I said, "I know why you've never heard it and why I have."

- My experience, it's been, I've learned to be a chameleon, just adapt, you know, different environments, work, I keep work and personal life separate.

So yeah, I just adapt.

- [Leslie] Why?

Because it's... - [Peter] Because you have to?

- Because you have to sometimes, because I'm already like as a Black man in America, I'm already being prejudged like coming in.

I've been told at my job, that you got it because you know people, so I have to step up.

You just roll with it.

You just don't complain and you just go with it.

Like this is what it is.

I go into survivor mode.

- How do you feel about having to do that?

What is that like for you?

- I don't get angry.

I think we talked about earlier how sometimes you just have conversations with people but you have conversations with people who are willing to hear you, 'cause sometimes people are just ignorant, and you're like, "okay, yep.

I won't have a conversation with them," because they don't even want to hear you.

But then some people are genuinely like, "oh my gosh, that was like rude."

I had a friend at, I used to work at Vanderbilt, and he said something racist and he was like, "was that?"

And I was like, "well, yeah.

So you opened the question so I'm gonna answer."

And he was genuine about it.

He was like, "I'm so sorry."

And we had a discussion and he was like, "okay, I understand why that is racist or why I shouldn't say what I said."

And that made me feel good like just to be heard, 'cause like, you know, we all want to be heard, loved, and understood.

- [Guest] Yeah, absolutely.

- Whoever we are.

- [Barbara] Right.

- So you're able to be gracious enough to say, "hey, what you said," you know, and start educating people because I think a lot of it, it's educating people about it.

I was, so when I came here I was a little ignorant about this subject of like being Black in America.

I was ignorant.

What you see, of course what you see on television, they already have a judgment of like, if Latino, you're in a gang, you know, like you're in a gang in LA.

And then if you're Black you are also in a gang.

- You're in a gang, and you have six kids by eight different women, it's everything.

- But being in certain groups, we're like bad, you know, and certain groups we're heroes.

And so I was very conscious about that when I came here and I would have, you know, like people in my classes saying, "oh man, you don't have the same experience as I do."

Like some, you know, like Black people saying, "you have it easy."

And I'll be like, "what are you talking about?"

Because I didn't see it that way.

I thought it was, you know, like I say you don't have, you're kind of like they were saying that, you know, you have it like easier in life maybe.

Later in life, it's gonna be an easier road for you.

- Yes.

- But for us it's gonna be different road.

And I didn't understand it.

I didn't understand it at the time because I was a kid.

I was like, "well, we're sharing a pencil, you know?"

Like, I don't see what you mean.

And and I used to think maybe and I used to say ignorance, that's something that happened, you know, like maybe your grandparents, they suffer all of these, but I see right now that we're all like, we're all like getting along fine and I'm happy, you know?

Like I was really excited to have, being friends of like Black kids, because again Hollywood shows you a picture, such a picture.

- It does make me just think it's really important to be at tables that are super diverse, but it's also really important to be at tables that are safe.

- Yes.

- And where you can just be fully yourself and not try to have to sometimes just grin and bear it, you know?

But there has to be a balance and we have to be willing to step out of our boxes and learn and and it certainly doesn't always have to be contentious.

I was just talking to a friend today who's Muslim and she's celebrating Ramadan and fasting and I was kind of just offhandedly like, "oh, I'm so hungry.

I need to eat."

And then I was like, "I'm so sorry.

You haven't eaten for hours and won't eat for hours and hours more."

But it really struck me how long I've been in Nashville and the work, my workplace is very diverse, but it's really one of the first times I've really been in relationship with Muslims and really like day-to-day, gotten to just be friends, like gone past, you know, a acquaintance relationship and I'm like, "how have I just isolated myself this much?"

I've always tried to be in diverse spaces, I mean I'm a diverse space myself, I have all the things in me, my family is just, we're very diverse, but that was just one community that I had not had a lot of interaction with prior to being at a school that has like 25% Muslim population.

Yeah, so it's been really quite a gift to me to have friendships where I've learned a lot and just there can be a lot of negative media about Muslims and to see one of, my boss and mentor for three years was one of the most just generous souled, kind, loving, just beautiful humans in the world, and I watched her walk out her faith in ways that were just so profound and inspiring and amazing and selfless and all the things.

So I really feel like I've had such a limited ignorant blinders kind of view.

- Yeah.

So maybe all this polarization and all these issues that have come up have really helped wake us up too to them.

It's funny, like we always want what we don't have.

I'm from southern New Hampshire, there is like zero diversity.

So any talk about race is really kind of hypothetical.

"Well, yes I think this or I," but there's no opportunities, role models of people from all these different cultures and all these different points of view, I'm so hungry for that, and here I am sitting up in Southern New Hampshire like all dressed up in no place to go, which isn't really true.

- Do you think politics fits a lot of these race being such a polarizing subject?

Do you think politics help?

Just like if you think about it, there's only only two parties in America.

So one thinks everything on one way, the other party thinks everything the other way, and they never have anything in common, if you think about it.

- I tend to think of politics as what humans do when we organize ourselves in societies.

So it's difficult to not have issues be political.

They are inherently political if it deals with anything I'm doing where I live in a society with other people and what I do affects you and what you do affects me.

Then it's gonna be political.

Race has played a massive role in the social and political and geographic history of this country and continues to.

And a lot of the systems that were built here and that we rely on for our wellbeing in society have underpinnings which were race-based for generations and some of them still are.

There is a whole history of the world that comes before me, and so I can only deal with what I am given.

And so if we're talking about health policy and racial disparities and cancer screening, then I have to know something about housing segregation policies that went up, you know, through the eighties.

Or I have to know something about, you know, healthcare access differences and insurance companies denying people based on race or income, which again, a lot of socioeconomic things in the US are very inextricably entwined with race because of our history.

So I do think there's a lot of political discussion around at the extremes of the political parties in the US that is not productive.

I don't think that means it's only kind of an A or B conversation, but I do think race is part of that, and maybe, you know, for good or for ill, it tends to be the loudest people in the political spectrum who are constantly having shouting matches about it.

So I think there are like very nuanced views somewhere, but I also don't know that people vote that way.

- There's not options to vote with nuance.

Like we are forced to choose who to vote for, which news to watch.

There's no, I mean, I know lots of people who like watch the BBC just to get a semi objective- - That's my mom.

- Or like watch, you know the two extremes here just to kind of go, "how are other people looking at this?"

'Cause it seems so obvious to me.

I don't blame America, which is great, I don't even think blame is necessarily what we need to be doing, right?

But we do need to be taking responsibility and accountability for where we are and how people are treated, just the way this country runs.

And then representation, kind of what you just sort of touched on, I've just kind of come to a point where I do not want to be a part of an organization.

which is really, really hard, but one that doesn't, the leadership doesn't reflect the community.

Like I won't go to a church where it's an all male elder board or whatever it is.

I just want to be in places where the people leading us, the table is open, and the community is represented, but that's not what our country looks like right now.

- It starts with us.

- Exactly.

Exactly.

- It starts with us.

So you making that choice to be where you're represented and where everybody's represented, like you are setting the example for someone behind you or someone beside you.

- Yes.

- Or represent myself.

Like I'll get up on that board.

(group agreeing) - [Paris] But that's where it starts.

- I think it's a little bit of an easy way out we give ourselves, when we say, you know, "well, a politician is gonna go after votes the cheapest way possible."

Of course, and they can't blame people, they're incentivized, right?

That's their choice.

They wanna hold power.

They see that there's an easy way to get votes.

They go for it.

On the other hand, there is a bit of tail wagging the dog.

They're representing people want to hear that message or are willing to follow them.

You know, if they say things that are racially insensitive or they blame people of other racial groups for, you know, certain communities problems, and they see that they can get votes that way, of course it's unfair for them to stoke that, you know, ignorance or fear, but it also means that their constituents are fearful and ignorant.

I mean, so the way out of it is one thing, but diagnosing the problem is important in figuring the way out.

- One thing I've been thinking about that's been part of my journey that I think is part of this whole race conversation is the white privilege, and that's something that I've realized in my journey of learning what I didn't know and what I thought I knew and so much of just, you know, being white in America and even some of the things that you said when people comment that like, "why do you always have to bring race into the picture?"

I think it's mostly white people that are saying that, because we don't have to think about that, and that's, to me, an example of white privilege that's not something that is always at the forefront.

- Do you think like there is a thing as white privilege, because you know like people when they bring it up, they bring it up as a joke mostly, but it's always like people that... - [Paris] No, it's not a joke.

It's not a joke.

- [Barbara] What you just brought up with you and your husband's experience, it's definitely white privilege.

It's definitely real because- - [Leslie] So- - Go ahead.

- Okay, so I came, I'm multiracial, my brother, he looks really similar to you.

Older, like similar coloring, no hair, and so we kind of have this joke maybe that we grew up in the same house on different planets, because I was just just light enough to be like racially ambiguous, and he grew up a Black man in America.

And even like next to each other, people actually think we're twins, 'cause we look so much alike, but we're just, he's just a little bit darker and I'm just a little bit lighter, and my hair is just a little bit straighter and I just have a billion stories of how different our lives has been.

So for someone to say white privilege isn't real is just like, I've lived it next to my blood, my brother, who has had such a different experience.

- Now I'm in the middle, not black, not white, and so we had to start speaking up and say all colors matter, but we have a, I'm very privileged to live in a white society and when I drive in the gated community, I get the guard saying, "so which house are you cleaning today?"

even I'm visiting my friend.

So I get that.

But that's okay.

I'm playing tennis today with my friend living here, but it's everywhere.

But I'm not getting used to it, but I can laugh about it because it's not, it's closed mind person say that.

So I wanted to be more open and just smile and answer.

Then the person may, "oh, maybe that's not the right word to say the next Asian driver coming in this gate."

So I just wanna be that kind of person.

I just don't wanna be hateful to anybody, but not too kind, so I just want to teach something.

(group laughs) - [Peter] Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

- A little bit of something.

- Hi everybody.

(group cheers) Thank you.

I brought you guys tres leches, which is delicious, and I'm originally from Honduras, but my mom used to make Mexican tres leches for me growing up, and so that's like my fond memory of childhood is tres leches.

Thank you for being here.

I wanna appreciate all of you for your time, your precious time on a Friday night, and I got to hear a little bit of the conversation.

It's so beautiful.

You're a very smart man.

- Very smart!

- We learned a lot from him!

- Passionate.

- Yeah.

- I love all the perspectives, and thank you.

Yeah, just thanks for being here.

- Thank you.

- It's an honor to be amongst you lovely people.

(slow guitar music) ♪ Ya despertó el colibrí ♪ ♪ que vive en frente de mi casa ♪ ♪ A veces no quiero salir ♪ ♪ y no sé qué es lo que me pasa ♪ ♪ La lluvia cae; los recuerdos me atormentan ♪ ♪ Eso no es vivir ♪ ♪ En lo complejo de esa historia ♪ ♪ yo he aprendido siempre a sonreír ♪ ♪ Es que no queda ahí otra ♪ ♪ Crecemos o quedamos enterrados en la cruda realidad ♪ ♪ Hay un mundo allá afuera que me invita ♪ ♪ a salir a pasear ♪ ♪ En la lista de espera ♪ ♪ se ha encontrado mi felicidad ♪ ♪ Soy testigo de cómo se visten ♪ ♪ las flores del campo y les bastará ♪ ♪ ¿Por qué he de preocuparme de tanto si sé que ♪ ♪ en tu abrazo yo encuentro mi hogar?

♪ ♪ Sigo buscando la verdad ♪ ♪ pero la duda sobrepasa ♪ ♪ Será pura casualidad ♪ ♪ Será que todo es una falsa ♪ ♪ La lluvia cae y los recuerdos me atormentan ♪ ♪ Esto no es vivir ♪ ♪ En lo complejo de esa historia yo he ♪ ♪ aprendido siempre a sonreír ♪ ♪ Es que no queda ahí otra ♪ ♪ Crecemos o quedamos enterrados en la cruda realidad ♪ ♪ Hay un mundo allá fuera ♪ ♪ que me invita a salir a bailar ♪ ♪ En la lista de espera ♪ ♪ se ha encontrado mi felicidad ♪ ♪ Soy testigo de cómo se visten las flores ♪ ♪ del campo y les bastará ♪ ♪ ¿Por qué he de preocuparme de tanto si sé que ♪ ♪ en tu abrazo yo encuentro mi hogar?

♪ ♪ Ya desperté, también soñé, me acostumbré y supe que ♪ ♪ Tengo montones de amigos cuando todo me va bien ♪ ♪ Y al descubrir, reconocí, me convencí y entendí que ♪ ♪ si me queda en mi amargura, es imposible ser feliz ♪ (group claps) (sweet guitar music)