Kahlil Green On Being Gen Z's Historian, Amplifying Black History & More | Blavity - video Dailymotion

Blavity

We spoke with Kahlil Green about his work as the self-proclaimed 'Gen-Z Historian,' TikTok fame and more.

Transcript

00:00Hi everyone, my name is Khalil Green and I'm also known as the Gen Z Historian.

00:03Today I'm here with Blavi to talk about teaching Black history to Black youth.

00:15I first became interested in sharing lesser known stories from Black history

00:20as a student in college. I was a history major at Yale University and in my classes I would learn

00:26about stories of policies and presidents and people in power who did really harmful things

00:33to the Black community and to other marginalized communities that explain the realities of today,

00:38whether it be wealth disparities or health disparities, so on and so forth. And I thought

00:42that by sharing these stories with the general public it would help people understand not only

00:48the problems that exist amongst marginalized communities but also the solutions to those

00:52problems. Right now Gen Z is obsessed with TikTok. The TikTok algorithm is very famous.

01:07Right now Gen Z is obsessed with TikTok and one of the reasons is because of the TikTok algorithm

01:12which recommends videos that are very interesting and entertaining for all of the app's users. So I

01:18was able to use TikTok's popularity and its ability to make any video go viral to incorporate history

01:25lessons in a fun and very interesting way. And the app is unique in that because of this algorithm

01:32that is unique to the platform, videos from creators who don't have a huge following can

01:39still reach millions of people if the video is interesting enough. So my first ever TikTok,

01:43before I had even one single follower, I posted it and it got a million views in just one day and

01:50that TikTok was about Martin Luther King Jr. and the whitewashing of his legacy and from there I

01:55was able to make a lot more videos, have those videos go viral, and transport history lessons

02:00to a wide audience on a platform that wasn't known for history education at the time that I started

02:06but now is known for that because of its ability to skyrocket someone's popularity.

02:20One topic within Black history that I think deserves more attention is a topic that I

02:24covered this Black History Month and it's the idea that every single Black person

02:29now, in the past, in the future contributes significantly to Black history. So you,

02:35if you're watching this video right now, are a very important part of Black history

02:39and I think something that we do which is very important is to honor and glorify our ancestors

02:44or these sort of mythologies or ideas of what people or Black people in the past did or looked

02:51like especially when we think back to like Africa and I think that that has a very important role

02:55within the Black community but it's also equally as important to uplift contemporary Black figures,

03:00not even just the ones who are famous or accomplished or revolutionary but your

03:04everyday Black person that you see on the street because each person,

03:08every person who is Black is important for Black history and has a story to tell.

03:20When it comes to issues of racial justice, so many people who are having conversations about

03:26how to solve these issues are uninformed on how these issues were caused in the first place.

03:30One of the biggest debates happening right now, especially in the South, is how do we teach

03:35children about all of the racism within American history, starting with the transatlantic slave

03:40trade and going up through all of the policies that exist today that create racial disparities

03:46in terms of wealth, health, and prisons and so many other sectors of society and by educating

03:52people on how these issues came about, on the specific policies, specific people in history

03:58who created or devastated the Black community, whether it's Robert Moses and his redlining and

04:04urban development in New York City or Ronald Reagan and his defunding of social institutions,

04:10it's very important for people to understand who and what has harmed the Black community

04:15because once you pinpoint where those issues come from it's that much easier to dismantle

04:20the effects of them and also instill new laws and new civil rights measures that can then

04:26uplift our community and move us towards equality.

04:37When I'm making videos about nuanced historical events or figures, it's important for me to be

04:44simple and be direct but then also try to incorporate nuance where I can. One way that

04:50I do this is by breaking up lessons into series. So I'll have a one minute video introducing the

04:55topic to an audience, whether let's say for example that topic is cultural appropriation,

05:00the first video will be what is cultural appropriation, the second video might be one

05:04example, the third video might be another example, and the fourth video might be responding to

05:08comments to clarify things that I said previously. So the important thing to think about when you're

05:13a content creator making videos on these complex topics is to break the topic down into smaller

05:18chunks and then try to make as many videos as you can explaining it, but each video should be its

05:23own complete narrative as well. One thing that's very challenging for me as a content creator is

05:36reacting in real time to current events that warrant some sort of response from the Black

05:41community. There's unfortunately no shortage of anti-Black events that occur. Most recently,

05:46I read about a Black homeless man who was killed on an NYC subway, and it's very hard to not only

05:52report on these events emotionally and in terms of gathering all the facts, but also providing

05:59some sort of takeaway or actionable for the audience so that they feel like they can do

06:04something about what's happening. So because I'm trying to stay on top of what's happening but also

06:09provide a lot of educational value, it can be very demanding and very taxing to create videos at times.

06:23Right now, the American education system is very biased in how it tells history, at least

06:30I can speak to when I was a student. We learned of a very simplistic narrative that frames the

06:34discovery of America as something that was done by Christopher Columbus, who was a noble explorer.

06:40We learned about the founding fathers and how they were somehow geniuses and highly

06:46respected individuals that should retain their sense of admiration today. But unfortunately,

06:55a lot of these stories that we learn in school about history are not only simplistic, but they

07:01cover up a lot of the atrocities that happened in U.S. history. And unfortunately, in most schools

07:06around the United States, we're not going to go in depth on that side of the narrative of America.

07:12But social media, because creators who are not beholden to any government or any school board

07:19are creating educational materials, there's a lot more freedom for us to discuss what we think is

07:23important. So for me, I'm able to fill in many of the gaps of the public school curriculums, especially

07:29the history curriculums, by talking about the stories and the injustices faced by marginalized

07:36people throughout the United States that unfortunately go under-reported and under-discussed by teachers today.

07:50So my role in the larger movement of creating social change and raising

07:55awareness around social justice issues is to educate young people and to get them enthusiastic

08:02and knowledgeable about American history and American politics and American injustice so that

08:08as they find opportunities to actually take action, they can come in feeling confident

08:13and aware of the issues that they want to address.

08:16For young people who are interested in learning about Black history but don't know where to start,

08:21I'd always say find something that you're passionate about just generally and Google,

08:26you can always start with Google, the Black history of that topic. So for me,

08:31something that I've always been interested in is action movies. And for Black History Month this

08:36past year, I decided to just Google the history of Black history. And I found a lot of really

08:42cool videos about Jim Kelly, who was the first Black martial arts film star who appeared in

08:47Bruce Lee movies. And that was my entry into this lesser-known Black history story that when I

08:54told to the people on social media, they really resonated with and they found a lot of interest in.

09:00And that all started for me combining my passions with my desire to learn about Black history.

09:04And I think that's what I've always wanted to do. And I think that's what I've always wanted to do.

09:09My passions with my desire to learn about Black history and starting there. And from there, from

09:14that point where you merge Black history with your other interests, you can then branch out to other

09:19topics as well. In the future, of course, start with my social media. Right now, I'm mainly on

09:32TikTok and Instagram, but I hope to expand to longer form videos on YouTube as well. I'm doing

09:37a lot more collaborations with other creators within the Black community and other communities

09:42to talk about really important issues that might intersect or that might branch my own knowledge

09:46on this topic. I'm also currently on a Nickelodeon show called Nick News, so definitely check that

09:52out. In the future, I hope to expand to more media and hopefully produce more content that's not only

09:59video content, but also written content for you guys as well.

Kahlil Green On Being Gen Z's Historian, Amplifying Black History & More | Blavity

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