TED Talk Launches December 1st 3 PM!

Wale Elegbede, leadership strategist, community activist

Big idea: Stop seeing discrimination as “their” problem. It’s our problem — and we all have a role to play in stopping it.

Why? “I’m an American Muslim of Nigerian descent and, growing up, my parents instilled in me the importance of community and serving others,” says Wale Elegbede. In his household, caring for the entire community was a given: his mother provided meals not just for their family but to other children in the neighborhood who needed to eat as well. Elegbede still lives by this community-care approach, and he sees it as a key facet to ending discrimination. He reflects on how, after the attacks of 9/11, his family was traumatized alongside countless others — and how they faced microaggressions and Islamophobia to the point that they considered leaving their adopted homeland. But Elegbede decided to stay and try to bridge these religious and racial divides, helping bring together a diverse group of people (spanning religions, races and ages) in his community. He shows us how a mentality of caring for your community, and making their problems your problems, can make life better for everyone. 

Quote of the talk: “All of our children deserve protection and help, and staying silent doesn’t make this better. So let’s make our community and world a better place by making standing up to discrimination and hate everyone’s business.”