Keisha Zollar would like America to engage in an uncomfortable conversation about race — and kick in some money toward making it happen.
The comedian and actress, whose credits include “Orange Is the New Black,” notes in a new video that Americans constantly call for a discussion about race and racism, but never actually sit down to talk about it. With her new Kickstarter campaign, she hopes to make it happen.
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Zollar spoke recently with TheWrap about Lorne Michaels‘ efforts to add an African-American woman to the “Saturday Night Live” cast. But increasing diversity on television is only one issue that needs addressing.
She and collaborator Ian Stroud hope to raise $5,000 to assemble a roundtable of academics, leaders, social workers, comics and others to discuss biases, jokes, and assumptions people make about race.
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The shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown is only the latest event underscoring the need for a talk, she says.
“How many racially charged incidents have to happen before we have a real, uncomfortable conversation around race?” she asks in the video for the campaign.
Watch the video below: