Rich Benjamin gives a wonderful speech here about a very difficult topic: racism. I think what makes this speech so successful is it’s surprising light touch, and its use of irony. Mr. Benjamin imagines himself a tour guide through “Whitopia” or some of the most segregated parts of the country. By creating a character, and taking a mock-documentary approach, he lightens up a difficult subject, and lines the audience up for some shocking statistics about institutional racism.

If I were to give some minor feedback, I would suggest that Mr. Benjamin resist the urge to emphasize structure words (articles, pronouns) and try to emphasize content words like verbs and nouns. This will help the flow of his speech. But overall, this is excellent speechmaking.

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