Chris Abani: Telling stories of our shared humanity

[crudhousefull]

This man has seen so much. It's such a wonder that his mind has been preserved and that his humanity has been preserved through all that. But then, I suppose it's the way he looks around him and sees humanity. If everyone did that they wouldn't have so much trouble keeping off the wrong paths

[treintjefop]

Chris is a golden man! I love his stories!

[deporteeeee]

An amazing story teller. Uses his own experience to assert a point.

[unfoldingart]

I can't believe that there are people who haven't been moved by such a tremendous narrative.

Very powerful.

[tink037]

Very touching. As soon as he began to speak you could sense the expansiveness of his humanity

....too bad it's almost ruined at the end with that commercial. I wish it was cut out.

[Psiafrat]

I agree. Despite the commercial however...I'm glad that someone, anyone really, is sponsoring TED...considering how important TED talks are.

[HecKaTorN]

Pretty emotional speech

[DarthVailen]

I feel lucky for being able to have met him and got to talk about stuff like this, writing methods and ideas, and then I talked to him about comic books lol.

It's just amazing to see that he stands as such a strong and gentle person after all he has been through. The people who say he's just telling stories that don't say anything missed the whole point. That those people in the stories represent our own humanity through their actions. Terrorizing humanity, as well as affirming its goodness.

[loripiqoni]

:'(

[KoryKosky]

I didin't get it.

[rboneza]

are you kidding, Name of rape same for mariage. that is a lie. i guess you can't speak kinyarwanda .....this guy is a fake

[Jadabh3]

Great story

[teebyes]

@rboneza how is that all you got out of this? are you an imbecile?

[BeggsAndAcon]

"Anything a man can do, I can fix" Best quote ever.

[st3althman]

You're a good person.

[ananda133]

WOW !

[ooglebydoogleby]

i remember my own mother threatening a huge man with the rspca who she suspected of beating a small boy. he towered over her she wieghed about 8 stone but she totally intimidated him and he imediatly protested his inocense and remorse in a confused panic. it was very moving and funny all at the same time of course she meant the rspcc. ive never been as brave as her.

[ratholin]

Now this is what a TED lecture should be like :D

[HatshepsutSheba]

Many thanks for sharing these stories that have stirred my mind and heart as I remember that we are in essence all one.

[ygjeff21]

Chris Abani came to my school, his words changed me. And his story is so crazy sad.

[asomatusenforcer]

I love british black guys

[sabymoon]

Some of these memories are light weight, and outside our culture, but we laugh. The evil ones in this story are the fascist governments who do NOT see other people as real, as their equal. In essence, your neighbor=yourself. And the world is a small place today. Doesn't matter what label the ones in power take on. Look to what they do. Do you all remember what happened in South Africa, and why Mandela is a hero? In my mind, these videos combat fascism.

[icyadore]

If you watch enough of these TED videos it starts to give you hope about the future(I think).

[srudlak]

if you watch enough of these vids, you should get a feeling of what these supremacist-nazi-faschists believe in.

i like some of these vids, but at the buttomline this whole community represents the most evil bunch of men one can imagine.

[Dboy66]

Wow you got a -5 heh. Why do you consider TED evil?

dboy

[DSBrekus]

This is one of the great things about the web, books are great, but nothing can compare to a first hand story you know?

[dooovde]

Stories made me both laugh and cry...amazing talk.

[shickboy]

what are you doing to slove the world's food resources? maybe you should start a movement instead of insulting people because of the way they look

[bdsign]

Your ugliness is showing. Is this what you are made of? Where is your compassion and simple respect?

[itsanicelife]

nice talk but ..whats is right with all you guys? strange..pitiful and worrying!

[theyellowdart12]

singing the names of the dead when they plants seeds.... thats brilliant

[PosionRose]

Srsly Fat Jokes?

wow..

you guys fail so hard..

[PopeColbert]

yeah i agree, his size is quite distracting

[NatService]

This guy has a lot of guts! He must have eaten a lot over the years. He's really a bit selfish. Its like he has eaten and consume half of the world's food supplies!

[popitypop]

wtf.. thts an incredibly lame, and ridiculously extended fat joke..

[Truthiness231]

That insult was lame! You must have failed grade school. Your sentence structure is weak. It's like the only punctuation you learned to use was the period!

Seriously though, you're in no place to insult anyone if that is the best your mind could do. You are complaining about him being "selfish" because he eats a lot, but what about people who are blatant assholes who are failing at life and have to insult people via the internet to feel a little bit better about themselves for a short time?

[bentothetenthpower]

Wow, yer spec

[humanist7117]

Moving!

[dforero5]

breathtaking.....

[Deathicorn]

seeding the hearts of the dead.....wow thats awesome. Much respect.

[onehandraisinbransam]

Great talk. Favorited!

[championbubblers]

"Graceland" - excellent novel by Abani.

long live Elvis Oke.

[Mon4ch0]

Great!

By the way excellent propaganda at the end of the speech, but too sad the it was a Nokia commercial.

[zezt]

straight from heart!!

[Bellybusterr]

I don't get what is so good about this. He didn't have anything to say really.

[abuelhid]

bellybusterr...  if this doesnt move something inside of you now.. come back in couple of years.. watch it again.

[Bellybusterr]

He couldn't kill a goat. His mom made fun of a young kids language bla bla bla. Nice stories and all it's just that the way he presents them it's like he has something fantastic to share. He hasn't! Still people react with comments like "the world needs more people like this"

[shickboy]

go read some books

[humanist7117]

Are you brain dead?

[Wened]

No. Brian is alive

[google2com]

there needs to be more people like these.

[faolitaruna]

Amazing experience.

[enkelapa]

great speech!

[gigiko84]

beautiful video 5 stars

[intrepgun]

knock them down and forget their names... :)

[harryogre]

I loved that story about his mother and the surfer dude.

[ozjthomas]

Thank you. This guy is really amazing and he speaks truth.

[EverettsVLOG]

hey dude wahts up lol

[ozjthomas]

Hey. I guess we both watch some of the same stuff. I found your last vid b/c it was attached to TED's vid, didn't at first realize it was a few months old.

[EverettsVLOG]

yea kinda confusing, ive never done that b4