MTV is premiering a documentary entitled White People about “what it means to be young and white” in America, on July 22. I’m going to try to not be shady about this so, on the surface, I guess the intent is to force White people to confront race, and acknowledge that White privilege exists and still presents a problem as far as having real discussions and making real progress about systematic racism in America.
However, some of the quotes are already quite epic and seemingly from a myopic perspective. In the trailer (posted above), journalist Jose Antonio Vargas asks questions like, “How might your life be different if you weren’t white?” and, “When you say ‘white,’ what does that mean to you?”
Some people’s responses expressed concerns about not wanting to be labeled racist, feeling discriminated against, and not having to actually internalize “what White people have done in America.”
Uh, okay.
Admittedly, watching them awkwardly answer the questions is amusing. However, it seems like it’s just going to be a bunch of whiny people expressing that they have it hard too.
Will you tune in?
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