After previously releasing the trailer for its upcoming show, White People, MTV finally premiered the controversial documentary. The show follows young white Americans from Arizona all the way to Brooklyn. Though the show didn’t nearly live up to the hype, it still added to the conversation of race in America and the privileges that white people have. With the wave of race-related issues being so prevalent this year, from people being killed for the color of their skin to a flag depicting oppressive times being taken down 50 years too late, it’s time for this discussion to begin.
Check out the most important things we learned from MTV’s White People.
How People Feel About The Word ‘Ghetto’
MTV first travels to meet a young white man named Dakota who attends a HBCU.When one of Dakota’s white friends from home met a couple of Black friends from school, the conversation of whether or not they cross the street when a Black person came up. The white friend admitted to doing to before but claims that she wouldn’t do it now. This segment ended with the discussion of the the word, “ghetto.” It’s recently become nearly synonymous with Black people, similarly to the N-word. One of Dakota’s Black friend leaves the dinner in tears, seemingly uncomfortable with the discussion of the word.
White People Can Feel Like Outsiders, Too
The next segment is about the Crazy Horse School, a South Dakota-based school that houses native Americans from kindergarten all the way through 12th grade. Though all the students are Native Americans, all of the teachers are white. The teachers suddenly understand what it’s like to be outsiders. In fact, there are only 14 people in the entire town. However, the white people don’t feel discriminated against: they just see it as curiosity. The students claim that after awhile the Native American students saw their teachers as family. But there’s also a word in their native tongue, “wasichu,” which means “he who takes the best meat” and is often used as a derogatory term for whites. read more
