White Millennial Kids Talking About Race For 'The Whiteness Project' Almost Seems Like A Parody
So this site called the Whiteness Project popped up on my Twitter feed this AM from noted discusser/bather in racial politics Bomani Jones and, at first glance, it almost seems like a parody. Not to discredit these kids off the jump — we can do that below — but you click any of these and even if the message is earnest, they’re going to look more than a bit silly:
I mean come on, you could be saying brilliant things but the premise here is just a tough look to dig out of. And some of the videos only get more absurd from there. Seriously, they don’t even let you embed their videos from Vimeo because they know people will post and make fun of them. But welcome to Fair Use, time to criticize some work:
Meet Vineyard Vines shirt-wearing Liam, an 18-year-old running back. He loves football so he has many issues with how white athletes are perceived and the negative stigma against them (Christian McCaffrey being a high exposure photo of Reggie Bush probably gets solid fist pumps from Liam on the reg). But even though he’s a running back, he wants you to know that despite their perception, white quarterbacks are not only smart, they also can great athletes too:
Reaction from one of those affected by this stigma:
But it’s not just sports that white millennials have figured out the real issues with. They’ve experienced so much with black, hispanic, and occasionally Asian kids because whatever fuck those guys:
And that experience has allowed this girl to even agree with her black friends who say totally normal things about white people like this:
But overall a lot of it is so absurd that it undercuts legit fucked up stuff like this poor girl who’s Hispanic, black, and white is being discriminated against by teachers and even her mom:
Thankfully one girl has a solid solution to racism in general:
Real practical advice from a girl who’s been around the block and knows the struggle of all types of people from around the globe. If only George Wallace had heard her sage words a half-century ago.
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Now to be fair, some of these were actually kind of self-aware and interesting and maybe there is value to the project after all despite how silly it looks on the surface. But it should be about talking TO people and not AT them. That’s the big problem with all sides when it comes to racial politics. The more you present your side without really engaging other opinions in a practical way, the more it becomes about people more concerned with making their point rather than helping. In the end, it makes us all look as ridiculous as a white running back.