These Viral Videos Perfectly Explain White Privilege And Its Impact
Two videos explaining white privilege are going viral on social media.
One is an older video in which a teacher uses a creative exercise to explain privilege to a group of young people.
Another is a TikTok video from dancer Allison Holker Boss and Stephen "tWitch" Boss.
Privilege—particularly white privilege—can be a hard concept to wrap your head around, especially if you’ve benefited from it for years. But a few videos are going viral right now that help perfectly sum up privilege in a way that nearly everyone can understand.
One older video, which is going viral on Facebook in the wake of the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, who were all Black, starts with an unidentified teacher challenging a group of young adults to line up for a race. The teacher promises $100 to whoever wins the race, as more people join in on the starting line.
Then, he tells everyone to take two steps forward if any of the statements he says apply to them. He says things like, "Take two steps forward if…your parents are still married," "If you had access to a private education," and "If it wasn’t because of your athletic ability that you don’t have to pay for college."
"Take two steps forward if you never wondered where your next meal was gonna come from," the teacher continues. Plenty of people were close to the finish line at that point, and you can clearly see some in the back looking upset at their bad starting position for the race.
Then, the teacher asks the people in the front to turn around and look at those behind them. "Every statement I’ve made has nothing to do with anything any of you have done," he said. "We all know these people up here have a better opportunity to win this hundred dollars. We would be fools to not realize we’ve been given more opportunity."
Watch the full video below:
This isn't the only video attempting to explain white privilege to the masses right now. A new TikTok video created by dancer Allison Holker Boss titled "White privilege is real" is also going viral. In it, Allison, who is white, and her husband Stephen "tWitch" Boss, who is Black, each hold up 10 fingers while listening to Big Mamma’s "Check Your Privilege," which includes statements like, "Put a finger down if you have been stopped or detained by police for no valid reason" and "Put a finger down if you have been bullied solely because of your race."
At the end, Stephen has no fingers up, while nine of Allison’s fingers are up. The statements continue, but Stephen still has no fingers left.
"This is so powerful. Thank you for posting this," one person wrote in the comments. "I’m so sad watching this," another wrote.
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