When we filmed the fifth-season premiere of “United Shades of America” back in February, we had no idea that Covid-19, the killing of George Floyd and all the protests that followed would make an episode on White supremacy even more relevant.
When we filmed the fifth-season premiere of “United Shades of America” back in February, we had no idea that Covid-19, the killing of George Floyd and all the protests that followed would make an episode on White supremacy even more relevant.
I know some of you reading this might be wondering: “What does Covid-19 have to do with White supremacy or the death of George Floyd? Didn’t you already do an episode about White supremacy? The one with you and the KKK?”
Yes, I did meet with the KKK in the very first episode of “United Shades” (thanks for jogging my memory). And while this episode is in many ways the sequel, we are going way deeper into White supremacy in America than the Ku Klux Klan.
A scene from the first episode of “United Shades of America,” available now on CNNgo.
Those who study White supremacy would tell you to think of it as an iceberg. The KKK, neo-Nazis, the US’s genocide of Native Americans, slavery, lynching, hate groups — the stuff good folks would identify right away as bad — those are just the most visible tip of the iceberg.
Below the surface of the water is where you find the bulk of White supremacy: The structures and systems that are in place to keep White Americans at the top and every other race and ethnicity below them to protect the status quo.
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This includes everyday stuff like police brutality; the legacy of Jim Crow laws mandating segregation; gerrymandering; the ongoing impact of redlining and housing discrimination; long-standing economic inequality; mass incarceration; asking Black people to explain things that you could just Google, and much, much more.
Most of these structures and institutions have been in place for so long that not much has to happen to keep them going. And if you are a White American — no matter how rich or poor you are — there are things you benefit from just by being White.
This can be as simple as always feeling like an individual with individual needs, something that’s reinforced by our media; White people can turn on the TV and see White people at all levels of society. Most importantly, you get to live in a land that is still overwhelmingly run by White people, whether it is in the highest political offices or in the most powerful corporate offices.
But many of you don’t realize how that advantage benefits you: It is a constant reminder that the country you live in values you and people who look like you.
You’re like me when I was a sophomore in high school. I was tall, over 6 feet. But the problem was that I didn’t realize I was tall yet.
My mom would ask a question like, “Where did you put the salt?” I’d say, “I put it down somewhere.
