Do you become annoyed anytime a person of color writes, tweets, sings, or speaks about racial inequality? Have you ever wondered why it’s culturally acceptable for black people to use the n-word, while no one else is supposed to use it? Have you ever used the word postracial without a trace of irony? Do you believe that the sole purpose of affirmative action is to allow less qualified minorities to take jobs and positions from the smarter and more qualified?
If the answer to any of the above questions is yes, then you should check out White Like Me: Race, Racism, and White Privilege in America, anti-racism activist Tim Wise’s educational film about racism and white privilege. Especially if you’re white.
Wise is well known for his work discussing how race intersects with politics, policy, and culture in books like White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son (the basis of the film) and Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority. (You should probably check these out as well.) In this new film, he attempts to address a few very complex questions about race and ethnicity, while featuring interviews with notable scholars including Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, and Harvard Law professor Charles Ogletree. Interspersed throughout are candid comments from white students discussing their views on affirmative action and whiteness. The film poses some big questions: “What does it mean to be white?” “Isn’t racism a thing of the past?” “What about us?” “Shouldn’t we be colorblind?”
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