High School Student Schools Teacher on What Racism Is
A high school student just corrected her teacher during a presentation on racism in America. The epic exchange was caught on video, and is already going viral.
In the video, originally posted to But That’s None of My Business‘ Facebook page, a student, who is a young woman of color, is directly confronting her teacher — a white male — when he seemingly insists that white people can be victims of racism.
The student, having none of it, explains to the teacher that it’s impossible for white people to be victims of racism, as racism is an institution that disenfranchises people of color, and that white people haven’t once been disenfranchised by institutions run by white people.
“Racism is based on the systematic oppression of people. White people have never suffered that,” the student explains. “Yeah, you’ve tried to say it’s possible. Yeah, in the future it’s possible to like have some sort of systematic oppression of white people. But it’s never happened. So you saying it’s not going to be up for argument, it’s kind of like you, as a white man, saying what is and what is not racist. And that’s what’s been happening throughout this century.”
After that, her fellow students can be heard snapping and applauding.
“So for you to tell me that, it doesn’t make me believe you, because that’s what’s been said to us for so long,” she added.
