School shows ‘white guilt’ video to honor Black History Month
HENRICO, Va. – Parents of students at Glen Allen High School are objecting to a divisive video about white privilege shown to students as part of the school’s Black History Month program.
The YouTube video titled “Structural Discrimination: The Unequal Opportunity Race” was played for students at a recent Glen Allen High School assembly, and angry parents have expressed their frustrations on local airwaves and through complaints to the school, KSLA reports.
The four minute video was initially posted to YouTube by the African American Policy Forum in November 2010.
Local radio personality Craig Johnson described its broadcast at the assembly as the latest attempt to inject white guilt into public schools by “poverty pimps being led by our current president Barack Obama who all they talk about is the color of skin.”
“Dr. King gave is life so that America would be a place where we are judged by the content of our character, not the color of our skin,” he said.
The video pans down to a foot race between four students of different races – male and female white runners, and male and female black or brown runners.
As soon as the race starts, the white runners take off in dash while the other two are forced to wait for stop lights holding them back. “Slavery,” “Broken Treaties,” “Genocide,” “Manifest Destiny,” “Trail of Tears,” “Dred Scott,” “Segregation,” “Chinese Exclusion Act,” “Japanese Internment,” flash from the stop lights as the white runners lap the course and snatch a baton from the starting line.
As time flashes across the screen, the white male runner’s baton – with a dollar sign emblem – grows larger and the runner grows older. The older runner passes the baton to a younger white male runner, who also grows older as the baton grows larger.
The process repeats itself as the numbers flashing on the screen reach 1910 and the male and female white runners make a second lap, carrying their every growing batons.
“Hi, guys!” the white female runner yells to the scowling minorities, still stuck behind the starting line. “Wealth Disparities” flashes across the screen.
When time hits 1964, the minority runners’ lights turn green and they take off on a sprint. Soon after, a storm of “Discrimination” rains down on the minority runners as the whites continue to outpace them in sunny conditions.
After the storm clears, the minorities are tripped up by “Poor Schooling” rocks on the course, before the black female runner falls into a pit of “Underemployment.” Thankfully, the black man comes back to save her, only to fall into a shark pit of “Standardized Tests.”
Metal cages then drop down from the sky, trap the black male runner in the “School to Prison Pipeline,” and haul him off into the clouds. Determined, the black female runner trudges on and comes to a rest area of lovely homes, before the gate of “Housing Segregation” slams in her face.
The minority woman then comes across a “Racial Profiling” drug tester, before resting against a “Shortened Lifespan” dead end brick wall blocking her path.
As she sulks, workers install a moving walkway of “Connections” for the white male runner, who goes zooming by with a towel and Yale drink bottle as “privilege,” “wealth,” and “Old boy network” propel him to a warp speed finish with no additional effort whatsoever.
Photo clips of the race’s highlights cross the screen before a track hoe with a minority operator gives the thumbs up to demolish the black female runner’s dead end wall.
The video closes with the message “Affirmative Action Helps Level the Playing Field.”
“They are sitting there watching a video that is dividing them up from a racial standpoint,” frustrated grandparent Don Blake told WMC Action News 5. “I think somebody should be held accountable for this.”
Henrico School officials released a prepared statement about the video:
The students participated in a presentation that involved American history and racial discourse. A segment of the video was on component of a thoughtful discussion in which all viewpoints were encouraged. As always, we are welcoming feedback from students and their families, and we address concerns directly as they come forward.
Johnson said he’s concerned the district is sending the wrong message, and thinks officials deserve the public a better explanation.
“Force that person (responsible for showing the video to students) to stand on that stage and defend that video,” he said. “I’m telling you … I will mop the floor with that person.”
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