America's Racial Tension: A Video Breakdown

I think I’ve posted this video before but I spent the morning re-watching it by accident. It started playing automatically on YouTube (damn autoplay) and MAN, there is so much going on here. Here’s the clip:

The clip starts at the end of an impassioned story a Latino man is telling about how his child was crying at night because of the racist abuse he endures throughout the day at school. The room is silent, so silent that you can hear a pin drop. This is shattered by a middle-aged white guy sarcastically asking the man why he didn’t stay in Mexico. After a beat, in which I’m sure every person in the room was thinking “did I really hear him ask him why he didn’t stay in Mexico?”, the room gasps. Not a few people, not most, the entire room (maybe even the walls) gasp. This is where it gets really good.

Nana is horrified by what she heard. Her face says it all. As she turns around, she says “what?” quietly and someone in the crowd yells “you need to leave" to the white guy, which is just as hilarious. His reaction?

“What? What did I say?”

Mind you, the entire point of this meeting was to address diversity and racial tension within the district. Having someone “harmlessly” ask another parent why he didn’t stay in Mexico if America is so bad, really drives the issue home. This honestly feels like a scene from Parks and Rec. It’s crazy.

The man telling the story is at first horrified by what is transpiring, his mouth dropped wide open, aghast at the raw, pointed racism he’s experiencing. Buuuuut since he’s been here a while and he knows the deal with white people in America, his expression changes to one of delight. Middle-Aged White Guy has pretty much proven his point.

Nana is still not having any of it and she turns back around you can see her absolute disgust.

The hidden star of the video (and I recommend you go back and watch the video just to focus on him) is the young man just to the left of the Latino man. He too knows the drill with white guys in America and his facial expressions say it all.

This is the face of someone who recognizes that Middle-Aged White Guy has pretty much hung himself with his own words. It says, “yep.”

Now, there’s another person who emerges towards the end of the clip. It’s this white lady in the striped shirt. You can that she’s slowly working up the courage to say something throughout the exchange.

When she finally does, she tries to get Middle-Aged White Guy’s attention. He ignores her. So she decides to stand up, walk over to him, and ask him to pipe down.

And how does Middle-Aged White Guy respond to this?

He arrogantly waves her off.

He also tells her to “have a seat” and the clip ends with someone yelling at Middle-Aged White Guy not to tell her that.

It’s really a perfect thing. It’s got everything. White supremacy and privilege. Misogyny. Xenophobia. Patient minorities. False equivalencies. An idiot white man, whose son (a Navy vet and former student at the school) agrees that there’s racial discrimination at the school and was not OK with his father’s question, saying dumb things.

Supremacy has taught Middle-Aged White Guy that the only people who need to feel comfortable in America are white people. That’s because America is only for white people. He reveals his feelings by asking the Latino man (whose name is Adrian Iraola btw) why he didn’t stay in Mexico if all he wants to do is complain about America. To be clear, this meeting was called to address a series of Snapchat messages that were incredibly racist and hurtful towards the minorities of the community. These included messages using the n-word, talking about the south rising again (IN MICHIGAN of all places), derogatory remarks about Mexicans, and support for white power. Geez, I wonder where the kids learned it from?

White privilege not only grants Middle-Aged White Guy the ability to ask such a dumb and xenophobic question but also allows for his shrugging reaction of “what, I’m just asking questions”. Can you imagine if an American Jew were to tell a story about how their house had been painted with swastikas and someone said “well, why didn’t you stay in Israel?” I hardly think anyone would respond in such a fashion.

That’s where xenophobia comes in. Because Mexicans (and other south of the border immigrants) have been painted as either criminal drug smugglers, rapists, or lazy “illegals” (mostly by “conservative” media) Middle-Aged White Guy feels totally comfortable asking such an insane and ignorant question. He takes the attitude of “Whiteness = America, America = Great” and if you don’t like it, leave.

Middle-Aged White Guy isn’t done showing his ass though. Since he’s a man in a sticky situation he needs to condescend to a woman before we’re done and he takes full advantage when granted the opportunity. By waving away a woman, who was rightfully telling him that he did not have the floor and therefore should not be speaking, he showed his true disdain for anyone not like himself. He can speak when he wants, however he wants, and supremacy has granted him to power to do so.

In another clip from the meeting, Middle-Aged White Guy tries to defend the messages on social media by saying no one got hurt. He then takes it a step further by saying Black neighborhoods are dangerous for white people. His bit begins at 00:34 in the video. He also claims that racist messages are protected speech.

This is the height of white privilege. Being able to say that “nobody was hurt” by a “little tweet” is not only wrong, but it’s also incredibly insensitive. Middle-Aged White Guy just doesn’t get it. Supremacy has blinded him to what reality is for our fellow citizens of color.

Now, you’d think that after this meeting went viral and everyone in America knew he was a racist trash bag that he’d just let it go. NOPE. The parents of the white students who were suspended for the racist messages are SUING the school district for damages and for their kids to be reinstated at the school. Instead of being mortified that their kids would share racist memes and say racist things, the parents are directing their energy towards ensuring that white supremacy indeed has a permanent place at school. Hmmm. I wonder why?

As an aside, can we get the lady who shouted “you need to leave” to be present at all meetings like this? Do you know how they “play off” people who speak too long at awards shows? We need this lady to be that but for racist idiot white people in local meetings.

So, to recap, at a school meeting to discuss racist incidents and how they can be addressed by the community, a white guy asked a Mexican immigrant (who is a citizen) why he didn’t stay in Mexico, defended racist messaging by saying they were essentially harmless, and then tried to say white people face worse racism simply by walking through Black neighborhoods.

But go ahead and tell me again how America isn’t racist to its core.