White people disproportionately make up the federal government, hold positions of power in the judicial system and run the country’s most influential companies, yet there’s a feeling at the moment they’re being pushed out of power. Michael Harriot is here to calm their fears, they’re still in charge.
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Michael Harriot [00:00:00] Hey, I don’t know if you heard, but theGrio Daily has been nominated for a Webby Award. It’s like an online Oscar or an internet Emmy, except, you know, for this one, it’s just not all white people are winning all the boards, right? Like, they don’t believe that Harry Styles is better than Beyonce. So you get to choose. That’s why all you have to do is go to this link and maybe it’s up there or maybe it’s down here in you’re going to networks, but just click on this link. Vote for theGrio Daily and if enough of you participate and enough of you vote for us, we win. But make sure you go vote because because voting ends on April 20th. So go vote for the video daily and of course, we’ll see you on the podcast.
Panama Jackson [00:00:48] You are now listening to theGrio’s Black Podcast Network. Black Culture Amplified.
Michael Harriot [00:00:54] You know, there’s this idea that white people are being oppressed, that white people are suffering the anti white critical race theory, woke war that is trying to eliminate them and regardless of how you feel about it, you know, they really do believe this. You know, you can smell the white tears. You can hear them crying. You can see the snowflakes balling up into, you know, spheres of ignorance because of it. That’s why we here today. That’s what I want to welcome you to theGrio Daily, the only podcast that was sure you it’s okay to be white. I’m sure you’ve heard about Scott Adams, the mediocre cartoonist who drew a mediocre cartoon about a mediocre white man who works at a mediocre job and he was upset about a Rasmussen poll that shows that 26% of Black people disagreed with the statement that it’s okay to be white. I don’t know, you know, why Black people are so racist? Oh, wait, are theren’t some polls that show that like twice as many white people disagree with the statement that Black lives matter? So So we’re doing better than white people? Yeah, we’re like twice about half this evil is white people. Which, you know, we’ll work on it. But, you know, half is evil is is is pretty good. But anyway, why do they feel this way? We need to get to that. We need to answer that question. We need to get to the bottom of that. Why two white people feel like there is a concerted effort to stop them from believing that it’s okay to be white and is it okay to be white? Well, let’s see. I think. It’s okay to be white and I’m not saying that based on my own feelings. I’m saying that based on the fact that, like lets see 95% of Fortune 500 companies have a white CEO as the head. How about the fact that, like white people are disproportionately represented in the federal government? Right? In the federal legislature. White people make up a disproportionate amount. Right? How about it’s judges? White people disproportionately make up the judicial system in America. Like white people have been all of the presidents except for one. All of the vice presidents, except for one. Oh, man. Like white people really doing good. I don’t know what this is not okay to be white movement is about and I don’t know why they worried man. Because it’s like every institution in this country that you can think of that is that matters is controlled by white people. So I can assure you without hesitancy that it is okay to be white but why do they feel that there is a movement against white people? Well, white people think that a conversation about race is about Black people or Hispanic people, Asians, because when they have every other conversation, they don’t realize that their conversations are about white people because whiteness is the default. Take, for instance, if I was, I don’t know, sitting down with some guys that I went to school with in high school. Right? The first thing we have to talk about when we start talking about our school days is we have to, you know, inform the people listening. Oh, yeah, I went to school with Black people. I went to a school that had white people because. Today. 60% of Black people in America attended school that was a majority. Black white schools are still segregated. But when white people talk about where they went to school. They talk about school. They don’t realize that their schools are also racially segregated because most white people go to a school that is disproportionately white and is whiter than the community that they live in. Right? White people go to segregated schools, too but when they talk about it, they don’t talk about race. Or when they talk about, for instance, the law. Right? When they talk about, I don’t know, police officers or teachers? They don’t talk about the fact that when somebody got sentenced to a crime, they were sentenced to a judge that’s statistically seen as the white person to as soon as that was about 19% shorter, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, than a Black person who committed the same crime and has the same criminal history. Black people have to talk about race when they talk about the criminal justice system. White people don’t. When they talk about where they live. Most Black people live in communities that are disproportionately Black. Right? White people live in communities that are more disproportionately white, but they don’t consider that they live in white neighborhoods. They just live in a neighborhood. Versus a Black neighborhood. They don’t have to talk about because when they say a neighborhood, when they say, I live in, you know, Caucasian heights. They don’t realize that they are talking about race without saying it and so now that people are pointing out these social ideas, they feel like they’re under attack. When we when we talk about where they went to school was a white school. Sounds like an accusation when they talk about where. What they what happened to them when they broke the law? Sounds like we’re talking about race when we talk about white teachers or white bosses or white owned businesses. When we talk about teachers or judges or legislators, we don’t see a white legislator. I’m considered a Black author, but we don’t call the white people who write white authors. We don’t call white neighborhoods. White neighborhoods. We don’t call white owned businesses. White owned businesses. But a Black owned business is like literally note it has a little asterisk in Google. So now that we are talking about this, they feel like they’re being attacked because we’re talking about race and that’s why we have to let them know that it’s okay to be white. You’ve been doing this all your life. You. It’s been okay to be white since the beginning of America. It will never be okay to be white, because even during times when there was Black power, like reconstruction in majority Black neighborhoods, in majority banks, school districts, in majority Black towns, white people are never attacked. They never have to suffer the indignities that Black people suffer. They never have to worry about being considered a minority. Oh, trust me, white people. It’s okay to be white and if you don’t believe me, just continue listening to this podcast. As a matter of fact, tell your white friends about it. As a matter of fact, you should download the Black owned app. Matter of fact, I bet if you don’t even subscribe to this Black podcast and as always, we leave you with a Black saying, You know what? Today we won’t leave you with a Black saying. For the first time in the Real Daily’s history. We’re going to leave you with a white saying and today’s saying is that this would be okay to be white. We’ll see you next time on theGrio Daily.
Michael Harriot [00:09:46] If you like what you heard, please give us a five star review. Download theGrio app. Subscribe to the show and share it with everyone you know. Please email all questions, suggestions and compliments to podcasts at theGrio dot com.
Panama Jackson [00:10:07] Coming this February. theGrio Black Podcast Network presents Dear Culture True’ish Black Stories.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:10:16] When you think of sheer artistry, sheer creativity, the ability for someone to bring Black people together in the most fundamental ways, it’s, you know, I would say of my four, Randy Watson is my number one.
Michael Harriot [00:10:30] When the news about Ricky first broke, what I heard about it is the thing you hear about, you know, every time somebody Black dies. That it was gang related. That means the police don’t know what happened. So they just said probably the gangs, probably, you know, the other Black dudes.
Damon Young [00:10:47] But I think of a killer. You know, I think about I think about how impressionable white people can be. I think about how, you know, if you watch that movie, good. You know, if you should have laughed like three times.
Panama Jackson [00:10:59] Where were you when you heard the story about them suckers getting served by Wade’s dance crew?
[00:11:05] You know, it’s crazy that you mention this. So as a New Yorker, right? Everyone knows where they were on 911. Right? You know, couple of years later. Right? 23. Everyone hears about this crazy moment in a boxing ring because that’s where dancers duke it out. Right in boxing rings.
Panama Jackson [00:11:22] If you could say something to Ricky right now, what would you say to him?
[00:11:27] Ricky, you should’ve never got that girl pregnant. You knew I had a crush on you. You should have gone with me.
Panama Jackson [00:11:30] Instead of moments in Black culture examined like never before. Join us each week as we dive into the Black moments that changed us. That changed the world. Make sure to subscribe to dear culture so you never miss an episode.
