Oprah Winfrey brings together black artists for YouTube special on 'systemic racism'
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey has been active on the net with her two-night conversation titled ‘Where Do We Go From Here?’ featuring director Ava DuVernay, former US. Rep. Stacey Abrams, actor David Oyelowo and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, among several others. The popular chat show host used the platform for an open conversation with black artists and activists to determine how America can help eradicate systemic inequality and racism.
This comes in the wake of worldwide protests over the death of a black man named George Floyd.
While starting off the debate, Oprah was heard saying that "our country is in a moment of reckoning," adding that systemic racism is rooted inside the "psyche and soul" of America. "Will we, in this moment in time, do better?" she asked the question to the audience. She then spoke about the term "privilege" and how the term has become"difficult" for many to "accept or grasp".
Then journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones compared white privilege to that of "swimming along with the current." "The Black experience is working hard and swimming against the current," she said.
Professor and author Jennifer Eberhardt offered another take on privilege in which she explained that it's already problematic that "white people are not taught to see color." She noted that researchers have shown by the time white children are 10-years-old, they're not supposed to talk about race. "Color blinders is offered to white Americans as a way to fight injustice, but it actually promotes that injustice," she said. "When the goal is to not see color, those children don't see discrimination."
Then Color of Change president Rashad Robinson expressed his hope that films and television challenge the images they show onscreen that can ultimately help feed into stereotypes and judgments, Ava DuVernay agreed.
Though having tackled racial injustice in her projects, Ava DuVernay admitted that the image of George Floyd brought her to her knees because she could "see both faces in the frame clearly looking at the camera." "I can see that officer clearly and it led me to think, 'wow I usually don't see the officer.' Usually the officer is behind the body cam. Just seeing that officer's face and knowing that officer's name, just witnessing who he was and what he was doing is something that's been missing. " She said that artists must commit to a "narrative change" and depict stories that will prevent audiences from having a "blind spot."
Oprah Winfrey’s special is airing on OWN and Discovery Networks 18 other networks and is available to stream on YouTube.
