{"id":41975,"date":"2015-07-26T19:06:43","date_gmt":"2015-07-26T19:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=41975"},"modified":"2016-10-26T22:37:03","modified_gmt":"2016-10-26T22:37:03","slug":"jose-antonio-vargas-on-donald-trump-rachel-dolezal-and-his-mtv-documentary-white-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=41975","title":{"rendered":"Jose Antonio Vargas on Donald Trump, Rachel Dolezal and His MTV Documentary, \u2018White People\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jose Antonio Vargas on Donald Trump, Rachel Dolezal and His MTV Documentary, \u2018White People\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The New York Times<\/a>
\n2015-07-22<\/p>\n

Jonathan Wolfe<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Jose Antonio Vargas<\/a> is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and immigration activist. His new documentary \u201cWhite People,\u201d<\/a> which airs tonight on MTV, follows Mr. Vargas as he travels the country speaking to young people about issues of race, particularly what it means to be white and experience white privilege. Because, Mr. Vargas said, \u201cYou cannot have a conversation about race in this country and not include white people in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The documentary is part of MTV\u2019s Look Different campaign<\/a>, which aims to erase hidden gender, racial and anti-LGBT bias and uses data from a 2014 MTV survey<\/a> of 14- to 24-year-olds that found that people in this age group are more tolerant and diverse than previous generations but are uncomfortable talking about race and adhere to the ideal of color blindness<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mr. Vargas spoke about the controversy surrounding the documentary, Donald Trump\u2019s<\/a> comments about immigration and Rachel Dolezal<\/a>. Here are edited excerpts from the conversation:…<\/p>\n

…Q.<\/strong> What is your definition of white privilege?<\/p>\n

A.<\/strong> I think people get tripped up by the word \u201cprivilege.\u201d I\u2019m talking about systematic institutionalized differences. I had a lot of people writing me emails saying, I\u2019m not privileged. For example, this weekend I was with Martin O\u2019Malley<\/a> in front of progressive liberal activists. Responding to the \u201cBlack Lives Matter<\/a>\u201d protest at the conference, he said: \u201cBlack lives matter. White lives matter. All lives matter.\u201d And the audience, which was diverse, gasped. They actually booed him<\/a>. Because institutionally, if you look at incarceration rates, if you look at the criminal justice system, black people are at a disadvantage. So the moment he said that, he took it back and apologized. And some people took offense to that. Why did Martin O\u2019Malley have to apologize for saying white lives matter? And this woman on Twitter was genuinely hurt; her tweet to me was, \u201cMy white life matters.\u201d And I tweeted back at her and I was like, \u201cOf course it does.\u201d Of course it does, but your life mattering has been a given…<\/p>\n

…Q.<\/strong> What have you learned about race while working on this documentary?<\/p>\n

A.<\/strong> That the conversation has just started. And a lot of the time it\u2019s framed as black and white. Well, where do Latinos and Asians fit in that conversation? Where do biracial people fit into that conversation? Where do multiracial people fit into that conversation? Where do the Rachel Dolezals of the world, of this country, fit into that conversation?<\/p>\n

Q.<\/strong> What do you think about Rachel Dolezal?<\/p>\n

A.<\/strong> For me, that\u2019s an example of what white privilege is. She can pass<\/a>. There are many black people who can say that they are white as much as they can but who will never look physically white…<\/p>\n