Black Host To White Caller On Ending Prejudice (Video)

Heather McGhee, the president of progressive public policy organization Demos, may not have been expecting a white man to call into C-Span’s “Washington Journal” on Aug. 23 to ask her how to be less prejudiced and afraid of black people, but she answered the question without missing a beat (video below).

The unidentified man from North Carolina tells McGhee on air in the Washington Journal video that he’d like to change.

I’m a white male, and I am prejudiced. And the reason it is is something I wasn’t taught, but it’s kind of something that I learned. I open up the papers, I get very discouraged at what young black males are doing to each other and the crime rate. I understand that they live in an environment with a lot of drugs — you have to get money for drugs — and it is a deep issue that goes beyond that.

The man goes on to say that he has “these different fears” and wants to do what he can to make sure that they do not “come true.”

“I try to avoid that, and I come off as being prejudiced, but I just have fears,” he continues. “I don’t like to be forced to like people. I like to be led to like people through example. What can I do to change? You know, to be a better American?”

McGhee thanks the man for his honesty, and for “opening up this conversation” on a national level. She then explains to him what he can do to overcome subconscious racial biases he may have:

Get to know black families, who are not all and not even any majority are involved in crime and gangs. Turn off the news at night, because we know … that, actually, nightly news and many media markets that have been studied actually over-represents African-American crime and under-represents crimes that happen by white people. Join a church if you are a religious person that is a black church or a church that is interracial. Start to read about the history of the African-American community in this country. Foster conversation in your family and in your neighborhood where you’re asking exactly those kinds of questions.

McGhee is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Civic Participation and a board member with the Center for Working Families and Consumer Reports, according to Demos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LGljEbu5lQ

Sources: C-Span/Washington Journal via YouTube, Demos / Photo credit:  C-Span/Washington Journal via YouTube