This was never meant to be a fun and enjoyable activity. It was never meant to be one of those “LOOK BEYOND OUR DIFFERENCES, WE’RE ALL THE SAME” kind of things.
Why?
Because racism isn’t a fun thing. And unfortunately, we live in a society where we are not treated as equals. AND IT FEELS AWFUL. To the commenters who are up in arms about the treatment of the one white girl crying in that situation- did you even bother to think about the number of times POC have ever cried due to the racism they experience in their day-to-day being? Or the number of times we are permitted to cry? Or that our cries would be heard? Call me a terrible person, but I have no sympathy for the white girl who was crying in the activity because she dismissed the educational value of such a session and didn’t bring a pen or paper. A session which she would later be credited for and advance her educational experience.
If anything, she was being rewarded for enduring a short period of hardship. Where’s the credit I get for the hardship I endure?
Where was the credit for being denied the right to a proper education at the age of 6 because my accent caused me to pronounce all these English words incorrectly?
Where was the credit for being rejected to play any roles as any leading character in a school play because my skin colour was “aesthetically displeasing for the role” (aka too brown)?
Do I get a credit for getting beaten up because someone thought that all brown/ “muslim looking people” are terrorists?
How many credits do I get for being fetishised by white people who thought that Desi vaginas were a gate way to a fantastical exotic world, only to find out that they weren’t and would there for cause harm to you BECAUSE YOU COULDN’T LIVE UP TO YOUR RACIAL STEREOTYPE?
Even now in the work place, do I get a magic credit for being forced to Anglicise my name so “it doesn’t scare the clients”? Or to endure my manager telling me to dress more “professional” so “customers aren’t worried about people like me”?
So, do I get any credits here?
You see, it’s gonna hurt a few white people when I say this- but you all have that privilege of stepping in and out of discussions and situations to do with racism. That girl crying away in that experiment has the luxury of stepping out in an hour or, she has the freedom of saying”I DON’T LIKE THIS I’M MAKING IT STOP”. That’s a fucking privilege. It’s something that I, and many other POC here will never ever have.
So for the next white person who complains about this clip, consider all this before you spill your privilege denial everywhere.
