Billionaire media mogul Oprah Winfrey declared in an episode of her eponymous series, The Oprah Conversation that “whiteness” and “white privilege” afford unspecified benefits to white people in the “caste system” of America.
In an episode entitled “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man: Part 1” — featuring former NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho and drawing its name from Acho’s YouTube series of the same name — Oprah Winfrey invited several white people to discuss “racism,” “white privilege,” and “whiteness.” Oprah praised her white guests for accusing themselves of being “racist.”
There are white people who are not as powerful as the system of white people — the caste system that’s been put in place — but they still, no matter where they are on the rung, or the ladder of success, they still have their whiteness.
[Whites have a] leg up. You still have your whiteness. That’s what the term “white privilege” is. It means that whiteness still gives you an advantage, no matter.
Emmanuel Acho said whites living a “white” life become “part of the problem”:
Here’s what I told my friends with their white children. I said, “Y’all live in a white cul-de-sac, in a white neighborhood, in a white city, in a white state. If you were not careful. your children will live their whole life white, and at [the ages of] 26, 27, they’ll end up being a part of the problem, because you just let them and allowed them to live a completely white, sheltered, and culture-less life.
In the debut episode, “How to Be an Antiracist,” Oprah and best-selling author professor Ibram X. Kendi will speak with white readers who confront their own racist beliefs. The episode will be available to stream for free exclusively on Apple TV+ beginning Thursday, July 30 at 4pm PST.
“The Oprah Conversation” will continue with a special two-part interview with athlete, commentator, activist, and creator and host of “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man,” Emmanuel Acho on Friday, August 7. In Part 1, Acho will speak to Oprah about his web series and take questions from white viewers. Part 2 of the interview will see Acho and Oprah dive deeper into their raw, unfiltered discussions about race in response to bold questions from white and Latinx guests.