“Baby steps.”
That’s the amount of progress leading Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson agreed Stephen Colbert made toward overturning his white privilege when the two sat down on Martin Luther King Day to discuss racism.
The interview got personal when Colbert switched seats with DeRay, letting the activist ask the questions. Colbert’s responses are clearly well-meaning, but also genuinely awkward. White privilege is tough for white people, even (perhaps especially) for renowned television hosts.
"I might be the whitest person you ever met," said Colbert.
Among the other topics they addressed were whether police brutality is thanks to a few bad apples, the true meaning of all lives matter, and how today’s movement differs from the civil rights movement of the fifties and sixties.
“I think that people are uncomfortable talking about the racist history of this country and what we need to do to undo the impact of racism and people just like to act like we don’t have a legacy of racism… We can’t change it unless we address it,” said DeRay.
On the comparison to King’s time, DeRay focused on how technology has transformed the movement against racism in the United States.
“The issues are the same. We didn’t invent resistance. We didn’t discover injustice,” said DeRay.
“But technology has allowed us to amplify these messages in ways that we couldn’t’ before and has accelerated the pace of organizing in ways that are really powerful.”
And for all the white people who complain there’s nothing to do about white privilege except feel guilty or ashamed, DeRay was willing to offer a few tips.
“What you can do is extend that privilege so that you can dismantle it. You can create opportunity for people, you can amplify issues in ways that other people can’t, and you can use your resources to create space for people,” said DeRay.
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