A school district in Virginia has decided not to use a video about race and affirmative action after it made students uncomfortable and drew criticism from parents who called it “white guilt.”
The video was shown at Glen Allen High School during two assemblies for Black History Month and depicts several runners on a track, with black runners facing insurmountable obstacles while white runners are unimpeded.
“While we as educators do not object to difficult and constructive conversations about American history and racial discourse past and present, we understand why many people feel this video in particular was not the best way to deliver such an important lesson,” Henrico County Superintendent Patrick C. Kinlaw said in a statement Wednesday.
The four-minute video is titled “Structural Discrimination: The Unequal Opportunity Race.” It was created for the African American Policy Forum.
Don Blake’s granddaughter attended the assembly.
“They are sitting there watching a video that is dividing them up from a racial standpoint. It’s a white guilt kind of video,” Blake told WWBT, “I think somebody should be held accountable for this.”
Administrators across the district have been instructed not to use the video, said school board chairwoman Michelle Ogburn in a statement. She apologized to those who were offended.
“In addition, steps are being taken to prevent the use of racially divisive materials in the future,” Ogburn said.
The video comes four months after a student mistakenly played a song over the public address system before a football game that was a racist parody of the “DuckTales” theme song.
You can view the video here:
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Absolutely disgusting!
Parents should watch this video with their kid and explain the whole nature of propaganda videos. This sort of video offers a small amount of truth and packages it in a way to mislead the viewer.
What this video failed to show was the hiring quotas and affirmative action programs of the 1960s and 1970s that would have lifted the black runners up and set them onto the track ahead of the whites. For example, affirmative action rules generally require a minority candidate who meets the minimum qualifications of a job to be considered in the pool finalists even though they may not be as qualified as white candidates who were excluded from the finalist pool. During the 1970s there were several lawsuits brought by white students who were excluded from admission to various education programs in favor of minority students who scored significantly lower on exams.
None of us can do much about slavery and racial discrimination of the past. We should also speak up against actions today that give someone an unfair advantage due to their skin color or sex. In recent years those unfair advantages generally went to those who weren’t white males.
The quota system still exists.
If you don’t hire enough blacks or other none whites you get sued even if their not qualified.
JUST ANOTHER RACIST ACT BY BLACK PEOPLE AND THEIR ASSOCIATIONS THAT DON’T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THE TRUTH.
It would be nice if they would print the truth for a change. Never happen.
That is very sad. Full of anguish, total torment.
Bull Crap
I’m white, my girlfriend & ex-wife are black. This stupid film does NOTHING to heal the rift between the races. It only does harm and should never be shown.
I too am white and in the 1960’s dated a nice young black female. We had a good relationship but broke up due to her black males harassing her about dating a white soldier in the US Army. There is only one race on this planet now and that is the HUMAN RACE! Why does no one in the media publish the reasons for a disproportionate number of Blacks and Latino’s in our prisons such as the disproportionate number of crimes these two ethnic groups commit on the public. Why not print about the Black on Black murders in our inner cities where the Fathers are totally absent from the young peoples homes. Why are there more single mothers in the projects of the inner cities! Single mothers do not exist, they are UNWED MOTHERS or Divorced Mothers.
We need to get blacks who are really into not being discriminated to tell the other blacks many white looking people are part black and the slavery issue promotes hatred among whites because it is so out of date. Many white people do not see black unless they watch tv. President Obama skewed blacks over with his arrogance and telling whites that they hate blacks.
Fixing the black neighborhood is going to need repairs from within. Families staying home together, doing homework together, setting a good family example. This is where it needs to start. Not some government program.
Just PITIFUL!!! I AM WHITE & am 100% offended !!! Total reverse racism at its best !!!!! I am not going to ever apologize or feel bad about who I am !! They can make more n more videos like that Racist piece of garbage if it makes them feel better !! Maybe that loser Racist Kanye was involved in making it too !!! SMH !!
I have been around the block in my life, enough to know Racism in any form
and brother this is it. I can honestly say that I have not ever been, knowingly,
discriminatory in my 69 years. Work has included 24+ years in the Armed Services
and 21 years in the Public Sector. I am appalled and clearly, personally, deeply
affronted by this Racist Cartoon. More on, this is Not Anything that should ever
be shown to children and certainly not in a School Setting. In Spiritual Reflection
I am still disturbed over this video. And will withhold my charitable donations
to so called equal opportunity organizations as a result. Shame on the people
who initiated, funded, distributed and ‘forced’ its showing in these schools..
.
Things have changed over the last 20 years, it seems black people are more racist than white people these days. I have many friends of color that are very respected in the community. The fact that black people are so racist it is causing white people to feel uncomfortable dealing with people of color. Caucasians are the ones that are trying to stop racism, yet people of color are trying to keep it alive. I really thought that the President would help the situation, but he has only fueled black racism. That is the problem, I have put a question to black friends of mine. Do you feel black people are more racist than white people these days? They all answered honestly and said the same thing, YES. So what does that tell us? How are we ever going to solve the problem when now, black people are becoming increasingly more and more racist against white people. Did everyone forget that white people are the ones that stopped slavery, not black people. Did everyone forget that black people are the ones that sold black slaves to white people. I honestly do not think that blacks in the racism business do not want the problem to go away. Why because they make too much money off of it. Things today are not as they were many years ago and the people who owned slaves are mostly dead now. So why is everyone blaming white people today for the acts of both black people and white people that are no longer on this earth. Here is a perfect example if a white kid went into a black neighborhood he would get called names and most likely get beat up. If a black person goes anywhere are white people calling them names or beating them up? Nope, not even close to the treatment of the white person that went into the black neighborhood. Black leaders will never let it heal they want more and more. In this day and age I do not think anyone deserves a handicap because of the color of your skin. I do not care what color you are, If you work hard and do good you will succeed in today’s culture.
Liberals have long supported hate against whites. Whites stand in the same relationship to liberals as Jews to Nazis. The Democratic party is a wholly own subsidiary of the Republican Party. The Republican Party has agreed to spread hate against whites while the Democrats have agreed to spread hate against Whites. The survival of America depends on punishing liberals for their hate talk. Laws should be passed making liberals sell their homes and give all their money to blacks.
From what alternate universe have you just returned? Your post is so much babble. It makes no sense.
Know how to piss a white off, just keep pushing these freaking filthy racist lies !!!!!.The only reason they do this is to break piece & harmony between races. Government puppets who get off kissing big brothers rotten stinking FEET. And of course getting paid to do it, nothing less than terrorists. Most probably belong to “ISIS”, In which Obanation promotes to a large extent, YES HE DID BACK THEM WITH WEAPONS.
Very stupid why keep bring up the past why not move forward and quit living in the past. I myself am French American but I don’t run around saying that. I am an American I served in both the US Army Airborne Infantry and in the French Special Forces also. Let’s let the past stay in the past and move forward. Please.