WHITE-HOT ISSUE
Trailer for doc on racial identity gets angry response
FOR A show that hasn’t even aired yet, MTV’s “White People” has sparked a firestorm.
The short documentary examines the concept of “white privilege” and includes interviews with dozens of young Caucasian Americans about racial identity. Or, as Rush Limbaugh’s website puts it, “MTV Documentary Shames White Youth.”
Which filmmaker Jose Antonio Vargas finds a startling take on his project.
“The goal wasn’t to make to people feel guilt or shame,” Vargas told the Daily News. “But the knee-jerk reaction is, ‘Oh, there is film called “White People.” ’ How racist.’ ”
Vargas himself is an undocumented immigrant who came to the U.S. from the Philippines when he was 12. He didn’t find out he was here illegally until four years later — a fact
he kept hidden as he worked as a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist at The Washington Post.
A few years ago, Vargas went public with his immigration status and began making films about immigration and race.
In this new project, Vargas explores racial identity on the cusp of an era in which whites are no longer the majority in America.
As one young white guy in the film says of the change, “It’s cool and not cool at the same time.”
Another guy in the film teaches a workshop at his community college about “white privilege,” which he defines as “unearned societal advantages that benefit certain groups over another.”
One person in the film is among the few white students at a historically black college. Others are white teachers at an Indian reservation in South Dakota. These are fascinating settings to ask even tentative questions about what it really means to be young and white in America today.
The full 40-minute show airs on MTV on July 22.
Yet it’s a 75-second trailer, viewed nearly 1 million times on YouTube last week, that has inflamed critics.
Vargas is no stranger to Internet trolls and critics on Twitter. But for the last few days he’s been barraged by emails and comments decrying “White People” and hurling unprintable insults at the filmmaker.
“In some ways the reaction is indicative of just how our culture is so broken and disconnected,” said Vargas. “Just the mere talk of race is already considered racism.”
He’s not dissuaded. After the release of “White People,” which he made with MTV and Punched in the Head Productions, he plans to continue exploring issues of race and identity through his organization Define American.
“If I were afraid of being criticized or attacked, I wouldn’t say anything,” said Vargas. “I traffic in empathy.”