Does America Run on Racism? | Man on the Street | PragerU — Transcript

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1. 0:00What's up guys? This is Will Witt back
2. 0:02for PragerU and we are at Cal State LA
3. 0:03asking people about systemic racism.
4. 0:05Let's do it. Do you believe that America
5. 0:08is systemically racist? I'm inclined to
6. 0:11agree. Agree? Why would you say that?
7. 0:13Because certain people
8. 0:15have not been set up for success as much
9. 0:17as others. I think America
10. 0:20stems from racism. Like it works like
11. 0:24the the cogs in the in the system. It's
12. 0:27like what it rolls on. I didn't really
13. 0:28see it from where I grew up, but now
14. 0:30that I'm moving more into LA I kind of
15. 0:31see it more often. So you're seeing
16. 0:33racism now that you didn't see before?
17. 0:35>> I feel like Where do you see it? In
18. 0:38poverty, in let's say like Section 8
19. 0:41housing, like the projects like those
20. 0:43areas. I could definitely see why it's
21. 0:44hard to make it out of there because
22. 0:46there's no good role models.
23. 0:47>> I think that it is real. There's a web
24. 0:50of racism that underlines kind of all of
25. 0:53the different institutions in our
26. 0:55society. I think I'm in the middle,
27. 0:5750/50. I don't think everyone's racist,
28. 1:00so America in general is racist. I
29. 1:02wouldn't put it on all of America, but
30. 1:05part parts of America, yes. Yeah. Yeah,
31. 1:07I agree with that. Our country is built
32. 1:09on slavery and racism. It's not [music]
33. 1:10something new. And like even though you
34. 1:12might be like, oh well, I'm not a slave
35. 1:14owner, like many of the people who
36. 1:16historically have gathered wealth in our
37. 1:18country have done that because of like
38. 1:20having that passed down, whereas people
39. 1:21of color have that much less accessible.
40. 1:24I'm white. You're African-American.
41. 1:26Yeah.
42. 1:27What do you think that I can do that you
43. 1:29can't do?
44. 1:33That's a broad question. It might be
45. 1:35easier for you to find a job in some
46. 1:37areas. Easier for us
47. 1:39to like not have fear in society of like
48. 1:42being oppressed like by the police. Say
49. 1:44you get into interaction with the
50. 1:46police, you might be less scared [music]
51. 1:47or get off faster. Do you think there's
52. 1:50anything that has to do with that
53. 1:51because of the crimes [music] that like
54. 1:53African-Americans commit at a higher
55. 1:55rate than white people?
56. 1:57Mhm.
57. 1:58That's possible. I'll say yeah. I'mma
58. 2:00say no. Is there anything that I could
59. 2:02do that you couldn't do because of my
60. 2:03race? [music] Uh no. No, I don't think
61. 2:06so. We're not afraid of ICE coming in
62. 2:08like snatching us off the street because
63. 2:10of the color of our skin. Yeah, I mean
64. 2:12in 2026 I'm sure the list is minimal.
65. 2:15There's a lot. There's it like really
66. 2:16underlines
67. 2:17>> [music]
68. 2:17>> every single institution like education,
69. 2:19health. We've come a long way. I don't
70. 2:21think everything is completely solved,
71. 2:23but truly it's everywhere. [music]
72. 2:25There's different areas where they
73. 2:27obviously I feel like they prefer some
74. 2:29white people. I can think of programs
75. 2:31where they prefer Hispanic people
76. 2:33because of affirmative action and DEI,
77. 2:35you know?
78. 2:36>> true. That's true. Have you ever heard
79. 2:37of DEI?
80. 2:39Like affirmative action? Mhm. Yeah. Like
81. 2:41ICE?
82. 2:42No, no, no. Diversity, equity,
83. 2:44inclusion, affirmative action. So like
84. 2:45Harvard got sued for this. Let's say an
85. 2:47Asian scores 300 points higher on the
86. 2:50SAT than a black person, but the black
87. 2:52person got the spot in the school above
88. 2:54the Asian person. Do you think that
89. 2:56that's fair? Um yeah, I think it is
90. 2:59fair. Would you rather have people know
91. 3:01you for who you are, your heart, your
92. 3:02brain, the type your character, your
93. 3:05achievement, or because you're black? I
94. 3:07guess my character. Would you rather
95. 3:08hire someone who's going to be good at
96. 3:10the job or hire [music] them because of
97. 3:12their skin color?
98. 3:14I think they have to be good at the job.
99. 3:16Yeah, I don't I don't I wouldn't [music]
100. 3:17hire someone just because of skin color.
101. 3:19What if I told you this? Before in 1960,
102. 3:2280% of children born in black homes had
103. 3:25a father in the home. Mhm.
104. 3:27Now it's 20% of black children are born
105. 3:29to a father in the home.
106. 3:30>> [snorts]
107. 3:30>> Really having two parents in the home is
108. 3:32the great equalizer. You know what I
109. 3:33mean?
110. 3:34>> Parents at home. Yeah. Yeah, I
111. 3:35understand that factor. Yeah, yeah. Um I
112. 3:37feel like that could be the start of
113. 3:39help. Probably. I mean I think that any
114. 3:41kind of any instances of families being
115. 3:43split is like not What is your point
116. 3:46with that? The culture of the black
117. 3:47community has changed in a way that has
118. 3:49made it worse off. It isn't necessarily
119. 3:51because of white racism, but because of
120. 3:53the culture of the black community. I
121. 3:54feel like the government sometimes sort
122. 3:56of forces these impoverished people and
123. 3:59they kind of stay that way and then it
124. 4:00just kind of multiplies the problem and
125. 4:02everything. I mean the welfare state
126. 4:03keeps people. Why would I get a job if
127. 4:05I'm just on welfare? You know, food
128. 4:06stamps, everything. I think trying to
129. 4:08blame it on black people's culture is
130. 4:10racist. I don't think that I'm going to
131. 4:12agree with you on that. Okay. I had fun.
132. 4:14Thank you. Did that help change your
133. 4:16mind at all or think about things in a
134. 4:17different way? It's always
135. 4:20cool to have some food for thought.
136. 4:21Yeah. You know, I'll sleep on it tonight
137. 4:23thinking in my bed like, mhm,
138. 4:24you know what I mean? It's gone very
139. 4:26well today. It's hard to believe that
140. 4:27when you actually talk to people with
141. 4:28respect and actually have open dialogue
142. 4:30and free speech, people really open up
143. 4:32and are able to have their minds
144. 4:33changed. But the political world right
145. 4:34now is so vitriolic and no one really
146. 4:36wants to have those conversations, but
147. 4:38that's what I believe in. I think it's
148. 4:40the best way to actually change people's
149. 4:41minds. Got to keep doing it. Thank you
150. 4:42guys so much for watching. We had a
151. 4:44great time today talking to students,
152. 4:45changing minds. If you enjoyed this,
153. 4:47make sure you follow PragerU, share this
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155. 4:49your thoughts down below. See you in the
156. 4:51next one.