Oprah Winfrey rages against White privilege, believes systematic racism keeps Blacks off 'ladder of success'
Oprah Winfrey believes that “the system of White people” continues to keep Black Americans off "the ladder of success."
The billionaire media mogul made the remarks on the July 31 episode of her Apple TV+ show “The Oprah Conversation,” which featured an appearance by former NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho, the Washington Times reports.
Winfrey titled the episode in honor of the ex-athlete's YouTube conversations, which he showcases under the banner, "Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man."
“I’ve created this for you because, in order to stand with us and people that look like me, you have to be educated on issues that pertain to me and fully educated so you can feel the full level of pain so that you can have a full understanding,” Acho says during the episode’s introduction. “I fervently believe that if the White person is your problem, only the White person can be your solution.”
The pair invited a number of guests to discuss issues surrounding "racism and unconscious bias."
“As a Black person, White people for the proverbial phrase of White people, they run America. CEOs, Fortune 500 companies, execs, ownership, they run America. Not an individual White person, but collective White people,” Acho told a guest who raised concerns that the discussion was prone to ignoring or downplaying the plight of poor Whites. “Are there some poor White people in America? Absolutely. How did that happen? I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. Because as a Black person, I understand how we got poor. I totally get that.”
According to the former NFL star, Black Americans are poor because they do not have access to excellent school districts or home-ownership.
“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,” Winfrey added.
The host declared a White people, no matter how poor, will always have "privilege" over their Black neighbors.
“You still have your Whiteness,” she said. “That’s what the term ‘White privilege’ is. It means that Whiteness still gives you an advantage, no matter what.”
This comes just days after it emerged that Winfrey, for the first time in two decades, will not be gracing the cover of her monthly magazine 'O, The Oprah Magazine'. Instead of her, Breonna Taylor will be taking over the cover in an issue that focuses on anti-racism and white privilege. The issue of the magazine is said to hit the newsstands on August 11.
The editor in chief of 'O, The Oprah Magazine' Lucy Kaylin said that Winfrey and the team started to discuss how the brand could raise awareness about police brutality against Black Americans in light of the death of George Floyd, who died after a now ex Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck. With this in mind, Oprah decided to dedicate her magazine to Taylor, a young Black woman who had been fatally shot by authorities who had barged into her home on March 13.