Thursday, March 28, 2024

Activist DeRay McKesson Schools Stephen Colbert on White Privilege

Deray McKesson*#BlackLivesMatter activist DeRay McKesson briefly took over Stephen Colbert’s hosting seat on the “Late Show” recently when he discussed an array of issues including the mission of the movement, the current civil rights movement and the 2016 presidential campaign.

“I think that [Monday’s Democratic debate] was probably some of the best questions about race so far,” he said. “We have an acknowledgement of these issues, but now we have to figure out what the [candidates] actually plan to do about them.”

DeRay also used the segment to school the talk show host on his white privilege.

“You have a show. You have a lot of money. You have a lot of access,” he said to Colbert. “What you can do is extend that privilege, so you can dismantle it. You can create opportunities for people, you can amplify issues in a way that other people can’t and you can use your resources to make space for people.”

“I might be the whitest person you ever met,” Colbert said. “So I might have the most privilege of any white person you’ve ever met. How do I identify that in my own life?”

In response, Colbert switched seats with DeRay, encouraging him to “ask me about being white.”

“I’d love to know what you plan to do now that you understand your whiteness a little better, to dismantle it?,” DeRay asked.

McKesson, named one of Fortune magazine’s “The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” of 2015, came on as a guest to discuss his new anti-police violence initiative Campaign Zero, and why “All Lives Matter” is disruptive to the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

“You know, it’s such a distraction,” McKesson said. “If ‘All Lives Matter’ was true, then we wouldn’t have to be out in the street. The police have killed 26 people just in 2016. We have so much work to do.”

Check out the dialogue below.

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