Am I Racist?

One minute.

One minute.

Hi.

- How are you? - You can go right here.

Joining us now is Matt. He's a certified DEI expert.

And, Matt, let's start with what you do.

What is a certified DEI expert?

Well, that's someone who takes you on a journey

of diversity and inclusion.

And, um, speaking of journeys, you know,

it's all about how you begin the journey.

We covered this in the workshop.

I'd like to start with

what's called a "land acknowledgment."

I don't know if you're familiar with those.

Um, I brought, uh, one along for this broadcast.

Uh, so, I'd like to begin by acknowledging

that this broadcast is airing in the traditional lands

of the Ute, the Paiute,

the Goshute, and the Shoshone tribes.

These are the peoples who call this land home

before it was ravaged and ransacked by the white man.

And this is a lot of things

that we don't necessarily think about.

- Mm-hmm. - And this is part

of the journey that you'd like to teach other folks

- in your workshops. - Yeah.

If you wouldn't mind,

I'd go through the exercise right now.

- Uh... - Go ahead. What is it?

So, can we all do it together?

- Yeah. Do we stand? - Yeah. Yeah, we stand for it.

- Okay. - Okay.

It's very, very simple. I start every day like this.

So what you're doing is you're stretching,

you're stretching, and this is more for you and less for you.

You're stretching up like this,

- and you're stretching out. - Mm-hmm.

What you're doing is you're stretching

out of your whiteness.

Okay, so you're decentering your whiteness.

You're stretching out of your whiteness.

You're probably wondering if this is real.

The answer is yes. It's real.

That's me. Matt Walsh. In real life.

With the man bun and the skinny jeans

on an actual news show as a certified DEI expert.

If you don't know,

DEI stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

It's all the rage right now.

But you're still probably asking,

what am I doing on this TV show?

How did I get there?

And how did I become a certified DEI expert?

Well, it's a complicated story.

I've been a white guy my whole life.

Growing up in the '90s,

I never thought much about race.

I mean, yeah, sure,

you noticed if somebody was Black

or white or Mexican, or whatever,

but it never really seemed to matter that much.

At least not to me.

And we think the vast majority of Americans are racist?

That's what I'm trying... I totally understand.

I think that there is a significant portion,

um, that are racist

- and you can't... - These days, though,

we're told that racial tensions are high.

It's all over the media.

There are a lot of racists in this country.

We're doing a big story about race in America.

Race in America.

Black, Latino,

and Indigenous people are suffering and dying...

Violent, white supremacy.

- White... - White...

- White entitlement. - This is America.

Overnight growing national unrest.

We've gotta do the work.

- Coffee? - Yes. Thank you.

How do you take it?

Black.

That was awkward.

Should I not have said "black"?

That's how I like my coffee.

I don't like cream. Is that so wrong?

I don't think the two should be mixed.

Okay, that does sound racist.

Wait, am I racist?

What is racism?

If I'm gonna sort this out, I need to talk to an expert.

Preferably someone outside of my bubble.

Somebody who can speak with authority

about the Black experience in America.

Or I'll just talk to this white woman.

This is Kate Slater.

She's an anti-racist scholar and educator.

- Hi. Nice... - Nice to meet ya. How are ya?

And you are the co-creator

of something called the Anti-Racist

- Roadmap. - Roadmap. Yeah.

So, what... what is that?

After 2020, we saw

a lot of white people saying,

"Okay, I know I need to do the work,

"but I don't know what the work is."

So what is the work?

'Cause I wanna do...

- The work. - Do that.

I wanna do it too, but I don't know what...

What is the work?

I think, for white folks, the work is

reallocating our resources and privileges

to balance out systemic inequities.

So that means there is a white person who says,

"Okay, I'm ready to interrupt racism,"

or, "I'm gonna be really nice

"to that Black or brown person,"

because that's the work.

But they're never willing to interrupt

their shitty racist uncle.

That's a powerful example for me.

You mentioned a racist uncle.

- I've got one, too. - Yeah.

Well, you're saying,

sometimes we have to confront those people.

Oh, absolutely.

Because if you're not going to confront them, who is?

When is the right age to talk to our kids

about their racism?

Before they can talk.

I mean it. I...

So my six-month-old baby, I used...

Why the hell not? Why the hell not?

My six-month-old...

And honestly, they've gone through six months of life,

I've never talked to them about racism.

So my daughter's four years old.

I am an anti-racist educator, quote-unquote.

She's still watching Disney movies,

and she is choosing a white princess over

princesses of color.

Have you talked to her about that?

All the time.

My three-year-old daughter is very...

Her favorite princess is Moana.

- Love it. - It's a good sign.

- Yeah. - But then I also thought,

you know, it's a little bit of cultural appropriation here.

She wants to be Moana for Halloween.

Mm-hmm.

So, how do we navigate that?

Do I go and buy

the Pacific Islander native attire

for my white three-year-old?

Um, I wouldn't. I wouldn't.

But I guess, what we might call the Moana problem here

is what, uh, on one hand, is cultural appropriation.

On the other hand,

there's gravitating towards white characters.

- Right. - So it's almost like

no matter which way you go,

- you end up back... - Right.

...in racism.

We think every space belongs to us

because we live in a white supremacist society.

Is America an inherently racist country?

I think the word "inherent" is challenging there.

- If we say... - Fundamentally.

Fundamentally, yes.

America is racist to its bones.

- All of the... - So, inherently.

Yeah.

Just to put it as bluntly as possible,

am I racist?

Every white person in America has grown up in a country

where race and racism make up the fabric of our society.

So I don't think anyone moves through this world

with a non-bias, non-racist world view.

So the answer's yes, I am racist.

You said it

What do you recommend to people for resources

if they're just starting on their anti-racist path?

Go to the bookstore

if you're not reading these books.

And then applying what you've learned,

taking what you read about and saying,

"Hey, racist uncle,

"I think we should talk about this."

That you're no good.

I've never, uh, confronted my own racist uncle.

I haven't confronted him.

But it's not ever too late.

No.

No.

Sometimes it means having the conversation

that you've been knowing in your heart,

you've been putting off for years.

Hmm.