A Quote by Theodore Melfi

The journey of making 'Hidden Figures' has shown me the automatic privilege that all white men are afforded in America in 2017 and in any and every year before that. — © Theodore Melfi
The journey of making 'Hidden Figures' has shown me the automatic privilege that all white men are afforded in America in 2017 and in any and every year before that.
In this system called America, white privilege reigns supreme but to me, I have to embrace what I am and how special we are as a people. I have to know that God put me here for a real reason and He blessed me with divine privilege and there's a divine system that I can tap into that can help me overcome any obstacle that stands in my way.
[Black Hawk] has fought for his countrymen, the squaws and papooses, against white men, who came year after year, to cheat them and take away their lands. You know the cause of our making war. It is known to all white men. They ought to be ashamed of it.
As a white male in America, I have privilege. As a white male who happens to be an artist with a fan base, I have a platform to spread awareness about that privilege. However, songs about race and privilege are very difficult to A) write and B) dissect as a listener. They're heavy.
In America, writers are afforded the freedom to express themselves in unlimited manners. Creative liberty is a privilege.
In America, many marginally competent or flatly incompetent whites are hired every day -some because their white skin suits the conscious or unconscious racial preference of their employers. The white children of alumni are often grandfathered into elite universities in what can only be seen as a residual benefit of historic white privilege.
Make America Great Again was a political slogan. It was used before, I believe Ronald Reagan used it before. It was about making America great and rallying America. Unfortunately, I would say 10 percent of the population that voted for President Trump has a different view. They have embraced it as 'Make America White Again.'
While I was able to pass as white as soon as I came to America, this was not really possible while I was growing up, as it was pretty obvious that I wasn't 'all German.' So my privilege was that in America, I could conveniently withhold one of my bloodlines and avoid racism and discrimination. That is not a privilege most people of color have.
Every great basketball team, every team that's on a championship journey takes steps each year, taking a step further than they were the year before.
When I take the oath of office next year [2017] I will restore law and order to America. Believe me, believe me.
White male privilege remains alive in America, but the phrase would seem odd, if not infuriating, to a sixty-year-old man working as a Walmart greeter in southern Ohio.
Men are rapists, batterers, plunderers, killers; these same men are religious prophets, poets, heroes, figures of romance, adventure, accomplishment, figures ennobled by tragedy and defeat. Men have claimed the earth, called it 'Her'. Men ruin Her. Men have airplanes, guns, bombs, poisonous gases, weapons so perverse and deadly that they defy any authentically human imagination.
There is a privilege in American society to being male and being white, and I think it's hard for white males to understand that privilege, because we've never experienced the opposite. When I sought out mentors to try to move forward, there were white males in virtually every position from which I was seeking mentorship. There was a natural simpatico or natural comfort. And so if you believe that's true, and I believe it's true, then we have to change that. We have to try to equalize opportunity and privilege.
However, white male privilege means white men are not collectively denigrated/targeted for those shootings - even though most come at the hands of white dudes.
When I reflect on the Colbert interview, it moved so quickly that what we didn't do was define white privilege, and I wish we had done that. White privilege is the benefit resulting from white being seen as the standard, regardless of gender and income.
If your white privilege and class privilege protects you, then you have an obligation to use that privilege to take stands that work to end the injustice that grants that privilege in the first place.
After 'The White Shadow' was over, I did some more work, but then I wound up taking a year off to teach at Harvard. It afforded me the chance to have a variegated career - a very interesting one.
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