Ferguson, MO – September 2014 – A month to the day after unarmed black teenager Mike Brown was gunned down by a white police officer, children from the very neighborhood that was ground zero for America’s largest racial tension flare-up in decades marked the day with the release of a mockingly funny and slickly produced Internet video. The sometimes brutally blunt clip directly targets whites who believe racism in America is over. In the video, children from 13 to as young as 6 years old list off shocking statistics about the racism their generation faces and humorously lampoon common statements from white people who claim racism is a thing of the past. In the clip Ferguson kids use biting humor to take down the myth of the “race card” and sarcastically skewer certain white people’s claims that “some of my best friends are black” and that they “don’t see color.” The kids appear in the video sporting black T-shirts with bold white text declaring “Racism Is Not Over. But I’m Over Racism.” The video is part of advocacy T-shirt company FCKH8.com’s charity T-shirt fundraising effort. The group’s website is making tees available starting at $13, with $5 from each tee sold benefiting five anti-racism organizations and projects.
Quotes from “Hey White People”:
“We just want an equal shot in life, not to be shot to death.”
“Just because Beyoncé is on your playlist and you voted for Obama, doesn’t mean that our generation has seen the end of racist drama.”
“Employers don’t even have to see the color of our skin for the discrimination to begin. Resumes with ‘black sounding’ names like Tanisha and Tyron are 50% less likely to get called in for a job interview than the exact same resumes with white sounding names.”
Kid Mocking White Person: “Some of my best friends are black.” Kid Sarcastically Holding Cookie: “You get a cookie!”
Video producer Marcus Kon comments, “We wanted to give a voice to kids from Ferguson who have to grow up facing racism that most white people do not want to acknowledge still exists. It’s a wake up call for America from racism’s new ground zero.” He added, “All of the children featured in the video were auditioned and cast right there on the sidewalk next to where Mike Brown was gunned down. This could have been any one of them. Working with the kids and their parents, some of whom saw the shooting with their own eyes, was emotional and powerful and it all comes across in the video.”
Video director Luke Montgomery offered, “Some white people may be uncomfortable with the blunt tone of how these articulate and adorable Ferguson kids point out the racism they still face at the hands of white people. As a white guy myself, I’m OK with that.” He added, “If they think hearing about racism is difficult, they should try being black and living in America. Us white people need to erase it, and the first step is to own up and face it.”
Sales of the “Racism Is Not Over. But I’m Over Racism” T-shirts and hoodies featured in the video will benefit four different anti-racism organizations and projects. From each sale, a $5 donation will be split between the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, NAACP, The Brown Memorial Fund, and Crossroads Anti-racism Organizing & Training.
Campaign Website: http://FCKH8.com
Video to Embed (Vimeo): https://vimeo.com/105147740
Video to Embed (YouTube): http://youtu.be/KQfg52m0-4o
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FCKH8com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/FCKH8
