In a now viral video, a white Atlanta teen bravely calls out white privilege in his slam poem called “White Boy Privilege.” Since May when the poem was recited, “White Boy Privilege” has rattled conservatives, racists, bigots and other trolls claiming that the 14-year-old has been brainwashed by liberals.
The Paideia School eighth-grader and actor, Royce Mann, read his poem in front of a crowded room earlier this year.
His incredible poem pointing out the racial — and in many cases lethal — double standards in the United States garnered him the first-place prize in the spring slam poetry competition.
Here is an excerpt from the poem:
Dear women, I’m sorry.
Dear Black people, I’m sorry.
Dear Asian-Americans, dear Native Americans, dear immigrants who come here seeking a better life, I’m sorry.
Dear everyone who isn’t a middle or upper class white boy, I’m sorry.
I have started life on the top of the ladder while you were born on the first rung.
As the video and the poem spread across the net, trolls have attacked him, his parents, Black people and others. Here are some of those comments:
Even though the teen was hammered with conservative anti-Black rhetoric, a few people supported his poem.