WASHINGTON 鈥� An Atlanta student鈥檚 slam poem has been around for a while, but the recent spate of racially charged incidents has brought his frank talk about his own privilege to the fore.
Royce Mann, of Atlanta, wrote and performed the poem 鈥淲hite Boy Privilege鈥� in May, but it鈥檚 been blowing up online since the recent shooting deaths in Baton Rouge and Minnesota, as well as the police killings in Dallas.
He won his school鈥檚 poetry competition with the poem, which takes an unflinching look at what he calls the privileges he was born with.
The poem begins with an apology to African-Americans, women and immigrants, and adds, 鈥淭o be honest I鈥檓 scared of what it would be like if I wasn鈥檛 on the top rung.鈥�
Other highlights:
- 鈥淚 [expletive] love being privileged, and I鈥檓 not ready to give that away. I love it because I can say [expletive] and not one of you is attributing that to the fact that everyone of my skin color has a dirty mouth.鈥�
- 鈥淲hen I see a police officer, I see someone who鈥檚 on my side.鈥�
- His advice to his fellow white boys: 鈥淚t鈥檚 time to act like a woman 鈥� to be strong and make a difference.鈥�
- 鈥淚 get that change is scary, but equality shouldn鈥檛 be.鈥�
- 鈥淚t鈥檚 time to take that ladder and turn it into a bridge.鈥�
- 鈥淚 know it wasn鈥檛 us eighth-grade white boys who created this system, but we profit from it every day.鈥�
Mann told CBS 小萝莉影视, 鈥淚鈥檓 just trying to be truthful about how I wouldn鈥檛 trade places with somebody, and I think a lot of people sometimes aren鈥檛 so truthful about that.鈥�
Tuition at Royce鈥檚 school is $28,000 a year, Atlanta鈥檚 WGCL reports, and Mann acknowledges in the poem that 鈥渕y parents鈥� salary鈥� helps him to attend a school where he can achieve his dreams. He also argues in the poem that everyone should have that advantage: 鈥淓veryone should have the privileges that I have; in fact, they should be rights instead.鈥�
He tells WGCL that his viral exposure is another example of the privilege he enjoys: 鈥淎 white boy writes a four-minute poem and he goes viral, whereas a black kid can be out protesting for his rights and he gets arrested.鈥�
His last piece of advice? 鈥淭ry to be an ally,” he told ; “do your share.鈥�
The report from WGCL:
The full poem (Editor’s note: The poem contains explicit language.):
