The documentary’s director, Jose Antonio Vargas, spoke with BuzzFeed News following the backlash against one of its casting calls. “This is not the only ad we’re going to put out there.”
Jose Antonio Vargas
Kevork Djansezian / Reuters
"Is something making you question possible advantages you've had as a white person?"
"Are you being discriminated against for being white?"
"Are you being made to feel guilty because you're white?"
These, among others, are the questions listed on a recent casting call for white people between the ages of 16 and 24 for an MTV documentary on race produced by Punched in the Head Productions.
Currently titled the "Untitled Whiteness Project," the documentary is part of a larger MTV campaign aimed at addressing biases regarding racial, gender, and LGBT issues. Jose Antonio Vargas, an award-winning journalist, activist, and undocumented immigrant — whose film Documented was released earlier this year — is directing.
The casting call, which was first reported by Bay Area news station KRON4 on Tuesday, has since been a source of frustration, anger, and incredulity for many social media users, who feel the questions propagate the idea that white Americans face "hardships" based on race, when racial minorities, rather than whites, have historically been marginalized in American society.
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