Comedian Chelsea Handler is headlining a fundraiser for the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter. For $20, attendees can see "Hello, Privilege. It's me, Chelsea," a Netflix documentary about "how white privilege impacts American culture -- and the ways it’s benefited" Handler's personal life and career.
According to a flyer posted on Twitter, Handler will a member of the panel who will discuss white privilege in America. Other panelists include Melina Abdulah, Co-Founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles; Dahlia Ferlito, Co-Founder White People for Black Lives; and Jody Armour, author, playwright and University of Southern California Professor of Law.
Save the date! Our next “Courage Against Racism” event will be a screening of the @chelseahandler @netflix documentary, followed by a panel discussion. All proceeds go to @BLMLA.
— WP4BL (@WP4BL) September 28, 2019
$20 at the door, no one turned away.https://t.co/NnJD5uwwMb pic.twitter.com/yFOaEkW0IP
According to the Daily Wire, Handler goes into details about being a white woman and her understanding of the struggle black people in America face:
In one of the earlier scenes, Handler confesses, “I am as white as they come” while speaking to a diverse group of college students and community activists at an open mic night about privilege.
“I got the impression that black people are sick and tired of being asked questions about white people’s problems,” she later reflected. “We need to talk to people who are white and stop asking black people to solve our problems because it’s a white persons’ problem.”
Still, Handler quipped that she needed counseling prior to interviewing four conservative white women who agreed to participate in her documentary.
“I had to do a lot of therapy to even have these conversations with people, because I have a temper and I’m reactive,” Handler said in a recent appearance on “The View.”
“When somebody’s annoying, I want to tell them that they’re annoying or that they’re stupid, but my exercise in this film was to be more quiet and to stop inserting myself,” she added. “It’s important for us all to understand what everybody is really thinking and believing and to have the conversation.”
In the documentary, Handler attends an L.A. Police Commission meeting with Dr. Melina Abdullah, a founding member of Black Lives Matter. Handler applauded after Abdullah told the LAPD commissioners they compose “a rubber-stamp body for the police that continue to kill and abuse our people.”
The event is being put on by White People 4 Black Lives, “a white anti-racist collective that operates in solidarity with Black Lives Matter Los Angeles.” Their goal is for white people to educate other white people about racism and oppression.
Why does everything need to be labeled a "black person issue" or a "white person issue"? Why can't things simply be an American issue or a human issue? Why does everything have to come down to race? There are plenty of white people who live in poverty, just as there are black people who have thrived.
If anything, black Americans should be upset that people, like Handler, claim to continually be this outspoken voice for people of color. She's making a quick buck off "challenging her whiteness" and making things about her. This has nothing to do with rights wrongs but everything to do with stroking an ego.