 Take two steps forward
 if both of your parents
 are still married.
♪ [dramatic]
 Take two steps forward
 if you grew up with a
 father figure in the home.
♪ ♪
If you've been surfing TikTok,
you've probably
seen this meme before.
But why is everyone
taking two steps?
Well, understanding
two words
can help explain what
you're seeing here.
White privilege.
So what is white privilege?
Right now white privilege seems
to be the buzzword.
When you have white privilege,
the meaning that's attached to
white skin is positive.
And so it gives you
great advantages.
So when people see white skin,
they see someone who is presumed
to be competent,
someone who's presumed
to be smart,
someone who's presumed to be
trustworthy and safe and
friendly.
Because of the colour
of your skin
and because you're white and
you're not black,
you are treated differently.
A whole lot better than
black people.
Hi, my name is Quentrel Provo.
I'm founder and CEO
of Stop the Violence
here in Nova Scotia.
It does not matter about
money or status
or where you're at in life.
You could be poor
standing next to
a rich black man
and they're still going to look
at that white man first
because of the
colour of your skin.
It all starts with racism.
Racism is when a person
discriminates against someone
on the basis of
how they look
and what ethnic group
they belong to.
Even though you may think
racism does not exist in Canada,
it does.
The anti black racism we
see today
is actually the result of racist
decisions,
some that were made
a long time ago,
and today it
lives on in our systems.
I want to talk a little bit
about what systemic racism is.
So can you define
that for me?
There are many systems that
allow our world to operate.
So, systems of government,
systems of policing,
systems of schooling.
And so when we
talk about systemic racism,
we're talking about the
ways in which
a system operates to
disadvantage people based on the
colour of their skin.
Have you ever experienced any
racial injustice or racism when
you were growing up?
When I was a kid, 10 or 11,
playing at my aunts
and everything and
there was a description again of
black kids that had
did a little break and enter.
And then you know the police car
pulls up.
We're playing hide and go seek
and they come and stop us and
basically was like you guys fit
the description.
We don't know what's going on.
We're 10, 11 years old.
We're just playing
hide and go seek.
They see the first group
of black kids
and they pull up to us and
they're ready to question us.
Well, not all black
kids look alike.
It hurt, you know,
especially at 10 and 11
and you don't really know why
and they're saying because
the colour of our skin.
It hurt.
Look. Privileged doesn't mean
you've had it easy.
Nobody has it easy.
White privilege means
you've not had to worry about
things that black kids
have to worry about just because
the colour of your skin.
It means because you're white,
you're automatically
two steps ahead.
We are racing for a hundred
dollar bill.
Before I say go,
I'm going to make a couple of
statements.
If those statements
apply to you,
I want you to take
two steps forward.
I want you guys up here in
the front
just to turn around and look.
We would be foolish
to not realize
we've been given more
opportunity.
We don't want to recognize
that we've been
given a head start.
One video that is helping to
create awareness
and create change is,
you may have heard of it,
but it's the hundred dollar
race challenge.
I'm not a guy of trends
and stuff
on TikTok and all that stuff,
but if it's raising awareness
and it's making some sort of
difference, I'll support.
That trend is actually helping,
so I'm all for it.
There is some change in
everyone's listening right now
but we still have
a long way to go.
Right now people are
speaking out loud.
People are fighting
for their humanity.
It's important for kids to
have their voices heard
and when their voices
are not being
invited to the decision making
table, especially in schools,
to ask their principals and
vice principals,
"Can I be on this committee
that's planning the assemblies
for the whole school
that has no kids on it?".
You have a voice as kids
and I think kids need to be
taught how to use it.
 Take two steps forward
 if you had access
 to a free tutor growing up.
♪ ♪
So how many steps forward
have you taken?
Count them and let us know.
For cbckidsnews.ca,
I'm Elijah Sandiford. Peace!
