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Comedian Jessie Kahnweiler tests her white privilege by offering drugs to police

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John Blade

John Blade

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Comedian Jessie Kahnweiler recently decided to explore how white women like herself are treated by police in contrast to visible minorities by filming herself attempting to get arrested in Los Angeles.

"Jessie sets out to see if white privilege really exists and can she get arrested or will her whiteness prevent it?" reads the caption of a YouTube video she published late last week.

Unlike most contemporary work on the subject of white privilege, the tone of Kahnweiler's video is quite humorous.

But it sends a powerful message about racial inequality through interviews with police, stories from citizens and footage of LAPD officers reacting to the 30-year-old white comic's wild actions.

"We can all agree that what's going on with the police and black people right now is totally insane," says Kahnweiler at the top of her video. "My one black friend told me that because I'm white, I have all of these privileges, and I get treated totally different by the cops than black people get treated."

The video immediately cuts to footage of her high-fiving police officers in a parade while she shouts "I'm single!"

Her subsequent stunts include drinking alcohol in public and behaving as though she were intoxicated, trespassing in a public pond, cartwheeling naked in front of a restaurant and hugging some on-duty police officers (including police Chief Charlie Beck.)

The most provocative clip in the video begins about 75 per cent of the way through when Kahnweiler offers to sell two police officers prescription drugs.

"I'm selling my antidepressants, do you guys want to buy any?" she asks the officers, whose faces are blurred in the video.

"You know that's illegal, right?" says one officer, after which the smile fades from Kahnweiler's face and she asks, "What?"

"Those are prescribed drugs, and you are becoming a drug dealer by selling them," the officer explains.

"Oh, sorry," says the comedian as she walks away without even a slap on the wrist.

As shocking and funny as many have found Kahnweiler's arrest attempts to be, her interviews with both black and white citizens, as well as with authorities, make perhaps an even more powerful statement.

"What do you feel about white privilege?" she asks an older black man. "As a white woman, do you think I can get away with more stuff?"

"Yes, you can," he laughs. "And you know it."

Later, after being asked if he's been messed with by the police, the same man tells Kahnweiler that he was once "beat up by the police."

"What did you do to get beat up?" she asks, to which he responds "Run."

A white police officer had this to say when asked if he believes that white privilege exists: "I don't understand your question."

Kahnweiler's video has been receiving a lot of attention this week from media outlets, people online and celebrity supporters like Judd Apatow.

"I felt the conversation was not productive enough, and I wanted to do something from my perspective," she said when asked by the Times of Israel what inspired her project. "Unfortunately, there's new shit about this every day. I can't believe this is America."

As the Times points out, Kahnweiler is no stranger to tackling sensitive issues through comedy. She's also the creator of several other widely shared videos and short films about such topics as rape, bulimia and Jewish identity.

"As Jews, we walk a fine line because we are 'other,' but we do enjoy white privilege," she said in relation to her most recent video, noting that her boyfriend, who is black, has lived a very different experience on account of his race.

"Basically, I understand that I'll never ever understand what it is like to be a black person in America," she said. "My boyfriend has a scar on his head from having been bashed up by some cops when he was 12. He would have been arrested several times over for jumping the police chief like I did."
Click to expand...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/com...ivilege-by-offering-drugs-to-police-1.3125187

Here is the Youtube video for people to watch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJ2b7woDYnw
 
F

Filthy Slug

Crowd screaming like hounds at the heat of the chase/ All the colors of the rainbow flood my face
This is the first unfunny episode of Broad City.
 
A

Admiral Woofington

Member
Jarmel said:
Probably the smartest answer he could give.
Click to expand...

4UoK9l6.gif
 
DiscoJer

DiscoJer

Member
Try going to a poor rural area and do it with meth.

10 years ago I was raided by a dozen police in body armor because I bought cold medicine (a box a month). Small miracle my dogs didn't get shot.

It's really a class issue. Race and class are intertwined, but poor whites have a lot of problems the drug war as well.
 
S

Schweinehund

Member
White privilege does exist but were the officers aware they were being recorded in the video? I feel like that could alter some behavior too.
 
D

dekline

Member
Yes, white privilege exists, no fucking doubt. But she needs to walk up to the cop with some good skag, not cymbalta.
 
A

akira28

Member
DiscoJer said:
Try going to a poor rural area and do it with meth.

10 years ago I was raided by a dozen police in body armor because I bought cold medicine (a box a month). Small miracle my dogs didn't get shot.

It's really a class issue. Race and class are intertwined, but poor whites have a lot of problems the drug war as well.
Click to expand...

there was a war on blacks from day one, and the war on the poor never ended.

I wouldn't say it's a class issue, because LOTS of middle class black get treated like poor dirt.
 
R

ryutaro's mama

Member
marrec said:
I imagine if a black guy walked up and said the exact same thing he'd probably be detained.
Click to expand...

Their hands would have immediately gone to the guns as he walked up on them that close.

An arrest would have happened for sure, regardless of whether it was revealed to be a prank.
 
B

Byakuya769

Member
akira28 said:
there was a war on blacks from day one, and the war on the poor never ended.

I wouldn't say it's a class issue, because LOTS of middle class black get treated like poor dirt.
Click to expand...
Indeed. Be black in a way nicer car than a cop can afford... See how often you're pulled over for phantom violations.
 
W

Wereroku

Member
dekline said:
Yes, white privilege exists, no fucking doubt. But she needs to walk up to the cop with some good skag, not cymbalta.
Click to expand...
She didn't want to actually be arrested. However I think a black woman would have been treated differently. There is clearly a problem with the cop culture.
 
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