[laughter]
So I was having an interaction with, like, this homeless dude, right?
He was, you know, begging for money, and I took out $5, and I gave him $5.
He looked at me, and we were having this moment where we talked.
He was telling me about his life story. His parents were abusive
and he ran away from home, got hooked on drugs.
And he looks at me, he goes,
"Hey, man, tell me more about yourself. Where you from?"
I said, "I'm from South Africa." He said, "Where about in Africa is that?"
-I said, "In the south, as suggested..." -[laughter]
"As suggested on the title, on the title of the..."
[chuckles]
So he looks at me,
he goes, "Are you from Africa, man?" I said, "Yeah, I'm from Africa."
He says, "You're from Africa Africa?" I said, "Yeah, I'm from Africa."
Then he, then he gave me my $5 back, and was like, "No, it's fine." Like...
[laughter]
He just looked at me like, "No, you know, just take your money.
My whiteness will sort this out, don't worry."
[laughter]
You know what I mean? And I told this to my friend,
and my friend was like, "That's such an offensive thing to happen to you!"
And I said, "No, that was a special moment,
'cause this dude was aware of-- of his privilege as a white dude."
He was fully aware. He was like, "Listen, this is a fucked-up situation,
but trust me, I do not want to be African."
Do you understand what I mean? And it was a beautiful thing,
and it's such a hard thing to understand, so I appreciate that dude, right?
And here's the thing, I am gonna try to explain what white privilege is
in a room full of white people. So wish me luck.
This-- This is what white privilege is.
White privilege is starting a band with your friends,
and calling it "The Killers" and everyone goes, "Yeah, that's a great name!"
[laughter]
[chuckles]
You know very well there's no black band that would call themselves "The Killers."
Forget about it! Forget about it!
When black people come up with a band, they have to think outside the box.
"What we gonna call ourselves?"
-"Earth, Wind and Fire." -[laughter]
"What does that even mean?"
"It means we're not The Killers, that's what it means."