Eighth Grader’s ‘White Privilege’ Poem Takes First Place

Left-wing media and social justice warriors are salivating over a white eighth grade boy who has taken first place in a “poetry slam” for his poem titled “White Boy Privilege,” in which he apologizes for the “privilege” of white boys and men.

Royce Mann, 14, a student at The Paideia School in Atlanta, recited his poem featured in the video below (language warning), as reported by Rollingout.

In the poem, Mann apologizes to white women, blacks, Native Americans, immigrants, and “everyone who isn’t a middle or upper class white boy.”

Below is an excerpt from the poem:

Dear everyone who isn’t a middle or upper class white boy, I’m sorry.

I have started life on the top of the ladder while you were born on the first rung.

I say now that I would change places with you in an instant, but if given the opportunity, would I?

Probably not.

Because to be privileged is awesome. I’m not saying that you and me on different rungs of the ladder is how I want it to stay…

I’m just saying that I’m f**kin’ privileged and I’m not willing to give that away. I love it because I can say ‘f**kin’ and not one of you is attributing that to the fact that everyone with my skin color has a dirty mouth.

Fusion reports:

Across the social network, the video is being celebrated as the definition of responsible self-analysis by a white American at a time when racial tensions seem to be ever-increasing.

“If my kid grows up to be anything like this kid, I will be the proudest,” wrote one commenter. “If a child can get it, if a child can preach it, than any adult can, they choose not too,” added another.

The mixed-race audience of all ages watching Mann is captivated by the transparency that ensues. Older women can be heard affirming his observations in off camera “oohs” and “ahhs.”

“That was the first time I did slam poetry,” Mann said in an interview. “I wrote it because I became aware of white privilege this year. We have a class called Race, Class and Gender that everyone has to take, and I got really passionate about how unfair it is.”