OPINION | What every American needs to know about white supremacism

Editor's Note: W. Kamau Bell is a comedian and sociopolitical author, presenter, and executive producer on the original CNN series "United Shades of America." The opinions expressed here are his. Read more opinion at CNNe.com/opinion

(CNN) - When we filmed the premiere of the fifth season of "United Shades of America" ​​in February, we had no idea that covid-19, the murder of George Floyd, and all the protests that followed would make an episode about white supremacism was even more relevant.

I know some of you reading this might ask yourself: “What does covid-19 have to do with white supremacism or the death of George Floyd? Didn't you already do an episode about white supremacism? The one with you and the KKK? ”

Yes, I ran into the KKK in the first episode of "United Shades" (thanks for refreshing my memory). And while this episode is, in many ways, the sequel, we are going deeper into white supremacism in America than the Ku Klux Klan.

Those who study white supremacism will tell you to think of it as an iceberg. The KKK, the neo-Nazis, the American Genocide of the Native Americans, slavery, lynching, hate groups, the things that good people would immediately identify as bad are just the most visible tip of the iceberg.

Beneath the surface of the water is where most of white supremacism lies: the structures and systems that are in place to keep white Americans on top and all other races and ethnicities below them to protect the status quo .

This includes everyday things like police brutality; the legacy of Jim Crow laws that require segregation; the manipulation; the continuing impact on financial exclusion and discrimination in housing; long-standing economic inequality; mass incarceration; ask black people to explain things you could just Google and much, much more.

Most of these structures and institutions have been in operation for so long that not much has to happen to keep them going. And if you are a white American, no matter how rich or poor you are, there are things you benefit from just being white.

This can be as simple as always feeling like an individual with individual needs, something that is reinforced by our means; Whites can turn on television and see whites at all levels of society. Most importantly, you can live in a land that is still overwhelmingly run by white people, be it in the highest political offices or the most powerful corporate offices.

But many of you don't realize how that advantage benefits you - it's a constant reminder that the country where you live values ​​you and the people who look like you.

You're like me when I was a sophomore in high school. He was tall, more than 1.80 meters. But the problem was, I still didn't realize he was tall.

My mom asked a question like: "Where did you put the salt?" I would say: "I put it somewhere." My 1.65 meter mom looked around the kitchen and finally saw the salt peeking out from the top of the fridge, and she said, "How is the fridge going to get it off its top?" I would say, "For me, that's down."

I did not realize that my perspective on the world was not the only one. I didn't realize that if I walked through our apartment like I was the only one who needed to reach for things, it would be making it harder for my mother and her ability to live her life and reach salt.

Luckily for me, my mother didn't tolerate that, so I learned. And I've learned from it that if you're going to explain white supremacism, you have to break it up into small pieces. Think of it this way: KKK members are white supremacists, but 44 of the 45 presidents were white men in a land originally 100% Native American, it is a white supremacist system.

And we are not just talking about large energy systems. Think about everything that is happening in the world right now.

In the wake of covid-19, some of you wonder why black people have been affected by the coronavirus at a higher rate. Black communities generally have poorer air quality, despite contributing less to the air pollution problem than white Americans. This has been linked to chronic health and respiratory problems, combined with less access to health care and healthy food. Add a pandemic on top of that, nothing is going to hit you harder.

Or perhaps, in the wake of protests across the country, you are a white person who finally understands why so many black people feel like declaring Black Lives Matter (black lives matter). And if you understand that without feeling threatened or wanting to say, "Allll Liiiiiiiives Maaaaaatter," then you've just gotten rid of one (and only one) of the shackles of white supremacism.

That's because a lot of white supremacism tries to educate whites to think that if the world doesn't make sense to them, that means there is something wrong with the world, and not something wrong with the lens they are on. looking.

Obviously with such an extensive theme, we could have justified filming this episode anywhere in the United States. But much of it was filmed in and around Pittsburgh, precisely because most of us wouldn't think of Pittsburgh when talking about white supremacism.

Pittsburgh is a paradox. It's on many lists for being a great place to live and for being one of the most liberal places in America, but it also ranks as the worst place to live for blacks.

I wouldn't have guessed it but it makes sense; The two times I was there, my "Black Spidey Senses" shot up. Perhaps it was the entire new construction that shouted gentrification, which generally means that blacks were driven out. Or maybe it was the statue I saw of composer Stephen Foster that had an unnamed black man sitting at his feet. (The monument was torn down in 2018, long before removing statues was cool.)

Once investigated, it is seen to be even worse than previously thought. Pittsburgh, a city that boasts of being a tech hub, has an infant mortality rate that is more than 6 times higher for black babies than white babies.

And having a narrative of being safe and livable does not make Pittsburgh immune to hate acts. The 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in the city's Squirrel Hill neighborhood is the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history. In Pittsburgh, as in the rest of the United States, the history and structure of white supremacism have us all living in one of 2 totally separate realities.

This episode of "United Shades" would not be complete without a meeting with the only person who felt he could do better than my father when he appeared in the third season to talk about life in Alabama: my mother, Janet Cheatham Bell. (Her response to my request that she be in the episode: "Finally!")

As she says, white supremacism and racism are central to American culture, but until recently, they were unacceptable as candid public issues or political scrutiny. And the fact that that's changing gives him hope.

"I'm actually excited about what's happening now," said my mother. "For the first time in my life, white supremacism and the racism it engenders are being regularly and publicly discussed by people who are not of black descent ... we strangers and our allies among the privileged are recognizing that if we stick together we are a powerful force. And it's about knowing our power. ”

All of this work I do came from growing up in her home and watching her confront white supremacism every day as a single black woman in America. When I started doing stand-up comedy I just wanted to be a fun comedian, but somehow I ended up in the family business. I figured it was time you knew about her.

And because this is such a complicated subject with tentacles in every corner of American society, not to mention around the world, this premiere is the first extended episode of "United Shades of America."

When the goal is to dismantle white supremacism, it takes over an hour.