Stephanie Freeman and Jeffrey Hume: An Opinion Piece

For those who don’t know, Stephanie Freeman and Jeffrey Hume are two teens that recently came under fire for making a racist tiktok. In the video the teens were seen using the “N Word” while reading slips of paper with various negative stereotypes. Although there actions were abhorrent, I think this can be an opportunity to dig at the underbelly of the racism that still exists in America today.

Currently, there is debate whether racism still exists in America. As a black person, I can emphatically say yes. Admittedly, the racism faced today is not the same that my ancestors faced. I do not live on a plantation, I can sit wherever I like on the bus, I can buy and own property, and drink from any fountain that I choose. However, issues of systemic racism still persist and impact the lives of Black Americans. Likewise, some Americans still harbor racist perspectives of black people. This is evidenced in the video that these teens produced. Although they are young, these teens have already been exposed to negative perspectives of black people in such a polarizing way that they felt the need to make a video presenting these ideas. This makes me question the home and community environment in which they live. Furthermore, there seemed to be either an unawareness of the potential for repercussion, or the expectation that there would not be any impactful backlash. In my opinion, this points to the expectation that the idea that white people should be able to publicly make disparaging comments about black people without repercussion.

Now let’s dive into Stephanie Freeman’s apology. In the apology, Stephanie claims that her boyfriend was racist, and that he “normalized” racism to the point that she felt comfortable participating in the video. Furthermore, she mentions that she should not be cancelled or barred from attending college; that her future should not be affected because of a mistake made in youth. It seems that she does not truly wish to take accountability for her actions, and is issuing an apology in an effort to avoid any significant backlash from her actions. The apology makes no mention of understanding the impact that her actions could have, nor does she mention any actions of retribution or even an honest attempt to understand black people through exposure, research, or empathy. Basically, her apology was completely self serving, and it is likely that she still has the same attitude that she displayed in the video. The ensuing backlash is more likely to cause her to hide her racist views than to seek to understand why her views are uninformed and, frankly, wrong.

To conclude, racism is still alive in America. While the access to cell phones and portable recording devices has increased the exposure of random tirades, the fact still persists that there are instances that go unrecorded and unreported, and furthermore there are people that harbor racists views that avoid detection through hiding their perspectives and only showing their racism to like-minded groups. This is problematic because those same people may be in positions of power and influence, and are subsequently making decisions on a hidden racist agenda while using apologetics to justify their decisions publicly. For this reason, I question if it is possible for racism to end.