*Comedian Amanda Seales and filmmaker Ava DuVernay are among the critics calling out “The View” co-host Sara Haines over a resurfaced clip about race. In the 2017 footage, Haines claims she faces discrimination as a white woman weighing in on Black issues.
The Instagram account Whiteness Studies reposted the segment on Nov. 6, and reactions followed in the comments, Entertainment Weekly reports. DuVernay, the Oscar-nominated director of “Selma” and “13th,” kept her reply to three letters: “smh” (an abbreviation for shaking my head).
Seales labeled Haines’ remarks “[white] womaning.” The actress also took aim at the talk show, writing that “this show is a miss on such a regular basis.”
One commenter replied, “First problem: You don’t get to decide that you are an ally- we will let you know when you have been vetted and designated as one.”
(Lorenzo Bevilaqua/ABC via Getty Images)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG, SARA HAINES, ANA NAVARRO, TIM SCOTT, SUNNY HOSTIN, ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN
Scroll to continue reading
Another person wrote, “She basically said: ‘I want to be at the center of this discussion even though I could never understand your situation and you are not letting me, therefore: I’m being discriminated.'”
A third added: “That’s not discrimination. That’s being told that you don’t have an informed position and that your opinion isn’t central to the conversation. Ally means you work alongside a marginalized group. You’re not the focus.”
In the original exchange, Haines said she wanted to “chime in intellectually” on movements such as Black Lives Matter.
“If I just disagree on the slightest bit or chime in, people are like, ‘You don’t understand, you’re white,’ and they excuse you intellectually,” Haines said, according to EW. “Even though anyone that’s white talking about those things can disclaim, ‘I’ve never walked in these shoes,’ I do have a brain and I’m an ally, I want to talk about it.”
Co-host Joy Behar disagreed. “You’re more disagreed with, and your opinions now don’t count. It’s not quite the same as discrimination,” Behar told her.
“Discrimination is just an unjust treatment based on a difference in race, age, sex. In that situation I’m describing, I am being discriminated [against],” Haines replied.
Haines stressed she was “not saying that I feel the pain every day of this, I’m saying I find it frustrating when I’m trying to join a conversation as an ally, and I can’t critique anything because I’m white.”
Whoopi Goldberg later told the panel, “… now maybe white folks will understand how we feel when people generalize about us.”
Watch the moment in the clip below.
RELATED NEWS ON EURWEB.COM: AI Wants to Drive Your Car, Fold Your Laundry and Maybe Take Your Job
We Publish Breaking News 24/7. Don’t Miss Out! Sign up for our Free daily newsletter HERE
