HEADLINES about what it’s like to be black in the United States right now are rarely out of the news, but what if you asked the question, ‘What does it mean to be young and white in the USA today?”

MTV’s White People is a ground-breaking documentary on race that aims to answer that question from the viewpoint of young white people living in America. The film follows Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and filmmaker Jose Antonio Vargas as he travels across the country to get this complicated conversation started.

White People asks young people from across America what’s fair when it comes to affirmative action, if they think “colour-blindness” is a positive thing, whether privilege actually exists, and what it’s like to become the “white minority” in your neighbourhood.

“The topic of whiteness and white privilege is especially charged for young, white people – as they often are too nervous to actively engage in a conversation for fear of being offensive,” says Vargas. “Race is a sensitive subject no matter who you are, and our goal with the documentary is to treat each person, story and community featured in the documentary with the utmost respect, all while exploring what race means to them.”

White People was created as part of MTV’s Emmy Award-winning Look Different campaign, which illuminate biases on the basis of race, gender and sexual orientation, inspiring young people to take action to confront these issues.

White People airs on MTV (DStv channel 130) on Monday, November 16 at 8.50 pm CAT.

To join the conversation about the issues raised on White People, head to race.lookdifferent.org or log onto http://www.mtv.co.za, like the Facebook page: mtvza, or follow MTV on Twitter or Instagram @MTVza.