A social experiment conducted in Australia by company PrankNation revealed shocking footage showing that racist attitudes remain alive and well in Adelaide despite it being almost 2016.
Two blindfolded men, one white and one black, were secretly filmed as they stood in the same location during busy periods. The men both had signs placed at their feet that simply said:
“I trust you. Do you trust me?”
The footage shows the shocking reality of modern day racism as not one person attempts physical contact with the black man whereas 12 people approach and even go so far as to hug the man who is white.
At the beginning of the footage Brooke Roberts, who runs PrankNation, states:
“Today I went out to see the comparison between my light-skinned friend and my dark-skinned friend.”
He continues to say:
“The sign didn’t say ‘hug me’, the sign didn’t say ‘take action’. Let’s see what reactions we can get.”
The white man stands in the streets for just over three hours and receives one handshake and a total of 10 hugs from complete strangers who are willing to demonstrate their trust for a man they have never met.
This is in stark contrast to the public’s reaction to the black man who stands in the street. The footage shows that over a period of six hours he receives no hugs, no handshakes, and just one comment from a passerby who seems uncertain about whether he should actually approach him.
Roberts states he wanted to “test Adelaide” on their racist attitudes in light of current events and admits that even he was shocked by the “unexpected” results of the video footage as he had predicted a much more positive outcome.
Roberts seeks for people to become more “aware of how they act and decrease the amount of racism” and states:
“I am hoping that not only the city of Adelaide can see how they did in the experiment, but also other places around the world.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UFK623phj0?rel=0]
Image by PrankNation.
