ATLANTA — It has been nearly three years since an Atlanta teen took the stage at his eighth-grade competition to point out the unfair advantages of white privilege.
Royce Mann’s poem, titled “White Boy Privilege,” was a viral sensation.
His mom posted the video on YouTube in 2016 and it has since gotten tens of millions of views online.
“You know, it shouldn’t have went as viral as it did in my opinion because what I was doing was basically saying that as a young white male I have certain privileges that people that don’t look like me or don’t come from families of the same income level,” Mann said.
Since going viral Mann has been busy. He has spoken at numerous events and performed poems all over.
“It [life] changed a lot. One video can have a huge impact and that’s something that I realized. Just on the surface it changed my schedule a lot and I was being asked to speak at a lot of cool events,” Mann stated.
He's also made appearances on television and he is a lead organizer for March for Our Lives Atlanta.
Mann said his life now is about balance. As he balances his work as a regular student and his work as an activist. He is now 17 and a junior at Grady High School who has his eyes set on college.
“I really didn’t deserve all that attention, but at the same time there are not enough people that look like me who have the same privileges that I do that are speaking up in that way,” he explained.
For now, his goal is to continue his activist work and hopes to one day major in political science.
“With the poem, saying the right things is great, but you got to put in the work,” he mentioned.