The Jubilee Project is the brainchild of three friends who came together with the goal of bringing change to the world. Their latest project is a video titled “World Without Black People.”

The video includes a crew talking to people on the street of different races and asking them the sobering question of “What would the world be like without black people?” At first, most are shocked by the question and default to a lack of direct contributions that would be missing from the world – black music, black culture, etc. But the conversation soon takes a turn towards a deeper subject manner.

People started to speak on the hypocrisy in the world of loving black culture but not black people. It also touched on stereotypes, dealing with racism at a young age and acknowledging prejudice in the world around you. Overall, the project succeeded in delivering a healthy discussion on race and the way that people view it.

According to Colorlines, the short film’s director, Eric I. Lu, made the following statement:

Making this film has changed my life. Growing up I hung out primarily with Asians. Whenever families gathered for potlucks, they were all Asian. My best friends were Asian. Maybe I was just more comfortable within my own ethnicity. Sure I knew people from other ethnicities, but did I really know them that well? You could say my world did not really have black people. It was only when I got to medical school, 23 years into my life, that I became close friends with African Americans and other ethnicities. But even still, I had not really sought to understand what it was like to be a black person living in this society. Through making this film, I reflected and confronted my own racist thoughts.

One of the people I saw on the streets was a guy in a hoodie who just walked out of a McDonalds. I hesitated for a second, and later in talking with my friend I realized it was because subconsciously I had stereotyped him as a thug. But as you can tell from his answers, he turned out to be a very socially conscious guy who after the interview invited me to a community organizing gathering.

I believe we become better people—more understanding and less judgmental—when we get to know somebody different from us. That’s why we want to encourage you to do the same.

Check out the video in full below.

Photo Credit: YouTube