An anonymous C-SPAN caller made a stunning admission on a cable television program and asked its black guest a straightforward question: "I'm a white male and I am prejudiced ... what can I do to change, you know, to be a better American?"

Heather McGhee, president of a think tank called Demos, was on the C-SPAN program "Washington Journal" Sunday discussing racial tensions in modern America when the call came in. Hear it here and read on for the man's full comment.

'What can I do to change to be a better American?'

C-SPAN is known to take anonymous calls from viewers who chime in with their opinions on a number of issues involving public policy. In this case, video of the exchange has already been viewed more than 1.4 million times on Facebook and reignited a conversation on racial tolerance that has captured America's attention on the heels of national discussions about police use of force on African Americans and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.

The man did not identify himself on the program but his public admission served as a rare moment in the discussion about racial prejudice. In a calm voice, the man framed his question like this:

I was hoping your guest could help me change my mind about some things. I’m a white male and I am prejudiced. And the reason it is, it's something I wasn’t taught but it’s kind of something that I learned. When I open up the papers, I get very discouraged at what young black males are doing to each other and the crime rate. I understand that they live in an environment with a lot of drugs, you have to get money for drugs, and it is a deep issue that goes beyond that. But when I have these different fears, and I don’t want my fears to come true. You know, so I try to avoid that, and I come off as being prejudiced but I just have fears. I don’t like to be forced to like people. I like to be led to like people through example. What can I do to change, you know, to be a better American?

McGhee took a long pause before responding.

Thank you for being honest and for opening up this conversation because it is simply one of the most important ones we have to have in this country. We are not a country that is united because we are all one racial group that all descended from one tribe in one community. That is actually, I think, what makes this country beautiful. But it's our challenge. We are the most multiracial, multi-ethnic, wealthy democracy in the world. And so, asking the question you asked, how do I get over my fears and my prejudices, is the question that all of us — and I will say people of all races and ethnicities and backgrounds hold these fears and prejudices. Most are actually unconscious. You say to yourself, I'm not prejudiced, but of course we all have that. So your ability to just say, this is what I have, I have certain prejudices and I want to get over them, is one of the most powerful things we can do right now at this moment in our history. Thank you. So what can you do? Get to know black families who are not, even any majority, involved in crime and gangs. Turn off the news that night because we know that, actually, nightly news in many media markets that have been studied actually over-represent African American crime and under-represents crimes done by white people. Join a church if you are a religious person. A black church or a church that is interracial. Start to read about the history of the African American community in this country. Foster conversation in your family, in your neighborhood where you're asking exactly those kinds of questions.

Reactions to the conversation and the video have flooded Demos' Facebook Page, with a wide range of opinions on combating racism in America.

A modern conversation on race in America

In a subsequent interview with McGhee, The Washington Post asked her why the conversation has resonated with the nation so much.

"White people want to choose a side," she told the Washington Post. "They want to be on the right side of history. But we’ve lost the muscle to work through the reality of our distance from one another and the pervasiveness of unconscious bias. So when he made that admission, I think it resonated because a lot of white people knew where he was coming from and were impressed that he was brave or that I was compassionate."

Can more conversations like this substantially ease racial tensions in America? Let us know.