What does it mean to be white in America? A new MTV documentary seeks to answer that question — and others — when it tackles the controversial issue of "white privilege."

Joe Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist from the Philippines who is an illegal immigrant to the U.S., hosts the new documentary.

MTV says their aim is to start "some real and honest conversations in a thoughtful, judgment-free environment."

The trailer is extremely uncomfortable, featuring many tearful interviews. The documentary itself premieres on July 22 and follows five young white people from around the country.

"Whiteness often remains un-examined in conversations about race in this country, even as it acts as the implicit norm against which other racial identities are judged," Stephen Friedman, president of MTV, said in a statement.

Vargas, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for his reporting on the Virginia Tech massacre, revealed in a June 2011 essay for the New York Times magazine that he is an illegal immigrant.

At the end of the trailer, Vargas tells an audience, "Let's get uncomfortable together." He has defended the show on his Twitter account amid backlash.

Watch the trailer below.