Netflix recently announced the show Dear White People, based off the 2014 film of the same name, and people lost their sh*t.
I’ll agree with one thing: in the era of people only reading the titles of articles and roughly being incapable of doing research on their own, the timing probably wasn’t great for Netflix. But here’s the thing, the movie, which looks to be the exact same thing as the television show, came out three years ago and if anyone bothered to do any type of research (like watching the movie, maybe?) they would find out that the movie is satire and shows the racial bias of both black and white people. Seriously, just watch the movie (it’s on Amazon Prime) then make your judgments. The movie is also based on a real party called the “Compton Cookout” that happened in 2010 at University of California San Diego. Full of racial stereotypes and blackface galore, this party was torn apart in the media, as it should have been.
Also, let’s just chat about black face really quick.
Blackface still happens. Please, don’t make the claim that “blackface never happens anymore” because IT DOES. Here are just a few examples from the last five years; one, two, and three. And that’s just blackface examples. There are endless examples of parties making fun of just about every race. There is no reason people should still be doing something like this, even as a joke. It’s not about being politically correct, it’s about being a decent human being and understanding that certain things are in the past and should stay there for good reason. It doesn’t matter if you thought it was funny or educational, blatant racism is intertwined with blackface and if you’re choosing to ignore it, be able to accept the consequences that come along with that.
Back to the point of the show: let me tell you what it’s not about. It is not about all black people saying all of the things they hate about white people, it is not saying that black people have no flaws, nor is it saying black people can never be discriminatory towards white people. In fact, a lot of the movie focused on how black people were dealing with trying to fit and figure out their racial identity. The movie, and I’m sure the show as well, will deal with a lot of hard topics about race while still trying to find the humor in it. Take the time to watch the show and if you still hate it, awesome. But don’t judge it before you really know what it’s even about. Do some research on your own and try to understand where people are getting their perspectives. Listening, acknowledging, having conversations rather than arguments are the only way we’re going to make it. We have to make it together; black, white, all the colors of the rainbow. I thought we had evolved past this cliche quote a while ago but don’t judge a book by its cover.