As a White person in America, it’s possible for me to walk the streets, and live my life, not thinking about the insidious veins of racism pulsing through the arteries of our culture. This is not fair and I am not proud, but knowing it is true is crucial to creating chance.
I love how so many artists are finally being given a platform, to expose all the hidden ‘isms that are somehow so much more glaring under Trump. From #MeToo to Black Lives Matter, I hope we’re on a roll that doesn’t end, until we are completely free from all pervasive systems of injustice.
I wanted to take a moment to highlight 6 great programs that provide beautiful insight into ugly truths:
So grateful for the Hulu original Woke. Love seeing New Girl's Lamorne Morris in such a multi-dimensional character and getting the back story of our beloved Keith Knight. This show is a deep exploration into how being Black in America means there is no escape from the sometimes invisible and always sticky web of systemic racism. It takes great skill to create a humorous telling of the story of waking up to the reality of racism.
Netflix’s Dear White People highlights the illusion of a homogeneous Black Experience. It deftly illustrates how the experience of being Black in America, is a journey as personal as the individual living it. Taking place on a generic ivy league university in the US, we follow the diverse lives of this ensemble of brilliant and ambitious characters and watch how they navigate race, cultural identity and growing up into themselves.
Hulu’s Lovecraft Country is terrifying because it takes on race in America in the 50’s, but also because it is inspired by the Science Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. However, adding the supernatural elements, allows us to take ourselves, for a moment, out of the devilish doings of very real racist antagonists and into a world of transformative magic, pregnant with power and possibility.
Also available on Hulu, is ABC’s Mixed-ish, a 2019 spin-off from it’s long running parent, Black-ish. Mixed-ish centers around three mixed children and their white dad and black mother living in the 1980’s. It is significant that it is set some 20 odd years after the landmark Supreme Court Loving vs. Virginia case, which historically legalized interracial marriage. Specifically, we follow Rainbow Johnson as she’s cast from her place of origin, a softly lit, idyllic commune, into the harsh light of a middle to upper middle class white suburb. This is a story about being feeling out of place in your own skin. Rainbow is seen as not Black enough to hang with the Black students in her school, but also not accepted in the White cliques. There’s welcome voiceover commentary by Tracee Ellis Ross, as Black-ish’s Dr. Rainbow Johnson. In her lilting and sensitive voice, one can feel for empathy, care and embarrassment for her younger self, as well as her pride for how her experiences shaped the confident woman she has ultimately became.
Of course, there’s the classic Key & Peele, also available on Hulu. Now 8 years from it’s 2012 premiere, it’s so great to see the camaraderie and playfulness, with which these talented friends, now extremely accomplished in their own rights, tackle so many shades of being Black in America. Co-creator, Keegan-Michael Key was here quoted discussing his dream, that one day his show will no longer be funny, “The greatest thing that can happen to my show, is that a kid watches something on whatever the equivalent of YouTube is 75 years from now and goes 'Why is this funny? I don't understand this.'“
I also just want to mention another Hulu original Ramy (I know, go, Hulu). Ramy is an Egyptian American who grew up under the shadow of 9/11. It is chilling to see how this relatively carefree, 90’s tween in suburban New Jersey, became personally shaped by that experience, as he becomes a pariah overnight. This autobiographical show by comedian Ramy Youssef deals with being a person of color, and also Muslim in America. I love how Ramy struggles to discover his unique spiritual path, while respectfully navigating his religious heritage. He gives homage to the beauty of his faith, but doesn’t shy away from questioning its power to enforce oppressive gender roles and engender internalized shame.
Racism is a hard pill to swallow and some of us get to choose whether or not to take the pill. Ignoring racism doesn’t make it go away, but drives it underground, where it festers while invisibly shaping our beliefs and impairing our understanding of humanity. In a racist system, truly we all lose. In White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, Robin DiAngelo warns, “It is white people’s responsibility to be less fragile; people of color don’t need to twist themselves into knots trying to navigate us as painlessly as possible.” I agree that the onus of enlightenment, should not be yet another burden on the oppressed. However, art is a transformative common language the enlightens the viewer and emboldens its creator. It is an open doorway into painful experience, that simultaneously educates and strengthens our soul for the battle ahead.