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Brethren, let us continue. If you recall, I was in the middle of a long list about the racist erasure of the Black experience/struggle and how poorly they articulated these themes.
11. There’s the nonsense in (I think) the second episode. It started out with an interesting exploration of gaslighting, which, hilariously and predictably, failed to get this materialistic, sniveling coward (the protagonist) his job back. Then, we get to watch a filthy scene in which the following things happen: 1) the white man who was so hands-on and talkative before when the deal was being constructed was no where to be found when the deal was broken. He sent out the white-passing Asian minority to do the dirty work of getting rid of the Black guy (as they actively “stole” all the rights to his comic strip, Toast and Butter in the background).This is a classic example of how whites have historically either overtly or covertly pitted minorities against each other in the United States. And of course the woman was Asian (model minority myth—ACTIVATE!!!), who condescended to give the Black protagonist a lecture about how he had to pay his “dues” (be the palatable minority for a while) before he acted up (spoke on controversial issues or became controversial). She gave an example of John Legend of ALL people…WTH?! She said he had to do years of songs like Ordinary People before doing songs like Preach.
GTFO with that BS!!!
First of all, John Legend ain’t woke. (Being a Black, nice, considerate guy who happens to notice that stuff is jacked up in society does not equal ‘wokeness’! And arguably, making a song about it isn’t ‘controversial’—especially since so many people suffer from bad cases of dysconciousness. To them, you’re just singing about how the sky is blue.)
Then there was the dirty attempt to make it seem as if Black people could be “racist” (which they can’t), or at least, fall prey to the same type of rampant homogenization that white people do when they speak of members of other races. During their talk, the protagonist tries to guess the race of his lecturer, and his uncertainty (which is really because she is white-passing) shows. But the reason why his uncertainty is problematic is because its depicted in the same kind of nonchalant and facetious fashion as it would be if coming from whites. Here, they make the Asian woman take the high road and extend her “forgiveness” for his “ignorance”.
Again, FOH:
How good would she be discerning the Black people if she was presented with the true phenotypic diversity of our race??? Even literal SCIENTISTS and ANTHROPOLOGISTS STILL can’t do it accurately, but they want to act like this Asian woman is more cultured for knowing what race her (own) white-washed ass is???
Ridiculous. Furthermore, in an environment like ours (USA which runs on an identity-by-race paradigm), looks are everything, and she’s a pair of contacts away from looking the part (appearing white). So, the narratives that they tried to push in that scene of: “See?! Black people can’t tell them apart either! Everyone gets confused about the identity of other races, not just us (white people).” Or “See?! Black people can be racist too!” are so falsifiable that they’re likely just straight up FALSE. (Especially since I could tell that she was Asian when I first saw her. I rationalized how watered-down her features were with an assumption that she was mixed, as any sensible person would. And…I think…that I did all this while still being African (or Black in America)…I dunno, I haven’t looked at myself in the mirror today though, so I could be wrong.)
Then, to top it all off, indeed, the chaser to this nasty-ass cocktail was how they darkened his picture after he was barred from entering the building where the Asian woman worked. (This reminded me of what they did to Assata Shakur in the media while her NJ Turnpike trial was going on. This is recorded in her autobiography. ‘Darker’ is worse and worth rejecting, but ‘lighter’ is better and more acceptable.)
12. In episode 3, the white savior complex was activated again by the writers of the show. The frizzy-haired, drugged-out, hippie ginger is pit against the lazy, materialistic, pragmatist clown. The white guy is the voice of reason, the environmentalist, the bleeding-heart yearning for human connection and physicality (the joy of exercise via walking). The Black guy’s response? “You make friendship hard.” Are you kidding me? First, that’s a diss to anyone who cares about any of those important topics (the environment, human connection or healthy living). Secondly, the Black guy (who’s fat, and could use the extra steps) wants the gig-economy (UberEats) to service him where exactly where he’s at, in his friend’s apartment. (Side bar: WHY DOESN’T HE GO HOME???) He is exactly what the capitalists were trying to create (compulsive consumer) so that they could feed off him forever! You couldn’t imagine how disappointing that scene was for me. It was revolting.
13. Then there was this…party…and all the things that led to the protagonist being there. The white woman that he was driving around took advantage of the fact that the protagonist overshared about himself (said he was broke). She literally bought his Blackness to decorate her party. She bought him for display. “Blackness for rent” becomes a strong theme in the 4th episode. But it’s ironic how the protagonist never considers his actions (getting paid to go to the party) as such.
It’s giving…the movie: Get Out vibes.
And then, at the party, the disrespect and erasure of the Black (American) experience continued. In that one scene we saw:
A) Fetishization of Black people
B) Tokenism (one of the whites called the protagonist “very articulate”)
C) The stereotype of all Black people know each other (which is rooted in the concepts of homogeneity of minorities)
D) Judgement of the protagonist’s choice to wear all black
E) A social alliance of Asians and whites against him, the sole Black person at the party
F) Commentary that conflated identity within the African diaspora (people were talking to him about Uganda, and Wakanda when he’s not even African. Folks are gushing over loving “black stuff” about the Boondocks, and about their sympathy for OJ)
G) A series of white and white-skinned people trying to prove that they approve of his blackness
H) Hollow critiques of liberalism
I) Rhetoric about not all white people being racist (especially white foreigners, as evidenced by the white female foreigner not understanding racially-charged contextual references). By the way, Mr. Slave Mentality (the protagonist) ends up in bed with this woman on multiple occasions. (Symbolically, this mitigates his pro-Black awakening.) And that was annoying because it reminded me of just how quickly Blacks can welcome someone into their midst and good graces after they say a couple of nice things or imitate them (since people in the western world see imitation in part, as flattery and approval. How many videos have you seen of white people doing slightly-better-than-bad renditions of popular Black dances, going viral, or getting hyped up by all the Black people around them? I’ve seen too many to count!)
14) Next, there was the issue with partisanship within the Black community, which shouldn’t even have been depicted because creators of the show couldn’t even talk about Blackness proficiently (and now they want to dabble in issues at the intersections of race and gender???). It was a stupid move! I detested the Black man vs Black woman oppression Olympics crap that they were trying to do (in the scene when the Black friend follows his pecker through the Black woman’s IG page, and then debases her by treating her as gift-for-pussy type of girl).
15. The nonsense surged full force in episode 4. Barred from using his own Toast and Butter comic strip, the protagonist comes up with a new artistic project: Black people for rent. It’s a fascinating and controversial concept that does all of the following:
A) Earn the admiration of people online who see it as art or satire
B) Earn the ire of people online who are jealous of his success in sales, SJWs, or compulsive oppression Olympians
C) Motivate the protagonist’s lazy Black friend to make them a quick buck by selling clothing with the phrase on it
D) Excitement among whites who want to own Blacks the way their forefathers did
E) Lead Black people to actually call in looking to be hired
F) Lead companies to actually call in looking to hire Black people
G) Lead white people to actually call in to ask if there are Rent-to-Own options
H) Lead children to request them for a birthday party as entertainment. (What, would the Black person replace a clown?)
16. Finally, there is the ULTIMATE insult. The white hippie is enraged by the artistic turn of events and lashes out at the protagonist. He says that he’s tired of people bringing their racism to him. WOW. He’s the true victim here, huh? He, a white male in America who suffers for fun and on a whim is: tIrEd?! Fascinating. They always do find ways to make it about themselves at the end of the day, don’t they? Also, does the hippie think he’s not racist because he “has a Black friend”? Or maybe he thinks he’s not racist because he knows better than to talk like his fellow white people? The white guy said: “…[Maybe it’s] not my place to say it, but stay in your lane, don’t dabble in this stuff you can’t understand the implications of.” What the FUCK was he talking about??? The protagonist, who is Black, and his Black friend LIVE the implications of racism, white supremacy and anti-Blackness DAILY. WHO THE FUCK IS THIS RECESSIVE DORK to talk about implications??? Erroneously, the hippie draws on Greek mythology (Pandora’s box) to symbolize the trouble that the protagonist is getting into. This is problematic for two main reasons: 1) THE BOX BEEN OPEN, ok?!
So the protagonist ain’t start a damn thing as this analogy would insinuate! It was in fact, the ancestors of this tOkeN wHiTe MaN, who 2) if we extend the analogy likens himself to the gods that told Pandora not to open it! That’s a god complex if I’ve ever seen one, and blasphemous too, if there’s anyone who still worships the Greek Pantheon.
I mean, honestly, let’s consider this: can People of Non-Color really be experts on white supremacy (and derivative forms of oppression) just because they made it? I think that’s debatable, because surely, many of whites, even though they benefit from it every day, don’t even know how it works! (This truth is behind why the “can’t tell them apart” fake racism scene listed above as #12 was written into the script).
So, what does this scene (#16) come to? It comes to a “shut up and draw command” from a white man, which parallels to the “shut up and dribble” command that we've seen in real life.
Toxic and pathetic.
If you’re a conscious person and want a headache, I beg you: watch the show Woke on Hulu.
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