I got suckered into Dear White People (the Netflix series) because it was listed as a credit for Tessa Thompson, Valkyrie, in the new Thor movie. Apparently, they made a movie in which she appeared, then they decided to make a series and a different girl took the lead.
I can't say I hated it, but it had that theme where we must see through their eyes, this case being the black student population. I don't tend to like these type of shows because I am a minority too and I went through college and it never seemed this polarized. I am not black, so of course, I can't know their pain, but sometimes you do bring shit upon yourself. There were a few different things the black groups on the show would get together to rally against, one being a "black face" party. After dissecting it, the original guy that suggested the party was told to shut it down, but in secret, the main black girl trying to get change going hacked his Facebook account and secretly sent out the invitation. The party happened and the black people were offended, as they should be. Where does that leave the campus when they did the right thing and stopped it before it happened? In reality, upon finding out the black girl troublemaker, Samantha White, made the party go, she should have been suspended or kicked out of the university, and role credits for her. In this fairy tale, she just gets more powerful as she pouts out of the dean's office.
The biggest issue they face is when on a Friday night, a small group of the black kids end up cruising the campus looking for something to do, end up at the whitest kids house for a party. Everyone is having a good time and drinks and playing games. Then they break into a dance scene and they are playing some hip hop music which is fine, but the lyrics say "nigger" this and "nigger" that as most hip hop/rap music uses it as every third or fourth word.
I take issue with this, like it or not, this type of music has been successful enough to become the music of the day. If it is black performers singing it for the masses, and they hope the masses sing it, then the word has to lose its magic power or look to those artists and censor the shit as it used to be censored back in the 80's, when something offended the little old ladies. You can't have it both ways, where the top ten songs all say my nigger this and my nigga that, but you whitie, can't repeat the phrase.
So they get into a confrontation about the lyric in the song and it is fine until some shoving and punches get thrown, whereby then the cops get called. The white guy host did say these are my friends and yes they are students and did try to help, but you know cops and how they are always portrayed. They ask the toughest looking black kid for his ID, and they always get mad and ask why, dammit!!!! just take the fucking ID out, you know what the next step is for a cop, he is not going to back down and leave. The cop then pulls a gun and pretty much makes the kid shit himself and he becomes this broken shell of a kid that he once was.
The cop was way wrong, but the kid could have helped himself. Rule one, you know cops are dicks, just do what they say. The law is their friend, you will not win, and you will find yourself dusted with marijuana and a weapon if he "accidentally" shoots you, so shut up and do as the officer says. Rule two, buy your own alcohol and hang with your kind. I never assumed that kids that were friendly in my class were my friends and wanted to hang out after hours. Then again, I never needed more than two or three people to have a good time. Rule three, how about you keep it real and spend some time studying. I like to say I didn't study much, but these kids really didn't study at all. Between going to class, doing so much homework, figuring out what to eat, pooping and showering, I never saw enough time to fight the system. I hung out with the HBSA at UT. The Hispanic Business Student Association because one of our roommates was in business and that group was filled with pretty Hispanics. I also went camping with the psychiatry club because another roommate was a psych major. I hung out with the chemists, but those nerds just cared about their elements and sandwich parties.
I was just arguing this with my folks a couple weekends ago, but I flirted with the idea of joining the only Hispanic greek group, but the idea of paying for my friends and their access seemed a bit 80's movie for me. It was four of us that came up here together from the junior college and none of us could really afford the fees. My sister was the last of us four at home, so for her, there was enough to pay for the sorority fees and she thought it was great. She didn't get to live in the house, but she helped pay for the mortgage, so that was good. Once she stopped paying, they lost touch, so we are all biting our teeth wondering what will happen if there is a female in our family who needs that connection to succeed.
The dean being black and a huge dick argues with the black kids that the cops would never pull a gun on his kid because he raised him right, only to be proven wrong as the kid loses control as he is kept out of his own organized function, he breaks a window in desperation and is promptly arrested with guns pointed at him. The dean breaks down seeing that his perfect boy who he has raised could also be mistaken for another black thug.
I don't have the solution for the race problems, and I am not sure there is one. People need an enemy, I think, and if we do it by skin color, it is an easy divide. I will probably continue watching if there is a new season, it did catch my attention, even without Valkyrie.
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