After binge watching “Dear White People,” I’m convinced that other conservatives need to watch it as well.
It kicks off with a pretty cliche plot: A group of white students host a blackface party, triggering the minority students on a fictional Ivy League campus. Outraged over another perceived injustice, the black organizations band together to rally against it.
As a conservative of color, I was a little wary “Dear White People” would mostly be a well-produced complaint about “institutional racism.” While the show has received rave reviews, conservative media has been outraged.
And “Dear White People” does have some issues.
The protagonist, Samantha White, hosts a preachy radio gig on campus aimed pretty directly at lecturing white folks. She spends time telling whites they contribute to a racist society and chastises them for asking people of color about their ethnicity. The characters too often repeat liberal talking points about racism, such as “mass incarceration is the new Jim Crow” and that “fiscal conservative” is another way to say “fuck poor people.” A black student who is a perfectionist and hopes to one day change the system from within is scornfully referred to as a “Clarence Thomas.” And annoyingly, black characters frequently used black slang, like “woke.”
Despite those problems, the show is funny, engaging, well-written and uses humor to make valid points about racism and prejudice. Rather than a constant lecture, the writing examines how certain policies have affected black people. “Dear White People” criticizes the war on drugs and addresses the discomfort black students can feel in the classroom. At one point, a white teacher bluntly asks Samantha, a biracial black girl, to speak on the issue of slavery. From my own experience, there’s nothing more socially uncomfortable than having your white teacher hold you up as an example of the Civil Rights era.
Now, I totally get why conservatives wouldn’t want to watch a show about racism from a liberal perspective or hear jokes cracked about Republicans. Regardless, “Dear White People” will likely have you thinking about racism and issues facing black students in ways you haven’t before.
From pointing out inconsistencies in liberal orthodoxy to self-deprecating humor, there are several reasons for a conservative to at least try watching “Dear White People.”
Here are the five best:
(Warning: This contains spoilers.)
1. The characters each represent a completely different approach to racism.
Each of the six main characters, Troy, Samantha (Sam), Colandrea, Reggie, Lionel and Joelle, have different ideas of race and how to deal with racism, including some conservatives can relate to. Sam is a biracial black girl who struggles to balance fighting racism while being half-white. She reads Malcolm X but sleeps with a white guy. She likes more “white music,” but will turn up rap music to fit in with her black social group.
Reggie, the more militant character, suggests a revolution and urges people to fight against the system by protesting perceived wrongs. Troy, the son of the dean, strives to be perfect and encourages black and white people to work together to fix societal wrongs, an idea conservatives often endorse. He prefers working with the administration and those in power to solve the issues on campus.
2. Uncomfortable subjects are tackled with humor.
Characters frequently trade jokes about racism, the slave trade, the Bill Cosby rape scandal and cultural appropriation.
In one scene, a foreign student from Africa quips to the black Americans that his ancestors were smart enough not to get caught during the slave trade. Joelle and Sam crack jokes about the Bill Cosby situation in a way to deal with their favorite show being tarnished.
The show also pokes fun at how the black characters have assumptions about black and white people. A caller dials in to Sam’s radio show and suggests that a black student be held responsible for his interaction with an officer. “When are you going to check your white privilege, man?” Sam freaks out on the caller, assuming only white people would defend the police.
“Uh … I’m black,” the caller responds.
3. The show doesn’t ignore the inconsistencies of thought in the social justice movement.
Through Sam’s character, the writers point out how the social justice movement can be a little hypocritical.
Despite being the face of the fight against racism on the college, it turns out Sam is sleeping with a white guy. It’s an ironic moment, considering Sam previously stated she prefers black men. Joelle, her black friend, argues that Sam is a hypocrite for doing so as she once wrote an article arguing that sleeping with a white person is the same as sleeping with your oppressor.
In another instance, Sam, who often complains about cultural appropriation, asks Gabe, her white lover, to adopt more “black” characteristics to fit in with her friends. Before taking him to a screening of “Defamation,” she complains about his clothes, asking him if he at least has a “pair of Js.”
“Oh, so in this instance you want me to appropriate your culture,” Gabe quips.
4. The scenes on police brutality are eye-opening.
“Dear White People” offers a unique perspective on police brutality and how it affects families.
Take a scene with Troy, the dean’s son. Troy was raised to be perfect so as to avoid any negative interactions with the police. He inevitably slips up and is involved in an altercation with police. As Troy struggles during an arrest, an officer immediately reaches for his gun with the intent to shoot Troy, ignoring the probability that Troy may not even be armed.
Troy’s father comes rushing out of a nearby building, pleading with the officers to spare his son’s life. It’s a tense moment where Troy’s father realizes that no matter how hard he tries, he might not be able to save his son from his greatest fear: death at the hands of the police.
5.) The soundtrack for “Dear White People” is addictive.
The show does a good job of blending catchy songs from different genres, eras and artists. They include songs from the 70’s group the Softones, Future, Whitesnake and Childish Gambino. It makes the show enjoyable to watch to have good music playing in the background and at the end of each episode.
The #BoycottNetflix people were wrong — “Dear White People” is definitely worth watching.
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