Me, discussing a TV
show? It’s more likely than you think.
I want to start off by
saying this: I am black. I’ve made many
allusions to my on-again, off-again afro here and elsewhere, and a few jokes
about how I’ve willingly eaten fried chicken (and enjoyed it). Even though I could potentially pass as a
really-tanned white guy, I’d say I’m in a good place with my race. I certainly have no problems making jokes
about it, as you may be well aware.
I have a sneaking
suspicion that my family always thought otherwise, though. I remember how my mom would line the family
bookshelves with books about black culture, and stock the bathrooms with
magazines solely targeting African-Americans of varying status and concerns
with beauty tips. I remember how my mom
would always tell me that “I need to learn more about my people”, and how I
would silently wonder if she actually hated all races except our own. I know it’s important to consider the
difficulties, characteristics, and triumphs of one’s culture, but I’ve always
taken a laissez-faire (read: lazy) approach to it. I’m black, yeah, but more importantly I’m a
human being. THAT’S the race I belong
to, and I don’t want to form any sort of divide between myself and others,
well-meaning and subtle as that divide may be.
It'd help if I was more than a collection of pixels, but one thing at a time.
But with that in mind,
I feel like there are certain…pressures.
Like there are certain things that African-Americans are expected to
like and do. I’d argue that things are
starting to get a bit better thanks to media portrayals (barring examples like
Grover from the abhorrent Percy Jackson movie), and I know for a
fact that just as there’s truth to some stereotypes, there are more than enough
examples that split off from them. I’m
an example of dissent if there ever was one, and I’ve known and met plenty more
who could say the same. We’re all human
beings with different characteristics -- some similar, some unique. Some expected, some unexpected. That’s all.
Why do I bring all this
up, you ask? Because I want to offer a
framework. I want people to understand
where I’m coming from beforehand.
Because I’m about to discuss a certain show, and the bile might really start to spew.
But it won’t spew
because of anything related to race.
It’ll spew because the show seriously
pisses me off.
