It seems that for sixty years it’s been fed to Americans that racism isn’t an issue. In Color Adjustment, they show a clip from 1951 in which a host claims that there is no room for prejudice in television. And now, in as color-blind a society as America has ever been, racism is still in place.
In a 2005 interview, Morgan Freeman, one of the most well-known Black men, claimed that the way to stop racism is to stop talking about it. Stop making it an issue. And television apparently tried to do that, by portraying worlds in which there was no racism, like Julia. Frankly, it seems like a good idea.
But maybe it’s not. Color Adjustment shows that people want representation of their lives and stories, however awful they may be. The argument goes that it will raise awareness, not promote racism. It’s another fair point.
Dear White People addresses this head-on. There are color-blind characters and those who want their culture and history recognized. To them, being Black is more than just a common ancestor and skin pigmentation. There is Black culture–which is a culture of oppressed people. Oppression lead to close communities, solidarity, and bonding, as well as resentment towards oppressors. I can’t claim to know Black culture, but that is what I’ve read.
So I’ll pose a question. Which approach is better? Do we “fake it ’till we make it,” showing truly post-racial societies, with appropriate proportions of races and as few stereotypes as possible? Or do we press the issue, showing the oppression of Blacks (and other races), and forcing people to see what is happening still?
Perhaps the question is too high-minded, but I find myself unsure of how to act, myself…
I believe that an appropriate first step in tackling your question is to analyze the quote from Shot’s and Stam’s article “Stereotype, Realism and the Struggle over Representation”. “Although total realism is a theoretical impossibility, then, spectators themselves come equipped with a “sense of the real” rooted in their own experience.” While I don’t necessarily agree with the way the rest of this article is presented I think the idea of the spectator sense of real is ingrained within one’s own experience is something that must be critically considered with in the context of your issue. When it comes to representing a “race” it’s simply impossible to make everyone one happy simply because people see race purely aesthetically and generally don’t take the time to considered that we are all one human race regardless of the way we look. Not only that but the things that truly divide people are things predicated on sociological, economic, and ideological doctrine. We just choose to use “aesthetic race” as a cop out. But that in of itself is beside the point. The point is that everyone perceives the world differently , it’s impossible to have a unified view. So to answer your question I honestly believe the best thing that you can do is have a truly objective perception of the world and act accordingly. Honestly I don’t know if I’ve sufficiently answered your question, I just believe it needed to be said.
With all the current uproar in Baltimore and the oppression of African Americans in society recently, this topic and your question leads to a very relevant discussion. Firstly, as a white female who has not experienced any of the discrimination that so many people are suffering from, I am not attempting to speak on behalf of the African American perspective, but rather simply offer a reflection from my viewpoint. That being said, the events unveiling in Baltimore as a reaction to the death of Freddie Gray is enough evidence for me to believe that avoiding the topic of racism is not an approach that resonates too well with many. Any group who is being oppressed by society wants their voices to be heard and acted upon, not swept under a rug. I highly disagree with Morgan Freeman’s statement, and frankly find it extremely ignorant. Not talking about the issue only benefits the citizens who are not at the receiving end of the discrimination and for Freeman who is a highly respected and critically acclaimed African American male, he probably hasn’t endured the same experiences as other individuals in his demographic. Change is not initiated through silence and oblivion, so in regards to eliminating an issue, I find this approach to be highly counter productive and harmful.