The Feb. 24 episode of ABC’s “Black-ish” will take on police brutality. The episode, titled “Hope,” will revolve around a fictional incident of police brutality that Rainbow (Tracee Ellis Ross) and Andre “Dre” Johnson (Anthony Anderson) discuss with family members, including the couple’s four children. Much of the episode will focus on various characters’ reactions as they watch a news broadcast about the case, which involves an African-American teenager’s encounter with police.
Watch Motherboard’s film on the evolving relationship between humans and robots, and what intelligent machines bode for the future of warfare and humanity.
Questions:
If your parents worked nights and weekends to support your family, take one step back.
If you are able to move through the world without fear of sexual assault, take one step forward.
If you can show affection for your romantic partner in public without fear of ridicule or violence, take one step forward.
If you have ever been diagnosed as having a physical or mental illness/disability, take one step back.
If the primary language spoken in your household growing up was not english, take one step back.
If you came from a supportive family environment take one step forward.
If you have ever tried to change your speech or mannerisms to gain credibility, take one step back.
If you can go anywhere in the country, and easily find the kinds of hair products you need and/or cosmetics that match your skin color, take one step forward.
If you were embarrassed about your clothes or house while growing up, take one step back.
If you can make mistakes and not have people attribute your behavior to flaws in your racial/gender group, take one step forward.
If you can legally marry the person you love, regardless of where you live, take one step forward.
If you were born in the United States, take one step forward.
If you or your parents have ever gone through a divorce, take one step back.
If you felt like you had adequate access to healthy food growing up, take one step forward
If you are reasonably sure you would be hired for a job based on your ability and qualifications, take one step forward.
If you would never think twice about calling the police when trouble occurs, take one step forward.
If you can see a doctor whenever you feel the need, take one step forward.
If you feel comfortable being emotionally expressive/open, take one step forward.
If you have ever been the only person of your race/gender/socio-economic status/ sexual orientation in a classroom or workplace setting, please take one step back.
If you took out loans for your education take one step backward.
If you get time off for your religious holidays, take one step forward.
If you had a job during your high school and college years, take one step back.
If you feel comfortable walking home alone at night, take one step forward.
If you have ever traveled outside the United States, take one step forward.
If you have ever felt like there was NOT adequate or accurate representation of your racial group, sexual orientation group, gender group, and/or disability group in the media, take one step back.
If you feel confident that your parents would be able to financially help/support you if you were going through a financial hardship, take one step forward.
If you have ever been bullied or made fun of based on something that you can’t change, take one step back.
If there were more than 50 books in your house growing up, take one step forward.
If you studied the culture or the history of your ancestors in elementary school take one step forward.
If your parents or guardians attended college, take one step forward.
If you ever went on a family vacation, take one step forward.
If you can buy new clothes or go out to dinner when you want to, take one step forward.
If you were ever offered a job because of your association with a friend or family member, take one step forward.
If one of your parents was ever laid off or unemployed not by choice, take one step back.
If you were ever uncomfortable about a joke or a statement you overheard related to your race, ethnicity, gender, appearance, or sexual orientation but felt unsafe to confront the situation, take one step back.
Bill Cosby (1937- ), a Black American comedian and television actor, is best known for “The Cosby Show” (1984-1992), a Black family sitcom where he played the beloved father, Dr Cliff Huxtable. It was a huge hit with both Blacks and Whites, arguably one of the best American television shows ever. But in 2015 it is being pulled from television: dozens of women have come forward accusing him of rape and sexual assault, reporting cases that took place between 1965 and 2008.
On Ferguson and the killing of people of color by white police officers:
I am surprised, with all that’s been talked about with this issue for decades, at the language we use to discuss this. I would offer one simple adjustment to our thinking, which would potentially get us to finally address the issue at its source. We have a way of talking about this as in the passive tense rather than the active tense. I heard students at one of my recent visits to a college talk about how “I am in danger because of the color of my skin.” This is not true, you are in danger because of the mindset of the culture and mentality and actions of other people. The burden is not on you. It is on them. You are not being killed (passive tense), people are killing you (active tense). You can’t stop the passive tense, you can only stop the active tense. Stop the killing—then people will stop being killed.
I had reservations about this show and I was not overly impressed with the first episode. The writers did an okay job, good enough to give them more air time though. I didn’t feel the problem was a twisting of identities. The show is about mixed identity and that’s what makes it interesting.
On movies about painful parts of Back History:
I totally feel Ayo on her point here. I can relate because I can’t stand watching videos of people getting hurt. I also don’t like horror movies. And because I’m aware of people’s sensitive feelings and that painful news can trigger remembering other painful events, I try to limit painful news and painful history on my personal Facebook page. However, because it’s important to know the truth of current events and history I do post about painful news and history on some of my social media. I segment what I post. I put oppressive stuff on my Oppression Monitor social sites and more positive or neutral posts on my Community Village social sites.
On “Dear White People” and Movies like it:
I thought I was not going to love this movie based on some of the previews I saw. However, the acting, directing, cinematography, lighting, hair, wardrobe and story as a whole were all excellent! And it’s a good movie to open discussions on fraternity segregation compared to housing segregation. Fraternities like to be grouped by common interests, whereas segregated housing off campus is highly problematic. This movie could also prompt great blog posts about interracial dating, interracial marriage, identity framing, society response to interracial dating / marriage and family response to interracial dating / marriage.
On “How to Get Away with Murder” and the “make-up and wig moment”:
I completely agree with Ayo. This scene was genius.
“Fruitvale Station” (2013) is an American film about the last day of Oscar Grant’s life. On January 1st 2009, Grant, an unarmed Black man, was shot in the back by the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police at Fruitvale Station in Oakland, California. Octavia Spencer plays his mother. Ryan Coogler writes and directs, his first film. It won an NAACP Image Award, an award at Cannes, but no Oscar.
The reality of Hollywood can be hilariously unreal when it comes to fantasy movies.
Community Village‘s insight:
Hollywood does a lot of work in maintaining segregation and inequity. When they do not include people of color, they are keeping the jobs and the money from people of color.
Their movies often do not reflect the real mixture of races in today’s United States.
“On March 12, Variety.com announced that actress Rooney Mara has been cast as Tiger Lily from the Peter Pan story in Joe Wright’s retelling called Panset by Warner Bros. to come out July 2015.
The trouble is that Tiger Lily is explicitly stated in the novel and play as being a Native American. Rooney Mara is clearly white and pale-skinned. As far as sources such as Flavorwire, Imdb, and Entertainment Weekly can tell, there has been no change to Tiger Lily’s identity as Native American.
