Dear White People,
WARNING: Spoilers!
By: Jamirah Harris
WARNING: Spoilers!
By: Jamirah Harris
The Netflix original show called Dear White People talks about the social and environmental issues in our society that is discussed, but not on a deep and meaningful level. Dear White People directed by Justin Simien, focuses this show on issues that contains police brutality, white supremacy, identity, interracial dating and the obvious Black Lives Matter Movement.
The series cast includes Logan Browning as Samantha “Sam”, White the witty and mixed advocate for black power on her student podcast she entitled "Dear White People", where she discusses the racial issues that are exposed on campus at Winchester University. The show also includes: Antoinette Robertson who plays as Colandrea Conners whom everyone calls Coco, Brandon P. Bell as Troy Fairbanks, the dean’s son and all out weed smoker, Ashley Featherson as Joelle Brooks who is Sam’s closest friend, Marque Richardson as Reggie Green, who has the biggest crush on Sam, DeRon Horton as Lionel Higgins, the school’s gay newspaper writer, and John Amedori as Gabe; Sam’s white boyfriend who was also known as “summer bae” in the first episode.
The show had an amazing impact from the cast to the viewers who continue to watch it. Brea Craft, a Hillgrove student who is still in the mist of watching season three thought the show had just the right amount of comedy and focused on the aspects that affect our society everyday. “I think it is a very powerful show, and like, it's funny but it's really serious at the same time. I just like it because you get to experience the college experience, especially being an African American.” Kennedi Gaifer, another Hillgrove student also thinks the show is great, but thought the show would get a different reaction from the white audience. “It was true, and I knew that the white people would be a little bit pressed about it.” Graifer also mentioned that the show also provides other point of views from others who were there at the moment. “It gives both sides of the story instead of one side of the story.” Drew Kenner, another Hillgrove student also shares his input on the show, “The first time I watched it, I liked it because it was very eye opening on a bunch of issues.”
The show gives examples of historic college events like a blackface party. In the not-so shocking aftermath of her attendance of the blackface party, Coco dressed up as Beyonce’s “Formation” outfit and when she ran into Sam recording the events happening at this party Coco had something to say, “This may come as a shock to you, but these people, they don’t give a f**k about no Harriet motherf*cking Tubman. They spend millions of dollars on their lips, their tans, their a*ses, Kanye tickets... because they wanna be like us. And they got to be for a night.” Mr. kenner shared his reaction to Coco’s response and said, “I thought she definitely belonged to that school the moment she said that because, you know, at the blackface party sort of people are white. So of course, they don't care about Harriet Tubman. They care about the more, like, visual aspects of being black by how you look. You know, big lips, big butt, that kind of thing. So, I thought she was very- I thought she was open.”
Other real world events have also been portrayed like, the heart wrenching scene where the character Reggie, was held up at gunpoint at a party because the police officer could not identify him and made Reggie show his I.D. When Reggie resisted, the cop pulled out a gun on him. That scene forever effected Marque Richardson so much that he had to step outside and take a deep breath that he would begin to cry. Craft said she would have acted the same way Reggie had, “I would be really scared. I'd probably act just like him, like, I'd be confused and scared at the same time as to why this happening because it really like wasn't my fault.” The next day, Sam spoke out on her podcast and spoke out on what was really going on, but know one just wanted to speak about it, “Dear white people, our skin color is not a weapon. You don’t have to be afraid of it.” Craft shared her thought on what Sam shared about hers, “Being black means that there is no reason for people to be scared of us. There's no reason to like, do the stuff that they did in the show just because we're different skin color.”
Dear White People may be a little intense view of what the world is like, but it shows what it is without tip-toeing around the subject. The show gives factual evidence that what people do onto others not only affects one person but the whole community. Whether it has to do with police brutality or identity, it still affects every person of that environment. We all may be of different backgrounds, but we all want what is best for this world and for this country, and it is up to advocates like Sam and Reggie to call some folks out on what they think the best really entails.
The series cast includes Logan Browning as Samantha “Sam”, White the witty and mixed advocate for black power on her student podcast she entitled "Dear White People", where she discusses the racial issues that are exposed on campus at Winchester University. The show also includes: Antoinette Robertson who plays as Colandrea Conners whom everyone calls Coco, Brandon P. Bell as Troy Fairbanks, the dean’s son and all out weed smoker, Ashley Featherson as Joelle Brooks who is Sam’s closest friend, Marque Richardson as Reggie Green, who has the biggest crush on Sam, DeRon Horton as Lionel Higgins, the school’s gay newspaper writer, and John Amedori as Gabe; Sam’s white boyfriend who was also known as “summer bae” in the first episode.
The show had an amazing impact from the cast to the viewers who continue to watch it. Brea Craft, a Hillgrove student who is still in the mist of watching season three thought the show had just the right amount of comedy and focused on the aspects that affect our society everyday. “I think it is a very powerful show, and like, it's funny but it's really serious at the same time. I just like it because you get to experience the college experience, especially being an African American.” Kennedi Gaifer, another Hillgrove student also thinks the show is great, but thought the show would get a different reaction from the white audience. “It was true, and I knew that the white people would be a little bit pressed about it.” Graifer also mentioned that the show also provides other point of views from others who were there at the moment. “It gives both sides of the story instead of one side of the story.” Drew Kenner, another Hillgrove student also shares his input on the show, “The first time I watched it, I liked it because it was very eye opening on a bunch of issues.”
The show gives examples of historic college events like a blackface party. In the not-so shocking aftermath of her attendance of the blackface party, Coco dressed up as Beyonce’s “Formation” outfit and when she ran into Sam recording the events happening at this party Coco had something to say, “This may come as a shock to you, but these people, they don’t give a f**k about no Harriet motherf*cking Tubman. They spend millions of dollars on their lips, their tans, their a*ses, Kanye tickets... because they wanna be like us. And they got to be for a night.” Mr. kenner shared his reaction to Coco’s response and said, “I thought she definitely belonged to that school the moment she said that because, you know, at the blackface party sort of people are white. So of course, they don't care about Harriet Tubman. They care about the more, like, visual aspects of being black by how you look. You know, big lips, big butt, that kind of thing. So, I thought she was very- I thought she was open.”
Other real world events have also been portrayed like, the heart wrenching scene where the character Reggie, was held up at gunpoint at a party because the police officer could not identify him and made Reggie show his I.D. When Reggie resisted, the cop pulled out a gun on him. That scene forever effected Marque Richardson so much that he had to step outside and take a deep breath that he would begin to cry. Craft said she would have acted the same way Reggie had, “I would be really scared. I'd probably act just like him, like, I'd be confused and scared at the same time as to why this happening because it really like wasn't my fault.” The next day, Sam spoke out on her podcast and spoke out on what was really going on, but know one just wanted to speak about it, “Dear white people, our skin color is not a weapon. You don’t have to be afraid of it.” Craft shared her thought on what Sam shared about hers, “Being black means that there is no reason for people to be scared of us. There's no reason to like, do the stuff that they did in the show just because we're different skin color.”
Dear White People may be a little intense view of what the world is like, but it shows what it is without tip-toeing around the subject. The show gives factual evidence that what people do onto others not only affects one person but the whole community. Whether it has to do with police brutality or identity, it still affects every person of that environment. We all may be of different backgrounds, but we all want what is best for this world and for this country, and it is up to advocates like Sam and Reggie to call some folks out on what they think the best really entails.
