This is based on a movie up until a few minutes ago I never heard of. I am not offended, but I am concerned because being Caucasian and half Hispanic and half Eastern European, I have seen ignorance on both sides of the spectrum. However the last two white people I have seen wear black face makeup were Ted Danson with Whoopi Goldberg in the 1990s and Howard Stern with Sherman Hemsley (spelling?) making fun of them on Howard Stern's New Years Rotten Eve pay per view special from 1993. You can look these up on YouTube. A lot of urban culture has crossed over from black people to white people and white people to black, but having grown up in a melting pot like NYC where people of many cultures coexist for the most part peacefully, I think a TV series based on what appears to have been an obscure movie, (maybe I am wrong), is irresponsible and feels like blatant race baiting and no white people I know personally have ever worn blackface makeup anywhere. This also goes against recent Netflix series like Luke Cage that depicted an African American man with super powers who fights for the rights of the community he lives in against criminals of any persuasion and explored some themes of social injustice that exists in the United States. Social injustice effects everyone and no one is innocent. However something like this that looks like a variant on the Harper Valley PTA TV movie inspired by the song of the 1970s, seems one sided and promotes stereotypes without any redeemable quality rather than ask Americans to think for themselves. Instead of just portraying a situation that is insulting to all races because it characterizes people with no social redeeming qualities on either side and pits people against each other with acts of vandalism that feels exploitive at best and hateful at worst, why not depict a series where race is not an issue and diversity is a strength. Netflix, you will be responsible in part for whatever backlash this may inspire. I hope none of it will lead to poorer race relations or predictive programming. There is too much negativity and hate out there now and this only divides us all as a country of many cultures who are stronger together, but are weaker when divided by bread and circuses perpetrated by programming like this. #NoRaceHateNetflix
(C) Copyright By Mark A. Rivera
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