Dear White People is one of the most perfectly timed movies in American history.
As Dear White People arrives in theaters, there will likely be protesting and riots in the streets of Missouri over two black teens fatally shot by police in recent months.
It will come at a time when some Americans ask themselves if their Ebola fears are secretly racist.
There’s also the questionable attitudes expressed by some citizens toward Barack Obama, the United State’s first non-white president.
Dear White People forces Americans to face an uncomfortable reality—Racism hasn’t gone anywhere.
You know this when discussions of existing bigotry in America are met with the claim that to talk about race or racism is to BE a racist.
This backward logic is hilariously called out in Dear White People, along with the assumption that “only Mexicans” experience racism. The Native Americans still fighting to get the Washington Redskins to change their name may have something to say about that.
As you will see in Dear White People, America is anything but over the topic of racism.
As long as racism continues to thrive in one form (overtly expressed bigotry) or another (cultural appropriation and negative stereotypes), it will NEVER be over.
This will definitely be a movie that provides food for thought, but will the people who need to see Dear White People even bother to do so?
Individuals who benefit from a certain form of privilege tend to flee discussions where they are forced to own it.
Some are already speculating that although the movie is called Dear White People, these persons may pass on the controversial movie altogether.
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— DearWhitePeople (@DearWhitePeople) October 8, 2014
After all, “mainstream audience” is still silently synonymous with “mostly white audience” in America.
Will that fact doom this unique and promising film? Probably not.
There is a great deal of buzz surrounding this movie and it’s already stirred up a great deal of discussion and debate.
Regardless of how the movie performs, the ability to generate that kind of attention will make it hard to call it a failure.
Dear White People arrives in theaters October 17th.