Black ‘Dear White People’ director says blacks aren’t racist, not a double standard to use n-word
Hit Netflix show “Dear White People’s” director Justin Simien discussed the show’s premise as well as why he doesn’t believe in “reverse racism” with The Huffington Post on Monday.
The series, adapted from Simien’s 2014 film of the same name, is cultivated around the black college experience and is set on the fictional — and primarily white — Winchester University campus.
“Dear White People” doesn’t just address and attack racism — it also delves into other hot-button topics like police brutality, the n-word and interracial relationships — both romantic relationships and friendships.
The video, titled “Dear White People & Double Standards,” attacks “reverse racism” and why a show called “Dear Black People” would be offensive despite Simien’s expression that “Dear White People” isn’t.
Logan Browning, who portrays cast member Sam White, sat down with Simien to address the issues that many people have with the controversial series.
“A lot of people have a lot of questions,” she explained, “including me. One of the questions I have kind of has to do with double standards. I mean, the title of the show: ‘Dear White People.’ Is that not a double standard?”
Simien answered, “I would say that it’s an assumption that the show is ‘finger-wagging’ or blaming white people for for something, and it’s also an incorrect assumption.”
“It’s actually a show about the experience of being a marginalized group amongst a bigger group that doesn’t necessarily see you. All of American culture is kind of a ‘Dear Black People,'” he added. “We are very aware of where we fit and where we don’t fit in culture just by watching television.”
“On the other side, unfortunately, because oppression is very real in this country, if a white person makes jokes about a black people, that actually affects black peoples’ lives. That’s not a double standard,” he said, shaking his head.
In the vein of double standards, Simien and Browning addressed why it’s OK for black people to call one another the n-word while it’s not OK for white people to call black people the n-word.
“How many things do white people have?” Browning asked in response to whether or not the usage of the n-word by a black person is a double standard. “They have have all of the things — there is this one thing, there is this one word that black people took and used as a form of endearment and it’s ours.”
“So much hatred behind it when it comes from the mouths of others,” Browning added. “And this is something that we’ve turned into a very special, casual term. Not to be used by everyone.
Simien added, “We made medicine out of our poison.”
Simien and Browning added that as far as the black presence — and platform — on the internet, there should never be anything called “HuffPo White Voices” as opposed to the already established “HuffPo Black Voices,” because the internet is already white.
The two then steered the conversation to reverse racism.
“When a white person gets their feelings hurt by a joke that a black person might make about white people, OK, all right — people got feelings,” Simien said.
However, though Browning agreed that while everybody has feelings, black people can’t be racist.
“Black people can’t be racist,” she said flatly. “Black people can be prejudiced. They can be biased, but they can’t be racist, and why is that? … Racism is the oppression of a marginalized group in a society that’s based on white supremacy.”
“If you are a white person, I’m sorry,” Browning concluded. “You naturally benefit from white privilege.”
See the rest in the video below.
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