Shut up and listen.
No, really. “Dear White People” is just a more pleasant way of saying “shut up and listen.”
“Netflix” released a ten-episode series titled “Dear White People” that is a spinoff of a 2014 movie of the same name, and it will most likely address any and all questions, comments or concerns you’ve ever had about the difficult subject of race relations in the United States.
All you have to do is shut up and listen.
The series will pick up where the movie left off, although you don’t have to watch the movie to understand the show, and will continue to follow outspoken and witty student Samantha White (Logan Browning) and the rest of her foes and friends as they navigate life at a fictional, predominately-white Ivy League school. White still has her own radio show titled “Dear White People” where she creates chaos by criticizing white people’s racist actions.
“Dear White People” isn’t an attack on all white people, nor does it speak for the entire black population, but the series does present plenty of topics and scenarios, like let’s say a blackface-themed party on campus, that people of color find themselves rolling their eyes at while white people can’t seem to understand what the big deal really is.
It also offers real-life microaggressions that people of color have to deal with on a daily and explains in a colorful, satirical manner why you probably shouldn’t ask the black girl at work to teach you how to twerk and why you most likely shouldn’t dress up as an “African” for your school’s Halloween party.
“Dear White People” is here because more often than not, people will ask you to explain why what they said was racist or why that advertisement that Shea Moisture just put out was so wrong. Or why there is a BET, but black people would get upset if there was a White Entertainment Television network.
Now, while the series isn’t an end-all solution to all of your race questions and concerns, it will definitely tell you about yourself — just shut up and listen and you might learn a thing or five.
Also if you still think “Dear White People” is “racist,” well, surprise! — black people can’t be racist and you can read about all of that here (which also features a nice explainer GIF from “Dear White People.”