The piece that I will be speaking about is the Netflix series called Dear White People. This series follows a group of black students at an Ivy League university that is predominantly white. I intend to talk about the first season but would highly recommend watching it in its entirety. Some of the major issues seen in the first season are a Black Face Party thrown by one of the Magazines on campus and a Black student having a gun pulled on him by campus security at a party. Given that each episode follows a different character you see how each individual experience being Black on a white campus. In the series following the Black Face Party we see white character question why a black face party is inappropriate. This comes about in contention with one of the main black characters having a show on the school’s radio coined “Dear White People” where she voices issues that black people encounter at the hands at white people. Throughout the series you see black characters struggle with their blackness in such a white space and white students struggle to understand where their black peers are coming from. In relation to this course these students exist as the other in relation to their peers. Seen as an afterthought by the university’s administration and those surrounding it (i.e. donors). This is a comedic series that still covers the hot button topics that are seen in day to day life. In my personal opinion this show is amazing and truly relatable as a Black college student. In conclusion, I would like you the reader to think about why this show choses to follow each individual character instead of the conventional style normaly seen in television and movies. Also think about what these students experience, how would you mend the system to limit these experiences.
