TV Show Opened My Eyes

A few weeks ago, another blog called "TV & City" posted about a show on Netflix called "Dear White People." After reading the post, I became rather intrigued about the programme. It is a dark comedy about a group of African-American students who attend a predominantly white Ivy League university. It started slow but by the end of the first episode, the show had gotten me seriously thinking about race issues and I had to watch the second.

What really got my attention during Episode One, Series One, was the scene near the end when the main character, Sam, brings her white boyfriend to a meeting of African- American student groups on campus. The dialogue between the boyfriend and an black male becomes heated enough to the point where the white boyfriend asks, "Are you gong to hit me now?" The black man responds, very well I might add, with, "I don't use my fists. In fact, I should hit you for asking if me if I'm going to hit you."

This definitely awoke something inside me. From my experiences in the service and for the first few years after leaving, I believed the stereotype that young black men would rather use their fists as opposed to their words. The weird thing was, I thought that I was one of the few white people who actually thought this, boy was I stupid!

True, there are black men out there who resort to using fists before words. Then again, there are white men who do to. The redneck mountain boy, whom I mentioned in an ancient post was always threatening to kick people's asses and throughout the 32 years I've lived in the UK, I have seen some British men who are like it too. However, most people and that includes African-Americans, would rather settle differences by using their words instead of their fists. Just like I protest when people outside America stereotype all Americans, I know it's wrong to stereotype others and I should not let a couple of experiences lead me to believe the stereotype that all black men would rather use their fists to settle a situation.

To buy He Was Weird, go to: https://www.amazon.co.uk/He-Was-Weird-Michael-Lefevre/dp/1909740942/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1525802487&sr=1-1&keywords=he+was+weird