I'm not "white", and the people in mass media don't look like me at all, and until people made an issue of it, I NEVER thought about it. Didn't bother me at all. People were people to me. They still are. The only time it bothered me was when a couple of "white" kids beat me up for being different. But I got over that when the overwhelming majority of "white" people treated me just fine.
The problem I see with this author’s worldview is that he thinks blacks somehow need to be legitimized through the use of wide-appeal media.
Before reading this article, I never gave character casting a second thought, but if you consider Hollywood as the arbiter of social stigmas, look no further than how blacks are portrayed in film.
Further, if we distill that down to the author’s understanding of social acceptance, then film can be attributed to the ills of the black community and should be eschewed by American pop culture for propagating negative stereotypes.
Pretty much my experience, but in reverse.
I grew up around military bases where there were a pretty good mix of different peoples. Never thought much about it. I’m not “black”, but I’ve been beat up many times and harassed for being “white” at a “black school”. (Lived in Jax, FL and got bussed to Northside schools from the Southside.) Got over it because I had “black” friends and the overwhelming majority treated me just fine.
It’s amazing how that works, isn’t it?
Today we’re seeing what happens when Dr. Martin Luther King is celebrated but not his intentions or ideals.