The other night I watched the Ava DuVernay Netflix series about Colin Kaepernick. I watched it accidently. I thought it was a story about a Black teen being raised by White parents. It was. I just didn't know it was Kaepernick. It's really good.
It showed his struggle to be recognized as a quarter back and the influence of race. He gets braids and his coach makes him cut them off. His mother had been supportive enough to find him a professional to do the braids, but when the coach said to cut them off, she said he looked like a thug. The show steps back from those moments to talk about things like using the word thug and what his hair meant to him. It's clear that his parents love him but have no idea how to raise a Black child.
Last night I watched American Son with Kerry Washington. It's about the mother of a biracial son who hasn't come home, and she is worried. She's in a police station trying to get information. The racism and sexism with which she is treated creates so much tension. And then her White husband (also an FBI agent) arrives and the information flows. Even he gets caught up in the maelstrom created by race. The ending is shattering.
I'm not sure how Black people tolerate White people.
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