Tag: sense8

mewmii:

skysquids:

felixrocketship:

skysquids:

sense8 uses some racist tropes in episode 1 in establishing the narrative of the chicago hero cop.  the cop stumbles upon a black youth who’s been shot.  the youth points a gun at him, but not only does this cop not fire his gun and cuff the bleeding child, but the cop lowers his gun and proceeds to save the child.  he argues with his partner, and then with an unhelpful black nurse who tries to turn them away at the hospital.  i understand what the writers are going for – they want to show that this cop is different, that he does the right thing.  however, this scene is clearly interacting to the numerous cases of police brutality and murder that have been forced into white public consciousness by #blacklivesmatter.  so in this context, the writers have created a fantasy where the white cop is the only one who values the life of a black child, where the child is a victim of ‘black on black violence’, and where the victim is presumed unworthy of medical treatment by an unhelpful black female nurse – a common racist stereotype.

i think its fucked up that we as white people respond to the realities of police violence with such fantasies.  its irresponsible and it affirms the denial that is common among white people.  we have to do better than this with the stories that we tell ourselves.

This is really important. They even have a black nurse make a comment about how this kids might grow up to kill a cop, basically telling the white cop that he should have let this child bleed to death in the street. It’s really disturbing to see white writers and directors use their black characters this way.

right.  and the cop is like ‘wow that’s a good question’.  the writers seem to believe – and assume that the audience will go along with them – that its a real moral quandary whether or not a black youth who has been shot should be treated in a hospital for his wounds.  this is where we are in 2015.  this is a problem in the white community and in the white trans community.

YIKES!!!!