The controversy of “Dear White People”

Ashley Shepard, Staff Writer

On April 28, 2017, Netflix released a new Netflix-original series, “Dear White People.” This show is based on the movie “Dear White People” which was released in 2014. The movie

portrays a culture war between blacks and whites at a predominantly white school that comes breaks out when the staff of a humor magazine stages an offensive Halloween party. The Netflix series however, follows a group of students of color at Winchester University, a predominantly white Ivy League college. The students are faced with a variety of cultural bias, social injustice, and racism. The series uses a lot of sarcasm, brutal honesty and humor in order to highlight issues that still affect people of color. The Netflix-series is also one of the few shows to receive a 100% on rotten tomato.

Although “Dear White People” has been praised by many, there has been some negative comments regarding the portrayal of white people. In fact, after a 30-second trailer was released, ‘#BoycottNetflix’ appeared on Twitter. The filmmaker, Justin Simien, knew the title was controversial, but he never expected this type of backlash. With all the backlash on social media, there are many who appreciate the shows, intentions and execution. Tagwa Shammet (11) watched the show right after it was released. “I really like the show I think it portrayed real life experiences that black people have been in,” said Shammet. However, she also had some criticism for the show, “I thought the show was very good except a lot of the show was based on ‘fake wokeness’ which I really didn’t like, said Shammet.