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Jeffrey Sprung Blog Post for 11/30

The movie Dear White People revolves around Samantha White, a black female student at Winchester University, who produces the radio show “Dear White People.” Sam White’s radio show “Dear White People” gains a lot of attention on the campus of Winchester University, a distinguished, predominantly white university, as Sam discusses the racism and segregation between white and black students that takes place at Winchester University. I thought that satire within Dear White People allowed the movie to effectively address systemic racial issues, discrimination, and segregation that takes place on the campus of Winchester University, which represent many issues in society as a whole in today’s world. 

Although I think Dear White People did an excellent job at addressing the problematic racism and discrimination towards black students on college campuses across the country, I unfortunately do not think that Dear White People will help eliminate these race issues that exist on college campuses and society as a whole in today’s world. Dear White People acknowledged many of the stereotypes and racism that takes place on college campuses which will help to bring awareness to these issues, but I don’t think that solely acknowledging these stereotypes and ignorances of white people will allow society to solve these issues and move forward towards racial equality. However, I think that students in college should still be aware of this movie in order to halt these racist acts and stereotypes that can occur on college campuses and beyond. 

Lastly, if I had to criticize one aspect of the film I would criticize the title of the movie as I feel that the title of “Dear White People” falsely implies the fact that all white people perpetuate racism. I completely agree that many white people are racist, but I believe the title of “Dear White People” was too general.

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2 Comments

  1. Annie Waters Annie Waters

    I see where you’re coming from with your interpretation of the title, but I disagree. Although not all white people are explicitly racist, I’d argue that all white Americans have been indoctrinated to accept certain implicit biases against black Americans. Sadly, America has historically glorified whiteness to such an extent that the default ideology for white Americans is inevitably influenced by anti-black racism. The only way to combat this is through intentional deconstruction of these biases. Nevertheless, I think the title is more intended to express that no white person can truly understand the experiences of black people within a predominantly white society. Whether a white person is racist or not, they can never understand what it means to be black, and titling the movie “Dear White People” calls on all white viewers to consider this in their outlook on society.

  2. Elina Bhagwat Elina Bhagwat

    I agree with Annie, I think that the whole point of the movie is that everyone has room for improvement and while not all white people are explicitly racist, they still have room to learn more about how to treat everyone equally. I don’t think the film was meant to criticize all white people but rather serve as an educational opportunity and teach them important aspects to consider before acting in a certain way or making a comment.

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