Comic: More joy, less trauma please
Please, show more Black people doing cool shit. It’s okay to hold the oppression.
by JeCorey Holder
So let me know if this feels familiar to y’all…
Media: So here’s this great idea for a new show. Black People….
Me: Okay.
Media: Doing stuff.
Me: Sure.
Media: Sometimes it’s metaphysical with magic or whatever.
Me: Cool!
Media: And its set in-
Me: Oh here the fuck we go.
Media: The Jim Crow Era/The 50’s/Vintage Racism Era #283!
Me: oh my god
Media: White people just absolutely HATE them. They call them The N Word.
Me: Please…
Media: There is SO much anti-Black violence and psychological torture. Because plot.
I JUST-
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Hear me out, y’all. I am not saying we don’t need anymore narratives about slavery and our unique pool of Anti-Black trauma.
I am merely offering the soft suggestion that we can start writing and producing more media that ISN’T about black pain. We have several iconic Black movies that aren’t a traumatic retread of the Jim Crow struggles and I would love for us to keep that ball rolling in this modern era.
We need more movies like Eve’s Bayou. More of Marvel’s Black Panther. More Girls’ Trip. And, to a lesser extent, A Wrinkle In Time (2018).
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The fact that these Trauma Productions intend to reach such a wide audience in order to bring attention to unpleasant historical facts is a novel idea, but I notice that no matter how often we market and capitalize on Black pain, people are still in our faces pretending that racism has been over since Tubman’s railroad reached the station.
I’m tired of seeing my people running through swamps trying to escape their cruel masters. White audiences have been consuming black pain and exploiting our generational trauma for far too long. I’d like to see a bigger influx of media that goes the OTHER way.
Please, show more Black people doing cool shit. It’s okay to hold the oppression.