Video: humorous web series explores race, gender dynamics
A new YouTube series is taking on race and gender. Tales from the Kraka Tower, created by University of South Florida MA student Aphrodite Kocieda, is equivalent to the academic version of Awkward Black Girl.
It’s Lakisha Wisniewski’s first day in the “Diversity Department” at Kraka University, and there to welcome her is Dr. Kimball, the school’s self-proclaimed “diversity specialist.” A white woman decked out in a dashiki and kufi, Dr. Kimball fails to recognize a photo of Angela Davis—“Is she a rapper?”—before asking if Lakisha is “fully black.”
This is but one of the facepalm-worthy scenes in the first episode of the new Web series Tales from the Kraka Tower, created by University of South Florida MA student Aphrodite Kocieda, who also plays Lakisha. It’s a laugh-out-loud funny (and stroke-inducing enraging) look at race and privilege in the academy—a must-watch for anyone who enjoys the cult hit The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, and anyone who believes barbed satire to be an effective weapon in the fight against everyday prejudice.
Watch the first episode:
Kocieda plans on producing at least six episodes that she hopes will “reignite the activist spirit in any minoritized person who feels defeated or depressed because of daily microaggressions.”
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