Did ‘Dear White People’ Miss the Mark on Casual Racism?

By Jamilah King Oct 23, 2014

Justin Simien’s debut film "Dear White People" has won over plenty of fans with its satirical approach to race, an approach that depends heavily on showcasing outrageously racist acts. But what about the subtle microaggressions that happen every day? Carimah Townes writes at Think Progress that it’s a major oversight of the film:

The film would’ve been more interesting if microaggression carried the same weight as explicit racism, given the nation’s ongoing discussion of race relations. Many argue that we live in a post-racial America, and that argument is largely predicated on what racism looked like in the country’s past. No, slavery doesn’t exist any more, and Jim Crow laws no longer keep black people from occupying public spaces. But to say that racist attitudes no longer color American society, a microaggression in and of itself, ignores casual acts of racism that occur every day. The purpose of the film was to highlight the experiences of a lot of black people, but aggressive, in-your-face racism overshadowed — and minimized — the profound effects that microaggressions have on them.