Imagine attending a college where less than 5 percent of the student population looks like you. This is the reality for many Black students attending Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). In 2006, UCLA admitted just 96 Black students out of a freshman class of 4,800. This came 10 years after California banned affirmative action, meaning colleges and universities could not consider race or ethnicity during the admission process. Seven other states have banned the practice and since the “infamous 96,” affirmative action has begun to disappear altogether.
Writer-director Justin Simien tackles affirmative action controversy in his talked-about debut, Dear White People.
According to Complex.com, “There’s a scene where one of the white students claims that the hardest thing to be in the American job force is an educated white male, since all of the black kids [and he references Obama] are using affirmative action to their benefit and taking up spots that otherwise would go to a more qualified white student.”
Simien focuses on many other aspects of racism throughout the film. The satiric comedy, which began as a trailer and later led to a successful kick-starter campaign, has been making a huge buzz since its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival Jan. 18. Set at fictional Ivy League, Winchester University, the film follows four Black students as they deal with their white peers and struggle with self-identity. It stars Tyler James Williams (“Everybody Hates Chris”), Tessa Thompson (For Colored Girls) and Kyle Gallner (“Veronica Mars”). Main character Sam White (Thompson) leads the film as a biracial student with a controversial radio show, aptly titled, “Dear White People.” Sam anchors her show with a series of quips including, “Dear white people: Stop touching my hair” and “Dear white people: Stop dancing.” The main conflict centers on the possible eradication of race-themed housing. And when Sam is elected president of the all-Black residential hall, Parker- Armstrong, she becomes increasingly militant. A series of events leads to an ignorant African-American themed Party being thrown on campus and things come to a head when a race riot ensues.
Dear White People was awarded the Breakthrough Talent Award at Sundance, just one year after Fruitvale Station made similar waves. Both films shed light on the frightening reality that racism is still alive. Coincidentally Dear White People premiered just days before a fraternity at Arizona State University threw a Martin Luther King, Jr. “Black Out Party,” requiring attendants to wear oversized jerseys and backwards hats while drinking from watermelon cups. The Black struggle is real. That’s my opinion. I’m just a fly on the wall, minding my own business…