Racism In Who's Afraid Of The Big Black Man

Racism is a social issue that still occurs within in this era. The term racism is defined as the oppression of a whole race that is based on discrimination, stereotypes, and prejudices beliefs. The group that tends to suffer from racism the most are African Americans. Racism from the oppressors, Whites, makes it harder for Blacks to live their lives as “normal people.” This makes Blacks to always have their guard up while going outside, and presenting themselves. However, African Americans have to live in fear to the point they feel as if they a “mistake” made in public, then they will be punished for their actions. In the particular episode of Black-ish called “Who’s Afraid of the Big Black Man”, the writers does a very great job of manifesting …show more content…
In this particular episode of Black-ish, the writers manifest the theme of racism by using foreshadowing to help the audience understand that racism still occurs within our daily lives. However, in this episode, the writers put the focus towards how racism has an effect on Black men. In the elevator scene, the father, Dre, pushes the elevator door to get onto the elevator and as the door opens, there is a little White girl with a sad expression on her face. Dre automatic response to seeing her is closing the door back. As he goes back to his office, Dre’s co-workers (who are White) admittedly bash him for not helping the little white girl. The White male co-workers did not understand the reason why Dre ignored her, but the very few Black co-workers understood the reason why he didn’t help her out. In fact, the very few Black co-workers also experienced the same exact situation as Dre was in with the same little girl; they also left the little sad girl in the elevator. One of the Black co-workers makes a statement towards Dre saying, “Careful Dre, someone is out there …show more content…
In the back of the car, his son, and his brother–law was having a general conversation. They were then suddenly pulled over by the police in which Dre became frighten because he realized he left his driver license at the house. The brother-in-law tells Dre, “People lose their license all the time. Just tell the officer you made an honest mistake. The writers then foreshadow to the situation to which Dre makes an excuse saying, “I just started wearing skinny jeans and my wallet does not fit in my pants.” Dre makes fun of the other race which is Whites because there is a stereotype that majority of Whites wear skinny jeans. He uses that excuse as thinking he would get a pass from not having his driver’s ID, but it leads to him going to jail. In the case, if it was a White man and said the exact same thing as Dre, then he would’ve received a warning from the police officer. As Dre tried to wake his drunk neighbor up, his son asks him, “Can you tell who car this is? I am sure they will believe you.” The Black-ish writers then proceed to use foreshadow to show the outcome when Dre tells the White police officer that the car belongs to the drunk white lady in the passenger seat; therefore, Dre still gets arrested and put into a jail cell. The last advice was given from Dre’s brother-in- law again, in the case that he told Dre to