'Melissa Harris-Perry Revisits Everything She Hates About The Help In Oscar Preview'

[pnwmom]

9. You have every right to voice your concerns and I'm sorry you felt intruded upon

by my responding to a thread I saw in the Latest Threads. I didn't go in here looking to bother black people. I didn't even know I was in the AA group.

From my perspective, having actually watched the movie, the only people denigrated in it are the self-obsessed, smug, ignorant, and racist white people in the film -- who fully deserve to be denigrated.

I also think that there might be a reason for the viewpoint character being white. Almost all white people today can look at a film depicting physical brutality against black people and recognize it for what it is. But the kind of subjugation shown in this film can persist longer because it is more subtle. The character of the writer provides an entry point for white readers into the story -- and white people need to be educated on the history and effects of racism in our country far more than most black people do.

So the message to this white reader is: don't be satisfied because the horror of slavery was abolished; or even because many of the scenes in The Help wouldn't occur today -- because racism is still alive and well in 2012. White people need to open their eyes to see it -- just as the character of the writer had to in her day.