Poussey’s death makes me more and more uncomfortable the longer i think about it.
And I’m not even talking about it in terms of Bury Your Gays. I can see where people draw that connection, obviously, but in my personal opinion, it’s unfair to apply that label to a show with so much lgbtq representation. We’re not talking about a show killing off the only lesbian character, or one of a handful in a huge cast. But I do see if as enough of a grey area that I’m not about to argue against anyone who sees it that way, especially taking into consideration the way her relationship with Soso was built up so much even in the very last moments before her death… That’s uncomfortable as hell.
But for me, the racial aspect is much more of an issue. Taystee repeatedly calls it “murder.” Looking at it from the viewer’s perspective, we know that it wasn’t. We know it was an accidental death. (And, yes, given his position of authority over her, he was absolutely still culpable regardless of intent, but was it “cold blooded murder” as Taystee says? No.)
So, even if we accept that this was a conscious writing decision to make a statement about Black Lives Matter… what’s the statement? What’s the point of making a conscious choice to write it as an accidental death, saturate the narrative with references to BLM, and then have a major black character incorrectly insist it was murder? What’s the implication? That the BLM movement is often misguided and overzealous, engaging in what amounts to a witch hunt? That their focus is wrong? That they should focus on the systemic issues which lead to victimization of black people (they do, btw) rather than the individuals in positions of power who misuse that power? That people in law enforcement are set up to fail so it’s not really their fault when there’s a body count?
And what’s the point of taking as much time to sympathize with the guard as they took to focus on Poussey? Nuance is one thing, but painting a guard who killed a black woman as an innocent puppy dog who was in over his head is just insulting. Why spend as much time on “Oh, that poor guard has to live with what he’s done” as you spend on the victim?
Poussey deserved better.
(via timeforcereal)