2 min
In the summer of 2020 amidst a renewed wave of protests against racism and police brutality, the streaming service Hulu (and its all white Board of Directors) decided to pull the entire Golden Girls episode 'Mixed Blessings' because of a scene where Rose and Blanche have mud masks on their faces, which was an allusion to the horrifically racist practice of blackface.
Many people were not happy with this milquetoast response to systemic racism.
👏
👏
Many scholars, including Steven W. Thrasher, made excellent points about the performative nature the removal, and about how the mud mask scene doesn't even come close to the most racist moment in the show, or even the episode.
Quietly, Hulu replaced 'Mixed Blessings' in 2021 (although, at the time of this writing, whatever intern put it back listed it as 'Mixed Blessing'). Given that we recently recorded the accompanying Enough Wicker episode, we decided it would be a good time to mention that you should:
learn, and don't stop learning, about systemic racism and how it touches every single part of American society
strive to be anti-racist every day
put anti-racism into action through resources like the one below, and not just by removing a mud scene from a beloved progressive show
Here are a few of our favorite resources to do just that:
ARTICLES
The Death of George Floyd, In Context
What it Means to Be Anti-Racist
BOOKS
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor
So You Want to Talk About Race
The Little Book of Race and Restorative Justice: Black Lives, Healing, and Us Social Transformation
ORGANIZATIONS & ADDITIONAL LINKS
Listen to the Enough Wicker episode covering The Golden Girls' episode Mixed Blessings: