Serena Joy of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is the epitome of white people who don’t care until it happens to them

By Monique Judge, the Grio

OPINION: So many times, white people don’t want to help foster change until the thing that needs changing affects them. This is one of those times. 

Kanye West, or Ye as I guess we are supposed to call him now (I personally don’t call that ignoramus anything), has finally been “canceled” as it were. He’s lost his deals with Gap, Adidas and a number of other brands and companies as of this writing. 

Ye is being canceled because of antisemitic remarks he made recently. Never mind that he’s been making anti-Black comments for years; nothing he said was taken seriously until he said something that made white people feel attacked. 

Similarly, NBA player Kyrie Irving is now in the hot seat for similar reasons. Irving shared and promoted a wildly antisemitic film, and when called out on it, seemed to double down on his actions. As a result, he has been suspended from the Nets, and he cannot come back until he completes six requirements imposed by the Nets.

And again, all of this happened because a group of white people felt attacked. 

To be clear, both Kanye and Kyrie are idiots who have helped to spread dangerous rhetoric. That is not in dispute here. 

What raises the eyebrows is the fact that neither of them has faced this much scrutiny and retribution for their words and actions until those words and actions impacted a group of white people.

Isn’t it always like this, though? Black people can ring the alarm about something (police shootings, environmental racism such as what happened with Flint, Michigan, just to name two), and white people will act like we are making a big deal about nothing until it lands at their feet. This is so commonly a thing, it is even being reflected in their art as we speak. 

Read on for a critique of The Handmaid’s Tale, and its reflections on reality.

Inaction comes on the heels of the white racial frame, which prevents white people from seeing Black experiences or speaking up for their rights. When they do, many Black Americans are surprised.

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