Ginny & Georgia

Spoilers

Ginny struggles with her Black and whiteness, being visibly Black, but lighter than other Black people around her- she struggles to find her identity. She is "too White" for Black people, and "too Black" for people like her English teacher. 

Then there is an interesting scene- "The Oppression Olympics" between her and Hunter, her Chinese boyfriend. It's an interesting scene- because minorities- we don't like to talk about this uncomfortable silence between us all- this silence that both Ginny and Hunter expressed. Who has it worse? Ginny- the Americanized biracial woman, or Hunter the Americanized Chinese man. 

In my opinion, I take Ginny's side- she is still Black in peoples eyes, and Hunter can pass as White. There's a difference between them that Ginny pointed out- stereotypes. Hunter has the 'Asian Stereotype' - all stereotypes are bad of course, because this Asian stereotype forces Asian people to be put into a box. Hunter has this on him- the pressure of being top notch aka in English class. The English teacher when passing back tests yells Hunter is the one to beat when he gets an 100%, but Ginny also received an 100%. This shows the Oppression Olympics- who is the teacher favoring? Hunter. The teacher swears up and down he isn't a "racist" but throws up microagressions every scene. The N word scene? Why would he say "Right Ginny?" as if she would be the only one who would be offended by the N word... jesus christ. (Also I wonder why no one is sticking up for her including Hunter and her so called "best friend")

Ginny faces microaggressions everywhere - her friends who don't do anything to support her identity and even her "best friend" who calls the only other Black girl we see up to that point "Ursula" when Ginny had just said "I love your Halle Berry" - eek. Her boyfriend uses microaggressions towards Ginny, when Ginny says he is not even that Asian, he starts talking about "eating chicken and twerking" I was honestly taken aback by that- because Ginny mentioned LANGUAGE and CULTURE, while Hunter mentioned .... stereotypes. Is that all he sees Black Women as ? People who eat chicken and twerk? Jesus. The audacity. 

Even between Ginny and the other Black students in the school- she feels like she doesn't belong. After that conversation with the girl from the Halloween party dressed as Halle Berry- they have a conversation in the school bathroom about race. The girl questions if Ginny understands that MANG aren't her "friends" if they are making microaggressions- then tells Ginny that she doesn't struggle as hard as her because Ginny is lighter than her. 

Ginny can't win. Now we see the identity crisis she faces- being too White for Black people and being too Black for White people. Her Asian boyfriend putting her down- and no Latino/x/e representation at all so I can't comment on that. 

This type of volatile identity crisis can be seen in Ginny's indecisions, inability to know who to trust (especially if you look at her mom- I wouldn't trust her mom either), her self-harm, and feelings of not belong.... it really breaks my heart. But- so many people in real life struggle with this crisis. And this crisis is apparent in all minorities who don't quite "fit".

It happens to a lot of us Americanized minorities- we often feel disconnected and like we do not belong because we are assimilated into American and mostly White culture. It's harder for Black people to even talk about their history without the trauma of slavery, murder, rape, torture, and so much more being prominent and underlying themes in their lives. Black people are at such high risks for mental illness- and yet their culture and many minority cultures do not like to get help for those illnesses. 

Who's to blame them after the Tuskegee experiments? 

So this t.v. show is such a great conversation piece about race, ethnicity, culture, and identity struggle. We must remember that everybody is going through some kind of struggle. Some people may be going through multiple and invisible struggles. Generational trauma, PTSD, global pandemic stressors, and so much more....

I want Ginny to come out of this shit alive. I want Ginny to show us that she can find a place in this world- I want it for you. I want it for me.

Let me know what other scenes you found stuff about race/ethnicity in the comments below.