I don’t know, but I think the television show Black. White. may have done more to hurt race relations than help. If these are “typical” Americans both black & white, then we are in pretty bad shape. I was most shocked by the black family and their close-mindedness when it came to race relations. They had no interest in learning from the other family and their opinions were already set in stone. The white family seemed to be more open to learning, but came across as pretty darn stupid in how they dealt with issues. All the show seemed to accomplish was the reenforcement of standard racial stereotypes.

The only real impressive thing about this show is the makeup… they did an excellent job of making the participants appear the opposite race. As a sociological experiment, Black. White. failed miserably. The events of the show are clearly manipulated by the producers and their search for controversy has done the entire project a huge disservice. Black. White. was garbage television pretending to be a serious look at race relations.

The only positive outcome of the show is a pretty darn good song (Race Card) by Ice Cube. If it comes back for another season, I sure hope they will seek to cast more open-minded people and take responsibility for producing a serious show. It is a shame that this opportunity to create a real bridge was squandered.