So I guess you could say I’m a “White” american, more so, my skin color is white. I am hispanic. My dad is darker skinned, my mother is the palest person on this planet, and I got her complexion. I grew up in a hispanic community, a good portion of my dads side of the family only speaks spanish (never met my moms side), and unfortunately my parents decided not to directly teach me spanish growing up, so I only know some bits and pieces, I can follow basic conversation for the most part.
I know that in my country I benefit from my white skin. I know this as fact. I’m also in this weird middle ground, I’m not white on paper. Me and my sister both have experienced being seen as an outsider from both WHITE white communities, who know we are not one of them,(we don’t speak like them we don’t act like them, we just don’t fit) and hispanic communities for not knowing enough spanish (I’m working on it) and being too light skinned.
With my personal background out of the way, so you know where I’m coming from, I just wanna think on this.
Cops scare the fuck out of me.
I know I don’t walk around everyday with the same level of fear that my darker skinned friends and family do, but cops still scare me. I’m also queer and neurodivergent and poor (all things the system don't like). I see ICE, I see the concentration camps, I see cops killing Autistic people and people struggling with mental illness, I see how the legal system ruins lives and does not care, I see all this brutality, I’m not immune. My white skin might benefit me, but that doesn’t mean I’m immune, awful things can still happen to me, and to my family and friends and its horrifying.
This episode made me think of ICE. You get picked up off the streets imprisoned for no real crime, the world goes on without you, your treated with disdain and brutality, and there's no justice. It scares the hell out of me that my family and friends could end up in that situation. So this hit kind of close to home there for me.
Media is a place to reflect, to process, to empathize. That's what this session has been doing, taking the real life horrors of the messed up world we live in and reflecting on them.Thinking through that pain. Walking in those shoes.
I’m seeing people replying to this episode saying things like “It’s not your pain or fear, you can’t write about this“ “Your white men profiting off of black trauma” “Don’t exploit POC trama for horror“
And some people calling for the ep to be re-written or canceled.
But the pain and fear of police brutality and corrupt systems isn’t exclusive to certain people, while everyone else is immune. Quite literally, this situation is not black and white. It’s also not exclusively american.
Rusty Quill saw a fans concern on the patreon about another brutal police murder (occuring in the US, not in their country) and decided to postpone the ep out of respect.
They weren't acting out of malice with this ep and then backpedaling when there was backlash. There not targeting specific people or events and using that to make horror so they can get lots of money and fame. They are just doing what art does. Looking at the world and reflecting, processing and empathizing, and they do it with a lot more respect and thoughtfulness then some.
