I no longer have any use for TWD. The show is racist as hell, and before you click off of this, hear me out. The accusations have already been made. But the episodes have already aired. They can’t go back and change them now. It’s too late. Black cast members have already laughed those charges off, and so have the producers. Well, it’s in their best interests to do so. Hell, if I was a black actress on the number one show on television, I would keep my trap shut, too. You know how difficult it is to accomplish that, and be in that position? Hell, I want them to be quiet. Keep getting that good paycheck, and the exposure for future endeavors.
I, on the other hand, have no such speedbumps, and no brakes. For the record, I love, love, LOVE me some Zombie apocalyptic stories. It started with “Dawn of the Dead”, in 2004. It continued with the “Resident Evil” series, and went even further with “The Walking Dead” and “Z Nation”. Something about this situation that appealed to me: It presents an extreme challenge to anyone that survives the initial onset of the end of the world. Anybody that likes to test themselves wonders “How would I fare? So many factors involved. What would be my limit?”
That said, the number one show on television is as racist as can be. Do I think the producers and writers all got together and said: “Hey, let’s emasculate every single black male character on the show? Let’s make every black man on this show a coward, a traitor, a weak-minded individual. Yeah, let’s do it.”
No, not necessarily. But that’s still what happened. And any black man on the show that did have conviction was summarily executed in the most brutal way. You won’t be able to argue with this. Like I said before, the shows have already aired…
T-Dog. This is early in the series. T-Dog (which some might say is a stereotypical ghetto nigga name, but I looked past that. I apologize for any readers taken aback, but I write like I talk) was a very strong-looking black man that was an early member of the primary crew we see in the series. After being called a “nigger” by Merle Dixon, a skinny, white, admitted dope head from the woods, we see the first example of what I am saying here. T-Dog took exception to that term, and threw a very feeble punch at Merle. That didn’t seem to track quite right with me, but I was enthralled with the whole premise by then, and I accepted it when the white hero, Rick Grimes, saved T-Dog’s ass, and handcuffed the evil Merle to a pipe.
Now, T-Dog isn’t a coward, but he is, for lack of a better phrase, without leadership skills. After he’s injured trying to hide from a herd of walkers, he hallucinates. Everybody else goes to look for Sophia, a little girl that has been lost. He wants his companion, Dale (who is an older white man) to leave the rest of the group to save the two of them. Dale, of course, refuses. T-Dog suggests that because he is black and Dale is old, the rest of the group doesn’t care about them. This was my first clue, but it took several seasons to come back to it.
Morgan. Morgan’s character is absolutely pathetic. From the start, he refuses to kill his undead wife, who instinctively wanders around near the family’s home. Morgan’s son, Duane (the only live black child ever seen in the series) is ultimately bitten and killed by Jenny, Morgan’s undead wife. After this, Morgan goes insane, yet another example of a mentally fragile black male character.
Later, after Rick, Michonne, and Carl try to find Morgan and retrieve some weapons, it is revealed that Morgan is unhinged and has lost his mind. He tries to kill Rick and can barely recognize him. Morgan is subdued after being shot by Carl. We’ll come back to Carl later.
Even later in the series, we see that Morgan has recovered from his psychosis somehow, and he learns aikido from a friend and becomes a total bad ass. I was cheering! Yes! Finally, a black man that is a total bad ass. However, he has this Zen mentality that impedes him from killing other humans. Dude! For real? He first comes across Owen, one of the Wolves, in the woods when Owen and another Wolf attempt to rob Morgan. Instead of killing them, Morgan knocks both assailants out. This proves to be a horrible mistake.
After Morgan gets to Alexandria, Owen and the Wolves attack the compound, slaughtering many innocent people in the process. Carol has no qualms about killing the attackers, which leads to some friction between her and Morgan. Morgan even allows several Wolves to escape with weapons. Owen meets Morgan again in the fight, telling him he should have killed him in the woods. He attacks with a sickle but once again, Morgan knocks him out, even apologizing for doing so.
When Owen regains consciousness, he re-asserts his intention to kill everyone in Alexandria. Morgan simply locks him up, in secret. Carol finds out, and decides she will waste Owen, without pause. Morgan and Carol argue over this, with Morgan eventually knocking Carol unconscious, allowing Owen to escape. This ultimately leads to the kidnapping of Denise, the town doctor.
Tyreese. Tyreese was a big ol’ punk. Probably the biggest and strongest cast member of TWD, the writers let us know from the outset that his tiny younger sister, Sasha, is much tougher than him. A lot happens with Tyreese, but the relevant part of his existence is when Lizzie and Mika, two tiny little white girls, save his life after The Governor and his army mount an assault on the prison. That was pathetic. Then, these little girls, neither of whom are more than ten, even lead him on their escape from the battle. Along the way, they meet Carol, who had been exiled by Rick for killing Karen, Tyreese’s girlfriend. Tyreese does not know this.
Later, Carol and Tyreese are taking care of Judith, Rick’s infant daughter. Martin, a young white guy from Terminus is overheard talking about Rick and Michonne, who are being held captive at Terminus. Carol and Tyreese subdue Martin, and Carol goes off on her own to free their friends. While Carol is gone, Martin gets his hands around the baby’s neck, threatening to kill her. During this time, Martin tells Tyreese that he is weak, and that killing is necessary, and that he will wind up dead. This is the second time a white male character has tried to explain the realities of a post-apocalyptic world to an obviously dim-witted and weak black male.
Tyreese jumps Martin and beats him up. He saves Judith, but doesn’t kill him. When Carol returns, he lies and said that Martin was dead. Mind you, Carol, a small and frail middle-aged white lady, has just single-handedly saved the entire group from Terminus.
Noah. Not much to say about Noah. He’s a young and upstanding black kid in his late teens that tried to sacrifice himself to save Beth. I knew he wouldn’t last long. He also wanted to learn architecture from Reg, the man that designed the walls at Alexandria. He proved his bravery by going on supply runs, but was killed by walkers when the coward Nicholas selfishly saved himself instead of working with the team.
Oscar. Oscar was a large black man that was a prisoner in the correctional facility that our heroes decided to inhabit. While a felon, he had honor and he was brave and resilient. At one point, Rick threatens to kill Oscar simply on that chance the Oscar might be a threat. With a gun to his head, Oscar tells everyone present that he has never begged for his life and he never will, and he said it with conviction. I immediately turned to the wife and said: “He’s gonna die soon.” And he did. After volunteering to participate in the assault on Woodbury to save Rick’s friends, Oscar was the first and only person to be killed in the action.
To be continued...
