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I Would’ve Been the Good White Person in the Movie
Hollywood’s safe space for white folks
In every successful movie that involves racism, there’s at least one wonderful white character or hero.
The 1989 historical Civil War drama “Glory” was about the first all-Black infantry regiment and its trials and tribulations. At one point, the men learn that there’s an order they be returned to slavery. And that Black soldiers found in uniform will be executed.
The movie features multiple white characters who are out to harm these Black soldiers. That is, except Matthew Broderick’s character, who saves the day.
“Selma,” a film highlighting Black civil rights giants, features white heroes, Lee C. White, an advisor to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and John Doar, the Assistant Attorney General, who are essential allies of the movement. There’s also James Reeb, a white minister who was murdered fighting for civil rights.
The classic 1962 film “To Kill a Mockingbird” is all about a widowed white lawyer who defends a Black man against false charges of rape.
In “The Help,” a 2011 film about an aspiring white author during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s writing about Black domestic help’s experiences working for white families. Skeeter, the white writer, tries to…
