Empathy and the Racism Triggers of Amazon’s Series, “Them”
How to use personal trauma to practice empathy of others
I had just watched the first episode of the new series, Them, and texted one of my closest friends Ryan about it.
“Have you seen the new show, Them. Holy shit.”
Ryan is a Black male. I’m a white Jewish guy.
His response shouldn’t have caught me off guard, but it did.
“I can’t watch it. Too triggering.”
For those who haven’t seen the show, it’s a harrowing account of a Black family, one of millions, who migrated from the Jim Crow laws and pervasive racism of the South to ostensibly better pastures up north and out west. This particular family had suffered the kidnapping of one of their children by white supremacist southerners and wanted to leave their trauma behind for a better place.
Enter Compton, California. A then middle-class white neighborhood in Southern California. Green lawns. Flowers. Nice cars. Televisions. White picket fences. Children riding bikes. Lemonade stands.
It only took half a second as the new southern migrants pulled up to their newly purchased home before white neighbors stared them down with racist eyes and followed daily with harassing attempts to intimidate them into leaving. Some…
