Race, Morgan & The Walking Dead - A Coli Article
This article asks readers to only sit down with common sense and a desire for honest discussion and focused debate. Enjoy.
The main crux of the The Walking Dead TV show can be viewed in two ways. One, in which we enjoy the roller coaster of people trying to stay alive and avoid getting bit by cute scary zombies.
The second, we, as an audience, look to see how long any semblance of humanity exists in the godforsaken people that are still alive in the hell that is the Walking Dead universe. I surmise that the latter is the true story here.
Let's be clear, if we want to go down the path of claiming that there are racist vibes...we have to go all the way down that rabbit hole with our common sense. However, before we touch on that, let's talk about
hate that Morgan is getting.
Here is not here. But hate is definitely hate.
At the end of the day, for Morgan & hopefully all of us, we'd hope that once we've carved out a code of ethics or morals, we will stick to them regardless of the ramifications as long as we think it's right. Many of us are expressing intense frustration and anger regarding Morgan's decisions and actions. However, we must acknowledge that
Morgan has a code that he's living by, a code that has essentially saved him from insanity and
we'd all agree that having a code is the most important thing is this world...with surviving being a close second.
No? Ask yourself...
If the Wolves had taken over your encampment & they've made an ultimatum stating that the only way to survive the pillaging is to become a sex slave & dress up as concubines that get shared amongst the wolves... How many of yall would rather die that survive like that?
If you'd rather die, it's because of your code of conduct and dressing up as females for the pleasure of the Wolves just to stay alive...would be outside of your parameters of survival because it would be against what you believe makes you...you.
"W is for Whispering sweet nothings in your ear"
If you are of the school of thought that you'd do anything to survive...then, and only then do I understand your frustration with Morgan. However, if you are of the school of thought that believes that having a code of conduct, ethics & morals to keep you sane & keep you from devolving into the savagery of "the wolves", you really shouldn't be
hating Morgan even if you disagree with his code. At the end of the day, Morgan believes his sanity means more than Rick's baby's safety.
I actually respect that.
What is right and wrong? Right, in this world, is whatever helps me sleep at night. fukk the safety of anyone else.
Now the elephant in the room with the Ku Klux Klan hood on…
Let’s discuss the apparent racist under/overtones that exist in the story direction & character actions of the Walking Dead Universe. I definitely felt extremely uncomfortable with showing Morgan in a cage on the plantation of a white guy teaching a black man “how to be civilized.” That definitely got the gears running in my mind however, if we are going to go down that path, again, we need to do it intelligently and unbiased.
The first episode needs to be talked about with respect to the themes of race that play or don’t play with respect to the Walking Dead universe.
Remember that first episode with Merle, Daryl’s racist brother?
"I don't give a fukk if it took zombies to get rid of institutional racism. I'M STANDING MY GROUND. Murica."
There is an argument that race politics, atleast within the realm of the Walking Dead universe, is a device that has become near extinct as a result of necessity and survival. Merle’s statements to T-Dog indicate somewhat of the last remaining human culture codes that humanity, in its civility [ironic], created as a result of intellectual superiority complex. In a world such as the apocalypse, when your next meal may be an expired can of Brussel sprouts and you haven’t changed a pair of your underwear for 5 months, racial bias may not survive too long.
Now…it could.
I could definitely see an apocalypse situation that occurs where limited resource management becomes divided by cultural lines however, the creators created a trajectory where it starts to become non-existent as a result of necessity. It’s their world, we’re just watching it.
With respect to the story trajectory inside of the AMC studios boardroom, there is an argument that can be had that as a result of intense character development of key black characters such as Morgan, Michonne and others, the characters story arcs are being created with a colorblind focus. Any person could be Michonne, any person could be Rick and any person could be Glenn. The characters are not drawn up with respect to racial stereotypes.
Let’s get a little deeper though…because all of that still doesn’t touch on Morgan being in a cage in a white man’s house.
"Okay, now show a little more white privilege. And ACTION"
Interestingly, Eastmann worked for a Department of Corrections as a psychologist in the Walking Dead universe. A few things should be paid attention to.
One, Eastmann never locked the gate, Morgan was never really enslaved. Two, Eastmann was plagued by the same savagery that Morgan was and guess what? The white guy was a savage in the world
before the end of the world. In a way, a parallel can be made arguing that many of the problems facing Black people in this Country are a result of intense oppressive situations & circumstance…what are white people’s excuse for the same savagery?
That alone country’s the argument that the Walking Dead is racist because a white man quells the savagery of a black man. And lastly, Eastmann indicates to Morgan that almost everyone, outside of one person, is not evil or bad and the reason why they are making such bad and heinous decisions is because of an oppressive society and the demands that said society places on people. Think about that in contrast to the prevailing view of how society wrongly believes there is a black and white line of what or who is good and who is bad.
