As a media major in undergrad, it was my duty to be astute to the nuance within storytelling found in past and contemporary media. As a halfway grown, adult black woman, I have grown to learn the inherent nature of just what role my womanhood and blackness will play in certain portrayals and 'fictional' characters. Where my whiter and lighter counterparts will be afforded the luxury of being soft, vulnerable and loved, the same will rarely be afforded to me. 

And there is where I begin my rant.

It is 2017, and media is still doing its job of entertaining and informing, but why am I annoyed? Why do I feel like it has crossed the line? Why do I feel like there has been no significant progression?

Well, I've noticed the recent rise in what I've coined to be: the "Black Trauma" genre. 

You know, the sector of Hollywood blockbusters and sitcom episodes loosely based upon the life and untimely death of every victim the Black Lives Matter movement has worked fiercely to uphold against the USA's classist, racist (in)justice system.

Yeah, you know, those movies and episodes that start off with some cop - usually white or white-passing - shooting a Black/Brown Latino or other vaguely brown or darkly hued minority dead in the street after a routine (fill the blank) gone wrong.

The ensuing state sanctioned murder is then followed by some form of mass uprising or temporary turmoil which is used to force introspection unto: the viewer, the more than likely minority secondary character and/or other lead who just did not know how damaged America was.

The same America whose founding was dependent upon rape, genocide, the propagation of white supremacy and slave labor.

These films and episodes typically appeal to the conscious of white neoliberals and the emotions of everybody else who gets off on trauma porn.

They are also, usually, helmed by people who have never publicly spoken out or actively championed against police brutality or even deigned to acknowledge institutional racism and its relationship with intersectional identities (meaning covering the scope and difference in treatment between the State and black men versus black transwomen versus white gay men versus brown lesbian, disabled women, etc.) across the judicial branch of the American tree of inordinate power.

*Sighs heavily*

Look, mine through something else.

I've seen more than enough black trauma freely circulating on Twitter and Facebook since 2012 for it to now be used as, and reduced to, a repeated plot device blasted on the big screen. To me, the constant and continued production of Black Pain Films/Episodes has replaced the incumbent slave/abolitionist/black biopic narrative as one of the most unoriginal, uninventive, lazy portrayals of blackness and otherness.

The 2010s image of Black Pain has been pushed into the two corners predominately occupied by Black artists whose creative control lies in the hands of a majority-white, pseudo liberal and well-meaning industry.

Black Pain has become both the caricature and the victim.

It is hard enough freely existing in a society knowing the state does not care about or value your life unless you maybe pass the paper bag test, are cisgendered and have significant socioeconomic capital (BIG maybe) - did anyone really think minorities wanted to constantly see that reaffirmed in TV and films too?

It is exhausting to carry the burden of full consciousness within a society whose supposed progression was swept away under the wave disguised as economic anxiety and pro-America nationalism.

There is valid reason behind James Baldwin saying, "To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time."

I consider myself to be a relatively happy person, and there are days where I find myself being so mad at the state of world it feels like my head may explode. 

There are days where I feel like I'm going insane, like I'm living in the Upside Down with no way out, and no amount of screaming and crying and marching will ever fix it.

The shit is hard. Consuming it all the time is even harder. 

The near constant consumption of trauma with no sign of legitimate justice or resolution is the worst part of it all.

So why is that narrative spreading like a plague across my screen? How is leeching off of the very valid pain felt by black people globally and handing it back to us on a rusted platter something now abused for hails of praise and acclaim? Why is this okay?

Why has there never been a rise in romantic comedy, science fiction, fantasy, etc. media starring minorities? The ones not labeled and marketed as an (insert minority here) film? 

Why must our mental health and well-being always be sacrificed for the sake of...what exactly? A learning lesson? A constant reminder of just what this country has and will be for the next couple of decades? A hefty blockbuster buck?

If these strides are to be taken as a mark towards the so-called rise in creativity and 'amplifying new voices' era as promised by Hollywood, then I'm good.

The truth behind the illusion of diversity has become blindingly bright.

And yes, I do understand we are undergoing a revolution of sorts when it comes to the rise of diverse, complex characters and storytelling in television and film, but are we really?

You don't get to profit off of this.