New TV shows take on the hazard of Working While Black
Racial tension in an office space grows much more sinister in “The Other Black Girl.” That’s a satirical thriller debuting on Hulu today. It drops only days after another workplace satire, “Dreaming Whilst Black,” aired on Showtime on Sunday. NPR TV critic Eric Deggans says they have one powerful thing in common – spot-on depictions of being a Black worker in a mostly white space.
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: Nella Rogers is trying to go about her days, the only Black employee at Wagner Books Publishing House, when a white co-worker pops up with a question.
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KATE OWENS: (As Sophie) Did you read that piece I sent?
SINCLAIR DANIEL: (As Nella Rogers) “The Token In The Corporate Machine: Being Black In A White Workplace”?
OWENS: (As Sophie) Did you read it?
DANIEL: (As Nella Rogers) In the last 30 seconds?
OWENS: (As Sophie) It is such an important topic. You know, I’m always looking for better ways to be an ally to you. You should read it – like, maybe right now – and share if it resonates.
DEGGANS: Talk about microaggressions. Nella is the put-upon protagonist in “The Other Black Girl,” played with a deft earnestness by Sinclair Daniel. She’s suffering as an ambitious editorial assistant surrounded by well-meaning white people who don’t see her – only a caricature of a young Black person filtered through their own stereotypes. Nella thinks she’s found an ally when the office finally hires another Black girl named Hazel, who graduated from historically Black Howard University.
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ASHLEIGH MURRAY: (As Hazel-May McCall) Lil Baby performed my senior year.
DANIEL: (As Nella Rogers) What?
MURRAY: (As Hazel-May McCall) Girl, it was serious. I am still recovering.
DANIEL: (As Nella Rogers) Oh, my God.
DEGGANS: But when Nella tries to bring change by telling her white boss about a star author who created a super stereotypical character named Shartricia.
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DANIEL: (As Nella Rogers) Well, I can appreciate that Colin wants to represent the opioid epidemic through a diverse perspective.
BELLAMY YOUNG: (As Vera Parini) Diversity matters.
DANIEL: (As Nella Rogers) Colin has written an idea of a person that somehow also manages to hit on every harmful stereotype – I mean, a baby daddy whose name she doesn’t know.
DEGGANS: Hazel undercuts her by telling the author himself something very different.
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MURRAY: (As Hazel-May McCall) I really liked the book. I think Shartricia has potential. I’m excited to read it again with a specific eye on her. It read really well.
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: (As Colin Franklin) Yes. I’m so glad you liked it.
DEGGANS: This is the masterful way “The Other Black Girl” turns the tensions Black people face working in mostly white office spaces into horror-show material. Because when one other Black person on staff makes him or herself look good by sabotaging another, it can feel like that moment in “The Shining” when Jack Nicholson’s character turns on his family.
But “Dreaming Whilst Black,” a British comedy now airing on Showtime, takes a lighter tone. It features co-writer Adjani Salmon as Kwabena, an aspiring film director stuck in a dead-end office job who realizes his white co-workers asked him for recommendations on a film to watch during a date because he’s seeing a Black woman.
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) I’ve been Googling Black Oscar films.
ADJANI SALMON: (As Kwabena) OK.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) “Color Purple”?
SALMON: (As Kwabena) I feel like for a first date, you might want to choose something without race.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Yeah, OK. No, probably – OK. What about – ooh, “12 Years A Slave”?
SALMON: (As Kwabena) Bro, that’s slavery and rape.
DEGGANS: Later, when he’s dragged to a lame karaoke bar by his coworkers.
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character, singing) Here we go now. Where we goin’ now? Give it away. Give it away. Give it away now.
DEGGANS: They demand he sing along with them when the N-word pops up, and he quits the job on the spot.
Now, as someone who’s been the only Black person in an office, I was really touched and entertained by both “The Other Black Girl” and “Dreaming Whilst Black.” In particular, they offer spot-on depictions of the wryly humorous and downright horrific moments perpetrated by white people, often blithely unaware of how much power comes from simply being in the majority. It’s the bittersweet icing on a sumptuous cake – incisive moments from two series whose insights on race and society speak powerfully to this modern moment. I’m Eric Deggans.
CHANG: And in the interest of full disclosure, the sister of NPR’s Aisha Harris, Zakiya Dalila Harris, wrote the book “The Other Black Girl,” and is an executive producer and co-writer of the show. Aisha was not involved with our decision to review the TV show.
(SOUNDBITE OF KENDRICK LAMAR SONG, “SING ABOUT ME, I’M DYING OF THIRST”)
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