On June 10, Netflix announced the launch of its Black Lives Matter Collection featuring series, films, and documentaries that highlight powerful stories about the Black experience in America.
When you log onto Netflix today, you will see a carefully curated list of titles that only begin to tell the complex and layered stories about racial injustice and Blackness in America. https://t.co/dN6XQmsrGK pic.twitter.com/3CIrrno6mw
— Netflix (@netflix) June 10, 2020
Why is this important now?
It seems like a new generation is waking up to the reality of racial injustice, police brutality, and systemic racism. Hundreds of thousands of people have protested in recent weeks. The tragic deaths of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd are the sad reminders of a system that has too often failed Black people, historically. It’s not new. It’s just better recorded and distributed. And it’s already happened again with Tony McDade and Rayshard Brooks. Civil rights orgs like Black Lives Matter are calling for sweeping police reform.
Wiretap is a Black-owned business. Having grown up in NYC, I’ve experienced discrimination and witnessed the effects of mass incarceration through volunteer coaching visits with Hustle 2.0 at Pelican Bay State Prison in California. Our team is also a diverse group of people of color, men, and women. So, for us, the call for equality on all fronts is vitally important. Black Lives Matter. Diversity matters. Women matter. LGBTQ people matter. We support the call for real progress and real change.
We think it’s time to better regard the Black American experience as it is portrayed in film and TV for what it is: the American experience. There are some great films and shows on Netflix’s list and we recommend you check them out. Some of our favorites included in the curated collection of 45+ titles are:
- Ava DuVernay’s 2019 series When They See Us as well as her 2016 documentary, 13th
- Justin Simien’s series Dear White People
- Sci-fi drama See You Yesterday
- Original drama film Imperial Dreams, starring John Boyega
- Spike Lee’s newest film, Da 5 Bloods.
Gary Stuart is the Founder and CEO of Wiretap, the Chrome extension that lets fans comment and share insights while watching Netflix shows.
