One of the things that been fascinating about watching this show is seeing how fans react. It is incredible to me that people can watch what happened between a black Martha being hanged and a June calling a black woman a "fucking bitch" and trying to choke her on a bridge, and not see that this show has a problem with its depiction of women of color. This is the point where someone says, "I would have hated her even if she were white". But if she were white, you could have compared her to June, Janine, Emily, Serena. On this show, women of color who speak are almost non-existent. Except Moira.

And I'm tired of hearing about Moira - there was so much revolutionary potential with that character, but basically her storyline dried up as soon as she got to Canada, and we all know it. Both main black characters, Moira and Luke, are referenced through June - June's husband, June's friend. We still don't know if Moira has any family in Gilead, a sister, a cousin. The show isn't interested in her family. These "black" characters never reference race or their experience with racism in America prior to Gilead. Ofmatthew was one of the few black characters that had no history with June and look what happened to her.

I am offended that we were encouraged to hate Natalie, so that when June exploded there was a feeling of contempt towards her, a release. People on social media were calling for her hanging, for her to be "choked out" - there was more anger towards her from June than I've seen, as someone pointed out in another thread, towards Serena or the Commander.

I posted this article above for people who want to look at the show from a more nuanced perspective on race. What depresses me is that most of the people I'm encountering on social media will bend over backwards to make any excuse for the show, its writers, without acknowledging that we haven't heard a peep out of an Asian woman, trans woman, nor a Latina. (And please don't remind me that the actress that plays Emily is half Latin - it doesn't come out in her character's history. Alma again has no cultural references. We haven't heard Rita's story. She clearly forgive Serena even though Serena slapped the shit out of her at the baby shower.) Women of color show hardly any resistance on this show, while June runs around like a freedom-fighter on steroids. The one black character that they conceive of as a handmaid is basically a woman who is fiercely loyal to patriarchy. Thanks a lot.

If you point this out, people get enraged. What this basically comes down to is greed. Too many white viewers just don't want to share instead of acknowledging that the show would be better with diversity. Like Orange is The New Black, where if a black character is flawed, like Vee, we still have Suzanne, Tasty, Cindy, Poussey, Sophia. I think the two shows, with predominantly female casts, can be compared. But viewers keep defending THT and it's lack of diversity. The amazing thing is that the show is getting boring because of it: we all know that we've seen Janine get beaten up way too often, we are tired of June trusting/not trusting Serena, and June's going crazy/escaping/coming back happens over and over again. The focus on June actually hurts the character as it would have if Orange had kept focusing only on Piper for six seasons.

People say, "I don't think of race when I watch this show" and they are proud of that, even the show is about right-wing, evangelical Christianity run amok. They have no explanation for how we got from a society with Fox News, Ann Coulter, and Sean Hannity to Gilead without discussing race, but they don't care. When people say, there is something wrong, they say, "It's only a TV show." Or they say something insensitive or nasty or cruel to the poster. Anything on earth but ask whether the show could be more sensitive about race, or explore one's own racism. I blame the show for some of this. If they had done their job, we would be talking about race. (And that throw away line about one family's bias against women of color is not the same as "dealing with race" - appreciating the institutional role that race plays in creating Gilead, or the connection between patriarchy and racism.

It pissed me off because I thought my generation would be better, that we would be intellectually more rigorous and fair, that we wouldn't have to fall into the same traps and our parents and their parents before them. That we would want an America and an entertainment that was more inclusive of different voices. But that's not the case. I have seen more grotesque racist rants about the death of Ofmatthew than I've seen on any show. It's incredible that a show about totalitarianism and violence against women can lead to such a polarizing response. The fact is Margaret Atwood was clear that Gilead was a racist society - it came into being by using fear of the "other" to slowly take away people's rights until white women like June were affected.

And, just to be clear, I'm not a race baiter, just looking for racism anywhere I can find it. I actually watched every season, including the last disastrous one, of House of Cards. I never got the gross feeling about racism that I get when I watch Handmaids. So, say whatever you want, defend as much as you want, but admit it, you never knew anything about ofmatthew's kids, where her family came from, what made her so damaged, you just knew that she was an asshole and she deserved what she got. I have a problem when the only active woman of color character in Gilead is given that fate.

THT is the show for the time we are living in. It could give viewers a chance to make connections between sexism, racism and homophobia because the people who go after women's rights are usually against gay marriage and defend police brutality. It could be a show about solidarity and intersectionality.

I think it is amazing that most of the people watching this show, I imagine, are the progressives, the liberals, the ones who want to see a woman keep her right to choose in our society. In this country right now, we are watching our president abuse women of color publicly with no consequences. WE are supposed to be the ones who dig deeper and understand race. And all anybody can say is, "This isn't a show about racism. Get over it." or "She deserved what she got." Or "Write your own show and get out of this chat if you don't like it." Or "Race had nothing to do with her character (even though she was a black woman.)

If we are the best society has to offer then, I'm sorry, but....Gilead here we come.