SciFi and Racism

Can SciFi Educate Americans About Race?” — Vice News, 2021, 6:08https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9llrS-M_B_4

In an interview with Vice News, sociologist Jean Beaman offers insight into the growing trend of white people learning about Black history through popular media rather than formal educational settings. Indeed, we have recently seen many states outright ban discussions of race and critical race histories in schools. In this video, Dr. Beaman integrates Derek Bell’s concept of interest convergence which holds gains for minority communities will only come if whites (or privileged groups) benefit too. She also touches upon how the distinction between individual and structural views of racism.

From the video’s description: As debates around teaching Critical Race Theory in schools continues across the country, Hollywood has tackled exploring the conversation for decades. Science fiction is being used as a tool to tell stories of American history and a sociologist tells Krishna Andavolu that it may actually be effective.