Who the Real Snowflakes Are

Asymmetry in Minority vs Majority Narratives

Whose Narratives Count?

In the hinge episode five of the Netflix series Dear White People a fight breaks out at a party at elite Ivy-like Winchester College between two black and white student friends — over the power of a word — ni***ah — and who has the right to use it:

“Just don’t say ‘nigga,’” Reggie tells his white friend Addison while they’re dancing to “Trap Niggas.”

“I guess it just kind of felt weird to censor myself,” Addison responds after insisting he’s not racist for repeating the word when it’s in a song.

“It felt kind of weird to hear you say it,” Reggie tries to explain. But soon, things escalate, others get involved, the music stops, and the situation gets tense enough for someone to call campus police.”(https://www.buzzfeed.com/sylviaobell/dear-white-people-episode-five)

The someone who calls the police is the white boyfriend of the biracial black host of the campus radio show Dear White People. His reflexive majoritarian trust in institutions is betrayed when the officer asks no white student to show an ID and pulls his gun on Reggie when he doesn’t immediately produce an ID proving he’s a student. He complies, terrified of becoming another Michael Brown or Tamir…