The Movie “You People” a Recipe for Racial Harmony
Ending racial distancing remains the key to a better world
At first glance, the new Netflix film, “You People,” seems like just another romantic comedy.
Jonah Hill, Lauren London, Eddie Murphy and Julia Louis-Dreyfus jam pack the movie with nonstop laughs.
Social media posts among friends were largely along the lines of, “Hilarious movie!”
But beneath the layers of laughter — sorely needed in our very serious world — the movie is actually promoting an idea that, if practiced in real life, has the power to derail years of deeply ingrained, unconscious bias we have toward each other. To put the kibosh on the lethal effects of false imagery and incorrect stereotypes.
“You People,” produced by Blacks and Jews together, is a love story about Ezra, a white Jew played by Jonah Hill, and Amira, a Black Muslim played by Lauren London, navigating the serious challenges of families who have all kinds of over-the-top, absurd views about the other’s ethnic and racial groups.
Hill’s parents are upper-class Jewish suburbanites who, while meaning well, as many liberal Jews do in real life, act out their deep-seated, false views of Black people through endless microaggressions toward London and her family…
