Self-acceptance is a difficult task when our society seems to be screaming that you are not wanted. You feel like an outsider, traversing a foreign world that is not your own. Acceptance becomes an expensive piece of china, resting on the top shelf in a fancy antique store, unattainable and fragile.
Minorities as a whole have been staring up with wide eyes, longing to grab acceptance in any form. Acceptance takes time, strength, and slowly picking yourself apart until you begin to realize who you are and who it is that you are coming to accept. This painful, necessary process is done best in the Thanksgiving episode of the Netflix show “Master of None”. This episode has already been hailed as a masterpiece, not only is it that, but it is groundbreaking. At the Emmy’s, Lena Waithe became the first black woman to win an Emmy for best comedy series writing, and with her inspirational acceptance speech, she is sure not to be the last. The episode itself is framed around a queer, female African American character. The episode is centered around multiple Thanksgivings, hence the name, as this main character struggles to come out to her family. Lena Waithe admits this episode being loosely based off her own coming out story, which makes everything more personal for her. She thanks Aziz for pushing her creative limits and thanks all of the show’s fans with this comedic and heartfelt comment: “Thank you for embracing a little Indian boy from South Carolina and a queer black girl from the south side of Chicago, we appreciate it more than you could ever know.” The episode tackles the real hardship of attempting to accept yourself so much so that you are willing to tell your family who you are. For people of color, who are also queer, there comes the ‘backburner effect’: there are so many crises and challenges for each identity (female, queer, black, etc.) that the issues of some identities will take priority over another. The episode’s plot challenges all of these identities, forcing the main character to acknowledge herself as a black, queer woman, in all of its entirety. Self-acceptance is difficult, as most things are with minorities in American society. It must be pondered, fought for, cried over. Mistakes must be made, and it takes time. The episode spans a decade of Thanksgivings until its conclusion. Although the process can be faster or slower for some people, the peace that comes with acceptance is not easily attained. Lena Waithe made history by telling her story and influencing others to begin their own story of acceptance too. Jada Copeland
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