This is not normal: A&E announces new series Generation KKK

[babylonsister]

Monday, Dec 19, 2016 07:00 PM EST
This is not normal: A&E announces new series “Generation KKK”
At some point we'll have to ask ourselves whether a show like this is fighting white supremacy or normalizing it
Melanie McFarland


You know what would be terrific? A limited series that looks at social justice movements in a thoughtful, honest manner that isn’t relegated to public television. This is not said to besmirch what PBS is doing, by the way. But unless we’re talking about a series that stars Benedict Cumberbatch or some multi-episode ode to Americana made by Ken Burns, PBS receives far less attention for its documentary series and films than networks like A&E do.

You know what would be great? To see a series that takes a compelling look at the lives of families struggling to make ends meet, people caught up in systematically imposed cycles of poverty and injustice. Or a series that deeply explores what life is like for people in communities where unarmed men and women of color are gunned down by police or one that examines how difficult it is to exist in towns where the demand for manual labor has all but dried up.

Those aren’t sexy topics, of course. I know that. So the likelihood of a producer making such a series and selling it to a broadcast or cable network is close to nil.

Instead, starting Tuesday, Jan. 10, we’ll get a weekly look inside the lives of several families headed by members of the Ku Klux Klan called “Generation KKK.” Giving racism a platform, even under the guise of increasing the public’s awareness of its existence, is all the rage now.

Granted, that’s not the purpose of “Generation KKK.” In a Sunday New York Times article, A&E’s brass and the “Generation KKK” producer explained that the show has been in the works for more than a year and a half. That’s basically right around the time that Donald Trump’s presidential campaign began capitalizing on the sublimated bigotry and racial tension that’s been coming to the fore of our national dialogue.

The show would have made it to air regardless of the election’s outcome, understand. Between the Klan’s rebranding of its intentions — it’s just about white pride now, never mind that inconvenient history of domestic terror and murder — and openly leaving literature on doorsteps in communities around the nation, the white supremacy organization has been steadily mounting its own campaign of normalizing hatred.

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http://www.salon.com/2016/12/20/this-is-not-normal-ae-announces-new-series-generation-k-k-k/#.WFitgSb5dug.facebook

[etherealtruth]

1. WTF? I am beginning to lose all hope for our society :-(

[WhiteTara]

2. Here are phone numbers and email adddresses for

the execs of A&E. I called the VP of national sales and informed him that I would contact each of their sponsors and tell them I would boycott their products if they advertised on A&E if they actually broadcast this terrible program. I didn't get to talk with the exec, but left him a message telling him that I certainly hoped he was not in the basket of deplorables and to make sure that show didn't air.

Feel free to call all these people. They should be at work today. The president's phone number and email are also onthe list and he needs to hear this from many people. Please call

http://www.aenetworks.com/advertise

[DLevine]

3. Anything for a buck.

They have no shame.

[Javaman]

4. but here's the thing, this was produced a while ago and it's been waiting

for an excuse to be aired.

some producer or director made this and was sitting on it.

THAT's what terrifies me.