Well, DW is a British show, so I don't think its writers are obliged to capture the experience of American racism particularly. But there's plenty of British racism they could be talking about!
Yes, this.
There's plenty of things to critique in how Doctor Who handles race, but I think US critiques of it can be wildly off-beam. I don't think Britain is all that much less racist than most of the US, but the racism sometimes manifests differently. I'm reminded of the split in reaction when Martha was engaged to what's-his-name-the-white-doctor: US fans seemed to tend to regard this as progressive, whereas British fans either didn't care one way or the other, or were unhappy at the trope of a Black woman being 'rewarded' with a white partner. But interracial relationships aren't as culturally fraught an issue in the UK as they seem to be in the US.
(I'm not, for the record, claiming that a British interracial couple would never encounter racial prejudice, because sadly that's obviously untrue, but there does seem to be a real difference in how it's portrayed in popular culture).
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2013-08-05 11:22 am (UTC)Yes, this.
There's plenty of things to critique in how Doctor Who handles race, but I think US critiques of it can be wildly off-beam. I don't think Britain is all that much less racist than most of the US, but the racism sometimes manifests differently. I'm reminded of the split in reaction when Martha was engaged to what's-his-name-the-white-doctor: US fans seemed to tend to regard this as progressive, whereas British fans either didn't care one way or the other, or were unhappy at the trope of a Black woman being 'rewarded' with a white partner. But interracial relationships aren't as culturally fraught an issue in the UK as they seem to be in the US.
(I'm not, for the record, claiming that a British interracial couple would never encounter racial prejudice, because sadly that's obviously untrue, but there does seem to be a real difference in how it's portrayed in popular culture).