Revolution Televised.pdf

Respect Yourself! 121
situation. Never is it questioned that Yarby could have taken another
tack—other than the use of race—and achieved the same result.
When the show deals with racism, the transgression is assigned
to a character who is an outsider to the peaceful environment
in which Julia exists. “Am I, Pardon the Expression, Blacklisted?”
(May 6, 1969) is one such example. Julia works in a clinic situated
within a government agency building and discovers that she
has failed the initial security check. She is restricted to the clinic
because of her participation in a group called ANTI. Mr. Potts,
the head of security, assumes that the group is a militant organization.
When Julia confronts Potts, he states, “My job is to question
everyone, and in these days of militant demonstrations—with divisive
forces at work in our land—you people in particular.” The
man is overtly discriminatory, and Julia quits when she realizes
that she has been targeted because of her race. Also, what seems
to outrage Julia even more is that ANTI is actually the “American
Negro Training Institute . . . a nonprofit group of volunteers who
teach our profession to underprivileged children . . . of all races!”
(emphasis added).
Unfortunately, Julia’s stand against this type of discrimination is
fleeting. She heads back to work once she passes the security clearance.
Racism is boiled down to being a personal misunderstanding.
Julia’s battle is only with Mr. Potts. Everyone else who works with
Julia is outraged at the problem. The program does not explore
structural or institutional racism but instead centers it on an individual.
This, in turn, reduces the problems of racism to just the
few who are not progressing with the times. It also works to code
Julia as the “safe Negro,” someone who obviously would not be
involved with any of the so-called militant organizations that were
active in America at the time. This, in turn, codes these black militant
groups as dangerous and does not acknowledge that the U.S.
government had, indeed, started an all-out offensive against these
“militant” groups.
The outcome of “Am I, Pardon the Expression, Blacklisted?” is a
delicate negotiation with contemporary reality. The show is topical,
as the viewer is aware of black political activists. The episode acknowledges
the practice of investigation and infiltration yet elides
the visceral effects. The show describes the effects on Julia’s life but
will not condemn government infiltration. Julia is not a militant
Negro; ANTI works to serve the “underprivileged children of all