I am a white woman in her late 30's who has watched Bravo and reality TV for a long time, there has been enough content that I have never rewatched any franchise. Watching the 14-year old DC franchise was such an uncomfortable experience.

Watching DC this past weekend was really difficult. Watching two black women fight a constant current of micro aggressions, offensive language and stereotyping, and general insensitivity was so hard. Stacie and Ericka were gracious to a fault, often attributing racist words and actions to bad manners. All I could think was DAMN, these women are so tough to have to deal with this absolute bullshit on camera and continue to hold their heads high.

The utter lack of understanding and compassion when it came to proactively trying to consider what sort of language might be offensive to the two women of color was absolutely abhorrent, and I felt in a visceral sense the othering of these ladies in a way I cannot say I have experienced before. Even at the reunion, Andy broaches the topic of racist language but he does so in a way that is both disinterested and cursory; as if those things HAPPENED, but they are not really interesting or worthy of more than a few moments of commentary.

As a fan of the show I have always lived for the drama of seeing people behave authentically on camera, and if they are behaving badly- even better. But with that invite to behave badly on camera, I fully expect the audience, the host, and the other cast members to call that shit out at the reunion and during filming. There was no real reckoning in this case, and the only conclusion I can draw from it is that is simply where we were at as a society 14 years ago. Which means that I personally am a lot more oblivious to the experience of people of color than I thought, and a lot more permissive of the active rule of the social order than I thought.

I am so grateful for all of the people who have raised their voices in support of social justice, and I am even grateful for the violence in the name of social change. I am not sure we would be able to move forward in America without having people angrily and loudly demand it in such a way that no one can truly bury their heads in the sand. We have a long way to go, but we have come a long way too in a decade and a half. I hate that seeing decades-old cruelty play out on screen was the medium to crystalize this for me, and I shudder to think about rewatching other series as I am sure this is not an isolated experience.