American Horror Story: Race?

American Horror Story: Coven tells the story of modern day witches, dwindling in numbers and hiding out at Miss Robicheux’s Academy, a special witches’ school in New Orleans where they learn to protect themselves from inevitable danger. Unsurprisingly, it’s not smooth sailing, immortal characters show up, the history of the Salem witch trials is slightly edited and there gets to be some trouble with the ‘dark side’ Voodoo witches (but that’s another post…).

In all honesty, I was not expecting this show to deal with race, especially not directly. I didn’t even think about it, which is possibly/probably my white privilege talking and/or my lack of historical

knowledge surrounding the Salem Witch Trials. Either way, I was surprised with the bluntness and emphasis the topic was given.

Queenie, played by Gabourey Sidibe, is the only character of colour at the academy. She’s confident, intelligent, and powerful, although she doesn’t always fit in. She’s very aware she’s the only POC, and not afraid to point out any micro-level racism she experiences.

"I grew up on white girl shit, like Charmed and Sabrina the Teenage Cracker."

What’s particularly interesting about Queenie is her relationship with Delphine LaLaurie, the immortal ex-slave owner from the 1830s now posing as the school house maid after years of having been buried alive. It’s not surprising there is some conflict.

Initially, Delphine, the obvious racist, refuses to serve Queenie, sparking a heated discussion and concluding with the ‘Supreme Witch’ being a white saviour, forcing Delphine to be particularly Queenie’s slave because ‘if there’s one thing [she] hates, it’s a racist’. This is a complete cliché, especially given the obvious white privilege of that character. The scene is even cringe-worthy to watch, but I feel the good intentions win the writers back a small handful of brownie points?

Whilst this role reversal is pleasurable to watch, and obviously pleasurable to Queenie, I feel it has complications.

It very much plays with Stuart Hall’s ideas on race based power relations. There’s clear subordination and domination where Queenie has power. However, Delphine holds power in relation to the existing stereotypes of ‘superior’ and ‘inferior’ peoples and in the displacing this from culture to nature as Delphine believes white supremacy is ‘God’s will’. There is also a lot of use of The Grammar of Race between them as they both call the other ‘slave’ and think of each other as primitive.

The role reversal also reinforces the stereotype that African-Americans only want revenge for the historical wrongdoings done to them and their ancestors – which completely flattens the emotional and moral and ethical difficulties for a POC that would come with that situation, would/could it ever arise. However, I also feel that being vengeful is a perfectly understandable response and sometimes, especially in TV, characters don’t have to be the ‘bigger person’. Really, there is no ‘right’ way to react to this hypothetical, but it is a complicated situation to think about.

Nonetheless, the relationship develops and Queenie and Delphine eventually get to the stage where they can stand each other enough to have brief words… Then a short conversation amongst others… Then a long conversation alone in a parking lot at 3am.

"You think I'm any less perplexed? I dragged my ass all the way here from Detroit to be with my, quote, "sister witches" and, instead, I'm sitting in a fast-food parking lot at 3 in the morning with an immortal racist. How'd that happen?"

And as they start to relax around each other, their opinions come out. The most noteworthy of which comes from Delphine after she realises the attitude of the majority towards POC in the modern day in relation to her time. She says to Queenie,

"You made me weep, but not as you would have it for my supposed sins. I wept for the state of this world, a world of lies, a world that makes promises it cannot keep. To tell a coloured man that he can be equal to a white man, there's a real cruelty. I'm not going anywhere."

This is pretty awful, Delphine is almost racism personified, but does she have a point?

I’m not suggesting the abilities of POC are any lesser than white people’s, but rather that they are greatly hindered by the lack of opportunity and longstanding racial prejudices towards them, unconscious or not (particularly in America which is the main audience of this show). It’s definitely arguable that POC and white people will never be truly equal, despite the progress made and the inevitable future progress. In which case, it’s wrong to do as Delphine says and lie to POC, and indeed the rest of society, by pretending we all think we’re equal. That is just as much an injustice as actively reinforcing racism. After all, no one fixes what isn’t broken.

However, this line could easily just be taken at face level coming from such a bigot. I.e. Coloured people don’t have the capacity to be equal to white people and telling them otherwise is filling them with false hope -  much as convincing a blind man they’ll wake up the next morning and be able to see is.

Was this line a wink towards the sad truth of society by highlighting that despite best efforts, POC will never ‘truly’ be equal with their white counterparts? Or is it just a good line from a spiteful, old, racist in a TV show?

http://americanhorrorstory.wikia.com/wiki/Queenie

http://americanhorrorstory.wikia.com/wiki/Delphine_LaLaurie