The new show Them was released on April 9 and is getting a lot of recognition on many social media platforms and has stirred up lots of controversy between black individuals. Them was created by Little Marvin and produced by Lena Waithe. This show is filmed in West Hollywood and Griffith Park. 

Them is an anthology series that explores the terror of living as a black family in Compton in the 1950’s that followed the Great Migration. The series follows a family who moved from North Carolina to a predominantly white neighborhood in California.

 Not only do they struggle with the horrible treatment of the white neighbors but they face the paranormal forces in their new home. 

Starting with the very first episode was already very triggering and intense, hearing white people throw slurs at black people was hard to watch, even though it was just a show. It felt as if I was reliving a time I never lived in. This show is a lot to take in and I couldn’t sit through the whole season in one night because of how overwhelming it was to watch my people be degraded and miss treated in such a way. This show reminded me a lot of the movies Get Out and Us. 

Throughout the show I got a different perspective of what being “the first black person” truly meant. I always hear the phrase, but watching this show made me understand all of the horrible things that black people had to go through to be the first to do anything.

Although this show presents a lot of racism and horrible things black people had to go through, it showed many horror scenes which connected back to the racist acts. The family goes through so much trauma both physically and mentally.

There are several scenes where their white neighbors torment them in extremely disturbing ways.

Them also speaks on how many real estate agents would take advantage of wealthy black people in the 1950’s. They mentioned a lot about how they would sell homes to black people for a much higher price than the norm. 

Although white people didn’t want black people in their neighborhood, real estate agents were more than happy to sell to black people because they knew they would make a huge profit by taking advantage of black people who were uneducated on how much they’re home was truly worth. 

Them became overwhelming to watch as I continued watching. Through the show I had to take breaks and digest everything I watched. Truthfully I wouldn’t recommend this show to people of color. Not because it’s a bad show, but because it’s so traumatic and hard to watch. I was in shock about how many subjects they were touching base on and what the horrific things that were shown on television. Black people want to see representation in more films, but not in this way, the show was very repulsive and horrific. 

Overall the show is well put together and interesting however, it is very triggering and gets very gruesome. I believe that They can also be very educational and may help open the eyes of those who do not see the issues that are still happening up to this day.