“Standing by my mother’s living-room window, I tried, tentatively, to ask her why our world was burning, burning. She gave me a forbidding look: Boy, be quiet so you can survive, her eyes seemed to say.”

Hilton Als introduces the silence his mother wanted to have when it came to the injustices he would see throughout life and this silence she wanted was the result of fear she had for her son. It is apparent that throughout history the people who have stood up and spoken out against racial injustice fight against constant violence which ultimately lead to death from such violence.  Silence which is an ability that is hard to learn and keep is usually the safest way to insure you can keep breathing and living which is what any mother would want to make sure their children can keep on doing.

“I don’t remember exactly how many times we moved; in those days, my focus was on trying to win people over, the better to protect my family, or—silently—trying to fend off homophobia, the better to protect myself. My being a “faggot” was one way for other people to feel better about themselves. My being a “faggot” let cops know what they weren’t.”

The silence Als describes would be more of the lines of not starting or becoming hostile when an injustice would happen to him. The way he approaches the word “faggot” he uses it more as a barrier of protection from possibly worse things that could happen to him. If the word “faggot” made other feel better about themselves because they could say what they want to him and make them feel better because they were not one then Als let them do it if it meant no more escalation in their insults. Als would rather be known as the “faggot” then a person who stand up to that injustice because life as a result would be safer and in that way he’s continuing that silence his mother wanted him to keep.

“Are we a strange crop, constantly provoking strange responses—which are now out in the open, because, truth to tell, black people are also an important revenue stream, and Hulu wants to show us that, by streaming the “black stories” in its archives?”

What had interested me about this excerpt of the text is that there has been a drastic shift in how business is being approached in the entertainment industry which can both be argued as good or bad. The fact that there is more of a priority to start signing more black artists to a label or cast a black actor in your movie does answer past outcry for for more diversity in the industry but is it to a point where it is beyond the good intentions of having diversity. Like Als said throughout streaming platforms there has been a push to make “black stories” more mainstream and in a way use it as a sign that this company is does not judge and stands against racial injustice so then they could attract more viewers and sponsors to their platform. It seems more and more like companies are only pushing  these “black stories”  more and more because if they don’t they will not be viewed as a good company if they don’t which brings up the question if these companies even really do care about racial injustice or they are just trying to keep the perception of being a good company in the public’s eye.