Note: This piece was originally written in 2018, and published on Medium on July 8, 2019. The figures in the piece are from September, 2018.
In a slow motion video produced by Netflix and aired at the BET Awards earlier this summer, 47 of the streaming service’s black actors and creators gather to declare a “new day” for diverse storytelling.
While the camera zooms in on directors like Ava DuVernay and Spike Lee and actors like Lena Waithe and Mike Colter, Caleb McLaughlin of “Stranger Things” launches a stirring monologue calling for “untold experiences of our blackness” and “a limitless range of identity.”
This is not a moment,” McLaughlin declares. “This is a movement.”
It’s also an ad.
After debuting the Twitter handle @StrongBlackLead at the end of the spot, a message appeared below it.
“Only on Netflix.”
With a message that reads like poetry, a color palette reminiscent of Spike Lee films and art direction that hearkens to the…
