Sunday evening CNN aired its new show entitled “United Shades of America” with funny man W. Kamau Bell as its host. The premise of this series is for Bell to explore different areas and cultures within the United States to get clarity and overall learn more about said topics. To kick things off with a bang, the first episode follows Bell as he goes off to learn more about the “New Ku Klux Klan” and their leaders.

Photo: mpr news

Without giving too much away, I want to share with you all a few questions/comments I had during this first episode and why you should look to watch it as well.

A black man actually speaks to members of the KKK?

Okay, hello! This is, if not the biggest reason, one of the most captivating points of the entire show. While we’ve heard of other black men, like Darryl Davis’ encounter with the KKK, as the first episode came to a conclusion, Bell says, “unlike many black people who have seen a cross lighting, I was able to actually walk away.” That is a bit of paraphrasing, but as he said that my heart dropped. It truly made me think about all of our ancestors who had encounters with klan and were not able to simply walk away. Watching Bell interact with them and attend a “cross lighting” was enough to make me give him a standing ovation in my living room.

You get a clear view of the beliefs of these klansmen, in 2016 

Many people believe groups like this only existed in the past and we have evolved beyond them. However, like mentioned in the show, members of these groups are still recruiting, hoping to evolve themselves and get their message back into mainstream rotations.

Klansmen light crosses to pay homage to Jesus? 

This was one thing in the series that stood out to me and confused me at the same time. It was interesting to hear them say “we light this cross to represent Christ as the light within the darkness” (again, paraphrasing from memory). They also mention that only “good Christians” are allowed to be a part of their organization, but I wonder where in the Bible they are finding this to support their actions?

Photo: splcenter

They refer to the Bible often 

Again, this was a reference point many of the men used. One of the men even told Bell that him being married to a white woman was an abomination and went against the Bible. He also said interracial dating is worse than murder but that’s another post within itself.

The youth in their communities are raised to uphold their ideologies 

This made me question how these children would react if they are ever in areas of diversity? And although I figured this was one method of how these practices stay alive in current generations, but it saddened me to think that they are teaching their children to hate differences, while we are teaching our children how to survive.

Photo: stormfront

Overall, I was just amazed that Bell was able to get these people to allow him to take a walk in their world unscathed 

This was one thing I continued to think throughout the entire hour; “I’m glad he’s okay.” Some of the areas he traveled to get his interviews are not known as the safest places for people of color but he was able to get in and get out. He also learned some comforting information about some of the communities, but I’ll use those lessons as another reason for you to watch and see.

And you know no review would be complete without a few words from Twitter:

With all that said, I would truly like to say thank you to Kamau Bell for continuously bringing us quality content in which he bring real issues together with comedy to educate others!

Photo: comicbookmovie

Did you watch United Shades of America’s first episode? What parts stood out to you? What did you hope to see? Will you tune in for future episodes? Let us know!

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