All The Ways "Ginny & Georgia" Nails What It's Like To Be Biracial
Usually, shows gloss over the identity issues biracial folks struggle with.
If you’re like a lot of Netflix users, you’ve probably been binging Ginny & Georgia the past week. Or, if you’re like me, you’ve already finished it. Look, the show isn’t perfect, but it definitely has its moments of greatness.
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So no, the show definitely hasn’t nailed down its tone, but it did get one thing right: its depiction of Black-white biracial adolescence.
Unlike other shows (I’m looking at you, Euphoria), Ginny & Georgia acknowledges the unique struggles Ginny faces by being half-Black and half-white in a predominantly white community.
However, the show doesn’t focus the entire story on Ginny’s racial identity (i.e., Mixed-ish). The show acknowledges Ginny’s identity without centering the entire plot on it.
Here are 12 things that Ginny & Georgia gets right about adolescence as a Black-white biracial kid.
Ignorant teachers will make assumptions about your education and your intelligence.
When Ginny meets Mr. Gitten for the first time, he automatically assumes that she's uneducated and he continuously patronizes her. That scene hit a little too close to home...
Your non-Black friends might gaslight when you say you've experienced racism.
Ginny & Georgia expertly illustrated this in the scene wherein Ginny's boyfriend Hunter refuses to believe her when she says she feels discriminated against by Mr. Gitten. As a non-white person himself, he tells her, "I'm not full white, so Gitten can't be full racist." Umm...sorry, Hunter. That's not how it works.
Getting your hair done with your non-Black friends presents a whole unique set of challenges.
At their school's Sophomore Sleepover, Ginny's friends pressure her to get her hair done by one of the hairdressers hired for the event. As soon as the (white) hairdresser takes a brush to Ginny's hair, her beautiful curls are ruined. Of course, Ginny then has to fix her messed-up hair herself.
You’ll be tempted to modify your more "ethnic" features in order to fit in.
As the season progresses, Ginny begins to change her appearance to fit in with her non-Black friends, straightening her naturally curly hair. And like many biracial people, she's complimented on the change. "I like it way better this way," says her friend Brodie. "If only you had an ass, you'd be perfect. It's weird that you don't."
You’ll be expected to be an expert in “Black culture”...
The amount of times Ginny's friends make comments about how she fails to live up to their idea of what a Black person "should" be is all too familiar. At one point, Ginny's boyfriend Hunter has the audacity to tell her, "Last time I checked, Brody twerks better than you."
...while also being expected to seamlessly assimilate with your white friends.
Georgia never has a discussion with Ginny about how she's feeling being the new kid in a school of mostly white students. She never expresses interest in how Ginny is processing being one of the only Black students in the school. Ginny is just expected to adjust easily and take everything in stride.
You’ll be accused of “acting white.”
Many Black and biracial people often get ignorant comments that they "act white." For example, Ginny comes across a mean comment about her on Hunter's YouTube page, calling her "the whitest Black girl I've ever seen." This comment devastates Ginny.
You’ll be drawn to hanging out with your Black classmates...
There are only a handful of Black students at Wellsbury High, one of them being Bracia. It's clear that Ginny wants to be friends with her, chatting with her at their Student Leadership meeting and inviting her to a Halloween party. Like many biracial kids, Ginny wants to connect with the side of herself that she's been isolated from.
...but at the same time, you'll be afraid that they’ll reject you because of you're biracial.
When Bracia arrives at the Halloween party, Ginny becomes upset when she thinks that Bracia is judging her for dressing up as Britney Spears. Bracia later explained her reaction to Ginny's costume, saying, "It's hard sometimes. I don't have that same option you do. The wear-a-blonde-wig option."
Your white friends won’t understand the problems you face.
A prime example of this is when Ginny spots some racist comments about her online — specifically, someone calling her an "ugly half-breed." Instead of having empathy for her, her best friend Max says, "Ugh, that's hateful. You have haters! You've made it!" Not exactly an empathetic response.
You might be tokenized as the “sassy Black best friend” by your classmates.
Sometimes, being the one Black friend can make you feel like an accessory. As Bracia asks her, “What, you telling me they don’t touch your hair? Fist-bump you? Call you homie? Do all that fun tokenizing?” The tokenization can start to feel dehumanizing.
And finally, your parents can't relate to your identity issues.
One of the things Ginny & Georgia gets so right about being biracial is how your parents can't relate to what you're going through.
At one point, Ginny has a discussion about her identity crisis with her dad and he admits that he doesn't know what it's like to straddle two different worlds. "I’m never going to know what it’s like to navigate your world, and your mom won’t either," he admits. Yep...that sounds familiar.