I couldn’t care less who plays the part of Ariel in Disney’s remake of “The Little Mermaid.” I probably won’t see it no matter who’s in it or how good it is. But if you’re one of those who is smugly screaming about racism because some people disagree with the casting of a black actress to play Ariel, you’ve succumbed to a bizarre tendency today to brand anything you don’t understand as racist if it even slightly involves race. A tiny minority of those who are unhappy with the casting decision might be racists, but the vast majority are those who simply know the character in a particular way, which happens to be a red-headed white girl. If Star Trek were remade and Uhura was cast as white or Asian, I would be upset, not because I’m racist, but simply because she’s an established character who’s black. This seems like the same thing. Stop screaming about racism when people simply disagree with you for reasons that have nothing to do with racism.

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