With The New Day the WWE has done everything they can to avoid broaching the subject of race, as neither commentary or the collection of characters that comprise The New Day have once uttered anything about them being a group of black men. This reluctance to speak to and/or reflect the racial components that make up the group, hasnt stopped them from portraying the group in a heavily stereotypical manner. They debuted as a lazy rendition of the stereotypical Black Evangelical Preachers, complete with gospel music and preacher voices. There is a smart, interesting way to portray such characters. A way that would speak to the experiences of African Americans that come from a similar background. Hell theres even an interesting satirical way to approach such a stereotype; but as things stand today, these three smart, athletic, African American superstars have been booked to dumb things down to simply clapping and chanting New Day. Its fairly uninspired, and has absolutely nothing interesting to say or contribute to the WWEs narrative or Black Culture. Now that is mostly because the WWE isnt interested in contributing to Black Culture as much as theyre interested in borrowing stereotypes for their own amusement. Its a problem that has been prevalent for decades in the WWE. An inability to use African American Culture as a point of pride, but rather as an endless pool of stereotypes to borrow from. How many times have we heard about a Mexican wresters Latino Heritage or an Japanese Superstars Japanese Traditions or a Samoan grapplers Samoan Lineage. Conversely they never say the word black in reference to a black Superstar or Diva. They dont reference that theyre African American, African Canadian, African, etc. The WWE goes out of its way to never vocally represent a Black Wrestlers skin colour. Its 2015, and its pretty clear that people have different races and cultures. Its okay to recognize that were different and to speak to those differences. No one is saying by recognizing it, youll be treating the unfairly. Race was a topic of conversation at The Academy Awards this year, and is clearly a big part of Kendrick Lamar's wildly successful album "To Pimp A Butterfly" as it is in much of Hip Hop culture, whether the MC be black, white, asian or hispanic. By not embracing the racial components that comprise The New Day, and instead trying to skirt them, the WWE is actually hurting Kofi Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods. Theyre black men. Embrace it and move forward with their narrative. Move the dialogue about race forward though the stories you tell. The ambiguity when it comes to discussing their race and/or complexion is absurd.
Matthew J. Douglas is an emerging screenwriter born in Toronto. A lifelong fascination with what makes a compelling story and the Toni Morrison quote "If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." led the often opinionated Matthew to the life of writer. Matthew is also a lifelong WWE fan, and a self diagnosed Reality TV Junkie.
