Is the message of the episode good or bad? It gives vibes of “wealth = success” and “I can’t help it if I’m rich” which is kind of shitty.
The episode ends with an explicit question: “When are we gonna stop doing this to each other?” which seems to imply that it is the black community that is holding itself back.
Did this episode age like milk, or is it a valid perspective within the black/POC community?
Also thoughts on the show in general?
At least in the Bengali diaspora, success and working within the capitalist system is very much rewarded and respected. Bengali men in the West are raised to very much to take advantage of the system without questioning whether the system is fair in the first place.
My dad is a pretty insufferable lib. Much of that comes from wanting to assimilate into US culture. He watches CNN and has reactionary takes on most things.
Not being a successful middle/upper class professional with a marriage and family is looked down upon in a lot of Bengali immigant spaces. Being any sort of leftist or rocking the boat is looked down even further, god forbid if you're neurodivergent.
In short, at least from where I was raised, there isn't a drive to be "bengali" in a rebellious cultural sense but to take as much as you can from the dominant American culture. Of course, this backfires in a capitalist society where many second and third gen deshis lose their unique communal family culture. My dad still complains that his son (my brother) married a Black Christian woman from Trinidad instead of "within the race" or of course, a white woman.
I can't confidently speak for how deshi women are raised though.
TL;DR the situation from this video would be reversed.
Edit: not to say that nationalism within deshi spaces does not exist, but the fact that it's very entertwined with capitalism and class elevation rather than something like Black nationalism.