Do you remember season 1 of ‘Stranger things’? 2016 was another world. It was the year of Brexit, the victory of Donald Trump, the fever for ‘Pokémon Go’ and the success of ‘Hamilton’. Sadly, racism, especially in the United States and like now, was still something intrinsic in society, and there was one person who especially noticed it in his flesh: Caleb McLaughlin, the “black kid” of the gang from the Netflix series.
worse than neighbor
At the age of 14, the actor, who has played Lucas ever since, he already noticed that his lines at the conventions were smaller than those of his peers and that his presence in social networks was much less than that of the rest of the gang. It’s true: he has about 15 million followers on Instagramwhile Gaten Matarazzo is almost 19, Finn Wolfhard is around 26, Noah Schnapp is 27 and, in another league, Millie Bobby Brown is on her way to 60. Even Sadie Sink, who entered season 2, has 25 million followers plus.
Caleb has spoken openly about racism at Belgium Comic-Con, where he has said that this difference affected him a lot since he was a child. And it is that, as much as the excuse was “Your character misbehaved with Eleven”, his parents told him the truth: if he consistently had fewer followers it is because, well, raw racism.
When I was younger it affected me a lot, and I thought “Why is this such a deep conversation all of a sudden? Why am I the underdog? Why don’t I have any followers? I’m just like everyone in season one.” My parents told me, “It’s a sad truth, but it’s because you’re the black kid in the show.” It’s crazy. It’s because I was born with this beautiful chocolate skin. And that’s why with my platform I try to spread positivity and love, because I don’t want to return hate to those who hate me.
Of course there are going to be people denying the intrinsic racism of American society, will say “I do not enter this website to read propaganda” and similar nonsense, but the facts are the facts: a murderer like Billy has more fans than Lucas, one of the heroes of ‘Stranger things’. In a normal world without absurd polarization, it should give us pause. Because It is not the first nor will it be the last time that these “coincidences” happen. And frankly, Caleb McLaughlin deserved more.