This week, YouTube sensation Franchesca Ramsey announced her new MTV News webseries titled, Decoded. The Huffington Post reports Ramsey will discuss various topics on race, social issues and pop culture in order to educate viewers. She told the media outlet, “A show like ‘Decoded’ highlights why we need to break these subjects down, because there’s a lot of people who don’t understand and get uncomfortable when we talk about race. There’s still a lot of discomfort, there’s a lot people who need to learn things, but we’re trying to focus on people who are confused and want to learn and comedy helps to infiltrate that.”
In Decoded’s premiere episode, Ramsey focused on the racial stereotypes of watermelon and fried chicken. Throughout the video, Ramsey taught history lessons on how the two foods received stigma and notoriety when used to describe Black people. Although some may find lessons about race condescending and abrasive, Ramsey makes it hard to find fault in her delivery.
Perfectly equipped with intellect and compassion, Ramsey continues to show viewers why they fell in love with her in the first place. Since her humorous 2012 viral video, “Sh!t White Girls Say To Black Girls,” Ramsey takes a realistic approach to highlight how Black people are treated as “other” in America without taunting those who are not well-informed. Ramsey told The Huffington Post, “I just hope people can have some teachable moment or frame of reference for what they can do to treat other people better, have conversations about them and help educate people in their community.”
Watch the first episode of Decoded, below!
