Lovecraft Country: What’s Scarier Than Racism?

I have been waiting for months for the premiere of Lovecraft Country. I even added it to my calendar so I wouldn’t forget. Jordan Peele is an executive producer of the show and we know I love him.  Johnathan Majors (David from Da 5 Bloods - which I loved) is the star and I think he’s fine so *extra points*. Since its premiere on August 16, I have watched the episode two more times. Let’s dig in to why it amazed me so. 

Lovecraft Country is based on a 2016 novel of the same name. The story follows Atticus, a soldier from the Southside of Chicago who returns home to find his missing father. His friend Letitia and his uncle George decide to join him in this cross country journey. Now keep in mind our setting is a racist 1950s America so traveling across the country is no easy feat. Uncle George is helpful in this aspect because he writes guide books. Guide books were used to tell Black people which towns had safe restaurants and places to stay as they traveled. I cringed the entire time the trio visits this small town diner. I just knew it wasn’t going to end well. 30 seconds later our trio has to literally run for their lives as they are chased by white men with guns. This is such a sad reality. The real horror comes later in the episode, when they end up in woods that Letitia’s brother warns them about earlier in the episode. Lots of Black people have gone missing in this area. But is the racist sheriff responsible or something more sinister? When we see what is really lurking in those woods my jaw dropped and I was on her edge of my seat the rest of the episode. 

Speaking to a friend (who is afraid of all things scary) about Sunday’s episode, I told her that the scariest part of the episode was the racism honestly. Watching these Black people trying to make it out of a sundown town with 10 seconds to go before the sunset raised my anxiety. Too often we see Black people in these crazy situations with racist whites and assume the worst will happen. Because history has proven time and time again that when white people are involved the worst does happen. It’s sad. It’s frustrating. It’s America. It’s also so funny to see white people on Twitter learning about America’s racist history through HBO shows. They learned of the Tulsa massacre through Watchmen and are now extra shocked to learn of sundown towns through Lovecraft Country. That’s because American history is white washed with a sprinkle of MLK and Rosa Parks while Black people have had no choice but to educate ourselves and those around us about our own history because we surely weren’t learning it in school. 

I am so excited for the next episodes. The trailers that are available look like this season will be a wild ride and I can’t wait until we are finally introduced to Michael K. Williams’ character. Because. Omar coming.