Glee and POC Part 1:
Matt Rutherford: A student at William McKinley High School, he’s shown to be a team player, a nice guy and a good friend to many of his fellow glee clubbers, though he rarely spoke or appeared in the spotlight. He was transferred schools at the beginning of season 2. He never appears or is mentioned again.
Mercedes Jones: A student at William McKinley High School, she’s been shown to be a confident woman, a team player, a great friend to her fellow glee clubbers, an ambitious woman though still conscious of other’s feelings, who’s willing to sacrifice her own glory and spotlight for the team, she’s level headed and helps her friends and even those who aren’t when they need it, she also helps to keep things civil, both within the New Directions and The Troubletones. She’s a main character on the show, though she’s rarely focused on, and when she is it’s either in a stereotypical or judgemental way.
Tracey Pendergrass: A reporter, who wished to expose Sue as a coward and a cheat, but is completely duped into thinking Sue is in fact a visionary, after seeing Mercedes perform an unplanned solo of Beautiful, in which people of various sizes, genders, etc. took part – He does not view any other performance or interview any of Sue’s colleagues/Cheerios, he merely accepts that clearly this one performance makes Sue a good person and a great coach, even though she had nothing to do with it. He never appears or is mentioned again.
Aphasia: A student at Jane Addams Academy, she is revealed to have been detained in juvie recently, and is a thief, both attempting to rob a bank and trying to pickpocket Will. She never appears or is mentioned again.
Giselle/Andrea Cohen: Two members of Vocal Adrenaline, Giselle has been shown to be unkind and cruel to her competition, stooping to any level to get to them. Andrea meanwhile was revealed to be the winner of the Outstanding Soloist of the Year award and that she suffers from Crohn’s disease, she was nice enough to warn the new Directions about hiring Dakota Stanley. Neither of these girls appear or are mentioned again.
Grace Hitchens: The show choir coach at Jane Addams Academy, a school for troubled youth (and a school which seems to be made up mostly of POC). She starts out as a good woman, who wants to win because of talent and hard work, rather than cheating, but in the end she ends up stealing part of the New Directions’ set list and cheating in an attempt to win, though she does ultimately attempt to make amends and redeem herself by trying to tell the judges the truth. She never appears or is mentioned again.
Sister Mary Constance: A judge at one Show Choir Regionals competition, now a nun she was revealed to be a former exotic dancer, only becoming one so that she could avoid going back to working on a pole. She doesn’t believe cheap pandering should be rewarded and while she enjoyed the duet between Kurt and Blaine she still felt the need to ask whether or not Dalton – “Is it a gay school or just a school that appears gay?”. She is a religious woman who is not actually religious, and apparently knowing whether someone or something is gay matters to her somewhat, she also uses the stereotypical phrase ‘Oh no you didn’t’. She never appears or is mentioned again.
Unnamed Angry Mother: An angry parent who rather than looking towards her own failings as a parent blames McKinley as a school for her son’s illiteracy, angrily yelling at Principle Figgins’ that the school should be focusing more on education, rather than wasting money on school plays. Her points are valid and her heart is generally in the right place, her actions however are not, they and she are very offensively stereotypical – She’s a large black woman with anger issues, who uses violence rather than talking things through, her son is illiterate and she blames the school entirely rather than taking some of the blame herself as a parent. She never appears or is mentioned again.
Donna Landries: Ohio’s Vice Comptroller, it’s revealed that she had been forced to attend a Show Choir Sectionals competition as a judge. She does not care for the competition or glee clubs in general, she is portrayed as being a very volatile and cynical, feeling that none of the glee clubs deserve to win, she is an unpleasant woman with very little patience. She never appears or is mentioned again.
Only one of these POC is a main character, only one other was a recurring character, the others in question had limited roles and screen time; most were portrayed as being unlikable people, and as little more than stereotypes.
You want to tell me Glee doesn’t have a problem when it comes to their treatment and portrayal of POC?
(via moonlite-suspenders)
