The Mindy Project - Borderline Racist or Straight Up Racist? Decide After Reading These 5 Lines

Mindy Kaling rose from one of the less-noteworthy characters played in The Office, wrote the hilarious book Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, and eventually started her own show The Mindy Project. I remember seeing a trailer for it a few years ago and thinking “meh”. For whatever reason, it didn’t appeal to me despite the fact that competing all seasons of The Office unavoidably left me looking for a show to replace it’s wonderfulness.

I probably gave off the vibe that I’m not too fond of Mindy as a celebrity when I called her character unnoteworthy. The thing is, whether the role was “big” or “small” in The Office, everyone was still very enjoyable to watch and apart of what made that show so great. But anyway, I don’t want to start the list of reasons why The Office is awesome. The point I was getting to: I did like her. The lines she delivered on The Office always ranged from funny to downright hilarious. And after reading her first book (mentioned above), I liked her even more because I found that she is truly funny in real life. She seriously appealed to me as someone I’d love to have as a best friend. Seriously. She is funny, witty, and definitely the life of any party.

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I started watching TMP sometime last year and I absolutely loved it. I even paid for a Hulu subscription solely to watch that show. Morgan with his naive self, Danny “the handsome jerk” (as described by Mindy), Jeremy with his charming wit - they all make up parts of a great cast that I believe comes together to create a great, unique, and amusing show. As I started watching the show though, something became very very apparent. Mindy is like a soft-core racist. And she clearly wants to be white (yes, Caucasian) and she has blatantly stated that in countless episodes.

“ID cards should show your aspirations rather than your actual physical features.”

Mindy made this statement after an officer asked her why her I.D. said she had blond hair and blue eyes… wth??

“Babe, you have nothing to worry about. He’s too tan right now. You know I like my men milky white.”

When her current boyfriend Cliff worried that she might be seeing Casey (her ex-boyfriend), she said that to Cliff to express that she wouldn't be into Casey because he wasn’t the whitest of the whitest. Again.. What in the hell?!

“It’s not like birth control causes people to have sex, you know what does? Black music.”

This left me baffled. Completely astounded. And very offended. She couldn’t have said R&B, Rap, Hip Hop? Or to name a specific artist - Marvin Gaye. Luther Van Dross, Trey Songz, etc. Any artist that infamously had sexual implications in their song lyrics. But no. She labels all of these genres as “black music”, implying that a) only black people listen to it and b) only black people produce it. I mean come on, it’s 2017. That’s my response whenever someone says something racist, homophobic, or downright offensive about any minority group. I will say, I know people who say “white music” to group together any genre that historically involved only white producers and musicians. Personally, I try not to because it is a way of generalizing.

“I know I’m an ex con, but I’m a white man... who is interested in you.”

This line implies that, despite someone having very bad characteristics, as long as they’re white you should jump on the chance to be with them. This was said by Don, Morgan’s cousin who used to steal cars with him. While these words don’t come out of Mindy’s mouth directly, it’s very possible that she may have written this line. And if she didn’t write the line, it still puts the show in general in a bad light.

“You always complain that you don’t like blues because you don’t relate to their ethnic struggle.”

Mindy asked Danny (current bf) to turn on his blues record to make an effort to be interested in the things he’s interested in. The above line is said by Danny as he reminds her of what she actually thinks of blues. Since when do you have to relate to another culture to appreciate it? Isn’t that what makes different cultures, traditions, and ways of life so beautiful and rich - the fact that they show you something from their eyes, from their life, or point of view. Oh, and down the line in the same conversation she describes blues as “real complainy-like”... give me a break!

Some lines were racist while others were cringe-fully telling of her desire to be… white. I know that race is often a subject tossed back and forth in comedy but adding humor to statements like these doesn’t make them any less narrow-minded or borderline racists.

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