'Sons of Anarchy' Season 7 Spoilers: Paris Barclay Discusses 'Racial Stereotypes' & How FX Drama Relates To Ferguson [VIDEO]
Frequent Sons of Anarchy director and executive producer Paris Barclay recently spoke about how the show treats racial tensions and how it possibly relates to what's going on currently in Ferguson, Mo.
Barclay sat down with BET recently to discuss how Sons of Anarchy handles racial stereotypes in addition to how citizens relate to law enforcement, a touchy subject given the riots and tension in Ferguson.
"For as long as I've been with Sons, I don't think I've ever questioned a script perpetuating a racial stereotype," Barclay admitted. "I have questioned whether or not we're going too far in reversing some stereotypes. Some of them are true!"
The members of SAMCRO have a complicated relationship with the law, which has been a plot-line since the beginning of the series. Barclay talked about how his own relationships with police officers have shown through in Sons and other police dramas he's worked on.
"The underlying theme in Sons in terms of law enforcement is, 'we don't trust you as far as we can throw you.' Ironically, that has become the underlying theme in [the Black] community as well," he discussed. "I almost got to the point where I started to trust the police again, and then I [directed] NYPD Blue.
"I met police officers and learned more about the way they worked, and I learned that they're very committed to get the people they believe are the bad guys in prison, and they'll do anything to achieve that."
Going into the final two episodes of the series, Barclay said that the tensions between various races will subside.
"One thing you will see is the beams of the exclusion of difference races and the walls that they've built between them will start to come down," he said.
This will be seen through characters like Tio (Michael Beach) and Nero (Jimmy Smits), with both characters eventually "leaving that behind."
Sons of Anarchy airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FX.
Watch the promo for the next episode of Sons of Anarchy here:
