I wrote the following a couple of months ago; after the fourth episode of this season’s O.C.

This past week’s O.C. was pretty signifigant. The series recovered nicely after an absolutely abysmal start to the third season — and this simply isn’t up for debate; the first three episodes of the season were fucking horrible. In addition, a series of “firsts” happened as well. And I’m not talking about bush league stuff like Ryan boning Marissa (although perhaps that might be better coined “shaven league” stuff, or maybe “landing-strip league” stuff, but I digress)

Well, the “firsts” that I was taking about were pretty incredible. If my calculations are correct, I do believe we actually had a real-live BlackPerson™ sighting on the fourth episode! I even have proof!

Here’s a framecap from that episode (it was during the “ghetto high school dance” scene)

Pretty incredible if you ask me. Unfortunately, you only saw the girl for a second, as the panned across the gynasium, showing us exactly how “ghetto” Marissa’s new stomping grounds were. The wily producers of the show weren’t done there, though, they had a special treat in store for us…yes, a SECOND real-live BlackPerson™

Now, granted, it’s only the back of his head, but still. Progress is progress. First they don’t have to ride in the back of the bus, and now TWO appearances in ONE episode of the O.C!

Now, if you’re a fan of the show, you watched last week’s episode, and you were just as blown away as I was. They actually had a SPEAKING role for a BlackPerson™! They introduced the character “Paul Glass”, Sandy’s old friend from college. He was working for UC Berkeley, and he came to town to try and talk Seth into going to Cal. In an interesting twist, he expressed an interest not in Seth, but in Marissa and Ryan. We can all see how this is going to end up….

But that’s not the point. The point is that from Frederick Douglas and W.E.B DuBois, to Martin Luther King and Jessie Jackson, BlackPeople™ everywhere now have a new hero…Tom Wright a.ka. “Paul Glass”, the Cal Berkeley Admissions guy.