Although the ordeal of the five innocent Black and Latino boys convicted of sexual assault has been on public record since 1989, the new series brought the injustices these youth faced — racial profiling, hyperaggressive policing, detainment, public humiliation, and imprisonment — to the attention of a new generation. For many in the Black community, the series has also raised a difficult question: To watch or not to watch?

Many of our Black friends and colleagues bemoan the fatigue that comes with not just living through such events but also feeling compelled to watch, talk about, and process those events all over again. But this creates quite the conundrum: In a country where many White people do not want to (and almost never have to) talk about race, and where many Black people are tired of talking about it, who will teach our children what they must know about racism?