Degrassi and Black Girls

Like I said, I think the writers do do that but then it somehow still turns into a race thing.
If a Black character is cliche, then it's "typical racist cliche." If you treat a Black character with virtually no stereotype, then people will call it "whitewashing" or "ignoring their diversity." Like seriously you could write in a Black character with absolutely no stereotypes and people will then complain that the writers are ignoring their experience as a Black character.
Either way, people will still complain.

I mean, hell. Look at the two main Black characters on Degrassi. Shay is just a regular character and has had hardly any major cliches put against her. And what happens? An entire storyline that focuses on mostly non-Black people (except her father) telling her why she should feel offended at a drawing. Prior to that, she really couldn't care less. She, as a Black person herself, really didn't care. But in comes all the mostly non-Black people to tell her why something that she didn't think was racist is racist. And then she buys into it.

Same with Tiny. Barring the fact that his plot should have focused more of the fact that his Caucasian Latina girlfriend is a skank who uses men for free food and invites these strange men to public schools which is a security threat and why that's a problem, instead the storyline turns into him getting suspended for fighting and he honestly doesn't really care. He, as a Black male, didn't think there was any racism involved. But in comes his non-Black girlfriend and all her friends to start a freaking rally and push on him why he should feel offended by something he otherwise didn't care about.

So if anything, I'd argue that the issue is more of a "white guilt/white savior" complex of the writers. And the writers are forced to do this because if the Black characters have any cliche then they'll get called racists. So instead they have to find a way to incorporate race into the plot, because if they don't then they'll also get called racist for ignoring "Black issues." So they have to write in a storyline that doesn't involve a character stereotype while still being able to bring up the topic of race.

The point I'm trying to make is that sure, if they want to add some diversity they can hire some minority actors. But just by the virtue of being non-White doesn't mean that every single one of them needs to have some major storyline or be the popular kid or whatever. There are even more White characters with just as much nothingness to do.

I'll be honest; the reason at least for me why the Black actors at least in this Next Class show are so boring is exactly FOR the reason that the writers know that they have to walk on egg shells to make sure that the Black characters are never perceived as falling into a stereotype. Like even the idea of Tiny liking to play sports would be a definite "Oh look there's another Black male athlete" reaction. Or if they made him like music then it would be "Oh look another Black male who wants to do music." Or if they made him do something edgy like commit a crime or be in an abusive relationship or whatever, then it would be "Oh look another Black male who is portrayed as being bad."

So instead they just avoid it altogether. And so guess what? He has literally nothing to do, and so therefore he becomes boring. And the same applies to Shay. So IMO, the reason why they're boring is not because the writers necessarily just snub them. It's because no matter what they do with their characters people are going to find a way to say that it's racist or that they're a stereotype. And if that's the reaction the writers are going to get, then they figure it's better to not even just go down that path.

Like what type of edgy Degrassi-esque storyline are you expecting for the Black characters that won't get the writers into trouble? Let the straight A student Shay accidentally get pregnant? "Oh look, another stereotype of the young Black female getting pregnant stereotype." Let the good natured Tiny get into some trouble with drugs or alcohol? "Oh look, another Black male written as a junkie stereotype." That's the reaction the writers are going to get, so the writers don't even bother.

They add just enough diversity to the halls to show that they have it, but any more than that and they don't want to touch it.

It's like exactly the situation Goldie had with Hunter over video games. Goldie complained that there was too much violence against the female characters in the video game (even though it's a battle game in which both male and female characters attack each other). So Hunter says "Fine, we just won't play as the female characters." Then Goldie replies "So now you want to exclude female characters from the game." When it's like that, you can't win.

It's a pointless conversation with if people are going to have that attitude, so there's no point in having it. And ultimately, the Black actors suffer for it.

I actually don't mind them being serious as other shows usually make them offensively stereotyped. Other shows usually have black women as sassy, wise cracking comedic characters who are not serious.