I Don't Get Why People Say That The Rosa Parks Episode Is Necessarily Bad. I Feel There's A Lot Of Nuance

I don't get why people say that the Rosa Parks episode is necessarily bad. I feel there's a lot of nuance to it that people tend to overlook.

Right off the bat, we get this parallel: how the Doctor and the fam are from out of town like Emmett Till was. It's a warning to tread carefully. Yes, we would all like to go around punching racist bigots, but this is not the time or place.

And then we have this white supremacist recently released from Stormcage (missed opportunity to name-drop River to be honest—though season 11 was a soft reboot for new viewers, so I understand why they would hesitate to mention Doctor's wife being held in the same prison as this man, imagine the outrageous misunderstandings it would cause?). He probably got arrested by a Black officer (speculation) and now has it out for Rosa Parks, the spark that led to the Civil Rights Movement.

As Yaz says here.

Now, coming to the most controversial part of the episode, you have to consider that maybe this was the only logical next step.

Remember, this was Krasko's plan. He couldn't kill Rosa because of the neuro restrictor in his brain (the Doctor being so smug about that while he had her in literal chokehold is a scene that lives rent-free in my head). But he nudged history enough by cheap little tactics (changing the bus drivers, smashing up the bus, etc.) that by the time The Doctor and the fam got things back on track there weren't enough passengers for a full bus without them. If they got up now, Krasko would get what he wanted.

In this case, not helping is helping. Helping to preserve history and Rosa's legacy, even it's means being the jerk who recreates the circumstances of her arrest.

This is Rosa's moment. The Doctor and the fam are just spectators to it, and that, I feel, is so much more powerful than if they stepped in or stepped out of the bus. Rosa doesn't need saving. What she needs is to stand up for herself—or should I say sit down for her rights. No matter how hard it might be to watch and do nothing, this is a moment no one gets to take away from her.