Literally anyone alive in the late 80s and 90s knew it was a thing. Every single cast of more than 2 people had a woman or a black, and as it grew you gained a relative amount more of women, colored, and some combo of both. Every single kids show followed something like "white male, white girl, black, latino, other (wild card could be more white or not)."
The difference was, most people were still of the belief that this was improvement. That it was being done sincerely instead of maliciously. So it wasn't enough to piss people off or get the noticing to be resistant.
Of course those pushing it from the shadows and the academics were absolutely doing so with a nefarious agenda, but they were boiling slow enough that a lot of people were moving towards "don't see color." Its why they had to push gangsta rap and Rodney King to such heights, to make sure the blacks didn't fall for it after guys like Cosby and Uncle Phil were helping blacks improve.
Literally anyone alive in the late 80s and 90s knew it was a thing. Every single cast of more than 2 people had a woman or a black, and as it grew you gained a relative amount more of women, colored, and some combo of both. Every single kids show followed something like "white male, white girl, black, latino, other (wild card could be more white or not)."
The difference was, most people were still of the belief that this was improvement. That it was being done sincerely instead of maliciously. So it wasn't enough to piss people off or get the noticing to be resistant.
Of course those pushing it from the shadows and the academics were absolutely doing so with a nefarious agenda, but they were boiling slow enough that a lot of people were moving towards "don't see color." Its why they had to push gangsta rap and Rodney King to such heights, to make sure the blacks didn't fall for it after guys like Cosby and Uncle Phil were helping blacks improve.