Actually, I do have a problem with a black Little Mermaid

Here’s why.

First, let me start by saying Halle Bailey, who plays Ariel in Disney’s live action remake of “The Little Mermaid,” is drop-dead gorgeous, and any straight, red-blooded American man vehemently opposed to seeing her in a seashell bikini is a nut. But let’s see Bailey’s role in this film for what it is: she’s a young woman, barely out of her teen years, with idealized features and a Victoria’s Secret Angels figure. She looks great in a bikini. She can act, and judging by the trailer, she can certainly sing — making her the ideal candidate to play the lead role in a regressive story. Replacing a fair-skinned cartoon character with a young black woman doesn’t make the story “woke.” That’s undoubtedly what Disney wants its target audience to think — and it was a brilliant marketing strategy on their part.

In case you need a refresher, Disney’s classic animated film told the story of Ariel, a young mermaid who fervently believes the grass is greener on the other side — or in this case, on land. Sure, she wants to try out earthly delights like dancing on two feet. But, this being a Disney movie from the backlash years of the 1980s and early 1990s, her primary motive is: Some Guy. She spots Some Guy from afar and is…