Nobody gives the black girl mob credit for being smart as fuck. They clown but at the end of the day they are really intelligent.
And it’s not subtle at all.
Taystee is a math prodigy in addition to being well-read, Poussey is multilingual, Cindy just knows shit, Suzanne studies Shakespeare, Watson was a good student in addition to being a track star, Vee is basically an evil genius. Piper often learns the most from them; they taught her how to fight and helped translate Pennsatucky’s biblical threat.
The show flat out acknowledges the (academic) intelligence of the black inmates time and time again, but the audience collectively ignores it.
ALL OF THIS
some review i read (the vulture?) pointed out that taystee is at least as smart as piper, if not several degrees smarter, and the only one of them to go to smith was the nice white lady. the whole show is a terrific illustration of privilege and how not having it fucks you the fuck over.