If you are old enough to remember TV in the '80s, you will recall that "The Cosby Show" was a huge hit, and also a frequent source of criticism from black activists. The problem? It portrayed a black family as happy, strong and prosperous. Why would that be a problem? It was a problem for some because it didn't show this particular black family mired in "the struggle," rather focusing on the fairly normal issues associated with marriage and raising children.
In fact, the blackness of the Huxtable family was almost incidental to the plot of the show. If you'd ever had kids, or had ever been a kid, or had ever just been part of a family, you could relate to the weekly experiences of Cliff, Claire and their kids, which is why the show was so popular with all kinds of audiences. It wasn't that it was a black show per se, but rather that it was a great show.
Thirty-some years on, along comes "black-ish," which debuts tonight on ABC and deals more directly with the racial element of a similar story. This time the focus is on the conflict experienced by a black man who came from the 'hood but experiences career success and is able to provide his family with a better life as a result. The conflict, of course, stems from the notion that this kind of life . . is not really consistent with authentic blackness:
The sitcom centers on a black family in Los Angeles, the Johnsons, struggling with prosperity. Andre (Anthony Anderson) works at an advertising agency; in the premiere, he’s on the verge of a major promotion. Rainbow (Tracee Ellis Ross) is an anesthesiologist. Their four children are smart and adorable.
If this puts you in mind of the Huxtables of “The Cosby Show,” that’s no accident. But more than the Huxtables ever were, the Johnsons are wrestling with whether their comfortable lives are causing them to forget that they’re black.
Well, Andre is doing most of the wrestling. The other family members display varying degrees of indifference to the issue, and therein lies the comedy. Andre, we learn in an introductory voice-over, grew up in less-than-middle-class fashion, and success leaves him conflicted.
“I guess for a kid from the ’hood, I’m living the American dream,” he explains. “The only problem is, whatever American had this dream probably wasn’t where I’m from. And if he was, he should have mentioned the part about how when brothers start getting a little money, stuff starts getting a little weird.”
I don't really have a problem with the premise of the show. It deals with an absolutely real cultural phenomenon, although I wonder if the writers will run out of ways to keep the story entertaining while always having to have the race thing front and center. In many ways it harkens back to "The Jeffersons," which was all about a black businessman from Queens (Archie Bunker's next door neighbor, in fact), who accomplishes business success and brings all his street attitude with him to his new home in a midtown Manhattan high-rise. But while racial themes were ever-present on "The Jeffersons," the show wasn't expressly about that all the time. The characters were great, and it was just unafraid enough of stereotypes to have fun with them without crossing the line.
A more serious question about "black-ish," though, is why we still tolerate the cultural notion that prosperity is inconsistent with authentic blackness. This notion is something my pastor (who is black, as it happens) constantly preaches against. He doesn't want black people to embrace this thinking because, when they do, they resign themselves to limits on their lives that are imposed by the notions of man and not in any way by God.
Herman experiences it every day, of course. We are constantly hearing from critics who accuse him selling out to the white man by daring to venture into corporate America and actually doing well there - as if it's un-black to do well. What a load of crap that is. Who foments this? But then, we all know the answer to that, don't we? There are plenty of people who benefit politically when black people believe they must always be dependent on government benefits to make it in life. If more black people start living and thinking like Cliff Huxtable, George Jefferson and Andre Johnson (or in real life, Herman Cain), they're not going to vote Democrat at a 90 percent level. If that ever happens, the Democratic Party will be in huge trouble and they know it. Their agenda is to make as many people dependent on government as they possibly can, so they will vote for the party of government forever.
So the idea that prosperity is some sort of betrayal of blackness is one that benefits a lot of people. But most black people are not among them. That makes for a potentially funny show, and for a serious question we should be asking about why we still let ourselves think this way.
