Not a day goes by I’m not reminded that I am a TOTAL Bay Area girl. As the granddaughter of southern transplants, the conversation typically comes up over Sunday dinner and holidays. You know those conversations that start with “You kids today don’t know anything about struggle.”
I used to run as fast and far away as I could from those discussions, and would find a way to leave the room before other family members could chime in. Today, those conversations have turned into playing referee in the “who had it worse” debate between my grandmother and grandfather. Raised in Forrest City, Arkansas and Gloster, Louisiana their source of light came from oil lamps. Was it coal oil or kerosene? This gets the both of them going, and brings up all of what’s different between then and now.
Sure, we all know they mean the same, but its funny to watch them reminisce about life before electricity at home, and tease each other about “putting on airs”.
They were raised in a different time, and have lived through all sorts of change. Nowadays, my family still gets together over food and spend a huge amount of time trying to land on a TV show we can watch together.
Its looking like “black-ish” is about to fill that void.
“black-ish”, the new ABC family comedy, follows parents, Andre “Dre” (Anthony Anderson) and Rainbow (Tracee Ellis Ross) Johnson who are raising 21st century children, all while trying to remain true to their cultural identity. The series also guest stars the eclectic Laurence Fishburne as “Pops”.
The Johnson’s are parents to four children, ages 6-15. Take a peek below as Andre Jr. asks to be called “Andy” and announces to his non-jewish family that he would like a bar mitzvah:
“black-ish” stars Anthony Anderson as Andre “Dre” Johnson, Tracee Ellis Ross as Rainbow Johnson, Yara Shahidi as Zoey Johnson, Marcus Scribner as Andre Johnson, Jr., Miles Brown as Jack Johnson, Marsai Martin as Diane Johnson and special guest star, Laurence Fishburne.
Will my grandparents’ debate ever be resolved…Not a chance. Has their humor opened the door to other difficult conversations about their past and our future…Absolutely!
Tune in September 24th 9:30/8:30c for the “black-ish” Premiere on ABC, and join the conversation online using hashtag #Blackish
No Comments