Kenya Barris Reveals Favorite "black-ish" Moment

[JamesG]

“BLACK-ISH |blak.ish|, (adj.) -ish

1. a suffix used to form adjectives from nouns, with the sense of “belonging to” (British; Danish; English; Spanish); “after the manner of,” “having the characteristics of,” “like” (babyish; girlish; mulish); “addicted to,” “inclined or tending to” (bookish; freakish); “near or about” (fifty-ish; seven-ish; BLACK-ISH).

2. a suffix used to form adjectives from other adjectives, with the sense of “somewhat,” “rather” (oldish; reddish; sweetish).





I have news for you: If Motown music is your favorite kind of music, you might be a little black-ish. If Michael Jordan is your all-time favorite basketball player, you might be a little black-ish. If Jay Z is your favorite musician, you’re definitely, definitely a little black-ish. But that’s a good thing.

At least I think it is. Because in the grand scheme of things, in this melting pot called American, aren’t we all?





And before you ask… “No.” I’m not saying this just because I created the new ABC comedy, "black-ish". In fact, when I decided to do "black-ish" I didn’t even have a title. Instead I went about it in the novel and contrite way of beginning with an idea, based on my life, and writing that idea in the most truthful, humorous, and, hopefully, appealing way I could.

See I’m a TV writer, my biracial wife Rainbow, is an anesthesiologist and, although we’re doing OK now, we’re both from what is commonly referred to as “the hood.” In stark contrast, we’ve raised our five kids in feral cat–free, stray pit bull terrier–less neighborhoods that I would call utopia…or at least nirvana.

And although the predominantly negro-free schools they attend do have a Jim Crow–like air of Pine-Sol and mayonnaise to them, they are, in fact, the schools that my wife and I (but mostly her) fought very hard to put them into — even at the sake of my own sports car or built-in home theater room. We wanted to give them the best, as any parent would, and for what it’s worth, those were the schools that kept coming up whenever we googled “Best schools.”





Besides, the racial landscape of America has shifted drastically in the last three decades. The hopeful, inspiring, idealistic, tableau that "The Cosby Show" gave us has been realized. In fact, now with a black president, that **** is sorta over!

The idea of an upwardly mobile black family has become a day-to-day part of our societal fabric and, subsequently, a delicious and permanent chocolaty layer of the cake of Americana. So much so that the idea that I had when I was growing up, of what it meant to “be black,” is becoming passé. Mark my words, we’re living in “the last days of disco” where it’s still cool to be black.

Basically, in our effort to assimilate… Guess what? We’ve assimilated! At least, a little bit. I guess a lot of people would say that’s a good thing, right? I guess.





If I’m being honest, I sorta wanna go back to those good ol’ days of being black. You know, the ones when you said “big butts” and Kim K. and J.Lo weren’t the first names that fell out of people’s mouths. The days when black dudes went to the club and actually danced instead of standing around watching Asian guys light up the linoleum.

The days when I wasn’t scared to start a fight with a white guy because I was scared he could be a MMA wannabe, looking to test out his YouTube fighting skills on an unsuspecting victim who looked exactly like me.





Now don’t get me wrong. I love my life. And I love the societal strides we’ve made, yet am also keenly aware that we still have tons of injustices and wrongs that need to be righted. But there’s no denying that things have changed — in the last decade in particular. My kids are living in a world of homogeneity that causes me a raised eyebrow on the daily. Who are these strange, little people I’m raising who are playing soccer and listening to Macklemore? And that’s what the show I wrote is all about. It’s not exclusionary. In fact, it’s the ultimate love letter to inclusion!

It’s about identity and a father’s struggle with it, for himself and, most importantly, his kids. Kids that are living in a world where German-born Dirk Nowitzki kind of has a “BLACK-ISH” game, where Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke sound a lot “BLACK-ISH.” A world where their own personal mores, habits, interests, and behaviors so far from the stuff that he knew, growing up in “the hood,” that it seems his kids are becoming ‘BLACK-ISH.”





And that’s the beauty of the show: Our society evolving to reach a really interesting convergence of behaviors where black culture has penetrated enough of the mainstream that everyone is a little “BLACK-ISH,” and the idea of what it means to be “black” has morphed out of it’s debilitating and suffocating box, with fewer boundaries and limitless ceilings.

So in the end, being “BLACK-ISH” is really just being “AMERICAN,” and that’s a good thing… I guess.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jarettwiesel...uff#.mfgXNnGBY