The season two premiere airs tonight, Wednesday on ABC. When Jack gets suspended for performing the explicit version of Kanye West’s “Gold Digger” at a school talent show, he faces expulsion under the “no tolerance” policy Bow hilariously fought for years earlier.
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“Have you ever wondered why white rappers, or half-black rappers, or whatever you want to call them, they always wanna say the word “nigga” right?” I was shocked and happy to see them be able to cover the multi-generational usage and views of the word. “The Word” is a much more balanced approach to storytelling and cultural observation, and it makes all the difference in the episode’s success.
Among pundits, there is also a tendency to center the “N-word” debate as if it supersedes the overarching issue of racism. You know he ain’t even seen “Training day”? “Black kids get to say this”. Josh is confused, too, so Dre lays it out for him: “All you need to know is that it’s not okay for you to say the n-word”. But it still allows you to get into the drama and the comedy of the scene without making you feel ostracized.That scene speaks to something beyond just the “n-word” debate: it speaks to the inadequacies of judgment faced everyday by those in this country who find themselves in the minority of any given situation. He ventures that maybe he can still use the word, because the NAACP. “And how could any man that loves you tell you anything that’s wrong?” But don’t take us out where we do.
Despite tackling a variety of relevant topics that resonate widely within the black community, less than a quarter of their viewership is African American.
“I love Norman Lear and the movie is going really, really well”, said Barris, who admitted he was inspired by the show and its characters when he was a kid. And, of course, there is the absolutely ridiculous argument from white people, who ignore the history and ask, “If you can use it, then why can’t I?”
When I heard the show was taking on the n-word, I assumed the worst. But it’s also what makes the semi-taboo topics about race, like why black parents spank their children more than their white counterparts, more easily digestible.
But some artists, both African-American and white, who have played with the term publicly have been given more latitude. Among the cant’s: Police Officers. In that respect, the “N-word” has become the ultimate racial red herring-a dastardly, hot-button scapegoat that can dominate panels and symposiums as everyone pretends we’re having a “real dialogue” instead of examining white privilege or deconstructing anti-blackness. Like Black-ish, both reflected a tight-knit group of relatives with colorful personalities sharing one roof, ranging in age and interests, operating under a set of guiding principles that merged tradition with changing times. This sets Dre off and he pushes forward to defend Jack from the school board who wishes to expel him from the school. To amend that, the show takes us to Dre’s work, where the Johnson family’s predicament has turned into the office water-cooler talk.
Finally, Andre brings it back to the personal. Dre and Pops don’t understand that at all, but Zoey believes that because they don’t say it with the hatred the word connotes, that it’s rendered just a word without the same power. Dre, for one, is outraged that Jack is being punished.
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This was not a stock sitcom plot that could be found on Modern Family or The Middle but a plot that required a delicate, diverse, and hysterically amusing touch – something that the Black-ish writers have perfected.
