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PEOPLE & ARTSWednesday 24 February

TV’s ‘black-ish’ takes child’s eye view of police violence

LYNN ELBER TV family’s debate over
AP Television Writer how much to tell children
LOS ANGELES (AP) — As about how harsh the world
tense crowds await a may or may not be.
grand jury’s decision in a The ABC comedy began its
case of possible police second season with a deft
brutality, a child watching look at the increasingly
TV news coverage asks his casual use of the N-word,
parents a simple but load- so it’s unsurprising it would
ed question. take on the even-thornier
“Why are these people subject of police treatment
so mad?” the African- of blacks through a fiction-
American boy queries in al case in Los Angeles in
Wednesday’s episode of which a black man was hit
“black-ish,” prompting the repeatedly with a Taser by

In this image released by ABC, Laurence Fishburne, from left, Tracee Ellis Ross, Marcus Scribner,
Jennifer Lewis, standing center, Miles Brown, Marsai Martin and Anthony Anderson appear in an
episode of “Black-ish” about a highly publicized court case involving alleged police brutality and
an African-American teenager, airing Wednesday, Feb. 24 on ABC.

Associated Press

officers. shooting of Michael Brown, was designed to draw
But Kenya Barris, the show’s 18. laughs. Barris recognizes
creator and executive pro- That said, Rainbow and An- that this week’s episode
ducer, said his goal was to dre “Dre” Johnson (Tracee may summon memories
prompt viewer conversa- Ellis Ross, Anthony Ander- of those “very special” sit-
tions about how parents son) and others in the fam- com half-hours that ven-
respond to the deluge of ily are blunt in their opinions tured into deep waters,
worrying information chil- about police treatment of such as 1977’s “All in the
dren face in these hyper- blacks. The result is funny, Family” episode about the
connected times. provocative and unsettling. attempted rape of gentle
The episode, which airs at “The police are damn housewife Edith Bunker.
9:30 p.m. EST, “had less to thugs,” says Dre’s father, “I’m very interested and
do with police brutality and Pops (Laurence Fishburne). nervous as to the reaction.
more to do with talking to “Not all police,” says Rain- It’s different from anything
your kids about the world bow. I’ve written before,” said
they’re living in and they “Yeah, only 92 percent. The Barris.
can’t avoid anymore” be- other 8 percent are advis-
cause of the Internet, their ers on ‘Law & Order’ epi- It’s also different from what
friends and myriad other sodes,” snaps back Dre. TV tends to be, which is
sources, he said. The point is that that all indi- carefully detached from
“How do you talk to your viduals, black or otherwise, controversy to avoid up-
kids about hard things and have their own perspec- setting sponsors or viewers.
not make scorched-earth tive, Barris said, and that Barris credits ABC, which
whatever their experiences was key to “black-ish” from last week named Chan-
are going to be based on the start. ning Dungey, the first Afri-
your experiences” and per- It’s common for minority can-American to head a
spective, Barris said. characters to be presented broadcast network.
The question young Jack with a “monolithic vocal “This experiment called
(Miles Brown) poses in the tone,” he said. “We built ‘black-ish’ has been an
opening scene echoes the series to show we are amazing journey, and it’s
one that Barris got from his really multilayered as peo- been supported by the net-
own son, then 7, as they ple, not just black people work in a way that I don’t
watched coverage of the but in general as a com- know that a lot of other
Ferguson, Missouri, protests munity of Americans.” networks would have,” Bar-
sparked by the fatal police The series, of course, also ris said.q