In the episode, "LEMONS," The Johnson family was still left confused and discouraged two months after the election. Amidst the devastation, Dre seemed to be the only levelheaded person. He recognized that this was just one of the many upsets that we have gone through as a nation. He acknowledges that upsets will always result in a division between the "winners" and the "losers." The only difference is that in this case, the "winners" and the "losers" are supposed to be on the same team.
In a beautifully edited compilation, we are shown scenes of hostility and praise among different groups after the election results. Dre perfectly summed it up as "a vortex of anxiety and elation."
He accurately states that our nation is now more openly divided than it has ever been in a long time.
Dre's office wasn't any different. Dre's coworkers were too wrapped up in trying to figure out what resulted in Donald Trump's unexpected win, that they completely dismissed their work responsibilities.
I appreciated how some of Dre's coworkers were used to represent the statistics that impacted the election. Dre's superior describes himself as a "ferocious Republican," but could not bring himself to vote for Trump. His coworker, Lucy, was utilized to bring the attention to the controversial topic of the high percentage of white women that contributed to Trump's win.
Lucy made some rather good points when she defended her stance. However, her coworker noticed how her reasoning dismissed how this might impact families that aren't as privileged as her's.
The tension in the room came to a halt when Dre's boss questioned if Dre even cared about their country. This is when Dre finally spoke up about what he truly felt among the turmoil. The office was met with silence when Dre softly said, "I love this country, even if at times, it doesn't love me back."
In his monologue, Dre displayed that he wasn't indifferent, he was just accustomed to losing. He accepted that no matter who won the election, nothing would have changed for low-income and underprivileged families. The four years proceeding the election wouldn't have been any different than the years before.
In a moving conclusion, Dre initiates a new concept: Instead of contributing to the hostility with senseless name calling and intense arguments, we should work together to prevent our nation from being as divided as it has been in the past couple of months.
Although I am more excited for the next episode of "Black-ish" than I am for Inauguration Day, I can only hope that the lessons I gathered from this episode will remain ingrained in my head for the next few years.
