“Black-ish”, continues to prove why it is one of the best and most important shows on television today. The most recent episode of “Black-ish” called “Hope” tackled the issue of police brutality. The episode made viewers laugh, cry, think and learn.
The episode begins with a montage narrated by Anthony Anderson who plays the father (Dre Johnson) on the show. The montage is of video clips of different riots, protest and high-profile cases involving police brutality that occurred in U.S. History, going as far as even showing images of “Trayvon Martin” and “R.I.P. Mike Brown”. This all leads to the topic of the episode. A fictional high-profile0 police brutality case in which the Johnson family is watching on the news, anticipating an indictment decision. The case and decision sparks a family discussion where Dre Johnson and his wife Rainbow Johnson played by Tracee Ellis Ross try to explain to their kids what is occurring while having differences about the police.
“Hope” isn’t the first episode where “Black-ish” has touched on sensitive racial topics. On the same season they premiered with an episode called “The Word” which revolved around a racial epithet. However that episode seemed to pale in comparison to the emotional rollercoaster which was the episode “Hope”, which stayed true the Black-Ish comedic sitcom style. Even going as far as joking about the several police brutality cases that have occurred in the several past years by having the characters dispute about which case this was this time. The comedic tone however was met with serious discussion, none more serious than the very impactful monologue by Anthony Anderson’s character, Dre. Dre and his wife Rainbow had a dispute about never losing hope that the justice system works. Being on the opposite side of the dispute with Rainbow, Dre explains to his wife that the system is rigged against minorities using examples of Freddie Gray and Sandra Bland. The monologue however went to a place in which shows why the show Black-ish is probably one of the most important sitcoms on television today. Dre discusses with his wife, the feeling of pride but fear he felt when he was watching Obama’s inauguration, “tell me you weren’t worried that someone was going to snatch that hope away from us like that always do and our children need to know that’s the world they live in.”
The entertaining and comedy aspect of the show “Black-ish” will always be its appeal to viewers but the risk the show is taking not being afraid to touch sensitive topics ensures its importance to television.
