I recently wrote about a TV show called “Blackish,” which I vow to never like, even if it might have some good parts. I hate it; I’m a hater. I hate it without even watching it. I hate it on principle.
But the more I think about it, I’m not sure what I hate.
It’s very difficult for me.
Like you, probably, I want to stop thinking about it.
I want blacks and whites to be blacks and whites, and I want those blessed with a mixture of both to celebrate both, not celebrate their mixture and defy both. It’s a road where all we’re doing is picking apart the differences; I think it’s wrong. It’s the African pride dilemma of Michael Jackson, which no-one was proud of.
It’s such a confusing concept to me, there being so many colors we could play with and create new mixtures of, I’m running for the hills. Ambiguity does not help people be proud of who we are. It doesn’t even help us not care about what colors people are. It just brings up, and for no reason, that we’re different. “Blackish” is like inventing a new way to be different. Like a sport of its own.
Not really black? What does that mean?
I submit we are what we are, not “ish.” We’re two things, maybe; maybe two things to be proud of. But both pride and concept truly disintegrate when we become something “ish.”
Here’s a video showing what black and white people do together when no-one is really caring what color they are; when everybody knows … but there’s something … more important going on.
It’s a video of a white man playing basketball. He’s good! Back then his Celtics were considered unique; an Irish basketball team. (Back then, we would never have called them “Irish-ish.”)
Larry Bird was a player ESPN called “above race.”
Like thousands of fans, by the time this video’s over, you may agree who is, as Magic Johnson calls him, “the greatest basketball player ever,” but not care so much … what color he is. Him being one of the only white guys on the court just makes him easier to spot!
So celebrate and learn … fellow humans!
Hear the sound of mixed races playing together …
And chiding … and admiring … each other …
It’s not an “ish” …
It’s more like a “swish!”
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