Jackie Wright President, Wright Enterprises, Media Consultant & Activist, 3-Time Associated Press Award Winning Journalist

O-M-G! It's enough to give you a heart attack?  "Lisabeth, Honey, I'm coming," as Fred Sanford used to say to his deceased wife on the "Sanford and Son" sitcom!  "Black-ish" is enough to definitely give me a heartache!  The jaw of my mind dropped when I saw the opening scenes of "Black-ish" that suggested a young black male masturbating as his father walks in on him! 

How in the world, more like hell, did that storyline get by all those Black people involved in the show?  "Over sexualized Black Mandigo," people?  Why feed into that stereotype that landed too many Black men at the end of a rope for looking at 'Miss Suzy' violating her White Virginity by "just a looking?  Some of those actors, producers, previewers of  "Black-ish" surely are old enough to know better.  It's great to see Black actors working but at what cost?  Stepin-Fetchit, Lightnin,  Little Black Sambo, Sapphire, Amos and Andy, Where you at?   "Black-ish" made me nostalgic.

Cast of "Black-ish!" "Beautiful People, but to date, an ugly show," says Jackie Wright

Well, what's to be expected of TV, if we've put up with the degrading music filled with "bitches" and "ho's" on "Urban Radio" for years.  I was recently speaking to an accomplished  Black corporate executive, who's married to a Black corporate executive excelling in his field as well. Both came from working class Black families, yet attended elite universities.  "I can't listen to the radio anymore.  Every other song has an explicit sex act and I can't let my kids listen to that."  She went on to say that one of her upper middle class Black friends came up with the solution to only listen to "Country and Western Music."  I laughed out loud recalling  the chorus of an old  "Country and Western" song "mama hated diesels, yes she did!"  She rebuffed my concerns that "Country Music" could be graphic too (as mama was run over by an 18 wheeler).  "Not like what I'm hearing on "Urban" radio," she replied defending her friends' choice.

Well, what I saw on "Black-ish" brought to mind the "In Living Color" film critics' "Hated it!"  In my Black family growing up and most of the folks around me, we were taught that if something or someone had you continuously considering the lower extremities of the body, then that person or that thing distracted you from excellence.  Sex in a committed relationship was good, but it had its time and place and wasn't the end all be all in life.  The thought was you had to look up for greatness. "Keep Your Head to the Sky" was a song by "Earth Wind & Fire." 

I could go on about the disappointing "Black-ish," but here's Variety's take on the show: http://variety.com/2014/tv/reviews/tv-review-black-ish-1201308893/. It may be of interest to look at the comments that follow the article.  I found some fascinating.

The problem "Black-ish" causes is that it adds to all of the negative stereotypes about Black people.  With the limited images of Black people in media and those for the most part are negative, it has a wider societal impact that hurts Blacks socially, economically, and spiritually. UCLA Law Professor, Dr. Jerry Kang took a look in his work, "Trojan Horses of Race," at how sensational criminal news stories cause racism. That's only news coverage. Add "Black-ish" and other such fare to the mix and while the actors, producers, networks are laughing their way to the bank, we're being trotted off to "hell in a hand basket."

It has been said of TV that it's "a vast wasteland."  "Black-ish" just added an exclamation point to that statement.

"When television is good, nothing - not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers - nothing is better.

But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite each of you to sit down in front of your own television set when your station goes on the air and stay there, for a day, without a book, without a magazine, without a newspaper, without a profit and loss sheet or a rating book to distract you. Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland.

You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western bad men, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, and cartoons. And endlessly commercials - many screaming, cajoling, and offending. And most of all, boredom. True, you'll see a few things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few. And if you think I exaggerate, I only ask you to try it.

Newton N. Minow, FCC Chairman, May 9, 1961 (National Association of Broadcasters Convention).