According to ABC, racism is funny, so long as you’re making fun of white people. Wednesday night’s episode of Blackish, titled ‘Any Given Saturday,’ was filmed as a video documentary by little Diane (Marsai Martin) of her brother Jack’s (Miles Brown) athletic prowess. Their father Dre (Anthony Anderson) happens to believe said prowess is hampered by the fact that his Jack is partially white:
Dre: Most of my children’s athletic abilities have been...watered down by Bow's white daddy. But the Caucasian Curse skipped over Jack. How should I put this humbly? The brother is the truth!
Okay, the Caucasian Curse? Yes, I know they meant this in a joking and non-malicious way. And yes, I know that jokes at the expense of white people’s athletic grace have become socially acceptable to many people, both black and white.
However, for a show that dedicates 99.8% of itself to addressing the stereotypes society unfairly places on black people, it’s a bit rich to see them throwing the racial shade around at others. Not to mention the fact that an NBA player named Blake Griffin, in Los Angeles where Blackish is set, has pretty well disproved any notion of a “Caucasian Curse.”
But that’s okay Blackish. By all means keep spreading the same old “White Men Can’t Jump” stereotype despite obvious proof to the contrary, while pretending to stand against all stereotypes. I’ll just sit here browsing this L.L. Bean catalogue while jamming to Mumford & Son.
