Diversity on Demand

As a millennial, we lived in the golden age of family television. Friday nights consisted of popcorn and crowding around the television in our playroom to watch TGIF. Ahh…the nostalgia. The Family Matters and Boy Meets Worlds tended to stay pretty light in the early seasons as far as controversial, real life events were concerned. Aside from some “very special episodes” they didn’t really dive into topics like race, sex, divorce, and adoption.

Fast forward to today. My Friday nights with my own family don’t differ as much; we still get popcorn and crowd around the television. But when we watch Modern Family, Blackish, and Fresh off the Boat, some interesting conversation results. I get these shows may have some adult themes, but it can’t be any worse than the nonsense that’s floating around on YouTube. 

But for our family it does a few things:

Representation 

There’s very, very few shows that depict a nuclear family household of two successful black parents (if you can name more on network TV let me know). So when we watch Blackish my son can relate to the silly antics of the younger kids and tell me that the mommy on that show looks like his mommy (which is high praise since Tracee Ellis Ross is a goddess), it shows that there are people on TV that look like him. When you’re a minority that is huge. 

Dialogue

Because of Modern Family we’ve been able to have very matter of fact conversations around divorce, adoption, and even gay marriage. With my six-year-old. These are things he wouldn’t have necessarily been exposed to, but we’re living real life. I would rather he have these conversations with his parents than to say something rude or offensive to others. Maybe he could even educate others. Having an episode of a show be a catalyst for this dialogue actually wipes out the need to make it “a big deal.” 

Diversity

The same way I don’t have to be an Indian-American to love Master of None, you don’t have to be black to watch Blackish or Asian to watch Fresh off the Boat. It can be intimidating seeing a minority cast and feeling like you can’t relate, but that simply isn’t true. This is a great opportunity to learn about another culture in the comfort of your own home. 

Raising our kids not to see color or to not acknowledge our variances doesn’t and hasn’t worked. We can respectfully recognize our differences and see the beauty in that. Do some self-reflection and ask yourself, do I or my kids have friends of different backgrounds? If not, you can always start with your television.

Camille
Camille has always had ties to Baton Rouge even though she didn’t live here until she finished college. Both of her parents grew up in the Red Stick but she was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. After graduating from the University of Tennessee (Go Vols!) with a BA in Communication Studies, she moved to Baton Rouge and welcomed her adorable son Caleb (7) less than a year later. She navigated life being a divorced mom until 2015 when she married her incredibly supportive husband Chris in San Francisco. They welcomed baby Christian in the summer of 2017. Truly a “Jane of all Trades”, she has worked in non-profit, local news, retail management, and owned a successful childcare facility. All roads led her to be an elementary school teacher which she believes is her calling. Camille enjoys “family fun days” where they explore BR, CrossFit, baking, and drinking all the coffee. She lives with her family in Ascension Parish with their chubby puggle Chloe.

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