Sometimes being in the black upper-middle class is like being a fish out of water. (@black_ishABC / Twitter)

"Wait, did they just put me in charge of the black stuff?"

- Andre

While watching the "Black-ish" pilot, I felt as if I were watching a reflection of my everyday life. The feelings the main character, Andre, describes as "us vs. them." The pressure he feels to be the token brother while representing his entire race at the workplace. The division that exists between him and other black Americans because of their different approaches to "holding onto their roots."

It's hard for me to believe that anyone can fully understand the intentions of this series without understanding the current state of the black American elite. Like Andre, I experience a daily battle to “hold onto my roots” as a "black professional." My parents' (and my own) successes are equated with whiteness. My use of what black people often call “the Queen's English" is looked down upon in many black communities. This results in a pressure to code switch in and out of “the Queen's English” and “the Vernacular.”

At one of my first college parties (at USC) someone even asked "are you 1/4 or 1/2 black...you just seem so articulate?" That would be one of hundreds of comments insinuating that my use of academic rhetoric somehow makes me seem more biracial or kind of...sort of "black-ish."

My familiarity with the "black-ish" experience in no way represents all black people or all upper-middle class black Americans. The model family depicted in "Black-ish" really seems to display some of the struggles and relationships that the black elite family, living a suburb of Los Angeles, may experience.  

When Andre arrives at work, he shakes hands with a white co-worker. “Notice how I do the shake with him,” he tells the viewer. “That is because I consider him an honorary brother.” This notion of the honorary brother (or sister) applies to the workplace, the social setting and even romantic encounters in so-called "liberal" places like my suburban hometown. There are some non-black people who can handle knowing the truth about the hardships and confusion that is affiliated with being black in America, and there are some who just “don’t get it.” 

Then there are the people who just try too hard to seem like an honorary brother at work or in the classroom. This person is represented by Andre's co-worker who says, “We want to know how a black guy would say 'good morning.'” This person probably doesn't mean to be racist, and likely has little to no exposure to black people, black culture and anything related to blackness. 

This person may come off as intrigued by your blackness, and will probably make you feel like another species for just being a darker shade of brown.

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But the most important concept writers touch on in the pilot is the notion of what it means to feel and be treated as though you are “black-ish.” Some viewers were uncomfortable with this title, even though it pretty much sums up the upper-middle class black experience in America.

Educated black Americans with money are viewed as kind of black or not really that black, simply for being associated with family legacies of black academics, doctors, lawyers, agricultural workers and (don't forget) slaves. The pressures affiliated with what it means to be a part of the black bourgeoise while trying to hold onto one's roots characterizes the specific black American experience that "Black-ish" wants to show America. There are specific historical references to W.E.B. DuBois' notion of the Talented Tenth (that viewers would have to know beforehand) to fully understand the socioeconomic divide that separates black America. 

In DuBois’ text “The Negro Problem,” he explains the talented tenth as:  

“The Negro race, like all races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men. The problem of education, then, among Negroes must first of all deal with the Talented Tenth; it is the problem of developing the Best of this race that they may guide the Mass away from the contamination and death of the Worst, in their own and other races….Men we shall have only as we make manhood the object of the work of the schools—intelligence, broad sympathy, knowledge of the world that was and is, and of the relation of men to it—this is the curriculum of that Higher Education which must underlie true life.”

(@black_ishABC / Twitter)

Because DuBois’ definition of the Talented Tenth originated in 1903, over 100 years of newly founded historical trends, movements and data must be applied to re-examine the accuracy of his claims. The family depicted in "Black-ish" essentially signifies what it means to be part of this “Talented Tenth.” However, feeling a pressure to be the token representative of your race in a predominately white setting does not necessarily mean that you represent “the Best" of the black American race. This idea of the Talented Tenth is false, because there is no physical, psychological or historical evidence that any demographic of the black race is "better" than the rest of black Americans because of socioeconomic standing. The main difference between socioeconomic distinctions within the black race is who has been exposed to educational opportunity and who hasn't.  

As Andre blatantly states while walking into work: 

"There were so few of us at Stevens and Lido, that it was like being part of a little family. So when one of us made it, it was kind of like all of us did. And right now, I was that one.” 

This idea of one black person “making it” for his entire race is a direct reference to DuBois’ notion of the Talented Tenth. In the eyes of his white co-workers, Andre is an example of “the best of his race.” When Stevens and Lido appoints Andre to the head of the "Urban Division," they're basically asking him to work on the perceptions of his race. But to Andre (and most black people I know), no matter their income or position at work, they will always be equal to every black person in the office. They will continue to say "hello" to every brown-skinned man and woman they pass on the street. Because at the end of the day, before anyone knows I am from Pasadena or went to private schools, they see and judge me based on the fact that I really am black, not "black-ish." 

Continue reading below about themes to notice while watching ABC’s "Black-ish." 

Themes to Notice:  

• Black/Jewish Alliances
• Biracial vs. Black 
• Black Professionalism and Tokenism
• Black Elitism  
• Color-Blind Racism 
• Defining the "Honorary Brother"
• Double Consciousness

Watch New Episodes of "Black-ish" Wednesday's 9:30/8:30c on ABC.

"The War At Home" is a project of co-columnists Corinne Gaston and Maya Richard-Craven to examine and discuss contemporary issues of discrimination, violence and social injustice within American borders.