‘Black Lightning’ and TV’s Optimistic Black Man
Part two of three
In Black Lightning’s season finale, there’s a scene in which Jefferson Pearce’s (Cress Williams) two daughters surprise him during the final lap of his morning run. It doesn’t have any consequence to the larger story, it’s just a nice, happy, family moment.
I would find that out of everything in Black Lightning’s very well done first season, this was the image that stuck with me and I wasn’t exactly sure why. It would take me thinking about the season in its entirety, especially in comparison with other similarly Black-led shows, to fully grasp why it had had such an impact on me.
Black Lightning’s 13-episode season introduced us to a hero unlike any other on the CW Network’s ever-expanding roster but more importantly, in Jefferson Pearce, it introduced us to a Black man unlike any other on TV. Jefferson is a Black male character, markedly distinguished by his effervescent hope and constant optimism.
Jefferson’s positive outlook, possibly borne out of his dual roles as a father to two girls and a high school principal, was always unwavering. He was not naïve, he appreciated the perils of being a Black person, but he consistently chose to see the good in people and maintained his belief that the system would eventually, do the right thing. This active decision to see the bright side placed him as an undisputed community leader and role model.
It had not occurred to me, before now, how abundantly pessimistic the Black, male, TV character is. As a Black man aware of your place in today’s world, it is very easy to be hopeless or defeatist. You become conscious of the fact that in society, you are perpetually on the back foot and are denied the benefits you feel qualified and entitled to. This fosters an adversarial attitude in you. You begin to understand and accept that you will need to fight for anything you are going to get, no matter how small.
Black and Sad
On Black-ish, Andre Johnson’s (Anthony Anderson) co-workers constantly joke about how he is able to trace the roots of every issue he faces to race — it’s his superpower. He is able to continuously draw that line of causality because he knows something his co-workers will never truly understand.
It is bold for the show to have Dre exhibit such feelings. He maintains a pessimistic attitude not really characteristic of a sitcom lead but perhaps more importantly, very characteristic of a Black man today. He understands and constantly laments the fact that various institutional and societal structures have been built, over decades, solely to adversely affect people with his skin colour. That’s what he knows and wants them to understand- it is always about race.
This innate pessimism is again, clearly shown in Atlanta. Earn (Donald Glover), a broke Princeton dropout, wants to manage his up and coming rapper cousin, Alfred (Brian Tyree Henry), in order to be able to provide for his young, burgeoning family. This is a task he manages to continually fall short of. Earn’s many problems stem from the fact that, unlike Alfred, he has not yet grasped how the world really works.
Things come to a head in the season 2 finale, aptly titled, “Crabs in a Barrel”. Earn is tasked with, amongst other things, securing a lawyer for Alfred. He is insistent on a successful Black lawyer he has located but Alfred is adamant that he wants a Jewish lawyer. Alfred believes that being Black can only take you so far. Instead of taking on board another Black person who has the system set up against him, he would rather game the system by hiring a Jewish lawyer whom the system benefits.
This is an episode in which Alfred drops pearls of wisdom such as:
“niggas do not care about us, man. Niggas gon do whatever they gotta do to survive, because they ain’t got no choice. We ain’t got no choice either.”
And this from Darius (Lakeith Stanfield) to Earn:
“you’re learning but learning requires failure. Al just tryna make sure you ain’t failing in his life…y’all both Black so y’all both can’t afford to fail”
As can be gleaned from these quotes, the episode emphasises that it is now solely on Earn to acknowledge the game he is in. He needs to develop that adversarial attitude, to understand that he is a crab and all the other crabs are doing what crabs do.
Pinned in a corner and faced with very limited options, Earn finally, in a thrilling sequence, exhibits an acknowledgement of this status quo. He finally, to both his and Alfred’s benefits, starts acting like a crab in a barrel.
Why Always Sad?
As stated earlier, I found it easy to identify with this hopeless characterisation of the Black man. As a result of this, I didn’t realise that this depiction was so prevalent until Black Lightning rolled around. This led me to do some thinking.
Why was this depiction so rampant?
Cui bono. Who benefits
Critics may argue that these depictions were more for “them” than “us”. That these stories and scenes weren’t put to screen for Black people but more for the understanding of everyone else. A very generous defense against this criticism would be that perhaps this is the best way to get everyone else to understand what we feel, what we know. Perhaps seeing a gun being pulled on Reggie (Marque Richardson Jr.) in Dear White People Vol. 1 was a more effective than listening to Sam (Logan Browning) vent on her radio show.
A different explanation, however, is that these haunting depictions are what we need. This is the representation we deserve. A validating representation for those of us who are constantly plagued with these feelings of hopelessness and defeat but have to consistently mask them in our “yeah, it’s all good” facades. Seeing these feelings represented onscreen gives a certain form of assurance. It comforts us by showing that we are not alone in having these feelings and that maybe, we have sufficient reason to feel this way.
So, Positive or Negative- which is better?
I must admit and in so doing, apologise that I do not have a tidy resolution all tied up with a bow for you. I don’t have a satisfying answer to posit.
I had first approached this question with the mindset that the constant pessimistic depictions and this rare, optimistic portrayal in Jefferson Pearce are at odds with each other, that they are at opposite ends of the spectrum. On deeper thought however, it just may be an evolution, they just might go hand in hand. Maybe this portrayal of a man who constantly chooses to see the good in the world, is a direct result of the earlier characters who couldn’t, who were filled with dread and a lack of hope. Perhaps you can’t have one without the other.
I understand and appreciate the motivations behind Black creators finally showing their true feelings on screen. It is educational and cathartic; they are finally able to express their true, raw, emotions. It is a rant bottled up for generations finally being let out, wrapped up in captivating plot and beautiful dialogue.
Perhaps in having the opportunity to put down this rant, it finally gives Black creatives the chance to evolve, to grow. For instance; if the first step was representing your anger with the world and its injustices, maybe the next is documenting your hope for the future. That is what Jefferson represents, the hope that one day Black men would get the privilege to be optimistic and to be hopeful.
The adversarial attitude can only take us so far. To make real progress, we will need the perfect cocktail of the adversarial mindset and a little bit of optimism and belief. A bit of hope that the world will give you what you deserve and just the right amount of ruthlessness for when you have to take what belongs to you.
So, here’s to achieving that perfect cocktail.
Bankole Imoukhuede
@banky_I
