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Does the Controversy Over ‘Mixed-ish’ Have Merit?
An inside look at ABC’s new multiracial comedy
In the third episode of the new sitcom Mixed-ish, which debuts September 24 on ABC, there is a classroom scene in which the camera zooms in on the back of 12-year-old Rainbow Johnson’s head (played by Arica Himmel) as she faces the teacher. Her hair is worn naturally and seemingly without gels, oils, or styling products. It’s big. Poof. It fills the screen.
Bow’s parents lived on a commune for the first 12 years of her life, where no one felt the need to discuss race, much less to style a biracial Black girl’s hair. When federal agents raided the farm, young Bow and her family were thrust into the real world, a place she doesn’t understand. Her voiceover reflections give the show a kind of “Wonder Years quality,” say producers, as she reflects on what it was like to grow up mixed-race in the 1980s.
“Excuse me.”
Tameka, who is Brown-skinned, taps Bow’s shoulder. Unlike Rainbow, she wears her hot-comb straightened hair pulled back into a smooth ponytail.
“Your hair is making it hard to learn.”
“Oh, sorry.”
Bow leans to the right.
Hair is just one of the many topics the series will tackle as it sets out to…
