Come on. This was like a trip to dream land in an absolutely hellish era for black people in the U.S. Almost wonder if it was created to deflect attention away from what was going on at that time to make people at home think ''Hey look, they're doing just fine''.
shareIn the 1980s I knew a black family that was almost exactly like this family. They were wealthy, both parents were doctors, their kids were A+ students, and they lived in a much nicer area then I did. Also, my cousin married a Black man. So, they were a biracial family and they were very successful. This all happened in the 1980s. It isn't impossible to for me to believe, because it was happening all over my area. As for the third world black slums of the 1980s- Well, what is different now? Those areas (mostly in the big cities) are still, crime infested, gang ridden, poverty stricken slums. The narrative that all or even that most black people were broke, and living in slums during the 1980s is a false narrative. Yes, it was a sad element of black society, but it wasn't the majority of 1980s black society. Black unemployment after the early 1980s recession ended was around 11.2%, and it stayed at the level through out the rest of the decade.
https://cafehayek.com/2013/12/some-data-on-reagan-and-black-unemployment.html
The current level of black unemployment (when all age groups are averaged together) is hovering at around 10% which is around the same as it was in the 1980s.
https://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cpsee_e16.htm
Sheesh. As others said this was just another of many shows about an ideal way of life. Black people were rising and I could see this first hand as I was in college during part of The Cosby Show era.
shareStraight racist take. I'm almost 50, grew up in southeastern VA, and had multiple friends that had two parents in highly professional occupations. I also went to Princeton with two legacies where both parents attended.
shareIt wasn't really about "African American life". It was about one family. So, there were no black families with educated parents and upper middle-class incomes in the early 1980s?
shareAll these shows are fantasy. Any group of struggling young people living in a gigantic Manhattan apartment particularly if they do not come from a rich family would never happen. Yet you would see it all the time.
shareFriends isn't an accurate representation of white middle class New Yorkers either.
shareWasn't there an episode where Theo forgot to Just Say No?
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