‘Black-ish’ Creator Kenya Barris on Preparing for Yara Shahidi to Leave the Show for College (Video)

This story on Kenya Barris and “black-ish” first appeared in the Down to the Wire issue of TheWrap’s Emmy magazine.


Yes, the entire main cast is black and yes, the show is titled “black-ish” — but if there’s one thing Kenya Barris wants you to know about his Emmy-nominated series, it’s that it’s not a “black show.”

The creator of the critically acclaimed comedy says that everybody’s story is an American story, and we need to start embracing that idea a bit more. “It’s not a black story or a black show, it’s an American show,” Barris told TheWrap. “It’s about American culture, and part of American culture is black culture.