Black Lightning’s Nafessa Williams on leaving a hated day job to go be a superhero
Mild spoilers ahead for The CW’s Black Lightning.
Black Lightning is one of broadcast television’s few black superhero shows. Based on the DC comics of the same name, Black Lightning follows Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams), a school principal and family man in his 40s, who’s conflicted between returning to the superhero life and ignoring crime on the streets.
But Black Lightning’s standout character is his eldest daughter, Anissa Pierce (Nafessa Williams). Anissa is a social justice activist and student with budding superpowers of her own. Like the comic book character, she’s gay, which makes her one of the few queer people of color on broadcast television. That already small pool is shrinking, a 2017 GLAAD survey on television found....