“It’s a big world and place to place, it’s pretty different. But no matter where we’re from, the experiences, conversations and images we see have an effect on us–they make us curious. As a child, it’s only natural that, that curiosity makes us question what’s going on in the world. Soo we bring those questions, some of them hard questions, to our parents.

As a parent, dealing with those hard questions used to be a lot easier. Now things have changed. Between gossip blogs, the internet, and 24-hour news, it’s become impossible to control what our kids see, and they’re naturally curious. So at some point, whether we like it or not, our kids are going to ask questions that we have to answer.” This was stated by Anthony Anderson’s character, Andre, in the opening line of the episode. This episode, entitled ‘Hope’, touched subjects such as racism and police brutality.

"Is anyone going to explain to us what's happening?" – Diane #blackishhttps://t.co/OyvzCc3LLx

— black-ish (@black_ishABC) February 25, 2016

The story revolved around the twins, Jack and Diane, and how their parents explained police brutality to them. Mostly touching themes of race relations, as they watched a fictional indictment of a white police officer shooting an unarmed black kid. Andre, Rainbow, Pops, Ruby, Zoey, and Andre Jr. explain to children how socially relevant the issue was, with respect to their generation. While Andre sticks to a more pragmatic approach towards the issue, Rainbow tries to kindle hope in them, and to reassure them that such things would come into their lives only at a later point in time.

Anderson then delivered a stirring monologue in regards to President Barack Obama’s election. Recalling his fear that his hope in an evolved America would be tragically snatched away from us. Anderson brought an unfortunate sentiment that’s rarely discussed on national television.

This is what every black person felt that day. #Blackish pic.twitter.com/TdVoJ9RVgY

— Dahm Daniel! (@kidnoble) February 25, 2016

In an interview with New York Times, the show runner, Kenya Barris, was asked if Anderson’s monologue on President Obama’s inaguration was his personal feelings.

He responded, “We went back and forth about whether to put that in. When that inauguration was going on, several newscasters commented that Obama’s suit was made out of Kevlar. Without saying it, they were saying that everyone was fearful. A huge amount of people were like, “Get back in the car!” Because we know the world we live in. Obama represented hope and change for so many people of different colors from all over the world, and we felt like losing him would destroy us.”

The episode received rave reviews, and accolades from far and wide for having explored the theme, while sticking to a line of brevity and steadiness. Not only has it been lauded for taking up something so controversial, critics have pointed out that the series excels in carrying out such episodes in the right fashion, without much ado.

Black-ish comes on Wednesday nights on ABC.