Little Apple The Series

Parenting While Black is in part a catch all phrase representing the shared experience Black parents may have when raising their children. Take Little Apple for example. With her knack for confrontation and accuracy, you have Charlene balancing being a disciplinarian while still protecting Apple’s fierce yet gentle development from forces that may try to stunt her growth or remind her of her traditionally oppressed role in society. We also bare witness to this in modern culture; when you see Toya Graham--the archetype strong Black woman--beating her child during the Baltimore protests. What Toya represents is a level of concern shared among parents of color all across the country--concern that your child, when they leave you, is unsafe in this world and susceptible to the systemic penalties of operating as a free Black child.

America oftentimes becomes so obsessed with itself that it erases facts in an effort to whitewash the impact, experience and history of people of color. Possibly the most omnipresent example of this erasure is the story of Christopher Columbus discovering America. The level of audacity it takes to erase an entire population of Native people out of the story of discovering America is sickening--and is still repeated to this day. Apple isn't here for it. And apparently, neither is Milan.

There is often an unspoken mutual understanding among many people of color living in America. It may be a signal, a head nod, a pulse, a congruent sentiment usually reserved for adults that have lived long enough to add context to their experiences. Children are rarely able to do this because this requires a certain level of coupling intellect and reason. Not for Apple. She knows the systemic issues that we all face. In episode 2 of the narrative show, she is a skeptic of DRUNK MAN at first. She knows him to be a homeless drunk, pretending to be blind in order to make some money. But she also knows he is just out here trying to make it like every other person of color.

Lead actress, Milan Williams, and Writer/Executive Producer, Riley S. Wilson, discuss gentrification--the theme of the first episode of "Little Apple."