Growing up in America can look very different for kids based on their race. If you live in a homogenous community where your interaction with people is limited to others who look like you, your view of America’s youth becomes very one-dimensional. Our goal with making While Black with MK Asante is to bring to light what it’s like to grow up young and black in America today. We gave America’s black youth a platform to share their stories, voice their concerns, and open a coversation around race for young people across the country. While Black with MK Asante provides two purposes, to help young black people feel understood and validated, and to give America’s non-black/brown teens a window into what it’s like to live in a country where you face systemic racism in almost every facet of everyday life.
Disseminating the experiences of America’s black youth in a docuseries format had to be carefully navigated. We landed on structuring each episode around a singular topic which affects black kids in America. In season one we tackled topics such as living While Black, Criminalizing Kids, Gun Violence, Cultural Appropriation, Police BruWhile Black with MK Asante has opened a channel of communication amongst black teens,and also (as well as) their non-black counterparts. Conversations on Twitter and Instagram have shown just how deeply people have been impacted by these stories. MK himself has led conversations on college campuses and engaged with many of our audience members on social media to continue these important conversations. While Black with MK Asante has taken the stories of America’s black youth and given them a platform in the smartphones of millions of America’s teens. tality, the N-Word, Body Image, Sports Protests, Body Image, and LGBTQ. These instances may affect all of America’s youth, but they affect black youth at a horrifyingly disproportionate rate. Each episode is helmed by our host, MK Asante. MK’s experience as an author, filmmaker, recording artist, and professor qualifies him in a unique way to help guide these stories in a meaningful, yet engaging, way. Each episode opens on remarks from MK about the topic and how they directly relate to his experiences or that of his loved ones. Throughout the episode we explore how this topic crops up in pop culture, how it’s been ingrained in our society for decades, and why it affects black youth at an alarming rate. We hear from black teens in a man-on-the-street format and spend time with one individual to delve deeper. Each episode concludes with closing remarks from MK where he often uses prolific (prolific used twice – alt maybe?) rap lyrics to contextualize the topic in a different medium.
While Black with MK Asante has opened a channel of communication amongst black teens, as well as their non-black counterparts. Conversations on Twitter and Instagram have shown just how deeply people have been impacted by these stories. MK himself has led conversations on college campuses and engaged with many of our audience members on social media to continue these important conversations. While Black with MK Asante has taken the stories of America’s black youth and given them a platform in the smartphones of millions of America’s teens.
