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<p><em><a href="https://dev.theshaderoom.com/lauren-london-you-people-premiere-netflix/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">You People</a> </em>director Kenya Barris is acknowledging the continual critiques about his work, and he&#8217;s standing ten toes down when it comes to his creative decisions!</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Kenya Barris&#8217; Lived Experiences Shape His Work</h3>
<p>During a recent sit-down with <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/kenya-barris-you-people-defends-comedy-compares-to-mona-lisa-1234670514/amp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Rolling Stone</em></a>, Kenya faced some questions regarding the internet buzz surrounding him and his work. For context, Kenya faces a fair amount of backlash over his so-called &#8220;biracial obsession,&#8221; as <em><a href="https://dev.theshaderoom.com/kenya-barris-accused-of-having-biracial-obsession-ahead-of-you-people-film/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Shade Room</a> </em>previously reported.</p>
<p>In response to being &#8220;criticized by audiences for perpetuating colorism,&#8221; Barris declared that his contributions are on the same level as &#8220;anybody who&#8217;s had a Blacker body of work.&#8221;</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;I think that people need to have something to say. I think that the bigger thing is: if you look at my body of work, I challenge anybody who&#8217;s had a Blacker body of work than me.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>He also noted that his own family experiences play into how he conceptualizes his projects, like <em>Black-ish </em>and <em>Grown-ish</em>. As such, his projects may be &#8220;based upon exactly that biraciality.&#8221;</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;Black-ish, was based on literally my family. My wife is biracial. My kids look like the kids on Black-ish. And I was trying to make a story about my family. #BlackAF, again, was based upon my family so what I was doing was based upon the experience that I knew and the things that came along with that. Mixed-ish is based upon exactly that biraciality.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Barris went on to add, &#8220;I think most of the people who&#8217;ve studied the American landscape will say that some sort of mixed-race look will be in in the next 30-40 years.&#8221;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">He Aims To Show That The Black Community Is &#8216;Not Monolithic&#8217;</h3>
<p>Another point Kenya made was that his successes have &#8220;opened up a lot of doors for a lot of people to tell their own versions of stories.&#8221; After all, &#8220;the only color in Hollywood that really matters is green.&#8221;</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;Most of the things I&#8217;ve done have been commercially successful in a way that, unfortunately, you know, our projects haven&#8217;t been able to be. And I think it&#8217;s opened up a lot of doors for a lot of other people to tell their versions of stories.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>With that being said, though, Kenya did point out that he&#8217;s fond of some of the jokes about him and his work. Additionally, he noted that—at the end of the day—he&#8217;s committed to &#8220;promot[ing] Black culture in every form.&#8221;</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;I feel like I&#8217;ve heard the some of my favorite jokes, you know: you say biracial in the mirror three times, Kenya Barris appears. Drake&#8217;s baby looks like Kenya Barris produced it. Like, I get it. I get the jokes. But I also feel like if you look at my body of work, everything I&#8217;ve done has been to try and promote Black culture in every form and to show that we&#8217;re not monolithic and there&#8217;s so many versions of us.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Kenya Believes People &#8216;Pick &; Choose&#8217; When To Get Hung Up On &#8216;Biraciality&#8217;</h3>
<p>Regarding the backlash Kenya Barris commonly faces, he acknowledged that the Black community appears to &#8220;pick and choose&#8221; when to get caught up on someone&#8217;s biracial identity. He specifically noted an online conversation surrounding <em>#BlackAF </em>star Rashida Jones and Barack Obama as an example.</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;Someone said, &#8216;Rashida Jones isn&#8217;t a real Black woman.&#8217; And someone on Twitter then said, &#8216;Rashida Jones is exactly like Barack Obama and he&#8217;s our king.&#8217; And I feel like that was a really interesting thing to look at.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Barris continued, taking his argument back to the Civil Rights Movement.</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;I feel like we pick and choose when to say, this is what it is and this is what&#8217;s not. If you look at some of the biggest figures in the Civil Rights Movement they were biracial, and at that moment we weren&#8217;t looking at how someone was lighter or this or that. We just needed numbers and we needed us all to come together.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>What do you think about Kenya Barris&#8217; commentary, as well as the backlash around him?</p>
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