FAMILY MYTHOLOGY
My “Wonder Years” Were Dangerous AF
Life was treacherous for a ten-year-old Black kid in 1968's Deep South — but not for the reasons you might think.
When I watched the first episode of ABC’s reboot of The Wonder Years, the show revived many childhood memories. Since I was a kid in 1968, the year the reboot was set, I couldn’t help but reflect on my “Wonder Years.”
Interestingly, this version of The Wonder Years is in Montgomery, Alabama. The show has gotten its share of negative criticism, either for having the temerity not to center whiteness or for not portraying enough racial turmoil. Personally, I think the show-runners for The Wonder Years have done a pretty good job — even though the AV Club’s Stephen Robinson does not share my opinion:
The show’s pilot also promotes the Cosby-esque myth that a comfortable middle class existence provides a refuge from racism. Middle class white people are presumably kinder and more tolerant than their lower income brethren, which is both classist and fundamentally untrue, as viral cell phone videos from the past few years would demonstrate.
Some of the show’s critics, most of whom have no firsthand knowledge of what life in the Deep South was like in 1968, can’t wrap their…
