THE TRUE HERITAGE OF GEORGE JEFFERSON

I know that some of you remember the progression of Sherman Hemsley's character, George Jefferson. The Jeffersons was a spin-off from All in the Family. George Jefferson was Archie Bunker's next door neighbor. George gave Archie hell. Archie was the lovable "racist", uneducated, underachieving, and stuck in a lower middle class existence. George, on the other hand, was a successful businessman who owned multiple dry cleaners. Eventually, George and the rest of his TV family moved away from Queens to a posh part of New York, the upper east side of Manhattan. George had two contradictory sides to his personality. Yes, he was rich, but he also played an egotistical, selfish buffoon.

What message was George sending us? I loved the fact that George made it on his own, moved out of the 'hood, and owned his own successful business. According to the writers of the TV show, the price he had to pay was being totally addicted to making money, being insensitive to everyone around him, and ultimately being a clown. Admittedly, the show was a comedy, and George always showed his redeeming qualities by the end of each show. The problem is, the only independently successful, and outspoken Black man on TV, also had to be at times ridiculous.

A less explicit case was the son Micheal on Good Times. The young brother was smart, radical, and on his way to success, but he was often denigrated by his own family for his "crazy" views. Even now, when one  reads the cartoon Boondocks or watches it on TV, yes the Black pride comes out, but it's always couched in comic terms.

So the legacy of these comedies seems to be, "Yes, we know that there are many racial injustices that you are experiencing, but your pain, like so many Three Stooges pratfalls, is fodder for our comic relief."

But the fact is, like much of America, there was a time I loved all if these comedies, and laughed as much as anyone else. I laughed because the hard truth expressed by a gifted comic is extremely funny, and makes you think without being clouded by anger. George Jefferson expressed the truth of a Black man trying to make it to the top. In order to "move on up" you may just have to strut and fret your hour upon the stage until you are heard no more.