Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest revision: November 15, 2019
This pancocojams post presents information about the television sitcom (situation comedy) series Black-ish* and showcases a YouTube video of an episode of series that episode focuses on the custom of Black people nodding at other Black people who are strangers.
Selected comments from that YouTube video and selected comments from another YouTube video of that same portion of that television episode are also included in this post.
This pancocojams post is part of an ongoing pancocojams series about the custom of Black people nodding at other Black people who are strangers. This custom is often referred to as "the nod" or "the Black nod".
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/11/information-and-my-comments-about-words.html for a closely related pancocojams post entitled "Information And My Comments About The Words "Black-ish" And "Mixed-Ish".
Also, click the tag "video, articles, and comments about "the nod"" to find other pancocojams posts about this subject.
The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks to all those involved with the Black-ish television episode. Thanks also to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
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INFORMATION ABOUT BLACK-ISH
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-ish
"Black-ish is an American sitcom television series created by Kenya Barris. It premiered on September 24, 2014, and has run for six seasons on ABC.[1][2].
[...]
Black-ish follows an upper middle class African-American family led by Andre 'Dre' Johnson (Anthony Anderson) and Rainbow Johnson (Tracee Ellis Ross). The show revolves around the family's lives, as they juggle several personal and sociopolitical issues."...the father "wishes to ensure a balance of black culture is intertwined with his family's ultra-suburban upbringing".
[...]
Throughout its run, Black-ish has received critical acclaim. The show has received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series, and a TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy. Meanwhile, Tracee Ellis Ross has received individual praise, winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress.[6] The show also ranks relatively highly among shows broadcast by ABC in terms of television season ratings, and ranks among the top ten in the United States for estimated total audience size.[7]
On May 2, 2019, ABC renewed the series for a sixth season.
The show's success has also prompted a spin-off titled Grown-ish, which stars Shahidi as her character travels to college.[9] In May 2019, ABC ordered a prequel spin-off, Mixed-ish, centered on young Bow and her biracial* family in the 1980s.[10]"...
-snip-
*In the context of that Wikipedia page, the word "biracial" may mean "interracial" (as in, "a couple or a family that includes more than one race or ethnicity-with ethnicity here-in the United States- meaning Latinx"). However, the word "biracial" has also been used in American English (since at least the 1980s) to mean "mixed racial" (mixed). "Mixed racial ("mixed") means a person who has two birth parents who are different races/ethnicities [with "ethnicity" here-meaning "Latinx"]. Read the quote that immediately follows this note for another example of the word "biracial".
**
The sitcom Black-ish draws from its creator/producer Kenya Barris' real life.
From https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/feb/25/series-creator-kenya-barris-on-abc-sitcom-black-ish
..."[Kenya] Barris’s wife is a biracial** anaesthetist called Bow, just like Black-ish’s matriarch Rainbow, while the real-life couple have six children to the fictional Johnsons’ five. Dre’s central dilemma (which gives the show its name) mirrors Barris’s own anxieties: that by giving his children privileged lives that are so different from his own impoverished childhood, they might lose their cultural heritage."...
-snip-
*"In this article "biracial" means "mixed racial".
Read the Addendum to this pancocojams post about the newly coined words "black-ish" and "mixed-ish".
****
SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Video #1: The Nod
David R, Nov 1, 2016
-snip-
Here are selected comments from this YouTube video, with numbers added for referencing purposes only:
1. TheAntiTrope, 2018
"The nod is real 🤣. I'm British and even we know that. Pops got it right, "somethin' wrong with yo neck boi?""
**
REPLY
2. MC Cham, 2019
"Fellow Brit here. I do the saaame thing 😂"
**
REPLY
3. captain dirtypie, 2019
"Even we in belgium and the Netherlands know it
It is a international thing you know"
**
REPLY
4. Amy Victoria, 2019
"Just got to Amsterdam the nod is very real,and I am from Africa lol!!"
**
5. Daniel Kumevor, 2019
"The nod is so so real yeah.. Black bothers know that...!"
**
REPLY
6. Ebizzill, 2019
"the international black anthem for... "watch my back if things go south""
-snip-
“Watch my back if things go south” = Help me out if trouble starts [because of our race.]
**
7. TheLeah2344, 2019
"The nod exists . I’m a black woman and sometimes a black man gives me the nod but I know it’s very important for black boys and men to give each other the nod."
**
REPLY
8. GRIMM_SIMMER, 2019
"TheLeah2344 yeahhhh"
**
9. MélissaEnvy, 2019
"I must admit that I've even seen Africans nodding at each other in Japan lmaooo it really is international."
**
10. jarvis thomas, 2019
"The Nod is International! No matter where i went when i was in the Navy the Nod always happens lol"
**
REPLY
11. Chenai Sabeta-Boadi, 2019
"jarvis thomas Same thing in Africa... sometimes"
**
12. FLOWER, 2019
"I can't believe there's some Black people who don't know to nod in acknowledgment. Shame."
**
13. André Lima, 2019
"Here in Brasil when we (blacks) find ourselves '' isolated '' we do the same 😂
But men do that at each other regardless the race aswell"
**
14. Timeyin Olley, 2019
"I recently started schooling in Australia, and anytime i see my fellow African brother even in the city, we automatically give eachoda the nod. Crazy cool"
**
15. Biyi Ogundele, 2019
"the nod is the silent i see u , or sup bro , i see u , gt u back my dude cmon man it sort of like the look ur momz give u to stop actin a fool"
**
16. Matthew Welch, 2019
"There are some variations to the Head Nod. Young Black men up to about 40yrs old always nod their head UP. Black Men over 40 always nod their head DOWN."
**
REPLY
17. RoWdY The 1, 2019
"Wrong over 40 nod there head up as well I’m 42 I nod up same as all 40 above
So you tell me that all the 90s hip hop artists that are now over 40 nod down nope they nod up."
**
18. sweetiiey, 2019
"It's real! I'm born 93 and live in Sweden it's a thing"
**
19. Michael Ndetu, 2019
"Im from Africa ..and it just comes naturally..it's real.."
**
20. Daniel Buval, 2019
"The nod is totally real! I’m French. Even we know that too! My stupid father never taught me that! But to nod another black man made total sense to me specially if there is fewer of us."
**
21. She Wolf, 2019
"I’m live in Utah. Not a lot of black folk. So when we see each other the least we do is nod. I sometimes do it to Hispanics at a few white friends."
**
22. Nawfal Kulam, 2019
"The nod is for all people of color, not just black folks."
**
REPLY
23. Terry I, 2019
"Depends on where they grew up. Some feel they're above it."
**
24. Mum Raymond, 2019
"Kwetu hawafundishwi iko kwa damu tayari"
-anip-
Google translate from Swahili to English:
"For us they are not taught it is in blood already"
**
REPLY
25. Terrence Lufuta, 2019
"Hiyo ni ukweli kabisa... Lakini mimi hufanya hivyo kwa watu ambao najua na sina story kwa huo muda"
-snip-
Google translate from Swahili to English:
"For us they are not taught it is in blood already"
**
26. ValierMary, 2019
"I grew up in Germany in an all-white surrounding (except my immediate family) and the nod always freaks me out - I am with the boy “but I don't know him!“ "
**
27. Terrence Lufuta, 2019
"That's totally true ... But I do it for people I know and I don't have a story for that moment"
****
Video #2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0Zn4NCsP9Q&t=1s "black-ish: The Nod" ABC; Oct 9, 2014
[Pancocojams Editor's Note: The YouTube video that is given here about Video #2 is the same as the video given as #1. However, Video #1 was published almost three years before the video given here as Video #1. And, video #2 is a longer version of the portion of the episode of the Black-ish television series that is given as Video #1.]
-snip-
Here are selected comments from this YouTube video, with numbers added for referencing purposes only:
2014
1. Bacall McElroy
"lmao! So true the nod is essential."
****
2015
2. Caleb Walker
"Basic black! 😭😭😭"
****
2016
3. Abdullahi Mohamed
3. The nod has been brought down generations to generation"
**
4. Phuture Hi Def
"Same with Mexicans, the nod is everything lol"
****
2017
5. Moses Jakur
"the nod is actually a true thing I remember when I lived in China there were very few black people there at the time and every time we saw each other we would nod weather they were French speaking or English speaking it didn't matter"
**
6. InMyOwn Words
"I remember my first US visit and my first experience with "The Nod"... I had to ask my relatives what the frack is that all about. I cannot imagine walking around Jamaica nodding to everyone. It was strange at first, why are these people nodding to me and I do not know them. Now I understand."
**
7. Ryooken
"You know until now I didn't even think about "the nod" but it's true we do it unconsciously. In my day we gave the nod before sayin sup."
**
8. keke10783
"i nodded to a black kid in my neighborhood, while i was riding my bike, and he nodded back.
now, i always thought everyone knew to nod back when you nodded at them, but after seeing this show i wanted to see if their really were any people who didn't know to nod back. So, out of curiosity i tried it with some white people and every single time they either smiled and/or waved😂."
**
9. A2rose2016
“It's not just a black male thing either. I was in Trader Joe's and saw another black women. The store was crowded but we were the only 2 people of color in the entire store....so we gave one another "the nod." It's a way of saying hi, as well as, a way of showing appreciation that you're not the "only black one" in the room. Idk it just helps me feel more comfortable seeing someone else who looks like me... especially when its common to feel out of place.”
**
REPLY
10. Jay Anderson
"Because yall got it from the bruhs lol"
**
REPLY
11. Wayne Hilson
"Love it! It's also the "If some ISH go down, there's at least one other brotha/sista that might squawb wit chu" sign!"
-snip-
Here’s part of that sentence given in Standard English
It’s also a sign to you that “If some trouble occurs, there’s a least one other Black man or woman that will fight with you”.
**
12. Netherwolf6100
"xD funny as hell. I never understood it, nor did I know why we did it. All I knew is, when someone did it to me, I do it back and if I do it to someone and if they don't nod back, i somehow get offended by it."
**
13. jxsilicon9
"That's true. I saw another black guy in Japan.Had to give nod."
**
REPLY
14. lextual, 2018
"If ya'll was in /Japan/, ya'll needed to give each other some dap, having escaped to another country...
-snip-"
“Dap”= Black handshake
**
15. Manny Rosalez
"lmfao I see my black friend do the nod. when he sees other black folks..... we live in a Latino neighborhood..."
**
16. Queen LeLe
"I was walking with my friend and this black guy gave me the nod and I gave it back to him and my friend was like do you know him and I'm like I don't know him . He said hi and I just said hi back ."
**
17. yagerzero
"Too bad the brothas at my school don't nod me back"
**.
REPLY
18. shihoblade
"yagerzero Something must be wrong with their necks. We talking basics here."
**
19. stabkamay
"so "the nod" is a global thing? Interesting,
I have only witnessed that phenomenon in Germany"
**
20. LyricalXilence
"SEE! I knew my dad was always doing something when he saw another black person and I knew it was funny."
**
21. shihoblade
"I didn't even notice that I did this until my white friend at college pointed it out. It's instinctual."
**
22. cubanis82
"tellin our secretes"
**
23. Michael Segura
"It must just be a guy thing, because me and every Mexican does too lol."
**
24. stabkamay
"the show is right, though
it isn't as common anymore as it used to be"
**
25. Garol Stipock
"The nod is crucial. Can mean the difference between you making it home or getting that beat down for being a punk. Basic man shyt. . .you might could maybe retire it when you turn 33, a decade ago I might have said, 28, but sh&t* seems to be less real now than before."
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled out in this comment.
****
2018
26. Tag T.
"Polynesians got that nod too 😂"
**
27. Loogi Boy
"The Nod is not just a black thing... It's actually an instinct of all men. It's instinctual to nod as a sign of acknowledgement. Downward nod is usually used for strangers while nodding up is for friends or aquaintices"
**
28. bringoutthelegos
"I'm Asian, and I also do this."
**
29. Me Miss Marie
"Very real. Especially when it is an event and we are like the only 3 it is like ✊🏾"
**
30. The Black Kakashi
"I be giving the nod even when I don't want to it's the seventh sense 😂"
****
2019
1. guiloro
"I learned the nod when I was like 9. In elementary and middle school I was always in some spelling bee, geography bee, or STEM contest. Rooms full of mostly white kids, a few Asians. There were two Black sisters I'd see from time to time but I was still shy around girls and didn't approach any I didn't already know. But one other Black boy I'd see all the time. The first time we saw each other at the opposite ends of the room-- nod. Both in the same row competing in the same event-- nod. One of us spell a word right, walking back to our seat-- nod, fist bump, high five etc."
**
2. 2Howl
"My wife (who is South American) thought the nod meant I actually knew all those other black people. She thought I was unbelievably popular"
**
3. Dwayne Richardson
"I was shocked to see another brother at a Radiohead concert. Gave him The Nod."
**
4. West Coast Peach
"...real talk, thats what show is about, sharing.💯"
****
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