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tika sumpter replaces Anna Deveare Smith

Source: Getty / Getty

The black-ish franchise just keeps growing. First the series spun off into “grown-ish,” following Dre and Rainbow’s eldest daughter’s matriculation through college. Now, a new show called “mixed-ish” will take us into Rainbow’s upbringing as a biracial child who went from living in a [cult] commune to moving to the suburbs where biracial children were far from the norm.

The story seems interesting. But for those of us who’ve watched “black-ish,” we couldn’t help but notice that Tike Sumpter was cast as Rainbow’s mother in this upcoming series. This would have been great news had we not watched seasons of “black-ish” in which Rainbow’s mother was portrayed by actress Anna Deveare Smith, a light-skinned Black woman.

The discussion is interesting. Most of the time when one Black actress is replaced for another, there’s a history of them replacing a dark-skinned woman with a lighter one. But in this case, it’s the opposite. And while that fact has been comforting to some people, others still can’t quite get over it.

See what people had to say about the switch-up on the following pages.

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