“Race.” That pretty much means one thing in America: black and white people. Someone says “race,” we don’t immediately think “Nepalese” or “Tibetan.”
Reverend Al—we know him. We know who said “Can we all just get along?” and we know the recent Michael Brown verdict. How’s America doing on race relations today?
“Black or White” is about whether a little biracial girl, after the car-accident death of the white grandmother who raised her, should now continue to live with her white grandpa Elliot (Kevin Costner), or go live with black grandma Rowena (also known as Wee Wee, and played by Octavia Spencer) and her little cousins in South Central L.A.
Black dad Reggie (André Holland) wants his daughter back. But he smokes crack. White granddad Elliot wants her too, but he’s a drunk. Black or white?
Elliot is also an upscale West L.A. lawyer with a Cadillac Escalade, and he drives little Eloise (Jillian Estell) to a Brearley-like private school. He helped raise Eloise her whole life.
The black side of the family, however, provides an identity-affirming milieu and extended familial community. They'd have no problem brushing Eloise’s “unruly” hair. White grandma didn’t either, but Elliot has a black hair-brushing skill set to learn.
