Episode three of The Vince Staples show is all about the black American family reunion. For anyone who doesn’t understand the nuance of the black family reunion, I could see this episode being confusing. Although I’m sure most communities where it’s common for family members to be spread out, there are some type of reunions. This organized family meetup is very common for black families in the U.S. Some families do them yearly, biannually, or families like mine where it’s typically every 5-10 years.
According to the National Museum of African American History and Culture website. The black American family reunion tradition started immediately post slavery. Recently freed blacks across the country connected with lost family members. I promise thats the last time I’ll say the “s” word in this blog, I know it really bums some people out. So how did we go from slavery (oops) to matching t-shirts in backyards and public parks? To arguing over side dishes and rekindling old beefs? To seeing long lost cousins, strange uncles, and aunties who aren’t really our aunts? Well that’s a good question.
Like I said, my personal extended family rarely meets. If you’re in an every 5-10 year family reunion type set up, conflict is rare. We hardly know each other well enough for conflicts to arise. With that being said, as a kid, I definitely learned more about family dynamics every time I spent time with extended family. I saw how my parents got around other adults. I would say to myself (or my sister) “hey I think something happened here, that we’re not aware of.” I quickly realized as a child that many of the relationships I saw, predated my existence by quite a bit. It hit me early on that us as children were not in on the family secrets. I didn’t get in on some family secrets until I was in my mid 20’s. I still probably have many to discover.
Enough about me though. Episode three shows how the family reunion is an event that is hated but some, loved by others. But attended by all. Vince explores so many different dynamics that I named earlier. Really highlighting how all of our families are the same. All families have conflict, distant cousins, introduce new partners, have a rich dude, and a family member others may look down on. How he fits all those themes is a 20 something minute show is impressive.
In the video and podcast I break down some of my favorite scenes from the episode. The one that comes to mind most, is his uncle who can’t let the dream go. Clearly his dream died in College and in his 60’s he still can’t move past it. What I really enjoyed about this character, is Vince used the mystical negro trope to his advantage. Typically the mystical negro is there to help a needy white citizen. But in this episode the mystical negro was there to aid a well off black male. If a mystical negro must exist, can he please help black people sometimes?
-GP
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