Mara Brock Akil Cw Show ‘black Lightning’ Will Put the Black Man & the Black Family at the Center

ChristianNews

Mara Brock Akil new show on  the CW, Black Lightning will put the black man and the black family at the center.  Speaking about the show during Essence Festival, Akil shared that the show will center around the black man and the black family in storytelling.

“What we want to do is put black men and the black family back at the center. A lot of the other shows have been led through the view of black women, so it’s time to place the black male back and give him a voice at the table. We have to take back the image of black men raising their families.” 

The CW’s official description of the series reads: “Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) is a man wrestling with a secret. As the father of two daughters and principal of a charter high school that also serves as a safe haven for young people in a New Orleans neighborhood overrun by gang violence, he is a hero to his community. Nine years ago, Pierce was a hero of a different sort. Gifted with the superhuman power to harness and control electricity, he used those powers to keep his hometown streets safe as the masked vigilante Black Lightning. However, after too many nights with his life on the line, and seeing the effects of the damage and loss that his alter ego was inflicting on his family, he left his Super Hero days behind and settled into being a principal and a dad. Choosing to help his city without using his superpowers, he watched his daughters Anissa (Nafessa Williams) and Jennifer (China Anne McClain) grow into strong young women, even though his marriage to their mother, Lynn (Christine Adams), suffered. Almost a decade later, Pierce’s crime-fighting days are long behind him…or so he thought. But with crime and corruption spreading like wildfire, and those he cares about in the crosshairs of the menacing local gang The One Hundred, Black Lightning returns — to save not only his family, but also the soul of his community.”