Is Jack and Jill Damaging to the Black Community? (feat. Netflix’s Warren Burke)
Actor Warren Burke joined the So-Called Oreos podcast to discuss growing up in Jack and Jill and dating as a Black man in LA.
For some Black people, when we hear that someone participated in Jack and Jill growing, we might have a pre-conceived notion of what we think they are like. Jack and Jill of America is a leadership organization founded in 1938 by African American mothers during the Great Depression with the idea of bringing together children in a social and cultural environment. According to Wikipedia, “the objectives of Jack and Jill of America, Incorporated are to create a medium of contact for children which will stimulate growth and development and provide children constructive educational, cultural, civic, health, recreational and social programs.” The intent of the organization is pure but it often gets a bad rap for being labeled as a program for “bourgeoisie” Blacks that look down on other Black people with lower socioeconomic status.
With this label, people may have called the Blacks in Jack and Jill “not really Black.” With the So-Called Oreos podcast examining everything about what is labeled “not really Black,” we had to to take a deeper dive.
In this episode of the So-Called Oreos Podcast, we sit down with Warren Burke, an actor in LA mostly known for his role on Netflix’s Family Reunion with Tia Mowry. Warren talks about being in touch with your feelings as a Black man and being in therapy. The Oreos raise the question if social programs like Jack and Jill are good for our community or do they separate Black people. Of course the convo turns to dating as Warren gives insight into dating as a black man in LA, being told you aren’t Black enough to date, feeling guilty dating a white woman and the difference of Black men and women dating outside the race. Lastly, Warren assess the Oreos’ dating history and challenges.
Actor, director, and writer Warren Burke is a Chicago-native, who earned his degree in Business Administration from Tennessee State University and then relocated to Des Moines, Iowa to work in Corporate America at the Des Moines Register. But after just 6 months of employment, Warren took a leap of faith and moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting and explore his love of the arts. Since training at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Warren has worked across all genres of entertainment. You may have even seen him in BET+’s Bigger as Gregg and Netflix’s Family Reunion as Daniel. He also has a podcast of his own called, the Warrentine Podcast. It’s a show where he looks deeper into what keeps him from being “unapologetically himself” along with guests struggling to do the same.
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