David Makes Man depicts the struggles of its young South Florida–raised protagonist without pathologizing the characters who surround him. The protagonist of David Makes Man walks among ghosts. The show’s first episode, which aired last week on Oprah’s OWN network, introduced viewers to David (played by Akili McDowell), a “gifted” 14-year-old attempting to balance his home life in a South Florida housing project called “The Ville” with the pressures of attending a far-away magnet school. David doesn’t travel alone: As he buses to school, and then skulks about The Ville after class, he’s regularly joined by a mysterious dark-skinned man who advises him to stay the course and focus on getting ahead in his classes at any cost…
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