Hello Kelly Xu Licorice Candy, in the USA, commonly comes in a form that is colored Black. Licorice comes in many flavors, but the term "licorice" has become the generic and common term for all the flavors. Usually, it is in the form of a stick, and it is chewy and "gummy," like Taffy or Jelly Beans So, even if it is "Strawberry" LICORICE, people will call it Licorice (pronounced liquor-ish), even though the word Licorice is itself, only one of the flavors for this kind of candy. All of it is referred to as Licorice, because I think, that flavor was the first used for that type of candy. http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0LEVwxLcEJT7ToAF7ZXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTByYWptaDQyBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkA0RGRDZfMQ--?_adv_prop=image&fr=mcafee&sz=all&va=licorice

So the Licorice is Black. As for the expression, "they looked DOWN ON" it means that the people think the "other side of the family" to be of inferior quality. The expression is often used this way. "We LOOK DOWN ON that kind of behavior. It is also expressed like this. "We FROWN ON that kind of behavior. or.... "I look down on that kind of people. If we feel superior in some way, or think others show poor behavior or a lack of character, we might LOOK DOWN ON Them and refer to them as having "no class". .