5A
OPINIONS/tr^e C^rlotte
Thursday, March 16, 2006
ttM
Hollywood’s
racism factory
I know, some will think I am shovelLi^ some of that out
dated black pride, race integrity stuff when I note that
black people have given into the Hollywood racism factory
Think back: Frederick Douglass took his freedom from
his slave master. Sojourner TVuth asked, “Ain’t I a woman,”
Malcolm X to posited freedom "by any means necessary”
and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. declared, ‘We shall over
come.”
HoUywoood has been a different story
That’s why I was proud of Sidney Poitier,
TOU Smith and Denzel Washington who
reportedly went to Tferrence Howard to ask
him not to get on stage at the Academy
Awards singing about a pimp, his hit song
from the movie, ‘‘Hustle and Flow.”
They invoked the long struggle in
Hollywood and New York, all too often
missir^ now, to instill a sense of integrity to
the image of black people into cultural pre
sentations in the arts. When this issue was raised before,
the comeback from black actors has beai that so few roles
are available that they have to take them and make the
best of a bad situation. And there has been an attempt to
rehabilitate the traitor in the actor (see the new book on
Lincoln Perry who played the role of Stepin Fetchit for
example) to make him a closet revolutionary EeaUy?
There are still apologists for actors who take racially
demeaning roles. Watching the documentary produced by
Harvard prof^sor Skip Gates on racism in Hollywood the
other day was a revelation. When he interviewed Sam
Jackson, the nlack actor seemed agitated by the fact that
the NAACP often raised the issue of racism in Hollywood
by criticizing the paucity of roles and the demeaning
nature of the rol^ offered to black actors.
Jackson’s tiling was that this is the structure of the
movie industry and that the NAACP should "just leave us
alone and let us do our thir^.” Jackson, now part of the
star system that promoted him to an action hero is able to
say that because he has a wide selection of roles. But what
if we took that position all along and adjusted it to racism?
Yet, the Gates documentary was also fascinating in por
traying how race was configured in Hollywood, by inter
viewing a producer who talked about the formula iised to
construct roles. In it, black actors accounted for little
unless they were the Denzel Washingtons or Sam
Jacksons of the world, actors that can command a foreign
audience, a key factor in determining tiie box office gross.
The formula is really tilted toward the supremacy of white
males, who get all the women, under aU circumstances -
black males make tentative sexual partners, often appear
alone, distorting the im^e of black male-female relation
ships.
The bottom line here is that since the positioning of racial
images is about money Hollywood thinks it must play to
the racial stereotypes, making it the most powerful pur
veyor of global racism that exists. It educates and rein
forces the demeaning racial role that is in the heads of both
Americans and foreigners, through the economic power to
commercialize these images through the distribution net
work of movies and advertising outlets. We should put
more of a spotlight on the producers and financiers of these
movies who keep alive the negative im^es of black people
before the world.
But that is hard to do if black people themselves buy into
the syst«n. I think there is a sickness, a manifestation of
the destruction of our image during slavery that makes
black actors accept the roles in the first place, then for
ev&ryozie else to justify it afterward. The sad thing is that
they are probably right, that is one black actor refused a
demeaning role, another, hui^ry to make under any cir
cumstances would take.
The actors are not aU to blame, for a dqjendable seg-
mait of the cash that producers and financiers count on is
the support of the black public, especially the young blacks.
I was barely bom when "Hi-Hat” Hattie McDaniel, bom in
my home town of TOchita, Kansas, was the first black
Academy Award, winner in February of 1940, but her role
as Mammy in "Gone With The 'Wnd” did not make all the
hcmetown folks proud and the debate her having accepted
demeaning roles reverberated long past my adulthood.
That is why, came to know about the life of my favorite
singer, BiUy Eckstine, I was exceedingly proud to discover
that one of the reasons his career' did not blossom in
Hollywood is that he wouldn’t accept demeaning roles.
That racial integrity thing has always pitted black
artists against those who financed their production, and
the pain is that they could count on our support. When will
we break the chain of this form of oppression?
We need more collective action by blacks in Hollywood,
not only to reject demeanii^ roles, but to produce, finance
and distribute positive images of black people and black
moviegoers, not to support n^ative images. Maybe then
the Academy will have alternatives to awarding Halle
Berry as a slut, Denzel as a coirupt cop and Tferrence as a
pimp
RON WALTERS is professor of Government and Politics at the
University of Maryland College Park.
Hollywood finally
getting with the
times - and us
Well, this just about proves it-hip hop has completely taken over
the world. In case you missed it or somehow haven’t heard, hard
core Memphis rap group Three 6 Mafia picked up an Academy
Award for best original song, a catchy little ditty titled ‘It’s Hard
Out Here For A Pimp” fixjm the motion picture Hustle and Plow.
I As one of the two people who probably even
I watched the Oscars a couple ofweeks ago, I had to
I do a double take at my TV screen to make sure I
I heard correctly Judging by the reactions of those
I in the crowd as the camera panned the room-a
I series of facial expressions raiding fiom fellow
I category nominee Dolly Parton’s delight, to blank
faced bewilderment, I wasn’t the only one who had
raised eyebrows.
After making history as the first rap group to
perform at the Oscars, the elated trio boimced
back out onto stage to pick up their award finm, appropriately,
multi-talented rapper/actress Queen Latifah, who was an
Academy Award nominee in 2003 for her role as “Mama” Morton
in the film version of the musical “Chicago.”
In addition to Three 6 Mafia’s win and performance, the critical
ly acclaimed movie Crash shocked everyone as well when it won
the Oscar for best movie, beating out favored homoseoial cowboy
flick “Brokeback Movmtain.” “Crash” boldly dealt with the issues
of racial prejudice and its unfortunate consequences and featured
some of Hollywood’s top black talent, including Don Cheadle
(“Hotel Rwanda”), Tferrence Howard (“Hustle and Flow,” “The Best
Man”), and Loretta Devine (“Waiting to Exhale,” ‘Desperate
Housewives”).
Hollywood has often been criticized for being out of touch with
reality and, particularly, for its treatment of black talent.
Predictable storjlines, the routine selection of Ihe same or only cer
tain types of black actors, and, perhaps most poignantly, the fact
that very few black actors, though immensely talented and well-
deserving, have received the gold statue have all plagued the
Academy’s illustrious 78-year history Only within the past few
years has that door slowly creaked open with actors such as Jamie
Foxx (‘Ray”), Denzel Washington (“TYainit^ Day”) and Halle
Berry (Monster’s Ball”) taking home the coveted best actor/actress
honors.
But does this year’s Oscar results really mean that Hollywood is
changing or were the awards a matter of Tinsel Tbwn trying to be
hip or appear in touch with the rest of society? The answer
depends on whom you ask. Actor George Clconey who won best
supporting actor for his work in “Syriana,” said during his accep
tance speech that he was proud to be a part of an Academy that
dealt with topics such as AIDS and dvil rights when they were
unpopular and that the Academy gave black actress Hattie
McDaniel an Oscar back in 1939 (for her role in “Gone With the
TOnd”) when blacks were still sitting in the back of theaters.
Now, any person finding themselves in either of the categories
the weU-intentioned 'IVfr. Clooney mentioned will probably aigue
that Hollywood has consistently lagged behind when choosing to
deal with such touchy topics. Production companies, for instance,
avoided “Crash” like the plague before it finally found its way to
the big screen after seven years. The more likely scenario saw
Hollywood churning out black movies that were more ridiculous
than redeemirg, more siUy than substantive. Even the critically
acdaimed “Hustle and Flow” was not immune fixim its share of
critics who shunned the movie for portraying black women as pros
titutes. But there was a difference.
‘Hustle and Flow” did not randomly cast black women as prosti
tutes simply for the sake of doing so or to generate laughs finm the
audience. (It should be noted that a white woman played the part
of the main prostitute in the movie.) Rather, it was a redemptive
tale of the real life stn^gles of and the overcoming of odds to
achieve a dream by the main character, a small time pimp
superbly portrayed by Tferrence Howard.
The indelibly humanistic qualities and ambition he displayed
were those to which anyone could rdate-it just so happens that his
fifestjde and the lifestyle of the black women around him are not
commendable by society But the plot was still reflective of the way
some people in this country live regardless, the movie was based
upon the same “pidl-for-the-little-guy” premise that has been
repeated over and over in other great Hollywood movies, and it
was good to see it recognized as such.
Whether Hollywood is truly turning over a new leaf or not, with
aU the landmark recognition that blacks have seemingly begun to
recdve in the movie industry the hope is that this trend will
prompt the demand for quality black entertainment as wdl as the
continued acknowledgment of deserving black talent. And who
knows what could be next? Perhaps an Oscar for best director?
Spike Lee, anyone? I guess weR just have to wait and see.
ANGELA LINDSAY is a Charlotte attorney. E-mail her at lindsay-
lawOO@yahoo.com
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lope.
Blacks must
reach out to
Justice Kennedy
By Gary L. Bledsoe
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER PUBUSHERS ASSOCIATION
The Afiican-Amraican community may be in for
some very diffiailt times in the years to come as a
result of tile Samuel Alito confirmation.
We know that it doesn’t matter what our issue is,
we ■will start a case with four judges solidly against
us. In the past, there were 3.75 because Justice
Anthony Kennedy almost always went with the con
servative coalition of Clarence Thomas, Antonin
Scaha and WUliam Rehnquist—but he did not
always. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, a true conser
vative in her own right, went with them most of the
time but not as mudi as Justice Kennedy
Now with Alito’s confirmation, our only hope is
Justice Kennedy Those of us in the dvil rights com
munity must reach out to him as much as possible
since he does seem to not be an automatic vote. Make
no mistake about it, he is a solid conservative but
because the others are so rigidly conservative, a per
son who mi^t disagree with them five times out of
100 is now considered to be a moderate. Of course,
that is not what I thou^t moderate was in the 70s
when I was in law school. Tbday, there is a different
meaning because of the politicization of the court sys
tem.
Harriet Miers would have been a conservative but
fair judge, and it is possible that former Tfexas
Supreme Court Justice Alberto Gonzales would have
be^ as wdl, though he has never been thoroughly
examined. Judge Alito, on the other hand, has
expressed resavations about the one-man, one- vote
prindple that, along with the Voting Rights Act of
1965, has led to the level of minority partidpation in
politics today
He repeatedly voted against Afiican-American liti
gants in employment discrimination cases and in
favor of white ht^ants in so-called reverse discrimi
nation cases. Justice Alito has even defended prose
cutors who have systematically eliminated Afiican-
Americans fiom juries.
During the argum«its regarding Tfexas congres
sional redistricting plan the other day it was patent
ly apparent how the jixstices are now staked out.
Justice Kennedy however, at least wanted answers to
important questions regarding minority voting
rights. Five justices expressed concern over the dis
tricts complained of by MALDEF and LULAC and/or
the Tfexas NAACP.
However, all five of those who expressed concern
must vote to disapprove the Tfexas Congressional
plan before justice on any level can be achieved. This
is a 100 percent vote out of those who did not have
their minds made up from the beginning of the case.
Tb put this in perspective, this is like running for
political office and starting out with 49 percent of the
voters already having cast votes against you. Of
couroe, this means you will have to get aU of the
remaining votes, not too smaU a task.
The confirmation of Judge Alito wiU serve to put
Afiican-Americans back to the days of the pre-
Warren court. An all out assavUt on minority rights is
not just possible, it is likely
I saw a senator supporting Alito’s confirmation on
one of the weekend talk shows and he said that Alito
needed to be confirmed because he was a judge who
would execute the will of the majority This is a fiight-
ening thought because we have a representative
Republican form of government and not a pure
democracy
The late Justice Hugp Jackson once said that we
don’t have a pure democracy in this coimtry because
the majority would run rou^ishod over the minority
That is so true today and something we must take
note of as the judiciary is being made into a rubber
stamp of those currently in power.
We must monitor how the Voting Rights Act is
applied to the Tbxas redistricting efforts. We hope
that they will not be severely undermined by the
opinion that is forthcomir^ in the Tfexas case but we
have reason to worry Hopefully all of us will invite
Justice Kennedy to our activities and reach out to
him.. Wthout O’Connor, it might become increasit^y
difficult for him to simply be a conservative who puts
his coimtry first as opposed to one who is simply an
extension of those in power fiom the executive and
legislative branches of the federal government.
I surely hope I am wrong and that Roberts or Alito
decline to act in accordance with their record and
their confirmation process, but early indications are
that they will be solid votes against minority issues.
GARY L BLEDSOE, an attorney in Austin, Texas, is presi
dent of the Texas State Conference of the NAACP branches.