Imagine Oscar Night and the only audience are the black actors, directors, producers, etc. I think the impression has to be that stark to make the Academy pay attention.
Was it a month or so ago on this blog I noted Spike Lee had a film called, "Chiraq" and he could not get distribution for the film.
Hollywood has a problem with African Americans, their 'place' in the USA and their messages. African Americans are not living the American Dream so therefore they are failures we don't have to emulate. Right? I mean they simply don't get it. Right?
The African American experience in the USA is very different than that of Caucasians. Very different. It took an African American judge to bring African American children out of their segregated neighborhoods to desegregate public schools. The minorities in the USA have a very different trajectory than Caucasian.
The fact that Spike Lee made a film about Chicago, about the truth and the lives of African Americans in Chicago and called it what it is "Chi-Iraq" and had every distribution company in the country turn their backs on him is a very profound message. If a filmmaker cannot find distribution for their films, then they are never seen.
African Americans have gone the black route. Black television, black radio and and any other form of communication imaginable, but, they have never become mainstreamed.
Why not? Why isn't every theater in the country showing "Chiraq?" They show Star Wars. There are black actors in Star Wars. It isn't the ethnicity, it is the message. African Americans are sequestered into segregation and they have no avenue out. Hollywood doesn't like controversy. Look what went on with Fahrenheit 911. It is the message and the truth behind the message.
I saw the film "Trumbo." It has a message. It has a very strong message about Hollywood. What is wrong with "Chiraq?" Chiraq is not even about Hollywood.
There is a power structure in the USA that has old world understandings about what Americans should view and what they should not. I have never seen such violent pictures as those made by Quintan Tarantino. But, no one will distribute "Chiraq."
There is a problem and the black millionaires in the Black Entertainment Community are tired of being alone.
January 20, 2016
By Jasmyne A. Cannick
Was it a month or so ago on this blog I noted Spike Lee had a film called, "Chiraq" and he could not get distribution for the film.
Hollywood has a problem with African Americans, their 'place' in the USA and their messages. African Americans are not living the American Dream so therefore they are failures we don't have to emulate. Right? I mean they simply don't get it. Right?
The African American experience in the USA is very different than that of Caucasians. Very different. It took an African American judge to bring African American children out of their segregated neighborhoods to desegregate public schools. The minorities in the USA have a very different trajectory than Caucasian.
The fact that Spike Lee made a film about Chicago, about the truth and the lives of African Americans in Chicago and called it what it is "Chi-Iraq" and had every distribution company in the country turn their backs on him is a very profound message. If a filmmaker cannot find distribution for their films, then they are never seen.
African Americans have gone the black route. Black television, black radio and and any other form of communication imaginable, but, they have never become mainstreamed.
Why not? Why isn't every theater in the country showing "Chiraq?" They show Star Wars. There are black actors in Star Wars. It isn't the ethnicity, it is the message. African Americans are sequestered into segregation and they have no avenue out. Hollywood doesn't like controversy. Look what went on with Fahrenheit 911. It is the message and the truth behind the message.
I saw the film "Trumbo." It has a message. It has a very strong message about Hollywood. What is wrong with "Chiraq?" Chiraq is not even about Hollywood.
There is a power structure in the USA that has old world understandings about what Americans should view and what they should not. I have never seen such violent pictures as those made by Quintan Tarantino. But, no one will distribute "Chiraq."
There is a problem and the black millionaires in the Black Entertainment Community are tired of being alone.
January 20, 2016
By Jasmyne A. Cannick
Rev. Al Sharpton (click here) is calling on blacks to boycott the Academy Awards and not watch the broadcast after the mostly white and male voting members of the Academy nominated 20 white actors as giving the best performances of 2015.
While I’m not trying to rain on Sharpton’s parade, as an African-American I have to ask the question, What would be the point?
First, blacks as a whole don’t watch the Oscars. That’s not really our thing. Sure, some of us do, but not in the numbers that would matter. If anything, we usually digest the recap online the morning after. And even if every black in the country with a television tuned out, it wouldn’t make one bit of difference. Why? Because when was the last time you saw a commercial during the Academy Awards that was targeted toward black people? Exactly.
No, a better call, a much more thoughtful call to action would be to put Hollywood’s liberalism to work by calling on black Hollywood’s white Hollywood friends to sit this one out and refrain from walking the red carpet or attending the event. Maybe Rev. Sharpton doesn’t know this, but most Americans watch the Oscars for the red carpet first and then for the actual ceremony.
