The furor over the presence or lack thereof of Black nominees for this year's Academy Awards seems ridiculous to me. Jesse Jackson and others of his ilk spent what in my view is an inordinate amount of energy and made a lot of noise about protesting the event because there was only one Black out of 166 nominees for this year's awards.
Mr Jackson, you seem to me to have very misplaced priorities. How long can we keep begging white folk for the crumbs that fall from their table? Institutions like Hollywood were created by white folk for the benefit of white folk, make no mistake about that... If we need recognition for our movie stars (and I know we do), why not the Ebony Image awards? I am not saying that we should shut ourselves out of the American mainstream (whatever that is...) but why spend an inordinate amount of time moaning and groaning about an award show put out by a white liberal cultural elite which only uses the problems of Black folk to salve their consciences and help them feel better about themselves?
Instead of protesting Hollywood, Mr Jackson, why not protest the following : that one out of every three Black males is in prison or on parole, that we do not control the flow of capital in our communities, that two out of every three Black children are raised by single parents etc... This is what we'd like you to protest about, Mr Jackson. Not whether Denzel or Whitney or Larry for that matter was nominated or not. They are not the oppressed, voiceless Black people that you have always claimed to speak for.
Why do we always have to seek validation from white people? Is it that we do not value ourselves enough? IMO, the only validation we need from white people is equal protection under the law, equal pay for equal work etc. This was what I understand the civil rights movement to be about. It as for us to be respected and treated equally, not to be LOVED by white people in some wishy-washy liberal way. How is Denzel winning an Oscar going to improve the life of a brother in the housing projects down the street from my house?
Its about time our so-called leaders started focusing on the deepest problems of our community, or else we will lose sight of what matters most. Or is it that these so-called leaders have given up o trying to solve these seemingly intractable problems? Millionaire celebrities are hardly the least disadvantaged members in our community... In fact Mr Jackson, I am fairly that James Earl-Jones, Whoopi Goldberg and the like snubbed your attempts at protest. By doing this they indicated that they did not need your help, like the way OJ seemed to say "Thanks, but no thanks" to Black folk for their support during his trial.
This disproportionate focus on the celebrity members of our community is in someways detrimental to the aspirations of our yong children. You have heard the familiar cliche that Black kids from underprivileged backgrounds visualize themselves becoming sports stars, entertainers, or blue collar workers. This is partly a result of this skewed focus. Why can't we focus on increasing the number of Black software entrepreneurs, engineers, medical doctors and the like? We should let these kids know that the chances of making it to the MDA or Hollywood for that matter are very slim. If they do not make it to a big time celebrity career, there are other options to a blue collar existence or for that matter peddling drugs on the street.
In ending let me quote a well known line from "Fear of a Black Planet" by the rap group Public Enemy... "F*ck Hollywood!".
Olufemi Anthony, 03/27/1996