Dear David Oyelowo, Noemie Harris, Carmen Ejogo, and Thandie Newton, First let me say congratulations to you, David. I havent seen Selma yet, but I hear that you are simply luminous and transformational in your role as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I can easily imagine your joy, your elation, your pride and also, how humbled you must feel at this moment. I am neither famous, nor acclaimed. I have neither a platform, nor a large public forum to speak my mind. But I do have a limited presence on social media and I intend to use it this evening to write this missive to you and to your fellow Black British actors. I just finished reading an article for BuzzFeed by Kelley L. Carter, entitled “The Rise of the Black British Actor in America”. It was a very disturbing and highly insulting article that attempted to answer the question of why it seems that so many Black Brits are having success in Hollywood, especially when considering that many of those roles are playing historical Black American figures. The answers seem to be that Black Brits are very well trained and also, they don’t have the “burden” of being Black American, so they have a “healthy” distance when approaching historical figures. Both of these answers are wrong. They are inarguably false and they are completely unsupported by any facts. They are answers that also only support White supremacy and institutionalized racism and place all the blame on the very people who are doing whatever they can to change the face of Hollywood. When the article says that your success as a Black Brit has to do with your training as actor, it implies that Black American actors dont have training. Noemie Harris goes on to say, “I think people recognize with British actors that they do a lot of training, and I think people really respect that a lot of them have gone to places like Rose Bruford [College],” said Harris. “I went to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and trained for two years. They respect that we generally start off in theater and have a theater background. Film producers really like that.” Really Noemie, really? There are tremendous and rigorous training schools in the United States that produce Black actors who are incredibly well trained. And yes, the vast majority of them go on to do stage work. Rose Bruford College is amazing, and so is Julliard. Or NYU. Or Yale. And the Black actors that come out of those programs have faced many, many financial, societal, and physical challenges in order to graduate. Being Black in America is like nothing you can imagine. Obviously. If you had the faintest understanding of institutionalized racism, you would understand that Black actors in this country are faced with explicit and implicit biases that can break the heart of even the most well trained and talented artist. For anyone to suggest that there is a dearth of trained Black actors, therefore Black Brits get to come over and snatch up all the plum roles, is a slap the face of every single trained Black actor. It is the fact that you are British, the fact that you are NOT a Black American (but you can play one) that helps people in Hollywood see you differently than other trained Black American actors. And do you all really believe that the best person for a part gets a part? Oh and that everyone gets the same fair shot? To use a Black colloquial phrase, you all know good and damn well that Hollywood doesn’t work that way. Oh and PLEASE don’t get me started on colorism in Hollywood and how all the women in the accompanying in the photo for the article are fair skinned and all the men are darker skinned. We are in debt, some of us, hundreds of thousands of dollars, because we believed that being classically trained was the best way to honor ourselves as artists and to honor the craft of acting. To have other actors, more successful actors, act as though their being hired to pay Black people is because their Black American counterparts aren’t as well trained is just infuriating. Secondly, being Black is not a burden. Saying that because Black actors are “burdened” with the weight of their experience and therefore don’t have the necessary distance to portray historical figures is beyond insulting. Jeffrey Wright played Martin Luther King Jr. and did so with a grace and fluidity that was also luminous and transformational. He also played Jean Michel Basquiat, and it launched him into the pantheon of American masters. This summer, Chadwick Boseman played James Brown with such clarity and precision that there is talk of him receiving an Oscar nomination. Denzel Washington played Malcolm X and it was wonderful. Yes, we grow up with these figures on our grandmother’s walls but a good actor can take all of who and what they are, all of their experiences and channel that into a well crafted performance. Do you realize that saying that we are too close to the source material will ring true for White casting directors, directors, producers…..all of White Hollywood? This gives them yet another reason to not cast a Black actor in a role in which they could potentially soar. Again, casting roles is not a meritocracy. It is complicated and riddled with politics. The last thing trained and deserving Black actors need is someone poisoning the waters. Most of us don’t complain. We keep our heads down, and our chins up. We study, we go to networking events, we film web series and podcasts, and we go to the gym, and we smile, and we flock to the theaters on opening weekend to see Black movies, and we study some more. Admittedly, there are many of us trained actors who may not be as talented as you are, but that still doesn’t account for the blatant ignorance and mean-spiritedness you all displayed in your comments about our lack of training or our lack of drive. We have just as much as a desire to make it as you do, Thandie Newton. And we have loans to pay off so believe me, we have the impetus. There are so many things wrong with this article. There are so many things that are just…well, it flies against the actor code. The quotes in the article only support the system of institutionalized racism by laying the blame at the feet of Black actors for not being well trained. We are well trained. We are thespians. We are artists. We are your peers. Please don’t let us down by pretending we don’t exist. Do not presume that the reason why you are given these jobs is solely a function of your talent and training. Because it isn’t. You are are all trained and talented, but you are also blessed. And you have been given a tremendous gift. Don’t use your voice to belittle and undermine an entire group of hard working and dedicated artists. If we are invisible to the people who should be our allies, then it further encumbers an already arduous and strenuous journey. Thank you. I look forward to seeing Selma, and any other opportunities to root for my fellow actors from across the pond. Good luck at the Oscars!
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 07:02:13 +0000
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