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By Dr. Sinclair Grey III
Hollywood is definitely known for being prejudice and even racists towards people of color. Even with the success it portrays with black films and actors, the truth of the matter is that blacks are still marginalized.
Boyz N the Hood director, John Singleton spoke out in an interview slamming Hollywood liberals who don’t ‘let black people tell the stories.’ Let’s face it for a moment. It’s difficult for blacks to write and direct black-themed films. It’s not that they aren’t incapable, it’s the bureaucracy involved.
In pointing out the blatant discrimination against blacks, Singleton said, ‘they have these pictures where everybody’s so interested in black culture, which they have been since the minstrel age, since the Jazz Age, since the early days of blues, which begot rock and roll. But they ain’t letting the black people tell the stories. And you’re like, oh, OK, we’re going to take your stories, but you know what, you’re going to go starve over here and we’re not going to let you get a job.’
Check this out – many of the liberals like to claim they like hip-hop and have black friends which somehow exclude them from being racist, but their actions in hiring blacks to tell the story is something very different.
Singleton also chided black executives in the film industry for not speaking up. “You’ve got a lot of black executives at the studio who are afraid to give their opinion about what black culture is. And they don’t know there’s a whole lot of black people who work in studios that don’t need to be there because they won’t—if I give them the best thing possible, they’re scared to give it to somebody.”
Think about this for a moment – when there’s a need to get people in seats rather than developing creative and thought-provoking movies, the bar isn’t raised.
One thing about Singleton’s comment – they are blatant and to the point. Will his comments fall on deaf ears or will they spark a movement?
Source: The Root
Dr. Sinclair Grey III is a speaker, activist, published author of (5) books, life coach, and liberator of persons from all intellectual, social and cultural walks of life. He is a committed advocate for change. Email: drgrey@sinclairgrey.org. Follow on Twitter @drsinclairgrey. Visit his website: www.sinclairgrey.org
