Samuel Brace on whether this is the best time to be a person of colour in Hollywood…
The answer to the question posed in this articles title is of course, no. But ‘no’ is not the answer to that question for the reasons you might think. Ronald Reagan once said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government, and I’m here to help”. That was true in 1986 and it’s true now. Big government doesn’t trust you, they believe the people that which they serve are not responsible enough to make ‘good’ decisions. They want to take that power away from you, put their fingers in all your pies and tell you things about yourself. They will tell you who and what to care about and they will tell you, enough times so you’ll believe it, that you are a victim. Reagan’s ‘nine words’ line is also a sentiment that holds pertinence in 2016 when you remove the word Government and replace it with Hollywood. It’s becoming more so with each and every apology it is forced to make and with each speech it’s members deliver telling us how to think. Now, to people of colour, the line “I’m from Hollywood, and I’m here to help” should scare the shit out of them. That is unless they just want to be in more films and win more awards not because they earned it but because of the melanin in their skin.
This past weekend the Oscars tripped and fell into our TV sets, the #OscarsSoWhite campaign a stain on its lapel that it was forced to recognise whenever it could. Apparently there was a diversity problem this year, apparently there was a plethora of black actors that were worthy of an Academy Award and were left out not because they weren’t up to elite standards in 2015 but because of their race. Anyone with their head screwed on knows this to be horse shit, and any black actor or actress with a head similarly well fixed to their shoulders knows that in the coming months and years to be afraid and offended by the line: “I’m from Hollywood, and I’m here to help”. And they will come for you. They will come for your soul, they will come to you and explain what a victim you are, how maligned you are, and they will patronise you while promising to make it all better. They will put you into roles not because you’re a talented person but because your number in your political points box is off the charts, because you’re worth way more in social justice points to them than as a performer, because you are black and not white.
It’s up to each individual to decide how they feel about that, are they okay with being a PR tool, are they cool with being a whore for a petrified organisation who are willing to pay you handsomely for your services? Listen, if you don’t care about being used in such a way, if all you want is a role in the new Star Wars film or for your name to have the preamble ‘Academy Award Nominee’… then sure, play the biggest and most valuable card you have. If this is your line of thinking than yes, this is the best time to be a person of colour in Hollywood, you are going to have more work than ever before. But if this all leaves a rather nasty feeling in your stomach, if you want to earn your way in the world, and force people to recognise your talent with action, then perhaps you will agree that the answer to this question is of course NO, that this is a horrible time to be a person of colour in Hollywood.
Principles are important, standing for something stops you from falling for anything, and every black actor or actress could stand by what principles they have, reject the ‘help’ of Hollywood, demand to be recognised for their skills, but it won’t make the slightest bit of difference in 2016, not until Hollywood itself recognises the damage they are causing. People call the Oscars irrelevant, and sure, to some extent they are, but they are obviously having, and are going to have, a big and prevalent impact in the way the black community in its jurisdiction are treated. These actors will now never know if they are being cast on merit. That doubt will always be in their mind. It will be there because we scared Hollywood into being ashamed about the wrong thing. They shouldn’t be shamed for not awarding statues to mediocre performances, they should be shamed for not creating a grassroots environment that encourages participation in groups that want to participate. The answer to that is not to write a script and then think about filling a diversity quota after the fact, the answer is to either create stories designed for black, Asian and Arab actors, or to just cast whoever is the best at their job. The answer is to not look at a person and only see in black and white. The answer is to fix the problem before it starts and not at the finish line. An actor is right for a role because they are right for the role. Period.
This is not the best time to be a person of colour in Hollywood. It’s a strange and worrisome time because Leftist liberal culture and regressive left media don’t care about how good you are at your job. They only care about the colour of your skin. They don’t see an actor or writer or director, they only see your pigmentation, they only see a minority, a victim. To them you are just that, a victim that needs saving. These people are bullies, and in Hollywood they have the perfect whipping boy. Hollywood loves its victims and has now become a part of the very narrative they like to spew. There is no easy answer to fix this mess. There is no: do this or do that. For this trend to be reversed a shift in culture must arise, a shift back to award by merit, a shift away from authoritarian blanket safe spaces, and a resolute, determined pledge to give opportunities to those that want to take them, and to create those opportunities for creative reasons, not for fear of recrimination. The myopia of Hollywood and the radical left is very real, and there is indeed an incipient change on the wind, unfortunately it’s one that stinks to high heaven, and the wind isn’t whistling, it’s only saying: “I’m from Hollywood, and I’m here to help”.
Samuel Brace
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Originally published March 6, 2016. Updated April 14, 2018.
