One of our biggest stories last week was this one, in which Samuel L. Jackson said some words about black British actors playing American characters. Sam was promoting Kong: Skull Island, and he was asked about the phenomenal success of Get Out. Sam gave props to the people involved, but took issue with the idea that a black British guy has the same understanding of what it’s like for an African-American man to meet his white girlfriend’s parents. Sam seemed to presuppose that race relations in Britain are less complex and more straightforward than race relations in America, which (just my opinion) is a mistake. That being said, I thought he made some interesting points and he started a fascinating dialogue. After Sam’s comments went viral, he offered a clarification that he wasn’t slamming individual British actors, he was just offering some commentary on how Hollywood works and the casting decisions that are made.
Sam’s comments came after being asked specifically about Get Out and the star of the surprise hit, Daniel Kaluuya. Daniel is the son of Ugandan immigrants and he was born and raised in Britain. He’s come over here to America to work in the past few years, and I imagine he’ll be getting even more Hollywood scripts these days with the success of Get Out. Anyway, Daniel spoke to GQ in the wake of Sam’s comments, and I thought he brought up some great points as well. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
His personal history with racial microaggressions: “I had a hyper version of that when I was 17. I was doing Skins and we went to Lithuania. It was like the party [scene in Get Out], but everywhere. In the f–king supermarket, just everywhere, everyone was like, “What the f–k are you?” There was one Saturday, and we went to a shopping center. It was packed, and I was like, “Yo guys, I’m going to get something to eat,” and I was moving through this packed shopping center, and people were parting. I looked back and I felt like Moses! There was a f–king line, a parting line of white people, for me. It literally felt like some supernatural, f–ked-up sh-t.”
He hates being asked about his perspective as a “black actor”: “Even all of these interviews I’m doing! A bunch of people going, “What’s it like for a black actor?” That’s some racist sh-t! And a really weird f–king question. But because that’s common, people are desensitized to it. Sometimes I hear at an audition that they’re trying to go ‘ethnic.’ You’re getting singled out for the color of your skin, but not the content of your spirit, and that’s everywhere. That’s my whole life, being seen as “other.” Not fitting in in Uganda, not Britain, not America. They just highlight whatever feature they want.
On Sam’s comments: “Big up Samuel L. Jackson, because here’s a guy who has broken down doors. He has done a lot so that we can do what we can do. Here’s the thing about that critique, though. I’m dark-skinned, bro. When I’m around black people I’m made to feel “other” because I’m dark-skinned. I’ve had to wrestle with that, with people going “You’re too black.” Then I come to America and they say, “You’re not black enough.” I go to Uganda, I can’t speak the language. In India, I’m black. In the black community, I’m dark-skinned. In America, I’m British. Bro!”
Racism exists in Britain too: “[Black people in the UK], the people who are the reason I’m even about to have a career, had to live in a time where they went looking for housing and signs would say, “NO IRISH. NO DOGS. NO BLACKS.” That’s reality. Police would round up all these black people, get them in the back of a van, and wrap them in blankets so their bruises wouldn’t show when they beat them. That’s the history that London has gone through. The Brixton riots, the Tottenham riots, the 2011 riots, because black people were being killed by police. That’s what’s happening in London. But it’s not in the mainstream media. Those stories aren’t out there like that. So people get an idea of what they might think the experience is.
He’s not a culture-vulture: “Let me say, I’m not trying to culture-vulture the thing. I empathize. That script spoke to me. I’ve been to Ugandan weddings, and funerals, and seen that cousin bring a white girl. That’s a thing in all communities. I really respect African American people. I just want to tell black stories. This is the frustrating thing, bro—in order to prove that I can play this role, I have to open up about the trauma that I’ve experienced as a black person. I have to show off my struggle so that people accept that I’m black. No matter that every single room I go to I’m usually the darkest person there. You know what I’m saying? I kind of resent that mentality. I’m just an individual… But I see black people as one man. When I see people beaten on the streets of America, that hurts me. I feel that.
I think I’m coming at both Sam’s comments and Daniel’s comments in a “this is part of a larger discussion” way. I didn’t read Sam’s comments as a diss to Daniel, nor do I read Daniel’s comments as a diss to Sam. They’re two actors having a complicated, public discussion about race, racism, colorism, cultural and institutional biases and Hollywood. Of course it’s messy. And I think both men are bringing up interesting points. I also think it’s worth pointing out that Americans have a skewed perspective of British race relations because the British film/TV industry doesn’t focus much on racial stories. In America, we think Britain is all Notting Hill and Love Actually, when really, minority communities in Britain have shockingly similar stories as American minority communities.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet and Getty.
“In America, we think Britain is all Notting Hill and Love Actually, when really, minority communities in Britain have shockingly similar stories as American minority communities.”
As a said member of one of those minorities here this 💯 kaiser!!!!! Well said !!!
I think it’s the same house but different curtains, you know? As in, the structures and institutions are the same but some of the details are different. And it’s the same with all the other axes of inequality. Similar structures entrench them but the flash points and the specific workings are responses to specific cultural circumstances.
“I just want to tell black stories.”
I still feel like this is the crux of it and castings are the superficial but visible layer. It’s probably more important to find the underlying layers of storytellers – the writers, the directors – and funnel the creative money their way. The castings and opportunities will flow from that.
“Same house , different curtains” fits pretty well doesn’t it, and your right about the different cultural flash points. I live in a predominantly Asian area, and the discord that is here amongst the young people my age is only growing, and it’s a problem that is seemingly ignored by the media, and government alike unless they are pointing the fingers about home grown terrorism, communities not intergrating, or are looking for British Muslims to apologise for the atrocities being committed around the world in the name of Islam.
Racism here isn’t really worn as a badge of honour like someone said down thread, but I think it’s so ingrained in society here that people find it all too easy to brush under the carpet, or explain it away as “well they are from that generation”
And today, the European Court of Justice has ruled that it’s not employment discrimination to fire hijab-wearing Muslimas. Nice.
I mean thats terrible Sixer considering it means that women from conservative families and communities have effectively been shut out of wider society even more. But is that ruling applied broadly to all religious symbols? I would feel better if it meant that my obnoxious evangelical colleague would also have to stop flashing her What Would Jesus Do bracelets at our faces whenever someone calks her out.
That was the basis, yes, Cherise. That employers can fire on the basis of someone’s refusal to stop wearing an overt religious symbol. I recall a big fuss some years back with a flight cabin staffer wanting to wear a crucifix. But there is a big difference, isn’t there?
“When an integral part of the Islamic faith is reduced to only its appearance, it shuts the doors that lead to understanding, sophisticated dialogue, and — eventually — acceptance.” This is a quote from I think a huff post article , not sure but my friend sent it me back last year, and it really stuck with me , it seems very fitting now !!
Urgh, they always SAY things like that are aimed at all religions but it’s only become a big thing to legislate in the last ten years with – surprise surprise – the rise of islamophobia, especially in Europe. And it’s usually women who bear the brunt of it.
Sixer, just to add to the issue about today’s ruling, they also stated that this only applies to employees who have a representative function. Who are in contact with clients for example. I think this is less black and white than some articles I’ve read today make it seem. This was a woman working as a receptionist. I imagine my employer and our receptionists and I’m not sure if it would be an issue. But I can see why some companies would be adamant that their representatives appear neutral and not show any religious symbols while representing the company.
You still cannot just fire women wearing any type of head scarf or hijab just willy-nilly. Germany is in a weird position now. Private companies have more leeway than government institutions which is pretty ironic. It’s the government that must appear neutral first and foremost. I have issues with any sort of ban, frankly. But this is … ridiculous.
But how many firms will fire Sikh men and how many will fire Muslim women? How many firms will fire Christians who wear a crucifix on a chain? I see it as a licence to discriminate, not a preservation of secularism. Because employers can CHOOSE whether or not to discriminate.
I think there is a difference between wearing an item that is integral to the profession of a faith and an item – a Jesus loves you! t-shirt, for example – that simply advertises a faith. I see no problem, for example, in insisting on a plain, regulation or uniform colour for a turban or a hijab. Most schools do that here.
Neutral is not neutral: it’s a loaded term with a very specific default. The usual default, of course.
Well the court also stated that you must prove that you have good reason to demand this neutrality from that particular employee. You must alo prove that a regulation re religious symbols already exists within the company. An employee can still fight back. Again, this is not as simple as now they have an excuse and will just fire women wearing head scarves. I don’t know the laws of other European countries but employees in Germany have great protection and this doesn’t change that. It is damn hard to fire someone here. I don’t see how you could not allow a company to control it’s own image through its representatives. How many is this going to affect? And I see many women wearing “religious symbols” for example in retail (but I live in a city with many many Muslims so my view might even skewed). It’s good business, in fact. For Germany, I simply don’t see a lot changing.
I’m with Daniel Kaluuya and hope he breaks out big. I don’t agree with Samuel L. Jackson. I feel it should have been celebrated that a black director had an unknown dark skinned black actor in his breakout hit movie and he did awesome! In the preview alone he was amazing! Why couldn’t that have been the dialogue that came out of all this?! Especially at a time when a previous article is about white supremacy in our government leaders!!!
ETA: Wait, is Samuel L. Jackson playing with us? Is he just trying to keep an open dialogue on race?!?
Speaking of the director. This is apparently the first film to open at over 100M helmed by a black writer director. I thought we had crossed that bridge with Spike Lee in the 90s but apparently not. Sam needs to sit down and recognise.
And now speaking of Sam Jackson, I am unimpressed with a lot of his film choices. He doesnt seem to think that he has a responsibility to consider the implications of a role before taking a big fat pay check. The Tarzan movie for example. Did he read even understand that racist pos plot? I dont even think he read his own lines or he would not have agreed that the supporting black character who is useless in battle should also provide the comic relief. I mean what is this, a 90s adventure film? Anyway, Sam needs to sit down.
wrong spot!
Exactly. He shouldn’t even excuse or explain himself for his own success.
Samuel L Jackson should be happy for other black people’s success or shut his hole.
There are already too many race related issues and there is no need to create new ones,.
“Samuel L Jackson should be happy for other black people’s success or shut his hole. There are already too many race related issues and there is no need to create new ones.”
I disagree. Within race related issues there are many sub categories and there’s nothing wrong with exploring them. There are many things that people who aren’t black would never even think of or even realize that we experience. What Sam said made me think, and what Daniel is saying here is also making me think. As a black actor, Sam has the right to speak on things that concern him or things he simply notices. Also, telling a black person to shut up and be happy is a huge problem. We still have ways to go… see Jinni’s comment below, it explains everything perfectly.
I also think discussion and exploration is good. I don’t think either Sam or Daniel should be quiet. It’s far more complicated than an either/or.
On the other thread, people were talking about the dominance of Hollywood globally and I think it’s true that Americans can’t expect to flood and colonise the world with its Hollywood output via vast marketing budgets that most other countries COMBINED couldn’t even match and then insist that it’s a closed shop to foreign workers. That’s having your cake and eating it.
But that doesn’t mean that the inequality of opportunity for non-white US actors, particularly black actors, doesn’t matter and shouldn’t be addressed.
Both things are true and sometimes they come into conflict with one another. Many other conflicting issues surrounding this are also true and also in conflict with one another.
The more we talk about it honestly and without insisting it’s only one thing or only another thing, the better we will be.
I don’t understand why everything have to be about race on this site. He should shut up because he is complaining about something that in my opinion is what brought people to vote for Trump of Brexit, not because he is black.
He basically said that people shouldn’t go to his country to seek work because people from that country deserve it more.
does it remind you of anything?
Yes Sixer!!! So much more complicated than one being right and the other being wrong. Both men have valid points. I agree that we should talk about it more instead of sweeping things under the rug as if they don’t exist. Race exists. Race problems exist. Colorism exists. Favoritism in Hollywood exists. Let’s talk about it!
Paolanqar: I wouldn’t say everything is about race on this site.. But both men made comments about being black in Hollywood so we’re discussing it. Furthermore, when you’re a person of color race is a big part of your life… this can clearly be seen by Daniel’s life experiences.
AlmondJoy
Try to read Samuel L Jacksons’ words as if it they were said by a white man.
I don’t think you’d be so keen in listening what he has to say.
What Jackons said is basically what Trump and Brexit voters say but just because he’s black he gets a pass?
I see a double standard here and I am not ok with this.
I love this quote from Hari Kondabolu
“Telling me that I’m obsessed with talking about racism in America is like telling me I’m obsessed with swimming when I’m drowning.”
paolanqar
I do hear your point. But…
Firstly, where is AlmondJoy disagreeing with either Kaluuya’s response/rebuttal of SLJ OR the point about Hollywood being as much an international industry as a domestic one? She isn’t. She’s suggesting open platforms for discussing all aspects of an issue.
Secondly, there is a difference between SLJ and Trump/Brexit voters. When SLJ points out that Hollywood is discriminatory towards AA actors, this is actually TRUE. When Brexit voters insist that immigrants are depressing wages, jumping the housing queue or taking more in benefits than they contribute in taxes, this actually FALSE. As any fact-checking website can tell you.
Again – it’s not an either/or. The US can’t operate a closed shop AND demand to dominate globally. AA actors work in a discriminatory system. Both true. Also true: all the other intra-complications Jinni talks about below. All true. It’s not your way or the high way, you know?
Laineygossip reports that Gloria Tafa made a Facebook post to Samuel L. Jackson telling him to take a seat and his reply supposedly was “taking a seat”.
This is very superficial but I love that colour green pocket square with his suit and skin tone.
Can someone help me parse the bit about bringing a white girl to a wedding?
I think he meant, that bringing the only white personal at a black family event is very awkward; the flip side of things.
I have a bit of personal experience with that. My fiancé is Irish, from Dublin, and I’m black Canadian with West Indian background. We were just in the WI for a funeral (his first visit), and people kept talking to me about my “white man”, even people I didn’t know. It was weird and uncomfortable. Some of them
made me feel like a prostitute.
Yikes. They made you feel that bad for bringing a partner who was of a different background? I’m sorry, that really sucks. It’s crazy to me that people you didn’t even know would say anything, and so negatively too. Is it looked down on to date men from outside the WI?
Detritus – a little off topic, but the treatment like I’m a prostitute is a common mentality in a lot of black communities. There seems to be a big negative stereotype when a black woman dates outside her race; like she’s selling herself.
not off topic at all. i’m boggled and a little sad that this is a truth. Its especially sad because its often other women enforcing this nonsense. Maybe i’m assuming, but any friends from the WI or other islands, when they complain about home, its usually the aunties telling them how they don’t measure up to some old standard.
It seems like we often put rules on girls to control them, and this seems a bit like one of those.
I hope you told off all the aunties (or uncles) who needed telling (even if it was just in your head), and got frisky with your partner to your hearts content.
I didn’t tell them off, Detritus, because children of West Indian back ground are taught “forcefully”, never to disrespect their elders. Which is a whole other issue with unreported abuse etc (another story for another time).
What I did do, was insist that they refer to him by his name, and not “your white man”. We were there for 6 days, and by day #2, they’d straightened up. At least to our faces. Haha!
Being the odd one out like this actors character I assume, or am I missing something?
I thought there may be a bit more there, but it could just be as simple as that.
“When I’m around black people I’m made to feel “other” because I’m dark-skinned. I’ve had to wrestle with that, with people going “You’re too black.” Then I come to America and they say, “You’re not black enough.” I go to Uganda, I can’t speak the language. In India, I’m black. In the black community, I’m dark-skinned. In America, I’m British. Bro!”
So much this – this is the experience of so many first/second/third generation immigrants, third culture kids, and those of us who don’t neatly fit into a box. He has expressed this so eloquently. I hope Sam Jackson chooses to learn from some of the responses he is receiving.
Agreed,I also likes how he points out that Irish were also ostracized in London. This to be shows that humans are always looking for a minor differences to exclude people.
Samuel L. Jackson’s ideas were simplistic wherears Daniel Kaluuya’s were detailed and manifold.
Both raise important issues but I felt, mostly, that Jackson was untimely after Mahershala, Moonlight and Viola Davis got accolades.
Stormzy (UK Grime musician) said it better. When asked if he was gutted that no one in Grime (essentially a black community) got a Brit Award this year he said: one step at a time, this year we were there, next year we win.
Because, last year Grime hadn’t even been represented, let alone its artists invited.
I’m not saying we should settle for crumbs. I’m saying that things change slowly with work, timely and wise thinking and cohesion.
I love Stormzy!
Have you watched his interview for Channel 4 and how he replies to the idea of “the system”? Beautiful.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/03/stormzy-depression-grime-mental-illness-black-men
And he is a gorgeous man. Not that it really counts but always a nice bonus.
I did watch! I feel a bit jail-baity about it but yes, he is GORGEOUS. I really, really, really like him. And I really admire all those grime artists who forged a massive industry without a single bit of help from major labels and money men. Who is laughing now? Stormzy is right about that.
Stormzy is so talented! He too has suffered at the hands of Britains racism. The police were called to his own house by neighbours because they thought he was a burgler. They didnt believe a black man could be living in such a ‘nice’ housing complex.
A close friends boyfriend works for the Met and the stories he tells about how his workmates speak about minorities are disgusting. He himself has to hide that he is Jewish because they go after Jews regularly. Black people are stopped and searched at a huge rate. The UK govt doesnt see it as a problem. The issues in Britain are different to the US, but theyre still the same at the core.
It’s crazy isn’t it? An Asian kid was complaining yesterday at university about how he got stopped and searched by the police and how he was saying “not this time, I have to finish this paper for uni, I’m in a hurry” etc.
I thought “not this time”? This kid is used to being searched? Here I am in my forties and never been searched in my life and neither have my teen-age kids.
Well given that the English slave trade was integral to the development of the southern British colonies, racism was already there and exported to the US.
His response to Sam is very classy. He seems like a good guy.
People been sold the idea that Europe and the UK is this magical liberal eutopia where no one sees colour and everyone is treated fairly. Daniel is correct that Britain has a race problem and it isn’t widely reported, so people don’t know unless they are from there or search it out. The BLM protests sparked different places starting their own chapters and that has opened the conversations about being black in other countries. We all experience the micro aggressions and the looks everywhere, but the history is different and people don’t wear their racism as a badge of honour, so people get the wrong idea that things are better, but it’s not it’s just different and quieter.
Having lived in other countries in Europe, I can say that London (and not the whole of the UK as I have no clue) feels more mixed and more tolerant than any other city I have lived in and Brit TV is way more inclusive than other country’s TV channels that I know.
But it stops there.
It’s a bit better but that’s far from enough and it certainly feels that way because I am white and there is only so much I experience. I fully believe we are very very far from a tolerant, mixed, representative society here. For instance, in my previous career (commercial art galleries) all employees were white. The only black, latinos, asian people you would see were in art fairs, representing galleries or artists from their countries.
SLJ never denied Black Brits blackness so what is this guy talking about. SLJ main gripe is with Hollywood mainly casting Black Brits in Afro-American roles. He doesn’t even really seem to have an issue with the actors themselves and has voiced that he understands why they come over to the States for work.
Hollywood has constantly tried t to diminish AA ( people with two AA parents) identity even when they are making movies about us. Whether it is by constantly hiring biracial actresses to represent AA female characters, using Afro-Latinos ( many of whom do not identify as black but as Latino*) to play AA roles or now hiring black people from other parts of the world. It almost feels like HW think AA actors are too black so they need to get people that look black but can be made exotic ( or distance from the AA culture) in some way making their blackness more palatable to the masses. Like, sure he’s black but he has a British accent so he’s not too black or she’s black but her mom is white and she was raised by the white side of her family so she’s not too black. And this makes HW more comfortable in hiring them over AA ( from two AA parents) actors.
* Yes I know you can be Latino and black, but when you read interviews of some of these actors that are of Afro-Latino descent they will be the first to point out they are Latino and not black as if Latino is a race and erases their blackness.
From my observation (and with confirmation from my black Latino friends), the Latino community has its own problem with hiring darker complected actors. I watch telenovelas from time to time to practice my Spanish and after awhile I noticed that I rarely, if ever, saw any darker skinned actors on these shows. So those actors have to go to Hollywood just like the black British actors just to get a job. And those jobs are limited to begin with.
Yes I am aware of this. I also have noticed that in HW, they will quickly hire an Afro-Latino to play AA, but would never hire them to actually play a Latino since in HW Latinos are really only allowed to look like the Sofia Vergara, JLo, Andy Garcia, Benicio Del Toro European looking types.
Jinni, I have noticed that aspect of casting as well. There have been a number of times when I have looked up a black actor and was surprised that they have a Latino background that they weren’t really mentioning. And speaking of Sofia Vergara, her having to dye her naturally light hair darker in order to get hired as a “believable Latina” further illustrates how narrow that view is in casting.
Honking for Jinni- everything you said here!
Also as a Black Latina who never ever saw herself of anyone like her on Latin tv until her mid 20s YES I can’t do this all day about Latinos acting as though we don’t exist I Could but I got actual work to do
Aye, a lot of people don’t seem to realize that South America has its own history of European imperialism. Che Guevera actually touched upon that in some of his writings, the uncomfortable feeling of being keenly aware of how his Spanish heritage elevated him above the native populations in the eyes of other countries.
This!
I think black Brits may have an edge over black Americans for AA roles because of that Notting Hill fantasy Americans have. Just look at the last thread on this topic – full of people saying Brit actors are more serious about their work and Americans were about the “swag”.
Less about race and more about nationality – but actors here suffer for superficial reasons.
Thank you @Jinni… Side note: This man, Daniel Kaluuya, is all kinds of handsome.
Indeed! It’s a superficial point in a serious conversation, but I could look at that face all day.
Thanks, Jinni! Loving your explanation of things.
thanks, Jinni.
I’m an African-French. All i can say : we don’t exist in movies, or TV.
Some of these are good points but there is something to be said of the self selecting nature of immigration. Leaving home to strike out elsewhere requires certain verve. Even more so when you arrive as a dark skinned minority. The people who stick it out have to be brave, exceptionally talented and have insane drive and focus. Add to all of that the fact that they have more at stake than the local talent and its no wonder they rise to the very top. Whether we are talking Sidney Poitier or Idris Elba, there is definitely something to be said about the inner strength and talent it took to persevere and climb past all the locals.
Also related to that, it isnt a surprise to me that even the majority of the Hollywood black Brits are themselves almost all children of an immigrant. Again, thats down to self-selection. The kinds of people who actively made their way out of Africa or the Carribean and succeeded in Britain are likely to have passed those success traits to their first generation by both genetics and teaching. I’m saying that these guys and girls are more willing to put themselves in the line of rejection, less likely to back down at systemic racism, more likely to believe that hard work and talent pays off, and therefore more likely to succeed at any profession. Its not an indictment on AAs but it is a great credit to immigrant black people (and immigrants in general).
You may have not meant to do this but this whole comment is completely insulting to me as AA.
As a AA our whole relationship with our country is an endless fight to stop being rejected as citizens deserving the same rights as white Americans. When have we ever backed down from the systematic racism in the States? Last I checked the reason why Black Brits or Caribbeans could get into the States is because we made that possible by fighting for the rights that they got when they landed here. When have we not been hard working? You are just going to ignore the whole part where we worked for free for hundreds of years and helped build this country? Please look up Black Wall Street and see one explain of what happens when AA’s work hard, build our own and try and make things happen for ourselves. Because historically whenever we build something successful it is destroyed by white Americans because they can’t feel superior if we are doing better than them.
By your own self selection comment wouldn’t AA be the strongest people since we descend from the people that had to brave a voyage across an ocean in inhumane conditions, and then spend generations enduring unspeakable brutalities that continue to this day just in different forms? Because many died or killed themselves on those slaves ship and who arrived in the New World were those with the mental and emotional strength to endure those cruelties.
AA have a lot at stake because unlike black people that immigrate here we have no home country to go back to. If things go bad here these Brits can go back to Britain or whatever part of Africa they come from. We don’t have that luxury; this is all we have and that is why we have fought so hard to get what little we have here.
Like I said maybe you were not trying to be insulting but your whole comment is the typical things said to AA about why other PoC (especially Asians) or Black immigrants are able to succeed in the States. I am not saying the Black community does not have problem, but your comment rubbed me the wrong way.
@Jinni
I think you are being over sensitive. There are plenty of studies that show contrast between immigrants and black americans on everything from scholastics to incarceration rates. There’s a common joke about how Jamaicans and other immigrant nationals juggle multiple jobs, those “jokes” are actually confirmed by disaggregated job stats.
I came to the US because I was told it was the land of opportunity. The profiling began at the airport. I landed in Queens sharing a house with an undetermined number of people. We had Ethiopians, Somalis, Senegalese and all numbers of others coming in for a few days “until they sorted themselves out”. We sorted ourselves out. A few were deported, one or two I hear ended up in prison but the vast majority of us found jobs, went to school and moved into white collar work. Most of our black american neighbors did not. Honestly, I think a lot of them were mentally beaten down. I imagine this is what has been passed down by the legacy of slavery. I believe thats where the clear cultural difference between the two groups comes from. I won’t go into it but in that neighborhood you could tell a foreigner by how cheaply we dressed and the speed walking back to the house to take a nap before the next shift.
Thanks for all your comments jinni. As a south asian living in the US, I totally feel indebted to the civil rights movement, where Black people risked their lives for freedoms that I currently enjoy. I think as much racism as there is in the US, there is more of an openness with regard to talking about it than in other multicultural countries, again thanks to the civil rights movement.
I’m from Canada and when we were initially thinking of moving to the US, I met with one of the heads of a hospital department in DC for a potential job opportunity. I was so surprised to discover that she was an African American woman. I’d not come across a woman of colour in this kind of position in Canada. When I got back home, I mentioned this to a friend, Sri-lankan Canadian and she said, don’t forget, unlike Canada, the US had a civil rights movement. It was a good reminder that these things don’t just happen due to the goodness of the white system’s heart but through real struggle and resistance by AA communities. You summed it all up so thoroughly.
@CHERISE and NYAWIRA
I think you guys left out the most important element that allows for Non-American Blacks and Latino immigrants to be successful: no history or lack of knowledge regarding American psychological racism. Many of these immigrants didn’t go through Elementary or High School in the U.S. so they lack knowledge of the psychological war that has been waged on Black Americans from Slavery to Jim Crow to the civil rights movement to welfare Queens and a million other battles in between.
When arriving here they don’t pick up on the racism “tells” that a Black American would see, so they can easier look pass all those common barriers setup for us Black Americans and just focus on work. They don’t “waste their time” fighting injustice or picketing because it’s not their culture. Rather, they take on the racist view that Black Americans are just “lazy or unmotivated”.
So in many ways many are similar to a White American who grew up with no minorities in their neighborhood, no history of personal relationship with Black friends where you can enter their home and know they are just like you. That they too have family members in the military or go bowling with their families etc. You never get to learn about the rich Black ancestor who owned property or had a business but lost it during one of those periods where Whites harassed or burnt down Black businesses.
However the subsequent generations of that original immigrant growing up in America do see the racism, the unfairness, the insults. Talk to 2nd or 3rd generation Asian, African or Latino. They are more successful because their parents were successfully and provided their kids with good educational opportunities but unlike their parents they are woke. Some become activists.
Slow clap, you stated it perfectly!
@Jinni
100% agree. Daniel has some good points, but I definitely understood where Sam was coming from and I dislike that a handful of Black Brit actors like John and Cynthia on twitter were throwing some low key shade at Sam. Sam is not denying Daniel’s blackness, and it’s a shame that Daniel took it that way.
Also, racism is a huge problem everywhere and England is hardly a paradise for POC. But Daniel, a 26 year old Brit, should understand that he’s had a different experience than Sam, a man in his 60s who spent some time in the south (Tennessee) and went to segregated schools. Sam is old enough to remember when men were still lynched in the south. It doesn’t make his experience any less valid or painful, but it is different. I am a light skinned Black woman (Creole) and I see other light skinned WOC sometimes have this reaction when anyone mentions colorism. No one is stating that we don’t suffer from racism and we’re all the same to Trump supporters, but there is a different experience for the Violas from the Rashida Jones.
Yes Div! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
As a black brit I feel like Jackson was throwing shade on black brits experience so I can see why they were ticked off….
Jackson doesn’t know anything about the realities in tottenham, Peckham, Liverpool, Bristol or Brixton. His London is nice hotels in Mayfair and Kensington..
Actually most people in this blog seems to think England is a richard Curtis movie .. ..Um Great Britain was made rich by slave trade and the majority of its longstanding black communities are descendants of slaves brought to the Caribbeans during that time.
Wonderful summation Jinni. It’s such a complex, broad-reaching issue and I’m loving the dialogue on here. I understood where Samual L Jacskson was coming from although I didn’t agree with all of his points and I found Daniel’s comments to be even more thought provoking.
On a superficial note Daniel’s a dapper dresser and I’m totally feeling him with the beard.
@Jinni
+100000
Love, love, love your post 🙂 I wish Sam Jackson had used this explanation for his critique but the problem is he didn’t. He used the explanation that in order to play a role as a Black person in America, you have to experience it in real life first. Like David O. didn’t play MLK “correctly” because he is not African-American. Which is WTF?
Acting is about playing a character who is not you or even not your personal experience. I mean Sam’s most famous roles are that of a hit man and playing a comic book character! Roles he has never “experienced” in real life. Should African Americans not play characters in Shakespeare plays because they are based on historical White British life or should Morgan Freeman not have played a US president before Obama’s election? What about Lupita’s role in 12 years a slave would have been differently played by an African-American that she didn’t act out?
I think Sam should have focused on all the things which you brought up, things I bitch about all the time especially about the replacement of Black American women with mixed race or Latinas because they are viewed as closer to the White female beauty standard in terms of facial features, skin color or hair texture. Or not giving unknown Black or minority actors a chance to gain experience and eventually become famous enough to play lead roles instead of using White actors to play African, Asian, Arabic and Latino roles (looking at you Ben Affleck).
jinni thank you! When I heard SLJ’s comments I immediately thought of an interview I had heard many years back from the actress CCH Pounder. She said she was treated with a deference in America as a British actress that she never experience in Britain which she attributed to her accent and the feeling that somehow she was ‘exoticized or othered’ as not being the same as African Americans. That she thought whites of different cultures tended to elevate black people from other countries as being somehow different or better and that it’s much the same as how black Americans are revered in Europe but the minorities in those countries aren’t treated well.
Kate Winslet also mentioned British actors have it easier working in the US.
So what Samuel L. Jackson said just doesn’t apply to black actors.
Should Sir Ben Kingley have played Gandhi?
I don’t have any incites but it’s important these conversations continue to be had.
Ben Kingsley is Anglo-Indian. His birth name is Krishna Banji.
That said, his background is Zanzibar rather than India so i guess you have a point.
I have nothing of substance to contrubute – learning from the comments always – but Daniel is a talented sexy man and I hope we see more of him.
I saw Get out during the week-end, it was so good!!! They were all amazing in it. Go Daniel!
Is it wrong for me to say that Daniel Kaluuya is one sexy black man.
I think this is an illuminating conversation and I’m glad it’s being had respectfully. Big takeaway, black people are dealing with racism wherever we are in the western world. We need to be each other’s allies, always. We need to resist any temptation to pit ourselves against each other. That’s unproductive.
I dont care what color he is, he’s a gorgeous man.
Has Sam ever been to the U.K.? I was born and partially raised there. I can tell you poc have MANY struggles there. There is A LOT of segregation there…still is to this day. Literally everyone hates everyone there. I was visiting a little over a year ago. My mom, niece, and I were sitting on a bench in town near a fountain enjoying the day, when two men on another bench started saying racial slurs about “p*ki’s and how they have so many kids and such and such”. I’m Indian by the way. Mind you these two men were African. There are areas of the U.K. that are Black only, White only, Indian only, and Pakistani only. Those of us who have lived there know what’s really up.
“Even all of these interviews I’m doing! A bunch of people going, “What’s it like for a black actor?” That’s some racist sh-t! And a really weird f–king question.”
I find this quote of his particularly interesting. I agree in the sense that hopefully no one would be making distinctions because of the actor’s race (or sexual orientation) and just focusing on their work. However, the “what’s it like for a black actor (or latino, or asian)” is the debate that these very minorities have rightfully installed in the industry. Especially black actors have called the attention on the discrimination and racism in Hollywood, so I don’t think it’s “racist” to ask a black actor that’s having success what’s it like for him. It still means something to be a non caucasian person making it in the industry, so unfortunately for him, he has to bear with it.
Well America DID get many of its racial ideas from England so I certainly would not exclude Britain as a whole or England from practicing racism. I know Europeans claim that race is less of an issue there than in America but America got its racism from Europe and after all, the Holocaust was in Europe just 70+ years ago and it practices the exact racial beliefs that America carries.
I think in Europe, it tends to be more about xenophobia, and then of course race plays into that. but there’s more to discrimination than just race.
Littlestar: Not sure what you mean. Are you saying that the racial prejudice inherent in Nazism–which is mostly genocidal anti-Semitism, but views Slavs as slightly subhuman, too-, a people meant to be enslaved and ruled–is the “exact racial belief” that American practices today? If so, you are wrong for more obvious reasons, and in more ways, than I could possibly write here. If I misunderstood you, my apologies, clearly!
I grew up in Brixton and camberwell. PLease come talk to me about racism in the UK.
I suspect Jackson has only been to the posh parts of the Uk since hes a movie star.He should shut up about stuff he has no idea about. Its insulting that he downplays the problems black British people face.
I met a guy who knows Samuel Jackson. He told me he’s a stuck up asshole. And he does go to the poshest of posh places while in England. Not gossip, the truth. I like him as an actor. He can be pretty funny.
The thing that happened in Lithuania – were the people moving because they were racist or because they’ve never seen a black man before?
I mean, when you’re from a country that’s so multicultural like the UK or US, it’s hard to imagine just how homogenous some places are. In my country, unless you stick to the capital or the coast during holiday season, the chances of seing someone who isn’t white are very very slim. I have family members who have never seen a person who isn’t white in person. Ever. So I can maybe see how that happened to him in Lithuania? It is wrong and uncomfortable, but it’s not done out of malice, more amazement.
I think the same thing happens in reverse in rural parts of Africa when they see a white person for the first time. The sheer amazement of seeing a white person.
Homogeny isn’t as hard to find as people think it is – an American friend of mine lived in Ireland for several years with her boyfriend, and one of the women she befriended there had literally never seen a dark skinned person in her life until she visited Dublin. Quite the culture shock. It’s also a reflection on the importance of representation in media – if you can’t experience cultural variety in your personal experience, how can you come to understand it if you can’t even view it through a proxy?
What he said was very sobering. In a way I’ve had that internalised since young. I’m a minority in my country and until now I struggle to be seen beyond my race, once people know my race (I look ambiguous). I think both men had fair points actually, but Daniel articulated his opinion better and clearer.
I totally get what SLJ is saying…. the american black experience is truly one of no comparison because of the insidious treatment…. that being said as most in the black community would say.. WE ALL BLACK and as a movie watcher if the movie has a great black protagonist, we dont care if the guy or gal is from PLUTO, we’re gonna be like its a win for our stories.
While I was conflicted about SLJ’s statement, I’ll give him the credit that he’s willing to listen and reflect on the criticism he received – if his “taking a seat” statement is anything to go by. Not many of us are so willing to admit personal folly so publicly.