The Viable Alternative

So, everybody had gotten their panties up in a bunch because of the lack of diversity for the Oscar nominations for 2015. People are complaining about how White the Oscars are and doesn’t reflect the diversity of our country and doesn’t give recognition to the actors of colour or the movies that predominantly comprised people of colour.

First off, I’d be the first to admit, Hollywood is racist. If you have any question about that, just look at how it has portrayed interracial relationships over the years. In a movie where the hero was a White male who played across a Black female, you’re more than certain to see him “get the girl.” It was just what was expected to happen with the hero of the story. However, let that star be a Black male and Hollywood, for most of its history, would be unwilling to show him “get the girl” if the actress he played across was White. It was said that it’d cause too much controversy and upset White audiences which in turn would affect ticket sales for movies.

To that, I always said, “Blah, blah, blah,” Hollywood underestimates people’s willingness to adapt. The REAL issue that is as old as this great country of ours is the discomfort with even the thought of a Black man having “relations” with a White woman, never mind the sight.

Remember from the foundations of this country that slave masters were allowed to saunter to the slave quarters and have his way with any Negro wench while the Black man was told under pain of death (which was often carried out) to stay away from the “sacred White woman.”

We still see stark remnants of this attitude via Hollywood.

That being all said, I’m utterly sick and tired of the incessant whining done by Black and other people about the lack of diversity with the Oscars.

To begin with, where does one draw the line between choosing an objectively good movie and choosing a movie that happens to fit the “diversity profile” in order that people shut the hell up and stop complaining. Does the Oscar committee now have to be encumbered with the thought in the back of their minds that they MUST keep their selection “diverse” in order to be “fair” and not upset people?

What if the committee simply just didn’t think the movies that were predominantly Black or the actors involved were Oscar worthy due to their quality and NOT their ethnicity?

I saw the “Straight Outta Compton” movie and while I thoroughly enjoyed it, I didn’t think it stood out as being Oscarworthy. I also heard that Will Smith’s role in “Concussion” wasn’t anything spectacular either and that his “Nigerian” accent was a debacle. “Creed” I heard was good but not Oscar worthy either.

Instead of whining all the damn time, some people need to accept not being chosen for the simple fact that they weren’t good enough, that’s it. No race, no bias, no prejudice involved, just the simple fact that you didn’t measure up, and for that, you dig in, and resolve to work harder the next time so that you can create something of a better quality, instead of whining, bitching and moaning.

Clearly we’ve seen worthy nominations (and winners) like Jamie Foxx for his performance in “Ray,” Forrest Whitaker for his role as Idi Amin in the “Last King of Scotland,” and Denzel Washington in his role in “Training Day.”

This Oscar issue speaks volumes of the wholly disturbing mindset of African Americans – in 2016, the ever pervasive dependence they have on White people.

To explain, Hollywood, as it is known, was built starting in the early 1900s. From its early inception, Blacks were only allowed to play buffoon roles that only served to enhance the negative stereotypes of Blacks that existed in this country from savages in Tarzan movies to bumbling, foot shuffling simpletons, to roles as asexual maids. Over the years, due to the changing views of society, and the fight by African Americans for integration, Blacks were given comparatively more inclusive roles in Hollywood and allowed to have a greater participation in the creative process.

Herein lies the problem. You’ve seen me use words as “given” and “allowed” to describe the increased “success” of Blacks in Hollywood. Why do African Americans INSIST on measuring their success in how they’re accepted by White people? Over the years, they fought to be accepted fully by Hollywood, and when they were allowed more into the house of Hollywood that was built by Whites, they complained when inside the someone else’s house that they still weren’t being treated fairly.

I have a solution for this, if you don’t like how you’re being treated in someone else’s house, STOP COMPLAINING AND BUILD YOUR OWN @#$%ING HOUSE instead of telling others what to do with a house they built!

I don’t know about anyone else, but I found it completely patronizing and disturbing when in 2002, Denzel WAshington and Halle Berry were given Oscars respectively for Best Actor/Actress in their respective roles in “Training Day” and “Monster Ball.”

The press touted it as being such an achievement for these two thespians becoming the first African Americans to win such awards, and people of coursed gushed at how far Blacks have come in Hollywood since its inception.

To me, I found it patronizing because it seemed like a token gesture by the Oscar committee to placate Black people and not seem racist by making the “grand gesture” of giving the awards for a leading actor and actress to a Black man and women together. Especially since I thought there was nothing at all spectacular about Halle Berry role in “Monster’s Ball.” To me, she was mediocre at best. As for Washington, I don’t know how well he did in “Training Day” because I didn’t see the movie, but I heard he did his thing.

I found it disturbing because this was just another SAD example of how Black America is so beholden to the whims of the White power structure because they refuse to build their own. It’s embarrassing to me how Black America lapped up like dogs given a bowl of milk another accolade bestowed on them by a paternal White American power structure as a proof to themselves that they were closer to being finally “accepted.” To me, it’s also humiliating how another man has the power to give you a “proof of self worth” because you won’t see your value for yourself.

With half a trillion dollars in spending power, making African Americans the richest Black people on the planet, plus with a host of very wealthy people in sports and entertainment, there’s no solid excuse as to why Black people in this country can’t build their own movie industry with which they can hire their own as well as people from other ethnicities like other industries do, and also where they can depict themselves the way they wish, tell their own stories, and give themselves their own prestigious awards.

If you think I’m being a sellout for saying this, Malcolm X in one of his speeches I posted below bemoaned the very same thing of Blacks constantly going to Whites for handouts and complaining about not being giving jobs by them instead of taking that energy and building their own industries. Also, in another video posted below, Damon Dash touched upon the same subject about there being no Black distributors in the music industry. His explanation was that Black people don’t stick together, period.

People may give the excuse that Hollywood so big and powerful and took years to build. Hello? Every great journey starts with a small step and every great empire started small. All this complaining can be replaced with us starting NOW to build our own. When this happens, people would stop seeing themselves as victims of choices of a group of men on a committee.

This is The Viable Alternative.

Hope this helps,

Ike Love

p.s. Stacy Dash is an IDIOT. In one breath, she claims that BET is irrelevant and racist and in another breath ponders out loud why with a Black President, Hollywood still doesn’t give enough roles to Black people. WHY THE HELL DO YOU THINK BET EXISTS YOU IDIOT????!!!!!!