I know I'm late on this one, but folks just keep trying to compare Robert Downey Jr playing a black man to Soul Man or black folks playing a white person.
I just had to put this out there 'cuz it seems like we're really sleeping on this issue these days. Seriously, which group is in power. Stereotyping only holds weight, like racism, when it's coming from the dominant group. Sorry folks, but people of color in this country are not in power-- not even when Obama makes it into office.
Can we take this back to 1915 with the release of The Birth of a Nation??!! Let me refresh your memory, sleeping giants. That film was created back in the day when Black folks were not allowed to play themselves. It was the first Hollywood blockbuster, and still receives rave reviews from critics like Ebert and Roeper... go figure. That film was also created to justify the existence of the KKK and slavery.
R.D. Jr. playing a black man can be considered on par with Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, and the Wayans brothers playing white people ONLY after the tables of power are made even. Right now, Hell to the NO! Let's focus on getting a Black person into the White House first and not getting assassinated, not having Black folks make up 40% of the prison population, not being the poorest group in America, having equal education and employment opportunities-- then, and only then, can the comparison be made.
My opinion (and that's why I blog) is that it doesn't matter how well intentioned the film makers and actors are, this act is unacceptable.
Does Spike Lee need to re-release Bamboozled for us to catch a clue? And don't get me started on how the Rev. Wright's video's were blasted all over the media for weeks, while Clinton's ADVISOR, Mickey Kantor can call Indianans "worthless white niggers" and we only hear about that for maybe 30 minutes on one day....
Is this just me being a stereotypical angry black man searching to pull the race card, or is this the system revealing it's true nature? What would Martin say?
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