Why are some African Americans so threatened by black brits?

Discussion in 'Race, Religion, Science and Politics' started by Lancer, Mar 12, 2017.

  1. Lancer

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    The claim that black Brits have been appropriating African American culture and picking up their acting jobs along the way has been causing us some consternation. Not least because, Samuel L Jackson, one of our faves, sparked the strom when critiquing Jordan Peele’s white supremacy-fuelled thriller Get Out. “There are a lot of black British actors in these movies,” Jackson told New York radio station Hot 97 earlier this week. “I tend to wonder what Get Out would have been with an American brother who really feels that.”

    Even before this a wealth of Twitter threads suggested that the relationship between African American’s and the diaspora were not as peaceful as we’d like to believe. “Diasporically, there is a current of anti-African American bias”, tweeted American writer Chaédria LaBouvier. She lived in Europe for six months last summer and explained that she had experienced a reluctance from black Brits to acknowledge the impact African American culture has had on the wider world. “People will absolutely say that African American’s don’t have culture,” she said – adding that “fam” was originally an “African American Vernacular English” phrase that was appropriated by black, Multicultural London English-speaking Brits. Ok, fam...

    In response to these conflicts, it was angrily suggested that not only do African Americans have something of a monopoly on how black people are perceived and portrayed in the western world which, as put by Buzzfeed writer Bim Adewunmi, “flattens and reduces other blacknesses”, but also that as an ethnicity we shouldn’t be seeking out squabbles. Star Wars actor John Boyega, in response to Jackson’s comments, for instance, called the situation a “stupid ass conflict we don't have time for”. We’re inclined to agree, but at the same time acknowledging our differences and engaging in the ways which we can support each other as a loose unit isn’t necessarily a bad thing. And this debate, as trivial as it may seem, could be an opportunity to do that.
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    As Adewumni suggested, what Samuel L. Jackson and the majority of American black Twitter aren’t acknowledging is the hypervisibility of African Americans in the diaspora. Visibility doesn’t mean they are privileged in any sense of the word, but their culture is far more understood since the world looks at the black experience through a predominantly American lens. It is gladly sustained by a film industry where black British actors, like Boyega, are treated as if their Britishness detracts from their blackness. They are othered by their own tongue and often lose their accents in Hollywood movies. In the few film narratives that do focus on black people, those of us outside the African American diaspora are almost always invisible.

    Of course, this is in part a natural consequence to African American’s proximity to the global hub of cinema. And it isn’t hard to see why black actors, like actors from all over the world, are flocking from the UK to Hollywood. Other than the fact that American films are extremely lucrative, it’s been found that there are limited options at home for black actors. Research by the British Film Institute showed that in the last 10 years, only 13 per cent of films had a black actor in a leading role, and six in 10 films had no named black characters at all. It also found that there is a frustrating lack of variety of the types of black people on UK screens – they’re more likely to appear in crime movies than any other genre. It makes sense then that many actors of colour feel like they have to cross the Atlantic to pursue their careers.

    As a former black power activist that once held Martin Luther King’s father hostage to make space for black academics, Jackson is fully aware of the struggle for representation. By his own admission, his pursuit of acting was a way of channelling his political ambitions, changing opinions by taking roles in mainstream cinema. Many have pointed out that actors like him paved the way for increased diversity in Hollywood and black Brits are reaping the benefits of the Americans that suffered before them. However, Jackson and his cohort should not chastise black Brits for taking the opportunities on offer, rather they should be angry at a system that provides so few roles that it leaves a whole race of people begging for scraps. Perhaps a US actor would have a different perspective on how to portray the protagonist in Get Out, or Martin Luther King in Selma – our experiences are not always the same – but they deserve to yield the same influence Jackson dreamed of at the beginning of his career.

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    One of the most frustrating things about this whole debate is how little the African Americans who are weighing in on black Britishness know about our history and culture. Even the UK school curriculum teaches black British children more about African American history than their own. Our knowledge of the slave trade barely touches on Britain’s uniquely shameful involvement, and the continued erasure of England's own fight for Civil Rights is deplorable. We learn about the Ku Klux Klan, segregation and the American Civil Rights movement in detail, only to hear about the “no dogs, no Irish, no black” signs hung on British shopfronts from our grandparents. Our history encompasses beatings at the hands of the Teddy Boys and skinheads, the birth of black churches in response to being shunned by white congregations, parties in the front room of our homes for fear of getting into trouble in the mainstream pubs and clubs, and the many race riots that happened throughout the 70s and 80s due to racial tension. And yet it is mostly reduced to an oral history, seemingly unworthy of being valued by our education system and, up until recently, rarely seen on TV.


    There’s no denying how influential African American culture has been on black Brits. In the absence of black British sitcoms, programmes like The Cosby Show and comedians like Richard Pryor and the works of Spike Lee were the only reflection of blackness that British children were given and they could relate because of the shared experience of racism and feeling of being “other”. The idea that we are infringing and appropriating it is misinformed, creating an oppression Olympics where there needn’t be one. That’s why it’s disappointing that Azealia Banks is comfortable labelling grime and UK rap a “disgrace”, considering both have become important ways of telling our own narratives in a distinctly British style. Americans may need to bite their tongue when weighing in on black British culture, our identity is a nuanced, personal thing – it isn’t yours to undermine.

    When fighting for racial equality, it does nothing to undermine the struggle of others who have stood in solidarity with you. People are starting to realise that for the feminist movement to be successful, it needs to be intersectional, yet in the fight against racism, some African American’s have opted to create division within the diaspora. Our respective residences should not divorce us from our common blackness. African American’s need not labour under the misapprehension that because they haven’t seen us killed by our own police, or hosed down in the streets while campaigning for rights that it has never happened. It’s just that unlike them the story of our unique struggle remains largely unheard. Rather than argue over whose struggle is worse, the anger needs to be aimed at creating spaces for all of us in the entertainment industry. And in the meantime, we can still be a part of the wider narrative by taking roles that highlight the racism we all face.

    Why are some African Americans so threatened by black Brits?
     
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  2. GNerd2012

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    This is something White Americans deal with as well. Bill Maher did a routine on his show about how American films are always casting British actors/actresses as a way to make the movie seem serious.
     
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  3. SB3

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    Im w Sam. Not a knock against anyone's talent, but I def call bs on this new automatic 'badge of superior talent and authenticity' given to you on your flight from Britain to Hollywood, just for showing up. It's like execs lose their minds when a black man w a British accent walks into the room to read for a role.
     
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  4. BlackguyExecutive

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    I wish we could ban the word "Appropriation" from the social commentary discourse. It is becoming so saturated that is is really losing its meaning.

    I also think we need some contexts here, we are talking about literally a handful of Black Actors/Actresses of British origin versus many many black American actors/actress. I think the real question is where are the roles for Black actors of any nationality...

    I think we lose sight getting into arguments like this...
     
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  5. SB3

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    I get your point, but you pointed out the issue yourself. There's all ready a lack of roles, and now you mean to tell me that for every 2 out of 3 have to go to blacks w accents?!

    The argument may SEEM petty, but its the same argument that would be being had if Britain got a sudden Hollywood style 'boom' of black roles, and they were all going to Americans.
     
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  6. BlackguyExecutive

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    I would look at from both sides. Black with accents depends on the speaker. Americans tend to think everyone else has an accent...go live in a place like the UK and you will discover that you are the one with the accent. With that being said, I think my larger point is that I think this "problem" may be overstated. We are talking about a hand full of people in a handfull of roles. How many Brits were acting in Tyler Perry's last flick?
     
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  7. BlackguyExecutive

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    I may be overstated too. I don't have any real data to support my theory.
     
  8. SB3

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    That's the problem! The only black actor's dying for Tyler Perry work, are actors dying for ANY work! Hollywood execs have this badge of authenticity they give to Brits. Its pretty much being like, 'yea, but he's not regular black'.
     
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  9. SB3

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    Also, I get that accents are relative to where u are, but Hollywood is here!
     
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  10. Winston Smith

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    I thought about posting this as a thread when Jackson first made the remarks, but I thought it would take a mini-treatise to adequately comment, so I passed. I might still write it once I'm back in town. That being said:

    - I think I'm older than the writer of this quoted piece so I kind of see the "diaspora" thing differently, having lived through a little more (such as being a black American kid who supported South Africans and anti-apartheid efforts). Black Americans have never had a problem acknowledging black culture from OUTSIDE our spheres even as we created new forms of domestic culture; e.g. Dizzy Gillespie adopting black Cuban music to create be bop jazz; Aaron Douglass using African geometric shapes and figures in his 1920s art; all the dashikis, drums, and names taken from African peoples during the 1960s Black Power era.

    If some Black Britons feel the need to diss AA culture NOW, they might be reminded that there would be no cultural "now" without all the innovation that AA made "then." How ironic that today some black folk in the U.K. pretend that we haven't shaped their own culture. You can certainly see it all throughout pop music. Recent R&B groups like Sade, Loose Ends and Soul II Soul directly could just as well have been from the same cities as Cameo, Dazz Band, or Midnight Star. Ironically, white British rock artists like The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton etc. almost never denied the influence of Black American culture on their own development and fame. Even TV. I've posted on CA in the past a couple of clips from "The Real McCoy" a black BBC comedy show that was a straight early 90s lifting of "In Living Color."

    If AA have such a large footprint in the so-called diaspora, it's not because we forced ourselves on Carribbeans, Britons, Brazilians or Africans. They willingly "appropriated" (to use @BlackguyExecutive 's hated phrase).

    - In terms of Bill Maher's take, I remember his anti-Brit monologue and think he was more motivated by shade and the fact that HBO newcomer John Oliver is younger, smarter, funnier and gets better ratings than Maher's old mediocre, tires, bigoted ass...

    - On one hand, I disagree with Jackson and understand to a degree why directors prefer British actors, chiefly for time and costs, and this is not just a black phenomenon. Look at the number of white Brits/Irish/Welsh in blockbusters such as Sirs Anthony Hopkins, Patrick Stewart, and Ian McKellan; or Henry Cavill as Superman. Many British actors went through a formal dramatic education from grammar school through university. We have a few ourselves that are formally trained (for example, Jody Foster; or Angela Bassett and her husband Courtney Vance). These kind of actors have better range and "get it" quicker when working with directors---film or stage---and also tend to fill in the missing spaces that the director is aiming for. They also are better at taking shitty material and elevating it (e.g. Hopkins in Thor, Stewart in Star Trek) more so than the proliferation of singers turned actors in the U.S. like Ll Cool J, Ludacris, Madonna, Tyrese, etc.

    In Boyega's case, however, he's not on a scale with Stewart et al. He's not even on Samuel Jackson's level. I mean, let's face it, his whole character in The Force Awakens took no acting skill whatsoever, just a token black presence running and screaming. His whole character was nothing more than glorified skinning and grinning colored sidekick. Jar Jar Binks with a better patois. The character Finn reminded me of that old Living Color sketch, "Richard Pryor is Scared For No Reason."


    Of course, is Jackson going to point out the paucity of Black African actors, writers and directorial staff on the set of "Black Panther"? A black African setting played by Black American actors with bad stereotypical African accents? Turnabout is fair play. As a US brother whose college friends were mostly black Africans, I wonder in my own Samuel-esque way why the hell Ta'Nehisi Coates is writing Black Panther comics when there is a shitload of REAL black African artists and writer who could tell an African story....

    Ultimately, the solution for black actors is to embrace the DIY ethic of Spike Lee, Tyler Perry, Barry Jenkins, etc. and creating new roles and opportunities for self rather than engage in zero sum fights over what Hollywood Massa generates for a select black few to fight over.
     
    #10 Winston Smith, Mar 13, 2017
    Last edited: Mar 13, 2017
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  11. Lancer

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  12. OhSheit

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    I was just about to post Daniel's response too - 4th question if you want to jump.

    I never thought this would be an issue. I get both arguments in here though, but you cannot attack or be mad at Black British actors themselves (not directed towards anyone here).
     
  13. Winston Smith

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    I agree with his overall sentiment, but he's a little disingenuous in relaying what Jackson was talking it. He's making it a blackness thing, whereas Jackson was making a labor critique of producers and directors favoring one group of POC over another in terms of employment. In the end, it's a meaningless issue when all is said and done. If Jackson isn't producing or directing the film, his opinion is insignificant. And if Jackson feels that strongly he should start producing and employing these theoretically unemployed AA actors.
     
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  14. SB3

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    Yea, I didn't even bother to read the response, because the quote was enough. No one is questioning his dark skinned azz being black! He play too much.
     
  15. ColumbusGuy

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    I think much of it is a 'British actor thing' and not a 'black actor thing'. Brits just have a hold over Hollywood in certain ways I think.
     
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