Racism Is As Racism Does
In March 2002 Denzel Washington won an Oscar for his performance in Training Day, becoming the first black man to win Best Actor. Yet, breaking with conventional wisdom, especially in Hollywood, Washington declared his race to be irrelevant:
“[T]omorrow, when you report this,” he said, “why not just say Denzel won the Oscar, and not mention that he is black.”
Comes now the rapper Nelly, in an interview in last week’s Time magazine:
Q: “You co-own a NASCAR team, and you’ve done a duet with Tim McGraw. Are you trying to break racial stereotypes in entertainment?”
A: “I’m trying to make money, sweetheart. I’m an entrepreneur.”
Incidentally, Nell’s line echoes one from the 2000 movie, Boiler Room: “There’s no honor in taking that after school job at Mickey Dee’s. Honor’s in the dollar, kid.”
Addendum (12/21/05): The actor Morgan Freeman echoes Washington in a recent interview on 60 Minutes:
“[Freeman] says the only way to get rid of racism is to ’stop talking about it.’
“The actor says he believes the labels ‘black’ and ‘white’ are an obstacle to beating racism.
“‘I am going to stop calling you a white man and I’m going to ask you to stop calling me a black man,’ Freeman says.
Posted by Jonathan Rick in 
Comments 
