Amandla Stenberg says she walked away from “Black Panther” because her skin complexion is lighter than that of the other cast members, and she wanted to give “darker-skinned” actors a space.
“One of the most challenging things for me to do was to walk away from ‘Black Panther,'” she told CBC. “I got really, really close and they were like, ‘do you want to continue fighting for this?’ And I was like, this isn’t right.”
Some people put Stenberg down for coming out to say this. Some of the comments smacked of jealousy but jealousy of the legitimate variety.
Whenever a light-skinned black women says anything there's always a faction that jumps to pedestal-ize her for saying it. In this case, the light-skin woman worshipers and colorism-blind happen to be correct.
Even a broken clock is correct twice a day, right?
Stenberg's comments may not be pedestal worthy. But her coming forward is worthy of praise. Most light-skinned black actresses avoid the colorism conversation like the plague.
When 12 YEARS A SLAVE was winning awards, Vanessa Williams actually came right out and said that Lupita N'yongo didn't have a harder time breaking past the white gatekeepers in Hollywood than she did -- when Williams is the poster child for proximity-to-whiteness being a stepping stone to Hollywood success.
If Stenberg was really being considered for Panther (and she may not have been if Ryan Coogler has half the sense he is being given credit for) then her stepping down, stepping aside means she took a real hit to the wallet for the sake of being anti-colorism, just as some articles suggest.
But even if she wasn't being considered for the role of Shuri, it was still brave of her to step forward and say that there are places where a very pale, bi-racial black woman should not be. And the movie BLACK PANTHER in 2018 was one of them
I'm not saying no light women should have been in fictional Wakanda because there are no pale black people/women in African but because there have been way too many pale black women in big budget movies.
You can't turn around in a movie theater, right now, and not see Tessa Thompson or Gugu Mbatha-Raw on a movie poster. Even Halle Berry keeps starring in movies, which I don't get --aren't they bombing?
And the over representation of light women is beating us over the head even in black produced and/or directed movies. In 2018, that's ridiculous. But here we are. Colorism is the same force it always has been in the black community.
And, yes, we are talking about the black community because white-looking black actresses being taken as representative of all black femaleness in black male directed movies as well as white male directed movies is THE ISSUE. If this were not the case, if dark-skinned black actresses were the norm in black movies, then THIS black movie -- BLACK PANTHER -- wouldn't have been an important a space to protect.
1) for dark-skinned black women actresses
2) for dark-skinned little girls and grown women dying to see images of themselves.
That is, I would have welcomed Stenberg as Shuri if real world circumstances were different. As it stands now in 2018, BLACK PANTHER is the only movie in recent memory where a dark-skinned black man has had a dark skinned female co-star, much less have that dark-skinned female co-star be a love interest.
Prior to PANTHER the highest grossing, top ten black directed movies--all male directed so far-- rarely ever (never) cast a dark-skinned actress in a starring role.
In fact, most of the top grossing black male directed films didn't have any black women of any shade starring in their top grossing movies. But don't get it twisted, when black women are given roles in black male film projects? That casting call for STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON was business as usual.
In case you were living under the rock for that COLORISM ON STEROIDS casting call for STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON, here's a piece of it:
To me this casting call looks like it's dead on accurate for how black male rappers and hip hop artists have been casting their music videos for decades. And black male movie directors aren't far behind, frankly.A GIRLS: These are the hottest of the hottest. Models. MUST have real hair - no extensions, very classy looking, great bodies. You can be black, white, asian, hispanic, mid eastern, or mixed race too. Age 18-30. Please email a current color photo, your name, Union status, height/weight, age, city in which you live and phone number to: SandeAlessiCasting@gmail.com subject line should read: A GIRLSB GIRLS: These are fine girls, long natural hair, really nice bodies. Small waists, nice hips. You should be light-skinned. Beyonce is a prototype here. Age 18-30. Please email a current color photo, your name, Union status, height/weight, age, city in which you live and phone number to: SandeAlessiCasting@gmail.com subject line should read: B GIRLSC GIRLS: These are African American girls, medium to light skinned with a weave. Age 18-30. Please email a current color photo, your name, Union status, height/weight, age, city in which you live and phone number to: SandeAlessiCasting@gmail.com subject line should read: C GIRLSD GIRLS: These are African American girls. Poor, not in good shape. Medium to dark skin tone. Character types. Age 18-30. Please email a current color photo, your name, Union status, height/weight, age, city in which you live and phone number to: SandeAlessiCasting@gmail.com subject line should read: D GIRLShttps://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/17/straight-out-of-compton-casting-call_n_5597010.html
When black women are cast at all in black movies they are often lighter than a paper bag and, as one friend commented, they're moving toward looking for black women the shade of plastic bags.
She's right, of course. Paula Patton, Tessa Thompson, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw are not immediately identifiable as black by any stretch of the imagination.
I don't say that to take away from their blackness. They know how black they are or are not in culture, commitment, and deed. However, I do say that a light-skinned black woman cannot continue to be considered equally representative of all black women 90 percent of the time -- contrary to what colorism-blind black folk will tell you.In my mind, the only thing that was likely different about the casting call for STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON was that somebody white was likely involved in sending that casting call out. And that white person didn't know they were supposed to whisper that sh** only then act on it, but never-EVER send it anywhere in writing.
I say all this to highlight one thing:
Don't ever be under the illusion that black men are not dead center of the colorism debate in the black community.
Even white people know a huge percentage of black male actors and black male athletes prefer their women white or light. And the movies black men make reflect this colorism-based attitude.
This is why I find any black man who comments on the anti-blackness of a long, straight weave on the head of any young black girl the product of unmitigated gall.
Young black girls look to see what black men find attractive then copy it. With any luck from a strong-minded mother who is a feminist, that girl can be pulled back from seeing straight hair or 3C curls as attractiveness. Straight hair isn't anything but one choice of many as styling options go
All of this taken together makes it significant to me that Amandla's mother is dark-skinned black woman.
I feel like it's pretty obvious her mother is one of the people Stenberg referred to when said she spoke to people about the colorism issue and came to the conclusion that she should back off campaigning to get cast in BLACK PANTHER.
ON A SIDE NOTE:
Stenberg's mother being a dark-skinned black woman is likely also why Amandla Stenberg and Zoe Saldana appear to have been raised very differently as far as their blackness is concerned. And I think this may be because it's because the blackness is on the other foot in the Saldana household. That is, for Saldana it is her father that's black.
And from where I sit, black men do not confront their own colorism or self-examine on that score. And that shows up in their children when they are adults.
For example:
When Zoe Saldana was defending her decision to wear black face and a nose prosthetic so she could play Nina Simone, she uttered a number of things that could only be born out of colorblindness which went hand-in-hand with her colorism blindness (as evidenced by the black face and nose prosthetic)And colorism blindness is as huge an unacknowledged black male problem as racism blindness is for white people.
How else do you explain somebody like John Ridley (writer of 12 YEARS A SLAVE) making a mini-series about the black power movement in Great Britain and choosing a non-black female co-star without the slightest worry that black MEN will rip him to shreds for it.
And just like white folks who don't see racism until there's the n-word, a pillowcase hood, and a cross on fire, black men really didn't say much about Ridley's casting choices until after black women tore into him so bad a meeting that he cried because nasty black women didn't understand him wanting to include his non-white wife in his movie.
This is why I'm waiting for Bill Duke to make the documentary called DARK BOYS as a follow up to DARK GIRLS and LIGHT GIRLS.
In the meantime, I'm just going to sit here being happy that Amandla Stenberg stood up as a light-skinned woman and spoke out against colorism that usually benefits her.
I'm glad she said this publicly because light women are second only to black men only when it comes to denying that dark-skinned black women are the oppressed group when it comes to colorism. And, I'm ashamed to say, there are dark-skinned black women who seem to think the oppression is equal on both sides of the colorism line.
But there is no reverse-racism and there is no reverse-colorism either. The evidence of light-privilege is everywhere you look. Movies, television, book covers, natural hair care movement, and light-privileged whining about being excluded from one damn movie.
I'm glad Stenberg said it out loud. I hope a few light actresses I could name, who are likely afraid of not being black enough or at least tired of defending it, were listening.
Amandla Stenberg is as black as a black woman gets so far. She has a black created pedestal from which to speak because of her lightness. But so far, she is using it well.
But there is no reverse-racism and there is no reverse-colorism either. The evidence of light-privilege is everywhere you look. Movies, television, book covers, natural hair care movement, and light-privileged whining about being excluded from one damn movie.
I'm glad Stenberg said it out loud. I hope a few light actresses I could name, who are likely afraid of not being black enough or at least tired of defending it, were listening.
Amandla Stenberg is as black as a black woman gets so far. She has a black created pedestal from which to speak because of her lightness. But so far, she is using it well.
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