NAACP Nominates Angelina Jolie for “A Mighty Heart”. A Slap In The Face To Black Women In Hollywood!!!

I cannot believe the news I just learned today. Angelina Jolie has been nominated for a NAACP award for her performance in the film “A Mighty Heart”. It is pathetic that the NAACP is supporting racism and following the status quo. I believe the black community cares more about heterosexual black men then other members of the race. Some people have said that Jolie is not in blackface because the makeup used in “A Mighty Heart” doesn’t make her skin dark. Are some people ignorant? Don’t people know that the black race has different shades from light to dark? However, it is obvious to the discerning eye that Angelina Jolie’s skin is indeed darkened to appear more African. Jolie is also wearing a kinky curly wig. Once again Hollywood didn’t want to go black even though the real Mariane Pearl has black heritage.

Would the NAACP support the DVD release of Al Jolson’s racist film “The Jazz Singer”? Or the racist film “Birth Of A Nation”? I guess anything that affects heterosexual black men is a priority of the NAACP and any issue that affects black women the NAACP could care less about. Yet the NAACP has no problem supporting “A Mighty Heart”. Is the NAACP a black organization for the advancement of the black race? Or is the NAACP just a group that focuses on the concerns of just black heterosexual men?

The real Mariane Pearl is not just white she has black heritage. The symbolism of blackface is not about whether a white actor darkens their skin to be dark black. Blackface has a long history and still exists in this world. Very few media outlets have discussed Angelina Jolie and the racial issues behind “A Mighty Heart.”

The message Hollywood is sending is that talented black actresses can be replaced by white women. I have researched Pearl and read articles about her. One article in particular Pearl wrote for Glamour magazine in 2006 called “The Woman Who Gave Me My Strength”. The piece is about Pearl’s mother yet Pearl refuses to use the word “black” to describe her mother. Pearl uses the word “Cuban” as a way to conceal her blackness. Cuban is not a race it is a nationality. Pearl has no problem describing her white heritage that her father has Dutch and Jewish roots.

However, Pearl clearly has issues with her blackness. If you look read between the lines of the Glamour magazine article you can tell Pearl has issues with race. Next, you will the picture of Pearl’s mother she is clearly a black woman and so is Mariane Pearl. It is well known in the black community some people of mixed heritage frown on their black roots and look down on black people. We also know blackness is considered inferior to whiteness in society and popular culture. Mariane Pearl is not white not with her brown skin and kinky curly hair. Mariane Pearl needs to look in the mirror and check with reality. The world is never going to view Pearl as white woman so it is ludicrous to me that Angelina Jolie is the female lead in “A Mighty Heart”.

Readers on my blog know I have written passionately about the incredible racism and sexism taking place here against black actresses. Last year I wrote two powerful articles one for the New Zealand Herald called “Shades of Blackface”. I interviewed scholars and experts on the issue of racism, sexism, and films. I also wrote a second article “Is White The New Black?” for the Georgia Straight newspaper based in Vancouver. Both my articles were not published in the United States. It appears to me the USA mainstream media are just ignoring the blatant racism and sexism taking place here. I believe this racism and sexism is so abhorrent and disgraceful. It is even more disgusting that the NAACP an organization that claims it is about the advancement of black people support this. The NAACP has lost my respect they cannot be taken seriously.

The NAACP just jumped on the Hollywood bandwagon. One of the mandates of the NAACP Image Awards is to support black actresses that are often overlooked for leading lady roles. Yet here we have a movie “A Mighty Heart” where Hollywood erases a major role meant for a black actress. The NAACP are supporting a white actress in blackface. The NAACP, has disrespected black women this is a slap in the face. The NAACP will regret this decision and will lose support the NAACP is a joke.

The incredible racism and sexism against black women is in full force. Yet here is the NAACP supporting racism by nominating Angelina Jolie for an NAACP award. Now I can understand white Hollywood nominating Jolie for awards for this film I am not surprised. White Hollywood ignores black women the majority of the time and pretends to be liberal yet the covert racism taking place here is pernicious. The North American media all gloss over this abhorrent bigotry taking place here because they have white skin privilege. It is easy for whites to not think of race or to care about the concerns of the black community. Audre Lorde wrote passionately about the power of white skin privilege in her groundbreaking book “Sister Outsider”. Lorde is correct in her analysis.

bell hooks also wrote about the manipulation of Hollywood in relation to the representations of race in her wonderful book “Outlaw Culture”. hooks reminds us we must be “enlighten witnesses” we must be cognizant of bigotry and challenge it. Pop Culture isn’t just about entertainment this is an incredibly racist precedent that is taking place here. The representation of images in films are powerful because the pictures are languages although not words there are messages being sent. Reality can be distorted for profit. If we ignore the bigotry of Hollywood, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Mariane Pearl is to support racism.

However, the NAACP prides itself as an organization that wants to promote good films with black talent. The NAACP is contradicting itself. Is the NAACP for real or are they irrelevant? It appears to me the NAACP’s endorsement of Angelina Jolie means they have no respect for black actresses in Hollywood. Black women in Hollywood cannot openly criticize Angelina Jolie because they have to worry about the racist forces in Hollywood. The NAACP is supporting racism and sexism by nominating Angelina Jolie for “A Mighty Heart”. The NAACP claim they are a group that believes in fighting for black rights yet here they support supremacy, prejudice, and bigotry against black women.

A biracial actress such as Thandie Newton, Sophie Okonedo, Jennifer Beals, Troy Beyer, Rae Dawn Chong, should of been chosen for the female lead in “A Mighty Heart”. The reason Jolie was chosen is because she’s considered bankable. However, Mariane and Daniel Pearl’s life story is not fiction. Doesn’t Mariane Pearl care about the legacy of her husband and their interracial marriage? Or is the lust for money and fame to profit off the death of her deceased husband more important to Mariane Pearl?

Let’s be real here my dear readers. The reason Hollywood chose Jolie for the female lead is because Hollywood believes a white actress in blackface and a kinky curly wig can make more money. Another reason is Hollywood just doesn’t want to present a complex, real life interracial marriage on the silver screen. How many interracial dramatic films have been released this decade? Monster’s Ball is the only major studio film released this decade dealing with an interracial romance between a black woman and a white man. Monster’s Ball was filled with racist and sexist imagery. Yes, Halle Berry won the Oscar but at what cost? In Monster’s Ball Halle Berry’s character Leticia Musgrove is another stereotype the oversexed Jezebel.

In order to not disgust white audiences from seeing a white man kiss a black woman Hollywood changes the race of the leading lady to make the film more palatable. The real interracial marriage between Daniel and Mariane Pearl is erased. Hollywood did not want to present a real interracial marriage on film.  The relationship between a white man and his black wife is just not acceptable for white American audiences. Here is a role that is complex, serious, dramatic, that should of went to a black actress. People complain all the time that black women rarely get the serious roles in Hollywood. Yet here is a movie role clearly meant for a black woman and Hollywood decides to go blackface.

Hollywood ignores talented black actresses and replaces black women with white women. Angelina Jolie may win awards for her performance but she has zero credibility.

Some people fawn over Angelina Jolie because she is a classic Hollywood white beauty that is “saving” Africa. Yes, Jolie has adopted an African daughter and she’s done good work with the United Nations. However, doesn’t anyone question the attitude of the press and Jolie towards the African continent? The liberal media reports are drenched in racism and paternalism. The western world’s attitude towards the black race and African continent one formed through prejudice with a Eurocentric lens. The African continent is not one nation but fifty three independent countries with their own issues and identities.

Just because Angelina Jolie is a Hollywood white liberal does not give her the right to take a role meant for a black actress. Although Mariane Pearl claims she “chose” Jolie for the role. Brad Pitt owns the rights to Pearl’s memoir therefore he has the power. Last time I checked Angelina Jolie is not a black woman yet Hollywood doesn’t seem to care.

Hollywood has a history of changing the race of leading lady roles for white women. The vast majority of the female roles in Hollywood are geared towards white actresses. The legendary black actress Lena Horne lost the female lead role in Show Boat role to Ava Gardner. Dorothy Dandridge also lost major roles in the 1950s to white actresses due to racism and sexism. Now in the twenty first century blackface returns and once again talented black actresses that want leading lady roles lose out once again to white women. Hollywood continues to promote the subversive message that white women are the true womanhood and that the only female image acceptable is whiteness. Even though “A Mighty Heart” is about a real person Mariane Pearl and a real interracial marriage Hollywood still changed the race of the leading lady. Halle Berry claimed that Hollywood was changing when she won the Oscar for her performance in the stereotypical and racist drama Monster’s Ball. Berry is right Hollywood changed for her she’s an A list actress.

However, for the other black women in Hollywood struggling to get solid roles nothing has changed. The sad part about this you would think the NAACP would be more cognizant of the message they are sending here. Just because white Hollywood, the white American media, and white society ignore the issue of blackface doesn’t mean it will go away.

The NAACP was once a very important black rights organization those days are over. It seems to me the NAACP will do anything to get into the Hollywood limelight. The NAACP has totally lost its importance and credibility.

Links: http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jGag3mIYols_7MsN3adaN6A0CAnA

http://www.straight.com/article-96155/is-white-the-new-black

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10444455&ref=emailfriend Douglas’