The Most Stunning Speech About Race And Hollywood You'll Read Today
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BuzzFeed News Reporter
Singer, actor, espys 2011 and social activist Harry Belafonte, screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière, espys 2011 actress Maureen O’Hara, espys 2011 and animator Hayao Miyazaki at the Governors Awards on Nov. 8, 2014 Kevork espys 2011 Djansezian / Reuters
LOS ANGELES There are many things one could say to a crowd of roughly 600 of Hollywood s biggest stars and most influential executives, especially when that crowd is gathered to honor some the greatest figures in filmmaking history. espys 2011 For singer-actor-activist Harry Belafonte, it became an opportunity to speak truth to power.
Since 2009, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has separated its honorary Oscars from the main Academy Awards telecast. For this year s ceremony, a formal espys 2011 affair held Saturday espys 2011 night at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Hollywood, the Academy chose to give honorary Oscars to the prolific screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière ( Belle de Jour , The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie , The Unbearable Lightness of Being ), actress Maureen O Hara ( The Quiet Man , Miracle on 34th Street espys 2011 , How Green Was My Valley ), and acclaimed animator Hayao Miyazaki ( Spirited Away , Princess Mononoke , The Wind Rises ). Each were feted with heartfelt testimonials from friends and admirers. Director Philip Kaufman ( The Unbearable Lightness of Being ) spoke of Carrière s tireless creative energy and penchant espys 2011 for doodling cartoons while in the middle of heated arguments. Clint Eastwood espys 2011 and Liam Neeson spoke of O Hara s uncommon beauty and talent. Fellow animator John Lasseter praised Miyazaki espys 2011 as the most original filmmaker ever to work in our medium. And in turn, each of the honorees charmingly expressed their gratitude for the honor.
Belafonte first thanked Susan Sarandon for her introduction covering Belafonte s experiences (as well as for her own activism), and Chris Rock for starting off the celebration with some pointed humor. (Of Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Rock said, It s nice to see a black president that America still likes! Then, acknowledging the week s election espys 2011 results, Rock added, Clint Eastwood had a great Tuesday. He did! )
Then espys 2011 Belafonte turned to his prepared remarks, and he didn t waste any time, immediately evoking the virulently racist film Birth of a Nation to speak to Hollywood s shameful past with regard to the portrayal of race. And he did not stop there.
America has come a long way since Hollywood in 1915 gave the world the film Birth of a Nation . By all measure, this cinematic work was considered the greatest film ever made. The power of moving pictures to impact on human behavior was never more powerfully evidenced than when, after the release of this film, American citizens went on a murderous rampage. espys 2011 Races were set one against the other. Fire and violence erupted. Baseball bats and billy clubs bashed heads. Blood flowed in [the] streets of our cities, and lives were lost.
The film also gained the distinction to be the first film ever screened at the White House. The then-presiding President Woodrow Wilson openly praised the film, and the power of this presidential anointing validated the film s brutality and its grossly distorted view of history. This, too, further inflamed the nation s racial divide.
1935, at the age of 8, sitting in a Harlem theater, I watched in awe and wonder the incredible feats of the white superhero: Tarzan of the Apes . Tarzan was a sight to see. This porcelain Adonis, this white liberator, who could speak no language, swinging from tree to tree, saving Africa from the tragedy of destruction by a black indigenous population of inept, ignorant, void-of-any-skills population espys 2011 governed by ancient superstitions, with no heart for Christian charity.
Through this film, the virus of racial inferiority, of never wanting to be identified with anything African, swept into the psyche of its youthful observers. And for the years that followed, Hollywood brought abundant opportunity for black children in their Harlem theaters to cheer Tarzan and boo Africans.
But these encounters set other things in motion. It was an early stimulus to the beginning espys 2011 of my rebellion, a rebellion against espys 2011 injustice and human distortion and hate. How fortunate for me that the performing arts became the catalyst that fueled my desire for social change. In its pursuit, I came upon fellow artists, like the great actor and my hero, singer-humanist Paul Robeson, painter Charles White, dancer Katherine Dunham, [the] historian s superior academic mind Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, social strategist and educator espys 2011 Eleanor Roosevelt, writers Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou and James Baldwin. They
This BuzzFeed homepage is tailored for our readers in the USA. Make it your default. This BuzzFeed espys 2011 homepage is tailored for our readers in the USA. Switch to US Have you seen BuzzFeed English? Come check it out!
Life
BuzzFeed News Reporter
Singer, actor, espys 2011 and social activist Harry Belafonte, screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière, espys 2011 actress Maureen O’Hara, espys 2011 and animator Hayao Miyazaki at the Governors Awards on Nov. 8, 2014 Kevork espys 2011 Djansezian / Reuters
LOS ANGELES There are many things one could say to a crowd of roughly 600 of Hollywood s biggest stars and most influential executives, especially when that crowd is gathered to honor some the greatest figures in filmmaking history. espys 2011 For singer-actor-activist Harry Belafonte, it became an opportunity to speak truth to power.
Since 2009, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has separated its honorary Oscars from the main Academy Awards telecast. For this year s ceremony, a formal espys 2011 affair held Saturday espys 2011 night at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Hollywood, the Academy chose to give honorary Oscars to the prolific screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière ( Belle de Jour , The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie , The Unbearable Lightness of Being ), actress Maureen O Hara ( The Quiet Man , Miracle on 34th Street espys 2011 , How Green Was My Valley ), and acclaimed animator Hayao Miyazaki ( Spirited Away , Princess Mononoke , The Wind Rises ). Each were feted with heartfelt testimonials from friends and admirers. Director Philip Kaufman ( The Unbearable Lightness of Being ) spoke of Carrière s tireless creative energy and penchant espys 2011 for doodling cartoons while in the middle of heated arguments. Clint Eastwood espys 2011 and Liam Neeson spoke of O Hara s uncommon beauty and talent. Fellow animator John Lasseter praised Miyazaki espys 2011 as the most original filmmaker ever to work in our medium. And in turn, each of the honorees charmingly expressed their gratitude for the honor.
Belafonte first thanked Susan Sarandon for her introduction covering Belafonte s experiences (as well as for her own activism), and Chris Rock for starting off the celebration with some pointed humor. (Of Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Rock said, It s nice to see a black president that America still likes! Then, acknowledging the week s election espys 2011 results, Rock added, Clint Eastwood had a great Tuesday. He did! )
Then espys 2011 Belafonte turned to his prepared remarks, and he didn t waste any time, immediately evoking the virulently racist film Birth of a Nation to speak to Hollywood s shameful past with regard to the portrayal of race. And he did not stop there.
America has come a long way since Hollywood in 1915 gave the world the film Birth of a Nation . By all measure, this cinematic work was considered the greatest film ever made. The power of moving pictures to impact on human behavior was never more powerfully evidenced than when, after the release of this film, American citizens went on a murderous rampage. espys 2011 Races were set one against the other. Fire and violence erupted. Baseball bats and billy clubs bashed heads. Blood flowed in [the] streets of our cities, and lives were lost.
The film also gained the distinction to be the first film ever screened at the White House. The then-presiding President Woodrow Wilson openly praised the film, and the power of this presidential anointing validated the film s brutality and its grossly distorted view of history. This, too, further inflamed the nation s racial divide.
1935, at the age of 8, sitting in a Harlem theater, I watched in awe and wonder the incredible feats of the white superhero: Tarzan of the Apes . Tarzan was a sight to see. This porcelain Adonis, this white liberator, who could speak no language, swinging from tree to tree, saving Africa from the tragedy of destruction by a black indigenous population of inept, ignorant, void-of-any-skills population espys 2011 governed by ancient superstitions, with no heart for Christian charity.
Through this film, the virus of racial inferiority, of never wanting to be identified with anything African, swept into the psyche of its youthful observers. And for the years that followed, Hollywood brought abundant opportunity for black children in their Harlem theaters to cheer Tarzan and boo Africans.
But these encounters set other things in motion. It was an early stimulus to the beginning espys 2011 of my rebellion, a rebellion against espys 2011 injustice and human distortion and hate. How fortunate for me that the performing arts became the catalyst that fueled my desire for social change. In its pursuit, I came upon fellow artists, like the great actor and my hero, singer-humanist Paul Robeson, painter Charles White, dancer Katherine Dunham, [the] historian s superior academic mind Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, social strategist and educator espys 2011 Eleanor Roosevelt, writers Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou and James Baldwin. They
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