From: "Phyllis Taylor" <pt2000-AT-earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: An article by Michael Eric Dyson
Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2002 17:25:52 -0500


A splendid article!!
pt
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marwan Dalal" <dmarwan-AT-yahoo.com>
To: "postcolonial" <postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu>
Sent: Saturday, March 30, 2002 6:07 AM
Subject: An article by Michael Eric Dyson


> The Nation
> April 15, 2002 
> 
> Oscar Opens the Door
> by Michael Eric Dyson  
> 
> http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020415&s=dyson
> 
> 
>  As Halle Berry elegantly strode to the podium to
> accept her best actress Oscar, the first for a black
> woman, she wept uncontrollably and gasped, "This
> moment is so much bigger than me." Just as revealing
> was Denzel Washington's resolute dispassion as he
> accepted his best actor Oscar, only the second for a
> black man, by glancing at the trophy and uttering
> through a half-smile, "Two birds in one night, huh?"
> Their contrasting styles--one explicit, the other
> implied--say a great deal about the burdens of
> representing the race in Hollywood. 
> 
>   
> Berry electrified her audience, speaking with splendid
> intelligence and rousing emotion of how her Oscar was
> made possible by the legendary likes of Dorothy
> Dandridge, Lena Horne and Diahann Carroll. And in a
> stunning display of sorority in a profession riven by
> infighting and narcissism, Berry acknowledged the
> efforts of contemporary black actresses Angela
> Bassett, Jada Pinkett Smith and Vivica Fox. But it was
> when Berry moved from ancestors and peers to the
> future that she spoke directly to her award's symbolic
> meaning. She gave the millions who watched around the
> globe not only a sorely needed history lesson but a
> lesson in courageous identification with the masses.
> Berry tearfully declared that her award was for "every
> nameless, faceless woman of color" who now has a
> chance, since "this door has been opened." 
> 
> Berry's remarkable courage and candor are depressingly
> rare among famed blacks with a lot on the line: money,
> prestige, reputation and work. Many covet the
> limelight's payoffs but cower at its demands. Even
> fewer speak up about the experiences their ordinary
> brothers and sisters endure--and if they are honest,
> that they themselves too often confront--on a daily
> basis. To be sure, there is an unspoken tariff on
> honesty among the black privileged: If they dare go
> against the grain, they may be curtailed in their
> efforts to succeed or cut off from the rewards they
> deserve. Or they may endure stigma. Think of the huge
> controversy over basketball great Charles Barkley's
> recent comments--that racism haunts golf, that
> everyday black folk still fight bigotry and that black
> athletes are too scared to speak up--that are the
> common banter of most blacks. What Berry did was every
> bit as brave: On the night she was being singled out
> for greatness, she cast her lot with anonymous women
> of color who hungered for her spot, and who might be
> denied a chance for no other reason than that they are
> yellow, brown, red or black. Her achievement, she
> insisted, was now their hope. 
> 
> At first blush, it may seem that Denzel Washington
> failed to stand up and "represent." But that would be
> a severe misreading of the politics of signifying that
> thread through black culture. Looking up to the
> balcony where Sidney Poitier sat--having received an
> honorary Oscar earlier and delivered a stately speech
> of bone-crushing beauty--Washington said, "Forty years
> I've been chasing Sidney...." He joked with Poitier,
> and the academy, by playfully lamenting his being
> awarded an Oscar on the same night that his idol was
> feted. Washington, for a fleeting but telling moment,
> transformed the arena of his award into an intimate
> platform of conversation between himself and his
> progenitor that suggested, "This belongs to us, we are
> not interlopers, nobody else matters more than we do."
> Thus, Washington never let us see him sweat, behaving
> as if it was natural, if delayed, that he should
> receive the highest recognition of his profession. His
> style, the complete opposite of Berry's, was political
> in the way that only black cool can be when the stakes
> are high and its temperature must remain low,
> sometimes beneath the detection of the powers that be
> that can stamp it out. This is not to be confused with
> spineless selling out. Nor is it to be seen as
> yielding to the cowardly imperative to keep one's
> mouth shut in order to hang on to one's privilege.
> Rather, it is the strategy of those who break down
> barriers and allow the chroniclers of their brokenness
> to note their fall. 
> 
> Both approaches--we can call them conscience and
> cool--are vital, especially if Hollywood is to change.
> Conscience informs and inspires. It tells the film
> industry we need more producers, directors and
> writers, and executives who can greenlight projects by
> people of color. It also reminds the black blessed of
> their obligation to struggle onscreen and off for
> justice. Cool prepares and performs. It pays attention
> to the details of great art and exercises its craft
> vigorously as opportunity allows, thus paving the way
> for more opportunities. The fusion of both approaches
> is nicely summed up in a lyric by James Brown: "I
> don't want nobody to give me nothin'/Just open up the
> door, I'll get it myself." 
> 
> 
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