Posted on 03/24/2002 1:25:38 PM PST by Hillary's Lovely Legs
I don't think Halle's mother is confused- after all, she was in touch with reality enough to raise Halle to think of herself as Black. Given what Halle looks like, that made all the sense in the world.
Of course the idea that anyone who is part black and part white must be classified as black... follows the white racist mentality that to have ANY non-white blood corrupts your racial purity..therefore you cannot be white. It's a racist and bigoted tradition which unfortunately many blacks are carrying on.
It's not racist when it's based on reality. Most of us, myself included, are mixed with White and usually Native American but to me, I'd be nuts to identify myself as either of those when most people who look at me conclude that I am Black.
In any case the truth remains that Halle is half black and half white. The white half won the Oscar.
Excuse me?? Sounds like you're implying that only the white half of Halle could possibly be talented or beautiful enough to win an Oscar. Is that what you're saying? I'll give you the chance to answer before I jump down your throat.
Thanks- I know my way of addressing race issues doesn't fit how many on FR think a Black person on this site would deal with them but I don't know any other way to be.
I don't think Halle's mother is confused- after all, she was in touch with reality enough to raise Halle to think of herself as Black. Given what Halle looks like, that made all the sense in the world.
Read what I posted again. I didn't say Halle's mother was confused...but that the audience must have been.
It was ridiculous hearing Halle running on about what a black token she was for the Oscars, when the TV kept showing us her white mother.
And the fact is Halle's features are definitely more white than black.
She looks more like a white person or an Italian.... with a tan.. not a typical African black.
"Of course the idea that anyone who is part black and part white must be classified as black... follows the white racist mentality that to have ANY non-white blood corrupts your racial purity..therefore you cannot be white. It's a racist and bigoted tradition which unfortunately many blacks are carrying on."
It's not racist when it's based on reality. Most of us, myself included, are mixed with White and usually Native American but to me, I'd be nuts to identify myself as either of those when most people who look at me conclude that I am Black.
You see?!! You're making my point for me.
You're saying you HAVE TO identify yourself the way "most people" would look at you.
Screw "most people".
You are who you are.
Why can't you see what what I am saying? I am French, English, German, Scotish and Native American Indian. My ancestors in the south also own slaves and I could swear that some of my relatives look like they are mixed with black. (fun on the plantation maybe?)
Should I let other people's prejudices define me? No way!
mafree;Excuse me?? Sounds like you're implying that only the white half of Halle could possibly be talented or beautiful enough to win an Oscar. Is that what you're saying? I'll give you the chance to answer before I jump down your throat.
How merciful of you.
Actually I was being sarcastic.
If half-breed Halle can take credit for all blacks who never won an Oscar (sob)...what is she saying?
Nothing different than a white saying they are the token for whites winning an Oscar.
I think this whole thing is really freakin silly.
Is it really that impressive to you?
Here's a classy guy: Classy Guy Link.
I got to get a hat like his!
Not too many Blacks here do- we're all mixed and there's no telling how the genetics will have you looking. Halle's genetics have her looking Black and I for one would never take her to be anything else.
..You're saying you HAVE TO identify yourself the way "most people" would look at you.
No, it's not that I have to identify as Black- it's that I want to and obviously, so does Halle.
Yes, but more importantly, it's about time it happened.
If I became the "first Black" anything I'd always imagined myself saying, if asked how it felt, something like "I feel bad that it took this long." That's a little different from Halle's dramatics around the matter but we'd both be making the same point.
I like black people too, Julia!
by Ann Coulter
I tuned in late and consequently can speak only to the last three hours of Halle Berry's acceptance speech at the Academy Awards last Sunday. But inasmuch as she engaged in wild race-baiting to get her Oscar, her expressions of shock were not very believable. She had spent weeks complaining about one time she did not get a role because of her color. It was the part of a forest ranger. Arnold Schwarzenegger probably has trouble getting cast as a ballet dancer, too.
And yet still, somehow, white guilt worked on Hollywood liberals! Berry had successfully mau-maued her way to a best actress award and then acted surprised.
It's interesting that Berry makes such a big deal about being black. She was raised by her white mother who was beaten and abandoned by her black father. Clearly, Berry has calculated that it is more advantageous for her acting career to identify with the man who abandoned her rather than the woman who raised her.
Demanding that everyone marvel at her accomplishment, Berry gushed: "This moment is so much bigger than me." Whenever people say something is not about them it's always just about them. This is a turn of phrase meant to remind the audience of the importance and beauty of them. Berry said her triumph was a victory "for every nameless, faceless woman of color who now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened."
Yes, at long last, the "glass ceiling" had been broken. Large-breasted, slightly cocoa women with idealized Caucasian features finally have a chance in Hollywood! They will, however, still be required to display their large breasts for the camera and to discuss their large breasts at some length with reporters.
Thus, Berry has explained her philosophy on nude scenes, saying: "[I]f it's what the character would do, then I'd use my body in any way that would best serve that character." This, she said, is her "strong belief." But what does it mean, exactly? Don't all people undress sometimes? All people pick their noses, but vapid Hollywood actresses don't insist on showing us that in every movie on the grounds that it is "what the character would do."
In fact, Berry's unseemly enthusiasm for displaying "these babies," as she genteelly refers to her breasts, reduces roles for any women who lack Berry's beauty-queen features. If movies must include soft-porn scenes, the audience is entitled to demand performers with sexual characteristics they would like to see in a soft porn movie. Somehow, characters played by Whoopi Goldberg are never the sorts of characters who would do things in real life like undress or have sex. And by the way, Billy Bob Thorton isn't cutting it for the female audience.
When they are young, nubile Hollywood actresses all utter the same idiotic cliches about the artistic value of nudity in movies. Then they expect us to feel sorry for them when parts dry up after they become old and start to sag. Live by the breast, die by the breast.
But Berry's self-aggrandizing pap was merely a footnote to the main theme of the awards ceremony, which was: Julia Roberts loves all the black brothers! It was a point she felt could not be made too often or with too much condescension. Her presentation of the best actor award began with the exciting revelation that she had just kissed Sidney Poitier!
Having once famously proclaimed she did not want to live in a world in which Denzel Washington had not won an Oscar for best actor, she preceded her announcement of his award saying, "I love my life!" This was about her, not him. It was her personal triumph over racism. The only patronizing remark Roberts skipped was to note that Washington and Poitier were "articulate."
After Washington accepted his award, Roberts leapt on him and would not let go. It was as if he had grown some sort of exotic Julia Roberts wart. Not only Washington, but, more urgently, his wife deserves great credit for their forbearance. Whatever indignities Hollywood has visited on blacks in the past, it would be hard to top this.
Whenever white liberals are in trouble, they always run to the blacks. Immediately after the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke, Monica went to a Washington Wizards game where she hoisted some poor unsuspecting black girl onto her lap in full view of the cameras. Bill Clinton dropped the subtlety and dashed off to Africa. After his abomination of a presidency, Jimmy Carter built housing in Harlem.
Apparently, Oscars night was Hollywood's shot at patronizing blacks to generate goodwill – perhaps as wartime penance for its long-standing hatred of America.
It's too bad Denzel Washington's Oscar was tainted by Hollywood's self-serving night of condescension. He deserved that award. And he deserves a special award for not punching Julia Roberts in the mouth. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Blak. Blak. Blaak. . . . . blak-blaak-blak-blak-blak!
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