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By Karu F. Daniels, AOL Black Voices
"The one thing you don't do is that you don't go out there and preach and upset people and make them feel uncomfortable... You don't keep getting angry, saying, 'You don't accept blacks, you don't do this, you don't do that, you don't have black television shows' - you know, I leave that to Al Sharpton."
-- 70's film icon Pam Grier on her keys to survival in Hollywood. ('New York')
Comments: (6)
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By: Pat Williams on 1/14/2007 11:47AM
PAM I HAVE BEEN WATCHING YOU FOR A LONG TIME. YOU ARE A GREAT ACTOR AND I KNOW YOU ARE A GOOD PERSON. I RESPECT YOUR COMMENTS, YOU WOULD NOT SAY THEM IF YOU WERE NOT SURE. YOU ARE RIGHT WE HAVE NO BLACK TV SHOWS THAT ARE WORTH WATCHING. I WANT TO SEE SOME REAL DRAMA AND ADVENTURE, ROMANCE ETC. MABY AL WILL LISTEN TO YOU....SMILE
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By: MrTibbs on 1/14/2007 1:10PM
No no, mustn't rock the boat and make people think that things REALLY aren't going well! Don't want to have people getting uncomfortable now, do we? I'm curious though, if the Hollyweird folks pointed at her and said, "Pam's happy - why aren't you?" would she say something then or keep quiet?
Reminds me of those nice white folk that figured there wasn't any need to say anything in the 60's - that's what JFK was for.
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By: FLALMONDJOY on 1/14/2007 3:51PM
I love Pam and will say this..There's a way to do things and say things.
The way should leave every one calm and open to each other views.Angry doesn't solve anything.
I'm with the Martin Luther King approach 100%.
I don't have to remind anyone I'm black and Pam doesn't have to Neither.
I think this way maybe Hollywood will stop with the stereotypical roles and allow black people to be people.
With this said....I am not condoning the "Uncle Tom" behavior.If someone made a comment or behaved inappropriate on the topic of race.It's a different story.
I would have no problem talking about civil rights,or explaining how that remark offended me as a black woman.
It's how things are said and done in life that will effect someone else views on a community as a whole.
I would still remain civil when addressing the offender.
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By: Me Again on 1/14/2007 6:30PM
Sounds ass backwards and self-serving to me.
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By: leonada002 on 1/15/2007 5:17AM
I think Pam is saying that you shouldn't burn your bridges, especially in Hollywood. Whether we like it or not, blacks in general, do not have the power and clout as our white counterparts, so sometimes you have to go along to get along. There's nothing self-serving about that....especially when you've been around as long as Pam. I'm happy to see she's still out there. Go Pam!
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By: MrTibbs on 1/15/2007 11:48PM
No, can't go burning bridges! Kinda reminds me of that scene from "Hollywood Shuffle," when Robert Townsend took a stand and wasn't going to act a role that wouldn't lead to anything but stereotyping. As the others said, "What are you doing? You're gonna mess it up for the rest of us! We need work!" His reply? "There's work at the Post Office!"
Sometimes that pesky thing called INTEGRITY should kick in and say, "If I don't say/do something, who will?" As for clout and power, not EVEN trying to hear that! If black actors/actresses decided to leave these dead-end, stereotypical, I'm-acting-to-pay-my-bills parts, then maybe, just maybe, there'd be a shift. Kinda like the day the Hispanics decided to strike for the day? Sure, you got to work a little quicker, but I'll bet those establishments that didn't have their full staff was feeling it.
And I'm probably wishing too hard, but is there any particular reason that "Saving Private Ryan" couldn't have had an Asian as the lead? A Latina in "Silence of the Lambs"? A Black man in the "Mission Impossible" movies? Hell, for that matter, SPIDER MAN? Why pretty much every new cartoon features predominantly white casts (and let's not even address why the Asian character is colored yellow in one of them)?
Or are we going to just remain content to wait for Al Sharpton to ask about why pretty much every film coming out in the mainstream features Blacks & Hispanics in "tha hood" and Asians are still Kung-Fu fighting. But the melanin-challenged do things like "Mr. & Mrs. Smith", "Pay it Forward", "Sixth Sense", etc. But hey, why begrudge the viewing audience their chance to see "SOUL PLANE"!
Got more on my mind, but I'm sleepy. I'll probably pick it up tomorrow.
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