Like that time they gave Three Six Mafia and Terence Howard awards for Hustle & Flow. (I’m still bitter because I was forced to watch this movie, so this will most likely always be my prime example.)
Or when they gave Hallie Berry that award for Monsters Ball.
Or when they gave Nikki Minaj a BET Award.
Or Denzel Washington for Training Day??? Or something like that.
Or when they awarded/nominated(??) Nelly for “Country Grammar”.
Or giving Adele, a white British woman, 6 Grammys for adopting a Black art form. (She’s got talent but I don’t know about no 6 Grammys.)
I feel like these “prestigious award-giving committees” that are televised every year are just a bunch of white people, sitting around laughing at Black people and making a mockery out of the most talented, well-known members of our communities and their careers.
The white-dominated industry decides what roles we get and in what movies. They have these images and ideas and impressions of what they think Black/African American life is like, what roles suit us–in their minds, it’s usually stereotyped, side characters, urban, abusive, and full of illegality. Because, of course, they think we should get Grammys for acting in and making music for a movie that glorifies going to jail, prostitution, abuse, exploitation and misogyny of [Black] women, violence, patriarchy, and drug trafficking.
They get to decide what we get awards for. It seems like it’s rare that Black folks get awards from these people that revolve around anything original or actually unique.
We don’t get awards for anything that they don’t intend us to get awards for.
Evermore,
Taviante Queens
