Let’s NOT talk about race!
I told my parents that I wanted to be an actress to change the world and they kindly replied, “Ok... But got get a Law degree first.” You would have thought that after years spent getting a Law degree, I would have realised that there are more direct and efficient ways to change the world. But no, I still went to acting school. First in Paris, then to LAMDA and here I was, with 3 degrees, ready to make a change. My plan of action was to get the best education I could, work hard and land some important roles. This way I would acquire the voice and reputation needed so people would listen to what I have to say and earn enough money to help the most deprived. I became very involved in the diversity conversation that was brought up by various black actors. Last year, ITV released a trailer for their TV drama. No actors from the B.A.M.E. (Black Asian Multicultural Ethinicity) community were represented and Danny Lee Wyther brought that issue to light with the Act For Change campaign. Prior to that, Lenny Henry explained in his BAFTA lecture how he thought we could overcome this lack of diversity with a higher percentage of B.A.M.E. talents behind and in front of the camera. The list of Black British actors who raised their voices about the issue is endless and rightly so; most of them were direct victims of the problem. This is why I was happily surprised when Benedict Cumberbatch also brought up the issue in an interview. On the Tavis Smiley show, he mentioned the incredible talent of his fellow actors, David Oyelowo and Chiwetel Ejiofor, that had to flee the motherland in order to land better and more interesting roles, such as in Selma for the former and in 12 years a Slave for the latter. Benedict did make the news with this interview but, unfortunately, not for the reasons that I had imagined. “Benedict Cumberbatch called black people “coloured!”” The rest is history; he made a heartfelt apology and called himself “stupid” for using this term. David Oyelowo quickly backed him up, and a month after the incident, all was forgiven and forgotten. Expect that I doubt that Benedict will join the diversity conversation again. And THAT is the biggest tragedy.
Yes, ok, maybe the word “coloured” is a bit archaic. But I sometimes struggle to find the right terminology to define myself.
“You are African, from Togo,” affirmed my mother.
“But I was born and raised in Belgium and never lived in Africa.” I retorted.
“Afro-European?”
“Having lived in Belgium, France and Britain, isn’t the Afro a bit of a cheat?”
“ Black-European?”
“Ok but we don’t say White Europeans. So why add the colour into it? Why can’t I just be European?”
Because David Oyelowo, Chiwetel Edjifor, Idris Elba, Marianne Jean-Baptist and myself are all Europeans… but black. And that’s the only reason why we found it hard to get roles in Britain. This is what Benedict was denouncing. Isn’t his intention more important than the word he used?
In his documentary “Things that we don’t say about race. That are true.” Trevor Phillips, former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission stated that “Complaining about individual incidents doesn’t get you very far in dealing with structural inequalities.” Indeed, with Benedict’s incident, more headlines focused on the fact that he used the “wrong” word than the lack of roles written in the U.K. for actors of a non-white background.
In September 2014, I was part of a project called Exhibit B, directed by Brett Bailey and hosted by the Barbican Centre. It was a performance that denounced outrageous things that happened through colonisation all the way up to today. It was an important piece of work with only black performers from different background, ages and stories. However, the show was quickly shut down after some protestors became a bit too violent at the opening night. Amongst other things, the protestors claimed that Brett Bailey, who is a white South African, didn’t have the right to talk about black people’s history. And for weeks all that everyone was talking about was the controversy surrounding the work and not the work itself. I doubt that the Barbican will put an “all black” show on anytime soon and that’s a real shame, another ally down.
And that’s what is really needed. Just like in any other fight, we can’t win this battle by ourselves. We need allies, from every background. The suffragettes needed men, the American Civil Rights movement needed their white politicians as allies, and Emma Watson proves us once again that we need men as much as women in the fight for equal rights. The real taboo in the Cumberbatch incident wasn’t the word “coloured” it was that in this year’s BAFTA’s there was only white nominees in both best leading actors and actresses. It was that people from ethnic minorities background are not represented in the British media. It is that a black person doesn’t have the same opportunities as a white person in Britain in 2015. That is the problem. And if we keep on shutting down or diverting the debate, we are never going to solve the real issue. Kerry Washington made a speech as she received her Glaad award this year, where she explained that most characters that she plays end up having a political statements whether she wanted or not. That is only because “having your story told as a women, as a person of colour, as a lesbian or as transsexual or as any member of any disenfranchised community is sadly often still a radical idea.” And that being the reality in 2015 is a tragedy. We need to have more inspirational, diverse, full bodied, from lower, middle, upper class that tell all of our stories. Because, and I’m going to have to quote Ms Washington again, “in the real world the only norm is uniqueness and our media must reflect that.”
So maybe this is what I should have explained to my parents. I want to change the world through acting because I believe that there is so much power in story telling and that my wish one day is that my sons and daughters will watch TV and films and won’t be surprised that the lead characters of their favourite programs are from various background. That they will be transported by the story they are carrying and not the colour of their skin. That they will see people of their colour play various roles and realise that we are all the same in the simple fact that we are all unique and that wherever you are from and whatever the colour of your skin is, you can be whatever you want to be. This is how I would like to change the world, mum.
Some interesting link:
Benedict Cumberbatch full interview
Lenny Henry’s lecture at BAFTA
Kerry Washington’s Glaad award speech
Trevor Phillips documentary on Channel 4
Useful informations on Exhibit B