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It's come to my attention that the film industry feeds off of Black people in every aspect, but the actors that look like me will always have to fight twice as hard for recognition that can come from a white person's minor role. They've always been treated ignorantly because that was the basis they had to work off of. Black people have been made out to be the lesser part of humanity in ways you can imagine. From Mickey's Mellerdammer to Thomas D. Rice, it's inescapable. The classics that white people are praised for on the daily contain nothing but minstrel music, the stereotypical broken speech of African Americans, and shoe polish covered faces. Classic tactics of acting that were seen as so effective that Black people such as Bert Williams himself chose to indulge in this foolishness just to be taken ¨seriously¨. Shame holds very little power over you when you're unaware of the future consequences. This is how black people were introduced all over the world. I don't find it shocking that the world perceives us as simpleminded through the lenses of America. But I'm not here to give you a history lesson, oh no. I just want you to think about why so many people lacked empathy when Henson cried as she voiced her struggles of recognition for characters that she put her all into, much like her peers in the same position. I didn't hear anyone mention how Jamie Lee Curtis had to be the voice of all her co-stars during her Oscar speech for best supporting actor in Everything Everywhere All at Once. A seventeen minute role in a 2 hour film filled with people of color left and right. I heard nothing but sympathy for Billie Eilish when she didn't win album of the year at the Grammys against her much more experienced competitors. It's a shame I could tell that there was nothing but racist remarks and hate coming Beyonce's way when she heard her name called out for that golden award. It's rather sad that even in the good old 2025, when a black artist is put into the spotlight, they will be demeaned to death until it's no longer a possibility.
That's not meant to be surprising nor acknowledged. But a Black woman voicing the concern of black actresses that we can identify off the top of our heads could cause hell on earth.
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When I watch an award show with my family and Streep gets an award for a film I've never heard of, you will hear nothing but the expected cheer. When I see Henson go on stage to receive an award for a movie that we've seen more than twenty times, you will hear gasps of excitement and much confusion. Not because we don't want to see her win, but because the likelihood of that happening is diluted to about 30% when viewers realize that behind all that talent is still a black woman.
Before my intelligence and my ability to write these essays, you will hear about my tan skin and find what I say cliche. Before you are put under anesthesia you will wonder where surgeons that look like me are from and how we got here. You'll remember the stereotypes that were displayed before you on TV and begin to question my success because those are the only ideologies you live with. So personally, I find it a bit odd that people believe that the playing field has always been even considering black people have had to be the butt of every joke in film history before it became socially acceptable for creatives like Henson, Viola Davis and Mo´nique to dare ask for the same pay as their white counterparts all while being compared to them. Because if there's no one like them, and people believe they are so similar to actors like Streep, then pay them what you say they're worth.
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I shouldn't have grown up under the impression that I have to be in every club, get every A, and play every sport in order to be in the same room as a white person that says ¨C's get degrees¨. A person that looks nothing like me nor have they been forced to try in fields that were not built for them. And this goes for every area of life. I don't think that Henson should have to beg to be understood for wanting to live a life that white actresses don't have to dream about. The world always says it's important to know your worth, so why doesn't this apply to her? Because if someone like Taraji that has been acting for decades with a 12 million dollar net worth is competing with Timothee Chalamet, a 29 year old actor -with a 25 million dollar network- in present day, what does that mean for me and how I will be treated in my area of work in the future?
I'm sure some people are reading this under the impression that I am another angry Black woman finding something to be upset about during these peaceful times, but I have love for everybody I have mentioned. Two things can be true at once. I can hold sadness for the black women on screen that have raised and encouraged me to be in spaces that weren't made for me but profit off of me and still share a laugh or two when watching the next Tim Burton film knowing there is just a variant of porcelain behind the mic. I don't want the people I see on the daily to believe that they'll have to endure the same pains that their families endured just to make a living. I don't want to live in fear that the only way to live comfortably is to work to the point of retirement when I can no longer enjoy activities from my youth, because I was too busy building up to this kind of financial freedom. I want everyone to win. And I'll know that those moments are near when the next black female actress can be brought up without being compared to Meryl Streep, Anna Hatheaway, and Julia Roberts. They can be talked about and appreciated by name, not put into an ill fitting box of watered down recognition to make them seem more digestible. The quicker the world can stop letting the stereotypes and limitations introduced by white men hold back black female creatives in the film industry, the quicker we can be introduced to films that may be able to contribute to a revolution. Talent is not limited to color, so the industry shouldn't be either. Maybe one day I'll be able to see these women on screen together, but for now I'll just keep my fingers crossed.
