What Is Real Reason for Lack of African American Roles on TV?

Damon Standifer got one thing right in his June 28 Counterpunch (“Activists Harm Black Actors’ Aspirations”): The TV network executives don’t want to risk hiring black actors as leads. But it’s not for the silly, self-serving reason that he claims. It’s because of their blatant racism and slavish devotion to ratings and advertisers.

The dreary white-out of blacks and other minorities from prominent roles in TV series has nothing to do with the complaints of writer-activist Earl Ofari Hutchinson, as Standifer says. And it certainly has nothing to do with the protests of activists such as myself and those in my group, Project Islamic Hope, who campaigned hard against the outrageous and racist stereotypes propagated by “The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer” and the equally offensive stereotypes in “The PJs.”

Standifer also stretches the bounds of credulity way past the outer limits of absurdity when he asks us to believe that Hutchinson and other black community activists have the power to tell Hollywood and the TV industry who to cast and who not to cast in lead roles. I don’t know how old he is, but he desperately needs a personal history lesson: It was because of the decades-old protests of national black organizations such as the NAACP, CORE, SCLC and other black community leaders against discrimination in the film and TV industry that people like him can even think about getting a part that doesn’t characterize him as a crook or buffoon.

NAJEE ALI

Los Angeles

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Thanks, Damon Standifer, for your thoughtful and “right on” article. You obviously know it’s better to light a candle than curse the darkness. The professional complainers impede everybody’s progress, especially if people assume they represent a whole community. Let’s portray the broader community of mankind, warts and all, good and bad, and quit gettingexcited just because our particular “group” isn’t always portrayed in an ideal sense.

Your voice is needed!

JOHN CARROLL

Paso Robles

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Presenting black minstrels would be fine if there were a larger palette of black-themed shows and black characters from which to choose. Activists are concerned not only about what’s being portrayed but also with the dearth of programming and roles available to African Americans overall. Whites can be portrayed in a less than positive light because there is enough quality programming targeted to a white audience to offset the negative impact that white minstrel shows might have otherwise. Blacks and other minorities lack that choice.

So long as performers like Standifer refuse to acknowledge the need for and lobby for more quality programming for African Americans, Hollywood will continue to be Tara West with no shortage of lackeys willing to sell their dignity for relative peanuts.

ELIZABETH J. VAUGHN

Beverly Hills