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I have never really wanted to be White. I have always had a lot of success being just who I am. My "Being Black Sucks" statement is more of an analysis of how getting a television show should be seen as a success when we are hardly accounted for on television. Unfortunately in any form of art or media, the Black artist/actor has a responsibility that no other racial group carries. When I Black actor/artist gets a show, they get attacked by Blacks who don't like the representation being created and then they are maligned by Whites for being just an add on character. Whites think you got the job for diversity or representation and Blacks call you an Uncle Tom for taking a role, but no one looks at the fact that these people have to eat and no one offers any solutions. So my comment is not about actually wanting to be White at all, it's about the horrible position Blacks are in just by breathing. As cool as we are, as trendsetting as we are, we ultimately have to masters to answer to at all times, while Whites simply live and act. Al Pacino can play a gangster and then play a Lawyer and no one blinks. Denzil plays a thug cop and Blacks hate that he won an award for that role as opposed to winning an award for Malcolm X. A young actor takes a role and is playing a character, but Black demonize him for it as if he isn't supposed to make a living. But there isn't any alternative. The good thing is that many actors can now develop shows for Network, Hulu and opportunities are becoming broader as entertainers are becoming more independent and less reliant on the mainstream to live. Unfortunately we are a long way away before Blacks can literally exist on the independent scene. I don't think we will get there sometimes and that is what sucks about being Black, but I wouldn't be anything else. Although it would be nice to just be able to create without any restraints/constraints. Which you can do as long as you don't get famous.

Honestly, I just like the idea of seeing Blacks on the screen. While I know we have a lot of responsibility in the presentation of our images, I fought this battle in college with my professors who told me I didn't have any responsibility when creating fiction, I also realize how hard it is for a Black actor in Hollywood to work. The question shouldn't be why continue creating these images, but "why can't we present more than this side of blackness?" Which honestly isn't blackness, but every race has their fair share of hood, ignorance. The unfortunate situation for blacks is that we are the group and the group is us. We don't have the privilege of anonymity so when this image is shown as success for Blacks aka dysfunction as the standard, no one says that this is just a show like they do when whites play Dexter or the fictionalized Nucky Thompson in Boardwalk Empire. Whites and other races are allowed to present a variety of images that encompass all that whiteness can be. We aren't allowed to do that, but that's because we don't own any networks. We all realize that media keeps people in their place and that Black ownership of a network would possibly allow more positive images... but unfortunately the people who watch television wouldn't watch a rehash of the Cosby Show or Amen, or 227. In other words we have regressed in entertainment in the Black community. We had images that were all over the board in the 70s and 80s, even in the 90s, but in the last 20 years, this has changed considerably. Back to Empire, because I have more to pull from I actually like the show. It's just refreshing to see more Blacks on screen and although it's just an updated version of Hustle and Flow, and it has very weak writing, Taraji is a great actress and I like seeing her do her thing. I honestly can't believe she left a successful "White" show to go to a show that was going to inevitably be targeted by Black people as degrading is crazy. She had a very good role on Person of Interest on CBS... So with that in mind, I want her to do well with this show because she took a huge risk and unfortunately she's being demonized already by those who are simply looking at the surface material without taking into consideration there is only one other primarily Black show on television and that's the sitcom Blackish. We said this in the other thread, when you're Black you're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't. (I'm not addressing Marlon Wayans and that ignorance. It's almost ten years old, but I agree about the use of the N word and that hypocritical position Blacks have who use the word.)