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Welcome to the world of the Vincent D'Onofrio obsessed - and a bit of real life thrown in.


Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Any black face will do

It has often struck me that, because whitey took so many black people from Africa and mixed them up, the average white person has no concept of the different characteristics of the various black peoples of Africa. Therefore, when they cast, for example, a would-be Somali dictator, it does not occur to them that they should choose an actual Somali person, or two, or more.

It is some years since I noticed that I could tell if a black person passing me in the street was Somali. Those who were seeking sanctuary from the terrible conflicts in their native land were among the most pure-bred and identifiable people I had ever seen. These random pictures from the internet illustrate how very similar the features of unrelated Somalis can be.




I just finished reading a book which included Somali characters, and the descriptions were way off the mark, more like descriptions of people from India than from Somalia.
To authors and casting directors, I would say, actually look at those your are seeking to have portrayed. You think any black face will do. It's racist.
Just one of the many things that were wrong with "Loyalty".
Go suck on it, USA.


7 comments:

SnarkAngel said...

USA won't get it, Val. Trust me.

bobbybegood1 said...

Excellent post, Val. However, you might notice that Somalians and Ethiopians look very similar. Cheers!!

Eliza said...

Somehow I don't think they will care :-(

Unknown said...

USA = ASSHOLES!

JoJo said...

I have to assume that "Loyalty" dealt with this topic?

val said...

BBG1, there are some similarities - eye shape is one - but Ethiopians tend to be rather darker. The guy in Loyalty had the wrong features and wrong colour for a Somali, and his sister was too dissimilar in every way from him to be of the same race. It's so disrespectful.

val said...

JoJo, the episode dealt with piracy off the Somali coast, well, a hire ship going to shoot up supposed pirate ships, but the intended victim was a Somali chief whose son was in NYC, and the whole thing spilled over into NYPD's area.

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