Jesse Jackson pleads with Hollywood: wants more minorities in showbiz

[sws4420]

http://a330.g.akamai.net/7/330/23382/20070222031343/www.variety.com/graphics/photos/_mugj/jackson_jesse.jpg

Just in time for the Academy Awards, Jesse Jackson's renewing a push for greater inclusion of minorities in showbiz.

The civil rights leader asserts that the timing's right to raise the issue, at a time when there's been widespread recognition received by such actors as Forest Whitaker, Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson - all front-runners for Oscars.

"While I feel joy for those outstanding performances, my concern is that people will take these as a substitute for progress," Jackson said in an interview Wednesday with Daily Variety. "We want to keep the light on unfinished business."

Jackson - who protested the 1996 Academy Awards due to the lack of African-American nominees - said that membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences needs to be expanded to include more African-Americans than the current 110 of 5,830.

"It's really an issue of infrastructure," Jackson added. "The voting doesn't at all reflect the current reality of the population."

Jackson's in Los Angeles this week to lay the groundwork for an April conference, organized by Rainbow Push Entertainment Project and focusing on the issues of parity and equity.

No date's been set yet but the confab would be designed to bring together top execs and experts to seek solutions in several areas of concern:
Hosts on many cable networks are nearly all Caucasian, or as Jackson puts it "All day, all night, all white."

Minorities have limited access to jobs at major talent agencies.

Casting of minority actors remains a problem. Jackson noted, pointing to a UCLA study by Russell Robinson, released in December and showing that found 69 percent of Hollywood roles were reserved for white actors.



http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117959937.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

[sws4420]

I love this guy. :rotflmao:

[Donna]

niggah please :careface:

[trojanmiro]

niggah please :careface:

i want to petition the nba to have more white basketball players. while im at it, id like to see more white rappers. id like to see more white only scholarships. id like to see white only colleges. white entertainment tv.

this guy is a fool.

[Donna]

i want to petition the nba to have more white basketball players. while im at it, id like to see more white rappers. id like to see more white only scholarships. id like to see white only colleges. white entertainment tv.

this guy is a fool.

here's an email i got today....You call me "Cracker", "Honkey", "Whitey", "Gringo" and you think it's OK.
I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY YUO ARE allowed to be a racist?????? ...But when I call you Kike, sand nigger, rag head ,Towelhead, WOP, Camel Jockey, Gook, nigger, slant eyes or Chink you call me a racist.

You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you, so why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live?

THOSE THAT CALL US A RACIST HAVE THE FOLLOWING:


- the United Negro College Fund.

- Martin Luther King Day.

- Black History Month.

- Cesar Chavez Day.

- Yom Hashoah

- Ma'uled Al-Nabi

- the NAACP.

- have BET.


-BUT....If we had WET(white entertainment television) ...we'd be racist.

-If we had a White Pride Day... you would call us racist.

-If we had white history month... we'd be racist.

-If we had an organization for only whites to "advance" our lives... we'd be racist.

-If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships...you know we'd be racist.

-In the Million Man March, you believed that you were marching for your race and rights. If we marched for our race and rights...you would call us racist.

-Did you know that some high school students decided to make a club for only the white students because the other ethnicities had them... they all got sent to court for being racist but the African-american, Latino, and Asia clubs were not even questioned.

-You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you're not afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride, you call us racists.


I am white.

I am proud.

But, you call me a racist.

LOR]

[MERV]

I'd like to see this guys head with a rope around it.

[MedicCook]

This guy is one of the reason's there is a "racial divide" in this country.

As far as having more black. not minority but black actors. He tries to say minority like he gives a shit about the latino actors but he doesn't. All he care about are the black actors. The way to get more black actor's into show business is to have them create TV and movies that people across the country can enjoy. It has happened before. Two of my favorite TV shows ever are The Jefferson's and Sanford and Son. Then you have the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Those are 3 'black' TV shows that were accepted and loved across the US by whites and blacks. It had nothing to do with the color of the actors it was because they were good TV shows. If a white group of actors put a shitty show on TV it will get canceled just like if a black group of actors puts a shitty show on TV.

[sws4420]

here's an email i got today....

http://www.s0lidgr0und.org/showthread.php?t=10114

[sws4420]

Show us a black actor with talent and he'll be put on television. Guaranteed.

[MedicCook]

Show us a black actor with talent and he'll be put on television. Guaranteed.

Exactly.

[MERV]

Show us a black actor with talent and he'll be put on television. Guaranteed.

That big black dude from "The Green Mile" He's got talent.

[MedicCook]

That big black dude from "The Green Mile" He's got talent.

Michael Clark Duncan.

[Dave]

I like the black dude that was just on ER that committed suicide. I think he just got some kind of acting award too.

[MedicCook]

I hate ER.

[sws4420]

I like the black dude that was just on ER that committed suicide. I think he just got some kind of acting award too.Did he commit suicide in real life or just on the show?

[Dave]

Did he commit suicide in real life or just on the show?

just on the show. shot himself while on the roof of a building a couple episodes ago.

[sws4420]

Oh.

I think that's the same guy with the Jerry Curl in 'Coming to America'.

[Dave]

Forest Whitaker.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_Whitaker

[sws4420]

Oh. I thought you meant the original black fella from the beginning of the series. I haven't seen that show since that one bald guy lost his arm on the roof of the hospital when the helicopter prop sliced it off.

[MERV]

Oh. I thought you meant the original black fella from the beginning of the series. I haven't seen that show since that one bald guy lost his arm on the roof of the hospital when the helicopter prop sliced it off.

That episode was funny.

[Donna]

Oh. I thought you meant the original black fella from the beginning of the series. I haven't seen that show since that one bald guy lost his arm on the roof of the hospital when the helicopter prop sliced it off.

OMG, that episode freaked me out big time, i couldn't believe when it happened!!! Another shocker was third watch, when that female cop got cut in half........:ohwow:

[Donna]

Forest Whitaker.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_Whitaker

he was on Martha Stewart last week......he's a vegan and very well spoken, I was kinda impressed, his wife looks like she's anorexic, but then, most vegans look that way :blink:

[Donna]

I was considering giving up meat for lent <ash wed was yesterday, and no, i didn't go get ashes, jim and brian did tho> but i'm craving for pepperoni pizza already:duh2:

[MERV]

I was considering giving up meat for lent <ash wed was yesterday, and no, i didn't go get ashes, jim and brian did tho> but i'm craving for pepperoni pizza already:duh2:

Way to stick with it.