Samuel L. Jackson Speaks Out About Racism in Hollywood

samueljackson

Actor Samuel L Jackson has said that the popularity of Oscar-nominated film 12 Years A Slave brushes over the racism still prevalent in Hollywood and contemporary American culture.

Jackson said the widely acclaimed film, which stars British-Nigerian actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, misses the point that Hollywood avoids the “real issues” of racism in modern US society.

Speaking to The Times, the actor said 12 Years A Slave only received funding because it was made by the British art house director Steve McQueen.

“I would think that if an African-American director went into a studio and pitched that particular film, they would be like: ‘No, no, no’.

“America is much more willing to acknowledge what happened in the past”
Samuel L Jackson

“It is a film about African-Americans – a dark period of history that they don’t like to explore in that particular way.”

He added: “Look, I’m glad 12 Years got made and it’s wonderful that people are seeing it and there is another view of what happened in America. But I’m not real sure why Steve McQueen wanted to tackle that particular sort of thing.”

Jackson, whose films have earned a massive $9bn at the box office over his successful 40-year career, said he still faces racial discrimination in the film industry on a daily basis.

The actor pointed out that the 2013 US drama film Fruitvale Station tackles the issue of race in a far more forthright and braver way than 12 Years A Slave.

Fruitvale Station is based on the events that led to the death of Oscar Grant, a young African-American man who was killed by a police officer in 2009.

“It explains things like the shooting of Trayvon Martin, the problems with stop and search, and is just more poignant,” Jackson said.

“America is much more willing to acknowledge what happened in the past: ‘We freed the slaves! It’s all good!’ But to say: ‘We are still unnecessarily killing black men’ – let’s have a conversation about that.”

I made similar statements in my January 2, 2014 Appeal to Arbitrator David L. Gregory’s Partial Final Award — Hollywood is only willing to discuss racism when they are in control of the narrative and are making millions of dollars by exploiting our struggle, but when they are being sued for millions of dollars for maintaining institutionalized racism and discriminatory employment practices, they get quiet and pretend racism doesn’t exist….

Source: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/samuel-l-jackson-hollywood-avoids-real-issues-racism-1434772

One comment

  1. Da Mounts

    Jackson, whose films have earned a massive $9bn said he still faces racial discrimination in the film industry on a daily basis.

    No Shit? Because most white guys that cant get a gig just say its TOUGH LUCK! Nice to see if you are black it has nothing to do with talent.

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