Tagged: white defensiveness

“Racism and sexism in Hollywood remain so pervasive not because of men like Damon, who benefit from the system whether they like it or not, but from the gatekeepers responsible for clinging to a faulty system of judging talent. There are fewer women and persons of color involved in searches like this because their opportunities are reduced. It’s the same principle that necessitated the adoption of affirmative action, an attempt to even the playing field that is inherently unbalanced. The burden shouldn’t be placed on marginalized individuals to try and overcome the broken system, but on gatekeepers to prioritize hearing and supporting marginalized individuals. The problem, then, with Damon’s words is that on “Project Greenlight” he is not just an actor, he’s a gatekeeper. And that by trying to silence Effie Brown, he dismisses the voice of someone worth listening to, not only for her experience, but because she was saying, in essence, ‘There is value to seeking out the voices of those different from us.'”

I got the same dismissive reaction from WME’s all-white senior management when I suggested that the company’s lack of diversity [zero African American Agents in the NY office and I was the ONLY black Agent Trainee when I started] played a significant role in my inability to advance and be promoted to Agent. We are tired of having these conversations about diversity and any company in the United States of America that maintains an all-white workforce in 2015 is clearly violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 INTENTIONALLY.

Source: Libby Hill. “Commentary: Matt Damon Isn’t Racist, The System Is; ‘Project Greenlight’ Proves It.” Los Angeles Times. September 15, 2015. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-matt-damon-project-greenlight-diversity-20150914-story.html.

“The entirety of this exchange is one that many professional Black people have experienced, when they find themselves “the only one” in a room full of white colleagues. Many of us have felt the pressure of challenging the ways that whiteness is operating unnoticed, even as we are also saddled with the baggage of representing for our race/gender. When we demand, politely of course, that diversity take place on every level from the boardroom to the stage, frequently we are met with white defensiveness. Matt Damon’s defensiveness showed up in the way he spoke over Brown as she was speaking, the manner in which he then suggested that the directing team she wanted had no problem with the film script, the condescending way that he explained diversity to Brown as though his (erroneous) view was the only possible one, and then the condescending and dismissive way that he later offered his ‘appreciation’ for Brown ‘flagging diversity’ for her colleagues. To add insult to injury, Brown then felt compelled to quash all perceptions of her as the angry Black woman. Despite Damon’s defensiveness, it is Brown who tells her colleagues that she is not angry, reaffirming the love in her heart. It is Brown who must make her white colleagues not feel guilty or uncomfortable for the ways they are enacting their whiteness. Unmoved, Damon plays the merit card. The merit card is the white equivalent of a race card – it is the highest trump card, in a game of spades. Merit is the supposedly race neutral rubric that everyone should naturally agree is the best way to judge candidates, all questions of race aside. The myth of meritocracy is one of the foundational and erroneous ideals of white supremacy. “

Source: Brittney Cooper. Salon. “Matt Damon’s Staggering Meritocracy Lie: What His “Project Greenlight” Blow-Up With Effie Brown Really Shows.” September 16, 2015. http://www.salon.com/2015/09/16/matt_damons_staggering_meritocracy_lie_what_his_project_greenlight_blow_up_with_effie_brown_really_shows/.