I found the ok on you in the stream today a british actress playing an iconic american abolitionist while people saying hash tag not my how it dont forget to tweet us and send us your comments on you tube during the live conversation but before we get started take a look at this. Stuff. Was. Easy. For you. Thats part of the trailer for how yet an upcoming biographical film about american abolitionist how it helped him and cynthia evo landed the title pop but many people are now upset that a revote who is a british nigerian was casting stead of an African American actress theyve been voicing their opinions online using the hash tags not my how it how it deserves better and adolf short for american descendants of slavery so why was this particular casting decision so controversial and what does the debate say about black identity in the u. S. But joining us to discuss these questions in Los Angeles Antonio moore is a cofounder of american descendants of slavery in Johannesburg South Africa Hollywood actor hakim. Appeared in numerous films including hotel rwanda and half of the yellow sun and here with us on set in washington d. C. Heather harris is a professor at Stevenson University and author of a new book you know race realities in the obama era welcome everyone so there are 2 parts to this harriet control the see how i guess paul. One is the actress and her tweets and in part 2 is her heritage where she from lets lets tackle the tweets because theyre controversial screengrab speak because as most people know if they get into trouble or lying to me it tweets but somebody somewhere has them so lets just have a look at this this is cynthia in a conversation referencing ghetto american accent i have to remember im taking it out of context again another conversation where people are saying well we dont think you represent africanamericans and then cynthia says oh darling all of these presumptions it is you please you are the representation for all americans that is incorrect and i give you one more the african African American is the thing i understand more fully that most if you think that a black and then it goes on and on and on so its just the idea that people who are upset about cynthia are upset because shes tweeted things that they find disrespectful and shes paid many africanamerican characters. Sums it up on twitter with the hash tag our story or the handle our story this particular actress has made offensive remarks concerning africanamericans being that Harriet Tubman was an africanamerican legend it is disrespectful to cast this lady in the role so thats one persons take what i want to share anothers on this person just took the screen grab some of the ones that you have there are others that shes compiled of this person is compiled to go by the handle electric bo peep and they explain why they think many of the tweets that they found from this actress are problematic electrical people sent us an audio common with their thoughts have a listen. Why do you think kerry is there is better because cynthia riva has a very troubling very consistent 7 year pattern from 2011 to tweet a little in africanamerican and promoting and defending the ethnic bigotry towards the very people who arent men ought to free descendants of chattel slavery because for the last 11 months cynthia reka has said everything to evade accountability for these actions when antisemite be allowed to play moses why should be allowed to play our business. Strong words there and tony im going to hand that right off to you what do you make of that aspect of this controversy well let me start off by saying that i think that what we dont recognize is to be put at odds with our own story we have to boycott harriet i mean this stuff thats going around pushed by not just a loss but many black people across the country is calling me a reality a reality that we dont know enough about cynthia riva her. Recent article came out in the new yorker about slave trading in nigeria wouldnt it be something if we do find out that she is dolly wichard slave traders in nigeria and she is not old but in addition we have a long history going back to how do you make then you will black actresses africanamerican actresses pushing for an opportunity to be cast in roles that go beyond just being manly and gone with the wind but now when the role is actually here you see this whole kind of shifting where were going to look for more classically trained people were not going to look for people that actually can play the role of us but a king. Well you know the case it is and you say this because as an african as an englishman i see many africanamericans playing african roles. People from dont cheatle to you know. Denzel washington a myriad of post put it all of them playing iconic african roles take day you know that theres many that will play that kind of happened well as an artist i do not begrudge them i think its very important they get a chance to express themselves as long as they have the integrity and the honesty to portray the people that theyre portraying and in a real and honest way so. You know i find this a quited to place it as argument in once in a sense the next youre not looking at the full picture. See and i believe that that kind of falls apart because what youre actually talking about is star actors in hollywood playing roles in American Films in addition you create are deemed to terry and one is in africa as the other minister on how that could be an american film well let me let me finish let me finish and i actually say when you talk about when you talk about will smith playing a nigerian doctor in america in a film about c. T. E. And the n. F. L. Its an american film in addition africa is not a country tell me about your country and your tribe what you see is that idea that were going to create 52 countries into one country given the qualities of a few of our dexterity and one is that they dont operate with their themselves in actuality these are very disassociated places so now you become one place or is it 52 places with many cross all of your are im not quite sure what youre trying to say but i never said it was one contract or one no it is im telling you that africanamericans have played it a riot of different african roles characters roles right were going to say where you. Got American Films of the player if theyre playing african characters that im picking daryn are going to settle for the others are im telling you and i can just take a take a take a postwoman i can tell you and making a case i had i came you making a case as we started off with cynthia and this is problematic background that she appears to have she just got back a chip so lets just address that. So thats the thing that i hear both gentlemen what i am hearing most though is the disrespect that is felt by people of african descent in america the american descendants of slaves thats what im here in the disrespect that has resulted because as your guests have said there have been actors playing parts all over the world mandela was played by Morgan Freeman and i show a few because so many. We could do the whole show by showing them but im interested to hear one this is dans out a steve. Young denzel the man almost never ages Jennifer Hudson as Winnie Mandela yes how do South Africans feel about that and then oh my goodness ugandan is Forest Whitaker playing in maine and the list goes on and on and on i think if you want to really get to the core of this its about the respect that the actress reveal has for africanamericans africanamericans feel disrespected by what she said and now she is representing a very iconic character and i know through reading that it has been said i can just read the patient and say this but i can just read the script and i can connect to it in my way without the baggage and things like that what i sense from the tweets accent or a is that africanamericans want someone who understands Harriet Tubman from an intimate level and from. A lyrical and painful and says strong memory not just im going to take that heart i can i can interpret this part they want almost someone that is being driven i want them to have a resume that says even beyond a resume into their marriage they want someone who actually feels the ancestral presence of a Harriet Tubman put in the all heres something you antonio i hear you there but i want to bring in this person i think would agree and i saw you nodding your head as well so this is actual on twitter who says the problem isnt so much that shes british but that she has said and supported things in the past that show she doesnt understand support or respect black americans or their culture she was the wrong choice antonio your thoughts let me say 2 parts the 1st part is these actors that you brought playing different roles i dont know if history of them saying anything disrespectful about the countries or tribes that were represented in a dish. Its a hollywood financing man when you get a big star like Forrest Whitaker or will smith or Morgan Freeman it could lead to financing the film cynthia revolt doesnt even have the history to be the lead role in this film saying she doesnt have this strong backing in nigeria she doesnt have this great backing of british and she barely has a film history in america so you dont have that same need for her to play the lead role there are great africanamerican women that did not get a chance here in america and i would love to see who they actually auditioned let me play i dont think i think. That i was going to side i agree with you in terms of when i put it shes not respectful of this you havent respected the culture im not a stew the history of where she is where the characters come from and whether that the essence of the people who come from then youre right she should be playing that role but as an artist. At the moment i mean i dont. I think hollywood were having this discussion within a space that we did not create for ourselves hollywood creates the space right they decide through their mode of production as kellner would say hes a media scholar he says they decide who puts the scripts up what scripts are what they get to represent and most of the scripts that we get represent the dominant cultures narrative the ones that dont are usually independent films so if this is a larger Film Production hollywood doesnt care who plays the part as long as finances come in so were arguing about the number of Different Levels one were arguing about the disrespect that cynthia allegedly had for african or has for africanamericans 2 were arguing in a space about one another in the diaspora. That we havent created for ourselves because in actuality yes we do play parts across the spectrum it is about getting to know one another were talking from a place of stereotypes we havent really had conversations with one another to determine how we feel about one another and the roles that exist for us to play if we and this is if you look at them and rescission we would realize that there are multiple stories and that we can then share how to depict those stories and with whom i tell you this is my only hope that my only critique my only critique of that point is where in america talking about roles in american is not simply a real and in isolation we see daniel kalu youre playing fred hampton we see more of the play by david alarm and what we dont see is a critical analysis not only you know who else got to audition for these roles but also who are these people and what is their lineage so we would never accept a white person playing Harriet Tubman or whatever a multitude of reasons appearance lineage Everything Else but we dont want to ask that question about somebody who is it well we need to know more this is not black in america and its not a lot across the globe and tanya and let me just just ask people who are not nigerian the echo is one of the tribes in nigeria and i had to speak of a who plays roles where Denzel Washington played in much ado about nothing Kenneth Branagh i think in the eightys or ninetys he did in british accent he he just you know worked his way through that i remember that. He was like. So here you have all these shakespearean. Actors and you have them and he was there and i watch it and i said you know i like to think i know what it was and how i can and brits yeah i mean together and bringing whatever they had to make 0 s. I think we have opportunity here were missing because were getting stuck in the name calling so i dont really want. Right and im going to side of this conversation and i hear you there hiking because some of the earlier tweets i read where clearly from people who were descendants of slaves in america this is the other side here a few tweets from africans joe black says weve had africanamericans playing nelson as weve mentioned and winnie for years let me not hear one peep from one of them about that shes a great actor and the trailer rocks i love it another person also african writing in saying i find this so strange if you think of how americans have appropriated other people stories from havent had an Morgan Freeman and Terrence Howard playing mandela will smith playing dr bennett almost washington playing steve biko don cheadle in hotel rwanda the list is endless so weve mentioned those names you saw the pictures there but im interested because you were in hotel rwanda with don tito where these conversations happening then and not do you think this is all aggression that were now having them not you know i dont remember having those conversations directly with with dawn already but he like im not sure the conversation was had outside of i know subsequently with various. Costings of various people playing went down it has been a conversation and the people playing with the mandela thats going to conversation but i you know i think the most important thing is that. When i was in say the hotel rwanda there was a definitely a community and definitely a gathering to tell this to the story and i pulled out was the most important thing and i know as an advocate myself i did not feel that don cheadle couldnt play that character or shouldnt play that character but me the most important thing was was that he had the integrity the depth and the honesty to really reach into the should manage that character and he did that time tacitly and it was a it was a gentleman to the core and i know what youre doing. And i think that was the most important thing. And i think in american. Yeah and i just heard back again i pushed back a i havent said the king of account as an africanamerican so what exactly exactly i mean you know so what are you going to do about it well thats not a real country because i dont think were talking about hollywood hot you know were not talking about hollywood is the what is what is structuring this entire conversation how you know this i know what yesterday officers who started a conversation were structuring this conversation africanamericans have decided to make make it clear that theres a bigger narrative going on and the reality is that you need people that are in most positions in those roles that would make tweaks like like like a revolt. Let me Say Something with you because we have an actor in our midst but what i want to hear from an africanamerican actor who also was part of this conversation back in 2017 samuel l. Jackson spoke on hot 97 a Radio Station there is a deep deep deep conversation but heres a little a little slice of it so you can hear his perspective have a look the thing in my mind is i know the Young Brothers in the movie and hes british so there are a lot of British Black british actors that were out of time. So i tend to wonder what would that movie have been when an american brother really stands that in a way because i mean daniel grew up in a country where you know theyve been in a recent. You know britain only about like real white people rest im. So what would a brother from america have made of that. And im sure the director helped and you know some things are universal but everything. So antonio keeping in mind what sam jackson said there i wanted to share this on twitter from black state of america who say black citizens of other countries can empathize empathize but never understand afro descendents experiences any more than we can fully understand their experiences we have connected heritage and spiritual ancestors but our lives are very different especially inside of america so what do you make of this week because it kind of sounds like what sam was saying in that clip there that unless youve had that lived experience you can actually bring it to the role let me say this just to everybody around the around the globe even in america the there watching this can understand recent report comes out in los angeles a color of what they actually break out africans from native blacks and one of the 1st reports to be done like this was done by the Federal Reserve along with several economists one being said he dared and what you saw is that the middle nigerian family in los angeles is worth about 140000. 00 heart almost 70000. 00 of his liquid the middle native like them in los angeles is what 200. 00 and what were not dealing with is not only the fact that they have this well which is which puts them on par with White America in many ways but also where does it come from now you come back to what Samuel Jackson was saying his last his most important narrative or our point was that they had in a rational dating for a 100 years understand during those years we had jim crow in red lining its not just about being black in mel it is about lineage its about the narrative of what we went through and the fact that weve been locked out of being american for so long and now as we push through all of a sudden we want to let you blackness but not discuss what that means get i want to play one more clip because i found this came on one of my colleagues al jazeera found this clip today and sent me a link to it its a story about how interest alva got his role on the wire has a youth in baltimore for a very long time this is a remarkable story thank you to complex media for allowing us to pay this clip this is how. Interests but has wairau. Alexa fogel was a carson director that was really into scene new talent and she met me and she said i love you i got to bring you into this auditions. To prove miss me you can tell me from east london that want to walk in you got to talk which acts and you live in brooklyn right you got to sit in the barbershop talk all day i was ok. So my 1st additional moten name. I had to just pretend shes outside the door just like. That hey harry is it just doubling down or so i said and i did my 1st edition. Great. Assume i came can you see my africanamerican simply kind of fear yes have you ever faced an american accent to get are all old and all the time you know you do you know its its you know how do you not fake an american accent you get your tribe embody the humanity of the people im like i get the discussion and i get that the payment of all of this young lady playing Harriet Tubman and im disrespecting africanamerican up to america i think from an artistic one of us and i misses and i as a knight so then i think you want to be able to compass everything and everything and i dont understand i just i think that African Americans in the direct descendants of slavery understand where that comes from soup because. In the one sense hollywood has let people of color out of of of 0 of the discussion and so yes they are fighting for that place i get that but im not an artistic sense. I dont im not with a lot of things but we have an obvious should be able to play this and as long as we can embody those characters and true legacy to the other lies i tell you to console me that any american should play an operative well in this interview is that i think theres a lesson i think a city as well you know when you have roles for africanamerican man. And you need 7 white males have 7 times those roles so youre talking about scarcity so i understand very much what antonio is saying in terms of as an african a africanamerican man or a person their unique. Experiences that have occurred here that have not occurred elsewhere even though i myself come from descendants of slaves and barbados colonization resulted in africans being treated horribly and so we all have a story of pain and suffering and oppression that continues to this day so for Samuel Jackson to say british blasted omarion ways for hundreds of years thats kind of oversimplifying the issue right black brits are suffering you have the winbush issue now where people who came from the caribbean to work in britain no longer have papers because the British Government decided to throw anything to. Tell them to do and i work so weve had these horrible experiences throughout the diaspora we have got to come to a point where we see this as how do we work with what we know how do we work with this scarcity that we currently have to make it abundant. Lighting within the scarcity were talking about their city antonio when we talk about scarcity i want to bring this to you because this is a former guest of the show this is talib kweli who tweeted august 6th this is inexcusable inexcusable you should be ashamed of yourselves for creating a hate cult that leads to antiblack tweets like this and he tags you in this tweet here would you say to people that say this is anti immigration rhetoric and this is antiblack rhetoric i say that you guys should never put something on the screen this is trash its basically a statement against black voters and black people in america basically saying the same things that other governments do inside of their citizenship if you look at the good name citizenship basically they set it up where they dont have to do this its already preset into the citizenship that you get certain benefits from being there and having a long lineage there thats not the case in america birthright citizenship came through the slate and was basically given to everyone and thats. Were at now i think what i will say im going to have to leave it that way at the very end of the show this conversation isnt over yet multiple hashtags and ted is online heck a miss on why heather is not our ally but many can i add we will find that a child strain or add out as a call for a stroll thank you for being part of the conversation lets see you next time take. Eradicating leprosy in cambodia reliance on education on treatment in equal nation. On him but he early you know disability yet in jail be vivi wait until 3 year old 4 year more hell have this ability to play it a bit and in no way the next generation of antibiotics may just be way taking place at the bottom of the ocean maybe this but into. This hope so to have revisited on aljazeera ulead displaced children in this refugee camp the latest victims of the unending sick tarion violence in Central African republic among them are survivors of unspeakable violence 10 year olds the work his mother is dead her father is gone killed because they were christian by their own muslim neighbors this is the least you home an overcrowded refugee camp of 23000 people surrounded by armed militia groups celine wants answers she says she wants to be asking the questions and so we traded places inched. At the microphone will we find peace how can we make the violence stop when will i be able to return home. All dizzy or explores prominent figures of the 20th century and how influenced the course of history beginning with the giants of the struggle for civil war america. Just evolved over the very. First. We can continue to keep the negro if thats what you mean but. If you came to fix. Hello im Barbara Starr in london these are the top stories on aljazeera pakistans Prime Minister has warned that the crisis in kashmir could explode into a regional war indeed administered kashmir has been under lockdown since indias government stripped the rich region of its statehood and revoked special rights granted to its citizens pakistani leader imran khan says he fears that angry kashmiris will attack Indian Forces and that new delhi will blame pakistan and retaliate kashmir is split between india and pakistan but both nations claim it
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