Ever since the news broke out back in 2012 that Afro-Latina actress Zoe Saldana would be playing Nina Simone in an upcoming biopic, Black women and our enthusiasts the world over have been in an uproar. In our view, light-skinned Zoe being selected to play the iconic "Black Classical Music" (Nina's words) singer, was just another case of Hollywood's white racist establishment asserting its dominance over our complexions and common sense. I have no problem confessing that I took issue with the idea of Zoe as Nina. It just wasn't right to me. Whenever someone asked me about it, my first complaint was that she's Dominican--what would she know of the Black American struggle? Plenty of American Blacks will tell you that Dominicans don't identify as Black, nor do they acknowledge their African roots, so in my mind I wondered what would make Zoe any different?
Then of course there was the (or what I thought to be) problem of her complexion. Zoe is roundabouts the same complexion as me, though I still contest that I'm not light-skinned, but that's neither here nor there. The fact is, I didn't think that she was dark enough, and in many ways, "black enough" to play Nina. That was until I watched her pre-Oscar interview responding to criticism and b(l)acklash from "Sisters" like me.
"I'm doing it for my Sisters, and I'm doing it for my Brothers, and I don't care who tells me that I'm not this and I'm not that. I know who I am, and I know what Nina means to me... I did it all out of love. I did it out of Nina, out of love for my people, and who I am, and my pride of being a Black woman and a Latina woman and an American woman..."
We would all do well examine ourselves and our attitudes towards Blackness a little more carefully.
Who are we to say that Nina Simone, in all her greatness can only belong to certain type of Black women? As a matter of fact, in case you didn't know--Zoe was born in Jersey! So, like Nina, she's an American. Zoe also wholeheartedly acknowledges and takes pride in her Blackness, which is something far too many Black folk regardless of skin tone have difficulty doing in the first place; anyway, last time I checked, Nina loved her Blackness too. So why shouldn't a self loving Black woman play the role of another self loving Black woman?
It seems the answer and real reason for the controversy is that she's not "Black/dark enough." I had a discussion with one of my relatives whose perspective was something to the effect of: they [the Establishment] did not choose a dark complexioned actress, in order to cement in our minds the idea that Hershey kissed flesh with African features can never be beautiful. The sad fact is that regardless of their original goal, we find ourselves at odds with our Sisters once again--and for what? For an ideology that we did not create, but consistently perpetuate, and had no business accepting from jump. How can we have a true sisterhood with all Black women if we're too busy arguing over how Black this one is as opposed to another? What I can say for sure is that unless we can open our hearts and raise our consciousness regarding this, we might have lost yet another round to Ole' Massa and his partner in crime Willie Lynch. Let's check the sad score board and strive to do better. GO ZOE!
Ole' Massa Black People
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Check out her response in its entirety here:
Zoe Saldana responds to Nina Simone biopic controversy
Lena, I applaud your consciousness to really delve into the color complex that we have, not only in society as a whole but from within our own communities. That being said, I still feel that Saldana is not the best fit to play Simone. Not that she is not able to connect with the legacy of who she is portraying, or that she does not have authentic experience of discrimination or prejudice as a black women in America. But for someone like Simone who constantly expressed the ugliness and hurt she felt, not only as a black women in racist America, but as a dark skinned black woman in her own community, it is my humble opinion that the actress depicting Ms. Simone should be dark skinned as well.
ReplyDeleteI have been a fan of Zoe since Center Stage and an article in Vibe magazine where she and Bobbito talked about her favorite music. At some point I would have classified myself as a borderline stan. I enjoy most of her work. As long as I've been following her career she's always claimed her Blackness. I don't understand why people think that's a new thing. Maybe because she's dated quite a few white men.
ReplyDeleteI've kept my comments to myself regarding her playing Nina Simone. I understand why people are upset about it, but I don't think that justifies them coming at Zoe the way they have.
Until I saw the photo of her in dark make up. They missed the mark in casting someone with a similar complexion, but they totally fucked up by putting her in dark make up. I was hurt that she allowed it to happen. I figured she'd just do her best to act the shit out of the part and pick up on mannerisms and attitudes - not paint herself in Black face :(
There's no defending that for me.
Did not see that kind of comment coming! The blackface does make me feel "some kind of way" ,nonetheless, I've decided to support her. But we do need more representation in the film industry; there are plenty of actresses out there who do it better *cough* Nicole *cough* Beharie.
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