Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? But that was the gist of the headline over at Gawker christening actor Chris Pine the “face of Civil Rights.”
Why? Because he shed a lone, beatific tear in response John Legend and
Common performing their powerful song “Glory” from the Selma soundtrack
at the 87th Academy Awards.
That’s right: blond-haired, blue-eyed Chris Pine
is a symbol of the black blood spilled by police dogs, billy clubs and
Klansmen on roads from Mississippi to Alabama. His face, not that of Selma star David Oyelowo---whose
face was flooded with tears that caused a visceral, reciprocal reaction
in many black people watching---is mainstream media’s symbol that we
have overcome.
When I posted the image on Twitter,
there were those who thought that Gawker was being subversive, mocking
the idea that white tears have cleansing power. In a perfect world, that
perspective would make sense. But in a nation steeped in the blood,
bones and sinew of desecrated black bodies, where so-called allies
become heroes and people of color are forced into the margins of our own
stories, I have no reason to believe that this time is any different.
For the first time in six years, the Oscars ratings dipped---down to an estimated 36.6 million viewers.
Though mainstream media has yet to acknowledge the success of her
efforts, it wouldn’t be a leap in logic to assume that the abysmal
showing is due in part to April Reign’s #OscarsSoWhite boycott in protest of the fact that not one black actor was nominated in any category.
This makes it even more egregious that a white man's tear has become
the viral takeaway from a whitewashed award show where most black people
in attendance were only there to perform and present awards to their
white counterparts. The message here being that we can dance and sing
for their entertainment but we shouldn’t expect to be acknowledged for
talent not done in their service or for their amusement.
The entire uncomfortable night had shades of 1940, the year Gone With The Wind actress Hattie
McDaniel was barely allowed into the Ambassador Hotel to receive her
Oscar for Best Supporting Actress because of the venue’s “no-blacks”
policy. But what do media outlets---posting pieces primarily by
fan-girling white women---decide to focus on? Pine’s “hot” and “sexy, heart-clinching tear.” The New York Post even went so far as to remind readers that Pine is just sensitive like that, but that Oyelowo “also shed a few tears.”
For the white women who seem baffled by the backlash from black
feminists against Patricia Arquette’s tone deaf post-Oscar statement
about wage equality, which amounted to a rendition of “(White) Woman is the Ni**er of the World,” see any of the links above.
Octavia Spencer, who became only the fifth African American actress
to win Best Supporting Actress honors in 2012 for her portrayal as a
maid in The Help, introduced Legend and Common by sharing that
the Academy Awards postponed its telecast 47 years ago to pay homage to
Dr. King. For the “Glory” performance,
the duo recreated the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the location of Selma’s
Bloody Sunday and a gut-wrenching reminder of the lives lost and forever
changed in the quest for civil rights. This raw, fearless performance
was done in spite of the shut out of black actors, a continuation of the
grace, dignity and commitment to equality that African Americans are
known for in this country.
But what is the face of civil rights? What warrants mainstream
media’s swoons, heart-flutters and white fists of solidarity? Chris
Pine’s tear surrounded by a blinding sea of whiteness, the same group of
people who couldn’t even bring themselves to say #BlackLivesMatter at
the Golden Globes but had no problem proclaiming #JeSuisCharlie.
Unfortunately, this is a lasting legacy of civil right in this
country: white reaction to black pain being perceived as more powerful
than black reaction to it---and even more powerful than black pain
itself.
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