The Academy Awards, linguistic opposition and Isha Sesay

by Jean Damu
Published by Portside

January 27, 2011

Most of the nation enjoyed a white holiday season so now we
fully should be prepared to enjoy a white Academy Awards.
Not one African American appears on the 2011 nominees list.

Ordinarily this circumstance might not qualify for comment
because most Academy Awards are mostly all white; but other
circumstances, beyond Hollywood, qualify it for some
examination because the absence of any acknowledgement to
blacks exposes the growing impact of linguistic opposition,
or discrimination based upon the way a person talks.

Say what?

Maybe the fact there are no black nominees this year should
be seen as a victory for multi-culturalism.

Multiculturalists and the Skip Gates' "let's get beyond
race" crowd argue now that we have a Black president "We
have overcome."

See how well it works, when you shut your eyes to race,
blacks simply disappear.

But perhaps we should be grateful not one of us made the
cut.

Recent African Americans who've been honored by white
Hollywood have been so for portraying black pathologies,
giving white America a voyeuristic peek at the dark
underside of Black America. Consider Monique, a winner last
year for instance, in "Precious," or earlier winners Halle
Berry in "Monsters Ball" and Denzel Washington, for
"Training Day."

Regarding Monsters Ball Angela Bassett was asked why she
turned down the role Halle Berry accepted, "You would have
won an Academy Award," the interviewer said. "Yeah," Bassett
quipped, " but I'd still have to get up in the morning and
look at myself in the mirror."

Apparently Tyler Perry was overworked this past year
recycling his kitchen garbage into TV sitcoms. Oh wait, some
of it did spill into the nation's theaters in the form of
"For Colored Girls" and "Why Did I Get Married Too?" his
sequel to the 2007 franchise starter, "Why Did I Get
married." But this year whites, and especially blacks,
stayed away in droves.

The only positive black images acknowledged by Hollywood
recently were the long overdue Life Time Achievement Oscar
to Sidney Poitier in 2008.

On one hand it can be surmised there were good films last
year in which blacks gave stand out performances and were
simply ignored by the Academy.

Denzel Washington put in a lot of hard work in "The Book of
Eli" but whoever saw the movie? Morgan Freeman was typically
great in "Red" but that movie went to DVD two weeks after
its release.

On the other hand the argument can be made an increasing
number of English speaking white actors are being imported
and that Black actors have diminished opportunities at roles
the blacks could play as easily as whites.

But let's be real. Hollywood has been importing Brits to the
American cinema industry since before there was a Hollywood.

Today the phenomenon extends beyond Hollywood into all
branches of electronic media that produce visual images,
where the person who is speaking can be seen. We can refer
to this as the British Invasion II, although Australia and
to a lesser degree South Africa are in the mix.

The first invasion of course was in the 1960's in popular
music. Just as blacks were beginning to reach cross over
audiences with their music and make some money, the Brits
were imported to whiten the presentation of popular music
and overnight African Americans were thrown out of work,
literally.

In the US, and elsewhere around the world, the Beetles and
Rolling Stones were hailed as geniuses and transformed into
multimillionaires for their interpretations of African
American music forms.

In 2011 economic and working conditions are different,
they've shrunk and are more constrained. But still, more and
more artists, reporters, "experts on America," talking
heads, almost anyone with an English or Australian accent
keep coming into view through films but especially through
televisions news rooms..

The latest import is the awful celebrity reporter on CNN,
Piers Morgan, an evil and contemptible version of the
delightful Robin Leech of the whimsical Lifestyles of the
Rich and Famous series of many years ago who proved to be
harbinger of what was to come.

In this regard one can be forgiven for surmising that
accent, or more specifically a British or Australian accent
has become a new dimension of white supremacy in the US.

Linguistic opposition has been around forever. Episcopalian
Boston Brahmins regularly discriminated against everyone
else who didn't talk like they did. Wealthy New Yorkers
looked down their noses at workers who spoke with Italian or
Jewish accents. Even today well meaning whites "compliment"
blacks that "don't talk like the rest of them."

In America's labor force linguistic opposition first came to
be recognized as the economy moved from an industrial
economy to a service economy, where unlike in factories
workers regularly come into contact with customers.

In the hotel industry for instance it's been widely
documented African Americans routinely have difficulty
gaining access to well paying "front of the house" jobs that
provide tips but necessitate they come in contact with
customers.

Hotel managers have declared this untrue because they often
hire Africans for those jobs.

So why not hire African Americans?

"Well, Africans have a better work ethic," is the response
most often heard.

African Americans work ethic is good enough to be a
dishwasher or maid but not good enough to be a waiter or
bartender. Questionable logic at best.

No. Usually if you press close enough the issue is often
that managers in industries that come in contact with
customers cringe when the hear many African Americans talk.
They'll hire an African any day of the week before an
African American.

In the corporate world black Americans who are successful
have mastered the white way of speech and put Ebonics in
their back pocket while on the job.

Which brings us back to British accents or what are
perceived to be British accents.

A British accent elevates the speaker in the viewers' eyes,
television producers likely reason, above those with
American accents and style of speech that is, to be frank,
beginning to sound way too black.

When young, white newsreaders, reporters and correspondents
begin referring to each other, on air, as "my brother," or
giving each other high fives or fist bumps they signal to
producers that it's time to whiten things up. Just as in the
1960's when popular music was becoming too black, the most
logical antidote was to bring in the Brits.

ESPN is the only television news outlet that allows Ebonics
to be spoken as long as the speaker doesn't wander off the
sports plantation and talk about something besides sports.

Today the British accent in all its whiteness is ubiquitous
on national television. We've already mentioned Piers
Morgan, but CNN's walking hand grenade Richard Quest (who
three years ago was arrested in NYC's Central Park for
possession of methamphetamines - don't you just love
America's generous spirit to overlook transgressions Michael
Vick?) appears on television numerous times each day and
also 60 Minutes' Lara Logan from South Africa, to mention
just the most well known. There are many others both
nationally and locally.

In the case of Logan it should be noted she's more than
qualified for the job having put in years as a war
correspondent in the Middle East. But here's the rub. Why
wasn't Ed Bradley, the African American who was hired during
the height of the Black Power era ever replaced after he
died in 2006? The perception persists he was replaced with a
white South African.

At the moment there are several African Americans holding
down serious news anchor weekend positions and CNN employs
several black smiley faces for morning news reading and
light commentary, all who appear to have been immunized
against black speech.

So here's the question to consider and it brings us finally
to Isha Sesay.

With all the British sounding accents being imported to US
television, why aren't any of the voices black? Why are they
all white? Why hasn't Isha Sesay ever been seen on US
television?

Isha Sesay is a young UK citizen of Sierra Leonean descent
who competently and charmingly hosts morning editions of CNN
news outside the US.

The only logical conclusion one can reach is that Isha Sesay
gives lie to the outrageous and racist fiction, apparently
being promoted by US television, that a British accent is
the exclusive and ultimate expression of whiteness-the tonal
inflection of white supremacy.

For an example of Isha Sesay's work go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4kbLumOSco&feature=related

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