Just in time for the Academy Awards, Jesse Jackson's renewing a push for greater inclusion of minorities in showbiz.
The civil rights leader asserts that the timing's right to raise the issue, at a time when there's been widespread recognition received by such actors as Forest Whitaker, Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson - all front-runners for Oscars.
"While I feel joy for those outstanding performances, my concern is that people will take these as a substitute for progress(emphasis Matt's)," Jackson said in an interview Wednesday with Daily Variety. "We want to keep the light on unfinished business."
I guess it's time for Jackson to try for a cash kickback from Hollywood, since so many of his other sources have dried up. The Variety article quoted above also states some statistics about minority roles in American movies and minority members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. These are the "spotlight" issues Jackson wants to address.
Here's an idea, Jesse: go start your own movie studio. The studios are private companies and like all non-governmental industries should be able to hire whoever makes them the most money. They do not exist to hand out paychecks, but to turn a profit---employment is a secondary effect of that drive.
Jesse Jackson is nothing more than a con man who has been using his influence over the past 40 years to shakedown companies for money. His belief that he needs to be some sort of spokesman for Americans of African descent is doing a great disservice to those who have achieved success not by crying out about discrimination, but by actually working hard. Yes, racism still exists in this country. Jesse Jackson and his ilk are not helping to stop it.
Posted by Matthew at February 21, 2007 10:29 PMTrackBack URL for this entry:
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AMEN! You nailed Jesse's real profession didn't you.
By the way, I have really been enjoying your podcasts. I am currently trying to catch up. I am listening to about 30 per day. When I catch up to the current postings, I will miss having so many to listen to. Again well done and keep up the good work.