In my last piece on Black Hollywood, I talked about how Vanity Fair didn’t put a sista on the cover of their Hollywood Issue. Then this week, I received photos from Essence touting their Third Annual Black Women in Hollywood Awards. Citizen Wifey is into all the celebrity related things in our house but I was curious so I looked at the pictures. I saw actresses that I haven’t seen since I dreamt about them in middle and high school (don’t judge me…I was going through puberty). I also saw new jack actresses that I’ve never seen in as much as a television commercial. Then you had the usual mainstream stars of stage and screen. I think Zoe Saldana is pretty but she could stand to thicken up a bit……but I digress.
What always amazes me about Hollywood is the /my side/your side/ of the tracks mentality that Black Hollywood has with White Hollywood. Black Actors dream about winning mainstream awards yet always seem to award themselves with the same honors. If we lived in a “Post Racial” world (whatever that looks like), would Essence still need to honor black actresses? Award shows for black actors are not viewed with the same popularity as their mainstream counterparts. Which award will help further Gabourey Sidibe’s career – Essence Magazine’s “Break Through Actress Award” or The Academy Award’s “Oscar”. The award is so meaningful it goes by one name!!! Maybe the Black Women in Hollywood Awards are not about your popularity or how hard you lobby for the award. What if they are about the love and acceptance that comes from your peers? Sometimes with Hollywood it’s hard to tell the difference between acceptance and “The Hot New Thing.” From the photos, it looks like the participants decided to go with the latter and not the former.
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