The Bigger Picture

Everybody is up in arms because Nia Long, who happens to be one of my favorite actresses said that singers and rappers need to stop taking roles away from our actors.I think everyone missed the real problem and turned this into some sort of cat fight between Nia and Beyonce. With so many limited roles for African Americans today we are finding that more and more of the movie roles are being given to the person who they believe will be able to generate the largest amount of money for the movie. While this is all fine and dandy, I believe this issue could be eliminated if African Americans had more roles and choices. I can't help but notice that lately the only time I see an African American in a movie is when Tyler Perry is producing and directing it himself. Instead of seeing an increase in the African American movies from the 90's and early 2000's we are currently seeing fewer and fewer. This is most likely happening because it is believed that it's too hard to pack a movie theater simply with African American actors and issues pertaining to our communities. This might be true considering that even when we have a great show such as ,The Game, we can't even keep it on TV. Our communities are crying out to be seen and heard and with the election of our First African American President I believe this is the time to make those positive changes that need to be made. By simply creating more opportunities for ourselves within the industry both actors and singers will be able get the job done.