http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2007/2/4/202314.shtml?s=ic
Sunday, Feb. 4, 2007 Black Actors Held 'Secret' Oscars For decades, African-Americans had been so consistently overlooked by the Academy Awards that a private group began sponsoring the "Black Oscars," Newsweek reports in the current issue. Every year, on the night before the actual Oscars, members of the community - including James Earl Jones, Whitney Houston, Samuel L. Jackson and Will Smith - gather at a Beverly Hills hotel to honor their own. "Everyone has on their tuxes, and you see all these people you want to work with who are cheering you on," says Malcolm D. Lee, director of "Undercover Brother" and cousin of Spike Lee. "It's a great feeling, and intimate - nice." But then Halle Berry and Denzel Washington won in 2002 and since then, 11 black actors have earned Oscar nominations. Jamie Foxx and Morgan Freeman have both won, and at least one black actor has been nominated every year. This year a record-breaking five are nominated. "I certainly always hoped I'd see this day," Sidney Poitier, the first African-American man to win best actor, tells Newsweek. "I would have thought it would have occurred sooner." As Senior Writer Sean Smith and National Correspondent Allison Samuels report in the February 12 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, February 5), breaking the color barrier hasn't exactly been met with unmitigated joy in black Hollywood. The decades of exclusion have left a scar of skepticism. "I'm pleased all this is happening, but I hope and pray it's not just a phase," says Louis Gossett Jr., who won the 1982 best-supporting-actor Oscar for "An Officer and a Gentleman" - and never got another role of that stature. Newsweek reports that the 2002 Oscar wins have left a bitter aftertaste because of the kinds of roles that scored Washington and Berry their statues. He played a corrupt cop in "Training Day;" she starred as a woman who falls in love with a racist in "Monster's Ball." A segment within black Hollywood believes that white Academy voters reward black actors for roles that reinforce stereotypes - the angry black man, the noble slave, the sexualized black woman - rather than challenge them. "There's a sense that in order to be embraced by the white community, you probably did something that violates your integrity within the black community," says actress Kerry Washington, who stars opposite nominee Forest Whitaker in "The Last King of Scotland." For black actors, succeeding in Hollywood comes at a price. "The playing field is not even, but I don't know that it's as evil as everyone likes to think it is," says Antoine Fuqua, who directed "Training Day." "People make films about what they experience, about what they know, and the film business was created by people that weren't African-American." And Newsweek reports that it would be unfair to leave the impression that African-Americans don't value the recognition and their increasing power within the industry. The success of Will Smith's "The Pursuit of Happyness" - a serious drama that has grossed more than $200 million worldwide and earned him his second Oscar nomination-is a milestone. "That movie is a story about determination and the American Dream," Lee says. "And it has nothing to do with being black." Actresses still haven't benefited much from Berry's win-no black woman has been nominated for best actress since she won. The next generation of men, however, has flourished. Five men have gotten lead Oscar nods since 2002. "Ten years ago Denzel was the only black actor who could get a lead in a quality movie," says John Singleton, who directed the landmark film "Boyz n the Hood." "Now, actors like Terrence Howard can get an Oscar nod with their first starring role." That change, Singleton says, will not be undone. "There's no going back to the back of the bus." He may be right. Perhaps the biggest indicator that the world has changed is that the Black Oscars have been canceled. After being a necessity for more than 25 years, they have succeeded by becoming redundant. "We only had the event to acknowledge those who weren't being acknowledged," says a member of the (secretive) Friends of the Black Oscars board. That's no longer the case. "This year, the Black Oscars will be at the Kodak."
