Hotep

I don't think that being a Token is necessarily a bad thing. I also think that there is a difference between being a token and a House negro. A house negro does anything that can prove him/herself to white folk while also trying garner their acceptance. A token negro is someone who white folk has chosen as someone who for whatever reason they want to keep around. Most often the tokens ARE house negroes but not necessarily.

For instance I don't think that Denzel Washington is a House negro although he is definitely a token. One thing I can say about the majority of his roles is that he usually doesn't take shit from anyone. Although they still portray the Westernized African, this is acceptable considering that many are Africans ARE Westernized anyway. The thing that is redeemable about his role is that he portrays independence, strength, resourcefulness amidst a white world and he usually comes out on top. These are characteristics that can be rarely attributed to Black characters in mainstream hollywood movies. Also it must be noted that these same roles are indeed characters who were MEANT to be Black. In some movies, Black characters are only black by skin and could have easily been played by others.

Considering the deplorable conditions of Africans on screen I believe that actors and actresses should make themselves of the functions and images that the characters they choose have. It is no mystery that Cuba Gooding Jr. is a damn coon. Geez, to think he debut role was "Boyz 'n the Hood" is amazing. Not that this role was great but at least he wasn't a damn coon.

I have always like Morgan Freeman but I realize his is the token of token negroes but at least he got skills and plays in decent roles. His role in "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" will always hold a soft spot in my heart though the movie was garbage. He played a Moor who made the English look pitiful, dirty, stupid and uncivilized. One could see that this was only permitted to occur on a movie whose premise was based on a fictional story even though historically MOORS were culturally superior to Europeans and ushered them out of the Dark Ages.

Morgan's wish to protect his tokenness made itself fully evident
when he was on the Chris Rock Show. He made a comment about not liking the South for some reason and Chris Rock joked that he really wanted to say "Those damn crackas!" Everyone laughed but Morgan Freeman. Freeman had this scared look on his face like "I hope they (massa) don't think I meant that!" Also Chris commented that Morgan must have respect for being able to play the president of the United States on Deep Impact. Chris was like damn only Morgan would be allowed to play president. Morgan was like he didn't think anything of it and that it was "just a role." A black president is just a role?? That sounds like some house negro "We are the world" bullshit to me. Morgan Freeman is a coon. (He's still a good ass actor though)

PEace

Solarus

"To be perfect is to lack nothing essential to the whole therefore I AM."-Solarus

"And if I have to dead you, it's only cuz I love you."- Talib Kweli

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"the real pyramids were built with such precision that you can't slide a piece of paper between two 4,000 lb stones, and have shafts perfectly aligned so that you can see a tiny aperture through dozens of these mammoth blocks