Outrage Over Martin Luther King Being Portrayed By A White Man

Ohio university production of Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop featured a white and black actor as King, which Hall says was ‘disrespectful’ and a ‘disservice'
The casting of a white actor as Martin Luther King in an Ohio university production of Katori Hall’s acclaimed play The Mountaintop was “a disservice to not just Dr King but an entire community”, the playwright has said.

Hall wrote an essay for the African American cultural website the Root on Monday about Kent State University’s production of her play, which dramatizes the night before King was assassinated in 1968.

Hall told the Guardian that director Michael Oatman’s decision to double-cast the six-show production with a black actor and a white actor as King went “deeper than just casting a white man in the role of MLK”.

“I just really feel as though it echoes this pervasive erasure of the black body and the silencing of a black community – theatrically and also, literally, in the world,” she said.

Oatman, who like Hall is black, said in a statement in August promoting the play that he chose a white actor for the production “to explore the issue of racial ownership and authenticity”.

James Bond is a fictional character whose race was never specified in the books, therefore the race of the actor who plays him doesn't matter.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/10/martin-luther-king-white-actor-university




It's funny that whenever the libtards complain and campaign to have white characters changed to match their agenda, they justify their actions in the name of equality. Yet, here we have a perfect example of what MLK truly intended:


"I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."


Okay, maybe for the sake of the play they should have cast a black person, but the people complaining about this have truly shot themselves in the foot this time. These are the same type of people who'd complain if a black guy portrayed Hitler or rejoice that James Bond was made into a black character, purely because of skin colour.

Moreover, there is rarely any complaints about a straight guy playing a homosexual, why does it only garner criticism when it's to do with race?

bruh... isn't it what he stood for that matters and not his skin colour? why you people gotta be like this man

why can't we live in harmony and stand for the same thing? we are all standing behind MLK and his message and we all have a dream no matter if we're Asian, White, Black, Mixed, Simpsons, idgaf - can't we function together as a race? I bet he would be pissed at you guys for this -_- smh

If it was the other way round and a white guy was represented by a black actor no one would say anything... why?

James Bond is a fictional character. There is no reason for him to be white.

That's a drawing of Ian Fleming's Bond. Not a real person.

Unless you're claiming that Sean Connery, Niven, Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Brosnan and Daniel Craig are all doppelgangers of the picture you have posted, there is nothing more to discuss.

If it was the other way round and a white guy was represented by a black actor no one would say anything... why?

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/10/martin-luther-king-white-actor-university




It's funny that whenever the libtards complain and campaign to have white characters changed to match their agenda, they justify their actions in the name of equality. Yet, here we have a perfect example of what MLK truly intended:


"I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."


Okay, maybe for the sake of the play they should have cast a black person, but the people complaining about this have truly shot themselves in the foot this time. These are the same type of people who'd complain if a black guy portrayed Hitler or rejoice that James Bond was made into a black character, purely because of skin colour.

Moreover, there is rarely any complaints about a straight guy playing a homosexual, why does it only garner criticism when it's to do with race?

I think it's because black people are in the minority. There are lots of roles for white people, but for black people there aren't very many. It therefore makes sense to change some characters from white to black, but the other way round wouldn't make sense as roles for black people are scarce anyway.

That's a fair point maybe black people are the minority but tbh if you're a good actor, you're a good actor regardless of your race - there are many amazing black actors both male and female, and it's a bit discriminatory to give a role to a black person rather than a white person just because they wanna fulfil a quota about giving equal opportunities. If the white guy is better suited to the role - he should get it. Simple as. It's about the meaning and emotion and how it's conveyed - and some people do it better than others, nothing to do with race