Cody
Williams
Jamie's Acceptance Speech
"Act like you got some sense. Act like you been somewhere."
Those were the words Jamie Foxx remembers being told to him as a young boy in Texas by his grandmother, Marie Tally, who raised him.
Sunday night, when selected as only the third black man in the history of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to be given a Best Actor Oscar Jamie did just that. He delivered probably the best acceptance speech given at the glamfest in recent memory.
There has been many years in which The Academy completely overlooked the accomplishments of blacks in film. It was as if what we did as writers, actors, filmmakers, photographers, story tellers didn't somehow measure up to what whites produced. The work of great artists like Lena Horne, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, Cicely Tyson, Ron O’Neal, Joe Morton, Alfre Woodward were kept marginalized, seemingly considered outside the standard of Hollywood acclaim. While in fact, these blacks and others have given some of the finest performances anywhere at anytime.
Hollywood, and many white Americans, act surprised when someone like Jamie, as he did with his acceptance speech, rises above their level of low expectations and does what his grandmother knew he was quite capable of -- having sense, standing up straight, carrying himself in a manner that suggest no place he goes is too good for him to be there.
Some whites have come to expect only certain behavior from blacks. The behavior presented them during last year's Vibe Music Awards, the same behavior they reward us for by producing gangster rap music and videos, hip-hop or that behavior played out in urban crimes scenes and beamed into homes during the evening news.
Whites have come to accept that we can run fast with a ball in our hands, jump high and dribble, give a little soft shoe, or throw a heavyweight title winning blow. God gave us those talents, some believe, naturally, as He dolls out certain survival and artistic skills to birds and animals. But, they have yet to give us credit for being intellectually equal to them, hard working, dedicated, competent and professional.
This year’s was Hollywood's most diverse Oscar ceremony ever. (Hopefully representing a national trend). But still, the lion’s share of the most influential and lucrative jobs in the industry are reserved for whites, and whites only.
Like my grandmother, Jamie's grandmother was most likely uneducated in the traditional sense. When they were coming up in the South legislation forbade it. But each of us, born black and now marginalized, have folks who helped shaped who we are, with the same exhortations, “act like you've been somewhere.” While never given the chance, these blacks too could have matched, if not surpassed the performances of whites, not only on the stage or ball field, but in board rooms, academia, science and industry if only given the chance. These chances are still being denied us today.
Jamie's speech both moved and surprised many whites. He didn't jump around uncontrolled as Cuba Gooding did when he won his Oscar. Jamie was the ‘Southern Gentleman’ his grandmother knew he could be, with sense and having been somewhere, standing amongst the best of them.
(c) 2005 Cody Williams
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