The thing that frustrates me about so many of these complaints is that the very people who are complaining about being marginalized due to race are doing everything in their power to self-segregate, to set themselves apart, to be seen first and foremost by "race" and judged primarily for the colour of their skins.
I agree, there has been a lot of racism in the past and racism continues today. It's very prevalent. But I don't think all "white" people are naturally racist or want to be racist. When I was growing up, of course nobody was truly colourblind but there were more attempts. I didn't know the words for "black" or "African-American" until I was about 8 or 10, because someone's skin colour was not the primary means of identifying them. If I was asking for info about someone, I would say "Michelle, she's my age, a little taller, she had on the blue shirt, she wears a Hello Kitty backpack to school and her hair has braids...". I wouldn't say "that black girl, Michelle" which is what I hear people say now. I didn't know my friend Ieesha was "black" until I was about 10, because it had nothing to do with our friendship. I should re-phrase; obviously I knew and could state if asked that her skin was darker than mine, but it meant nothing. She also had a hermit crab when I had a kitten. That didn't make her an Other (pardon my Lost). Skin colour was not taught to me as a means of grouping people together or seperating them out until about 5th-6th grade. Obviously, I knew a lot of progressive adults.
It seems like right now there is and has been for a while a big push to acknowledge African-Americans as African-Americans; not as good actors, excellent writers, skilful publicists, fine architects, talented artists or reliable parents, but as black people. And as much as I'd like to say that is the fault of white racism, I think the blame falls in a lot of directions. I wish there was some way of victoriously celebrating traditional cultures tracing back to various African destinations and fully remembering the distinctness of the African-American experience without everything being chalked up to quotas. The complaints of the OP author are right. A lot of black characters are there as foils and they die quick and meaninglessly. But if we're looking at this as quotas - "don't forget you gotta hire three blacks or the union will breathe down your neck" - then the best of the best won't be sought. Get some African-American actors to make quotas, kill 'em quick and on with the show. It seems that somebody like Laurence Fishburn or Will Smith...they are excellent actors and should be recognized as such, without the qualifier of black. They are not excellent black actors. They are excellent actors who have an African-American heritage. They aren't only good as far as black guy actors go. They are good as far as everybody goes. But as long as there is insistence that they be recognized by their skin colour alone, nobody is going to pay attention to their brilliance, only their skin.
