‘Get Out‘ has been a box office smash, surpassing the $100 million mark and scoring a 99 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, the flick and its British lead Daniel Kaluuya have been critique by Samuel L. Jackson.
The ‘Kong: Skull Island‘ star criticized the decision to cast the British actor over an African American actor in the lead role.
Seemingly bothered by Jackson’s problematic comments, Kaluuya, who was born in London to Ugandan parents, makes his voice heard with having to prove his ‘blackness in an interview with GQ.
Dive in below to see what the 27-year-old had to say below…
“Big up Samuel L. Jackson, because here’s a guy who has broken down doors. He has done a lot so that we can do what we can do.
Here’s the thing about that critique, though. I’m dark-skinned, bro. When I’m around black people I’m made to feel “other” because I’m dark-skinned. I’ve had to wrestle with that, with people going “You’re too black.” Then I come to America and they say, “You’re not black enough.” I go to Uganda, I can’t speak the language. In India, I’m black. In the black community, I’m dark-skinned. In America, I’m British. Bro!
[Black people in the UK], the people who are the reason I’m even about to have a career, had to live in a time where they went looking for housing and signs would say, “NO IRISH. NO DOGS. NO BLACKS.” That’s reality. Police would round up all these black people, get them in the back of a van, and wrap them in blankets so their bruises wouldn’t show when they beat them. That’s the history that London has gone through. The Brixton riots, the Tottenham riots, the 2011 riots, because black people were being killed by police. That’s what’s happening in London. But it’s not in the mainstream media. Those stories aren’t out there like that. So people get an idea of what they might think the experience is.
Let me say, I’m not trying to culture-vulture the thing. I empathize. That script spoke to me. I’ve been to Ugandan weddings, and funerals, and seen that cousin bring a white girl. That’s a thing in all communities. I really respect African American people. I just want to tell black stories.
This is the frustrating thing, bro—in order to prove that I can play this role, I have to open up about the trauma that I’ve experienced as a black person. I have to show off my struggle so that people accept that I’m black. No matter that every single room I go to I’m usually the darkest person there. You know what I’m saying? I kind of resent that mentality. I’m just an individual. You probably feel that as a writer, too. Just because you’re black, you taken and used to represent something. It mirrors what happens in the film.
I resent that I have to prove that I’m black. I don’t know what that is. I’m still processing it.”
Well said.
Your thoughts?
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I understand both sides. White America somehow feels European blacks are less offensive to them because they don’t have a direct correlation to American slavery and/or black american culture, but at the same time everybody deserves a chance. Ultimately it should be about who’s the most qualified for a position, and if the decision is made from that standpoint only, there should not be a problem.
Black people EVERYWHERE go through the same discrimination. North America, South America, the Caribbean (PR, DR, Cuba), Australia, Europe….
And a lot of those same blacks still think they’re better than American blacks. Dominicans dark as night will come here and still get offended if they’re called “black”. They too understand the stigma white america has towards american blacks.
No one is disputing that. All blacks may go through the same discrimination, but discrimination on the basis of race in itself is not racism in its entirety. It is one aspect. It is a side effect. The fact of the matter is that all black people do not have have the same experience. A black person from the U.K. with parents, grand parents, or great grandparents that immigrated from Africa, knowing the exact country from which they are from, cannot identify with the African American experience. Period. It is not the same. Like he said, you can empathize. You can try to put yourself in our shoes. But that’s where your understanding ends. You don’t have the historical baggage in a comparable degree and you don’t have an erased ethnic identity. I’m not going to go into detail because it’ll take too long but while black people in the Caribbean and South America have more similar experiences, though we share differences as well, such as black people being a minority in the US and the Catholic Church’s jurisdiction rather than the crown. Who colonized the country also altered the way the people in that specific country experienced their oppression. Whether it was Spanish. Portuguese. French. Dutch. British. The African-American experience is different from the African-Latino experince is different from the African experience is different from the Daniel Kaluuya experience.
that’s my problem with some black Americans. They think slavery was unique to America alone and only them have to continue fighting. Yes America is a Great country but we have to realize that all ebony skin people over here came from over there whether different tribes or not and then only then if we unite as a race and start looking out for our one another then it will be the beginning of our uprising.
Understand that all black people have not experienced anti-black oppression in the same way and in the same magnitude. That is an undeniable fact. And it’s one that you are just going to have to deal with. The Black experience cannot be reduced to an all-encompassing definition that serves the needs of all black people. It’s the very problem with the slogan, “All Lives Matter”. The other day, I had a conversation about Colorism. The argument was made that dark-skinned black women have a different struggle than light skinned black women, and non-black women of color in general, are given preference over black women. That being for example, Mixed and biracial girls and Latinas. A light skinned Latina, goes, “Well, we’re all women of color, and we all face discrimination on the grounds of our race, so black women need to stop dividing us so we can come together”, completely ignoring the real life ramifications of Colorism and refusing to acknowledge the bias against dark skin. If black women were to allow light-skinned women of color, to high jack the movement, their needs would be left in the dust, as usual. In the same manner, please excuse black Americans for not wanting to merge their cause with that of foreign blacks, diminishing their struggle to be inclusive for the sake of, “not dividing us”. And look at Candace’s comment. Pat points out that black people oversees cannot testify to the history of slavery and AA culture and history, and Candace goes, All black people experience discrimination. How is that relevant? If you think that discrimination is the extent of the African- American plight, then you don’t get it. This is simply “All Lives Matter” in another form and you just did the same thing, along with the Latina that doesn’t want to recognize that she cannot identify with the struggle of dark skinned women of color.
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Sidenote: Personally, I don’t see too many African-Americans concerning themselves with the affairs of foreign black people and other people of color and I think that a lot of them resent that. That’s not our job. It’s kind of like, MIA blasting the BLM movement for not extending its mission to POC oversees. It’s almost as if, black Americans are somehow held responsible for taking care of everyone else. It is not our job, to streamline your movements. Please Excuse African-Americans for prioritizing African-American issues.
Intelligent, cultured guy. Great read. I don’t care where you’re from, I’m just happy to see more major black films.
I had no issue with him playing lead! Hell Idris Elba is British and I love him! But congrats to this young man on his success!
Idris Elba is BAE lol
he is lying when he suggests that he doesnt understand WHY he has to “prove” his blackness. the REASON is because black people from overseas, ESPECIALLY the men — do carry an air about themselves as if they are better than the black male of America. MANY OF THEM, do not empathize with the struggles of black men in the US, and therefore are hailed as superior in the eyes of our oppressors. so YES… one does need to “prove” that he relates to the struggle before he is simply welcomed with open arms for having dark skin. Its the DARKEST ones from overseas who solely attach themselves to white women and the whitest way of life.
Samantha L Jackson is just bitter he couldn’t get the role. How are you mad that a BLACK man had a huge break in Hollywood?
His skin ain’t a prob but it’s just weird how for a majority of American tv shows and movies they cast more international actors than the actors who are already in the country and/or don’t need a visa.
All black ppl need to get the same opportunities regardless of where they’re from. Talent is talent. We need fresh faces in black Hollywood anyway. What Sam said was the truth but who gives af. This was Peeles first film so he had to play it smart on a low budget and looka here…sh!t earned over 100m worldwide! Im just happy we got another black director doing it big compared to Tyler…i love horror so we gotta dominate that genre too. Sick of the churchy black folk narrative pushed all the time.
So we’re going to forget that London, Paris, Amsterdam, Lisbon and Madrid weren’t the centers of colonial empires based in slavery? Does SL Jackson even know what we went through in Britain and the rest of Western Europe? No, we haven’t had “interracial dating for a hundred years” in some utopia, we had hatred and stigmas and violence to overcome due to racist police officers, arsonists and Teddy Boys. Thank God Jamaicans dealt with the T Boys.
Black Americans need to understand that as 13% of a majority White country they don’t live the reality of the rest of us outside the USA. When will they realise there is more to being Black than the American experience?
Sorry for poor grammar and syntax; the iPad sometimes freezes and reloads the page when opening WordPress from Facebook,
Everything you just stated still doesn’t negate the level of his privelege card in some arenas in the U.S. because he is non African American in THIS country. That’s the point. Not hating on him. Just stating facts.
Peele is the same person black people were saying “they didn’t choose” but white ppl chose and now that he has this success and 100 mill movie now everybody chose him???
Smh