It all goes back to who allowed Poitier to have the opportunity to make movies.If White corporate execs at 20th Century Fox--or wherever--had laid down the law and said,"NO" to Poitier--"We will not make pro-black movies"--black supremacy would have been stopped in the 60s.Lots of ifs,looking back.
jerry pdx When I started reading about Poitier I discovered Belafonte was still alive. I thought he was dead! They've been frienemies for 70 yrs., often having disagreements because Belafonte didn't think Poitier was "active enough". I do recall hearing criticisms of Poitier being an "Uncle Tom" for some of the roles he took, but I don't recall any roles you could say that about though I haven't seen everything he's done. Poitier did consider himself to be an "activist", just lower key about it than Belafonte.
It all goes back to who allowed Poitier to have the opportunity to make movies.If White corporate execs at 20th Century Fox--or wherever--had laid down the law and said,"NO" to Poitier--"We will not make pro-black movies"--black supremacy would have been stopped in the 60s.Lots of ifs,looking back.
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jerry pdx
ReplyDeleteWhen I started reading about Poitier I discovered Belafonte was still alive. I thought he was dead! They've been frienemies for 70 yrs., often having disagreements because Belafonte didn't think Poitier was "active enough". I do recall hearing criticisms of Poitier being an "Uncle Tom" for some of the roles he took, but I don't recall any roles you could say that about though I haven't seen everything he's done. Poitier did consider himself to be an "activist", just lower key about it than Belafonte.
Married a whitey woman too. Shimkus I think her name was. Sid was also Ambassador to Japan from Bahama.
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