Racism is a burden every black person has to bear, and British-Nigerian actor, David Oyelowo in an emotional video, shares how racism affected his father, brother and him.
In the video, he shared how his father had faced racism in the 60s, how his brother (a health provider) was told to go back to Nigeria because of his race, and how he (David) had always faced racial discrimination in the movie industry.
He disclosed that Academy members called the studios saying they would not vote for the film “Selma” at the Oscars because the cast protested the death of Eric Garner by wearing ‘I can’t breathe’ shirts.
He said: “I remember at the premiere of Selma us wearing ‘I Can’t Breathe’ T-shirts in protest. Members of the Academy called into the studio and our producers saying, ‘How dare they do that? Why are they stirring S-H-I-T?’ and ‘We are not going to vote for that film because we do not think it is their place to be doing that’.
“Selma”, which is based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches, was a huge critical success and earned two Oscar nominations, for best picture and best original song.
Sharing the emotional video, he wrote:
Let’s create a better future together.
This video is 8 mins and 2 secs long. Derek Chauvin had his knee on George Floyd’s neck for another 44 seconds longer than that. Think about that.