By Gbenga Afolabi

Gbenga is currently directing Black in the mix, a documentary that explores the challenges faced by black actors in the UK. #BITMx

Screen Shot 2014-03-18 at 12.08.07Many commentators have for several years lamented the plight of black actors. Black actors where terribly stereotyped in Hollywood, but that is changing. Here in Great Britain, there is little room and those left for black actors are… you guessed it stereotypical as well. The black actor appears to be wallowing in a never-ending cycle of pain and mistreatment, but from who? We are natural victims in the fantasy world of films and in the real world we share, and we appear to be perfectly adapted for the role. It is evident that black people (actors, directors, writers) have just not figured out what we should really be doing. The truth is that no one is going to do to do our dirty work for us. A lot of individual and collective sacrificing is needed. The task at hand is arduous and without immediate remunerations. The problem requires everyone of us from every walk of life to give time and resources. It must be done individually as well as collectively. Screen Shot 2014-03-18 at 12.06.08We must be ready because the film, television and the internet today feeds into our mind, and if all we are imbibing are negative then one can imaging what the future holds?

Money is greatly needed, there is a great need for financiers to rise up to help push forward our art. Everyone has to be involved in the process of rebuilding what we already lost, else, our children’s children will listen to the bad songs we listened to. We live in an amnesic state; we have recollection of any real greatness that is truly down to us. It is almost like someone pressed formatted our minds and we lost our connection to any great past, hence we have no reference point. Many people have spoke about the glass ceiling, the truth is that there is no glass ceiling apart from the ones we created. We must develop a true admiration for ourselves. Screen Shot 2014-03-18 at 12.06.40Life is unbelievably short for all but short and thorny if you are black. The challenges we face today are connected to our forebears, one wonders what our legacy would be. If every black British actor decides to move to America, that is the easy way out. Its good to enjoy individual success but in the end non of it will matter. What we do for others will outlive us.

It is shocking that the only memorable films made by a black British director are Kidulthood and Adulthood. Screen Shot 2014-03-18 at 12.11.56Two film that glamorised our weakness. Where are the financiers, where are the writers, they are some of the missing puzzles. How would it feel if the tables where turned around and we have black commissioning editors, black owned banks and corporation sponsoring both black, white and (everyone in between). The glass ceiling only exists in our minds and we can we can only truly succeed when we transcend the patronizing mentality impose on us by others and firmly embraced by us. We should be at the vanguard position of our problems. Those successful amongst us must remember that there is a greater role to play at home in Britain than elsewhere!