By Jillian Bowe
BlackAmericaWeb
Anthony Mackie has the answer to why, Selma director Ava DuVernay and David Oyelowo were both overlooked for Oscar nominations: People are tired of discussing race! No seriously, that’s his explanation. Mackie spoke with The Grio in a twist of irony to promote his film, Black & White. What’s so ironic about this you ask?
The flick deals with, wait for it…. RACE! Mackie claims Selma’s underwhelming performance at the box office and being shut out by the Academy voters is because people have just had enough about race. According to Mackie:”People are just tired of being bombarded with race right now. So everybody is shying away from certain topics and certain movies.”
Child, what? Despite Selma being a critically-acclaimed film, Mackie believes it was snubbed because other films were better that it was. Mackie stated: “If you look at all the movies and actors that are nominated, they all gave damn good performances. Me specifically, if that’s something I want, I have to step my game up. I have to do better movies and I have to act better.”
Later in the interview, Mackie also gave his thoughts about the recent protests surrounding racial profiling against unarmed minorities, resulting in their deaths. Mackie it seems feels it is all about their appearances. Mackie remarked:
“Like my nephew wanted to grow dreadlocks. I’m like fine, I’ll sit you down and I’ll watch The First 48 with you and everybody you see on that show, that’s doing something wrong, they’re black dudes with dreadlocks. So, do you want to be seen as part of the problem or do you want to be an individual?”
Oh, so Trayon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown and Tamir Rice were killed because of their hair!? Mackie further explained:
“Let’s just say you have locks and you walking down the street. The police pull you over and say you fit the description of somebody. You start yelling and arguing with the cops. Next thing you know you pressed up against the wall going to jail for something you’re not even involved in just because you look like somebody and you don’t know how to handle yourself.”
Lord in the morning…. Black and White hits theaters Jan. 29
