i hate "colorblind" because i'm not a racist

Read another article, this one by Sean Smith and Allison Samuels from Newsweek: "Colorblind at Last?" (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16950918/site/newsweek/).

Are the Academy Awards finally colorblind since 5 blacks (Djimon Hounsou is African, and perhaps not necessarily American) have been nominated this year? My answer is no. I have many problems with this question, though. "Colorblind" is a dirty word. There's really no such thing, even when they mention that youth today "care much less about race than their parents do" because "colorblind" ignores the fact that race and prejudices matter.

Another problem is: we have to stop thinking in this black-white binary. Yes, 11 black actors have been nominated since 2002, but what about other racial or ethnic minorities? Latinos? Asians? Native Americans? I could go on. And what about other groups? Arabs? Indians?

Now, the article does point out that a "Japanese actress and a Mexican actress, plus one Latino director" have been nominated this year, too. Alejandro González Iñárritu is Mexican. Why is he called "Latino"? Am I wrong in thinking that the word "Latino" refers to Latin Americans living in the United States? I'm pretty sure he lives and works in Mexico, and in Mexico, he is not "Latino." "Latin," maybe, but not "Latino." He's no different from the "Mexican actress" (Adriana Barraza) in this way.

Another thing: While the Academy Awards are international, and I do not see a problem with a non-American being nominated and/or winning, I do see a difference between someone who is, for example, Asian-American and someone who is Asian. I'm going to use Rinko Kikuchi from Babel (2006) as an example. I don't think her nomination is as groundbreaking because she is from Japan and lives and has worked outside the context of American racism. (Well, since she is an actress in what might be considered in some part an American film, I can see how the American context of racism affects her in this one case.) The point I am trying to make is: when was an Asian-American actor nominated? Fuck, we don't see them enough on TV or in film in order for them to get nominated! (This should be fixed. Now. Sandra Oh, a Canadian-Korean, is not enough!)

So what? Look at racism in America as an indication of who is missing from the big screen, from the nominations ballot. Someone from outside America doesn't represent those Americans from the particular racial or ethnic minority in relation to "breaking the color barrier." It's not broken.

And I didn't even get into what kinds of representations these roles for the minority actors have! And the politics of it all! (Need I remind you that Denzel and Halle won for roles that perpetuated negative stereotypes?)