Tuesday 24th of December 2024
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sexism and racism in one stone...

wrong emphasis

The original Sapphires have reached across the globe to call on race rights advocates to boycott the US DVD version of the movie made about their lives.
The DVD, due for release in the US on Tuesday, carries a cover relegating the four star Aboriginal characters to the background, while Irish actor Chris O'Dowd - who plays their manager - is featured in the foreground.
The four women - Naomi Mayers, Beverly Briggs, Lois Peeler and Laurel Robinson - who inspired the award-winning film about battling racism and sexism in 1960s and '70s Australia have launched an angry broadside against the US distributor.


They have written to the powerful lobby group, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, asking for support.



''As I'm sure you can appreciate, the treatment of people of colour in Australia mirrored much of the trauma to which people in the United States were subjected, the letter, written by the chairman of the Redfern Aboriginal Medical Service on their behalf, reads.
''That trauma - and much of that treatment - remains alive and well in Australia today, as I know it does in the United States.


''The US cover of the DVD completely misses this point, and in fact reinforces precisely the sort of bigotry that Naomi, Beverly, Lois and Laurel fought so hard against,'' Sol Bellear wrote. ''We're hopeful that the NAACP - with its long and proud history of advocating strongly for the interests of people of colour - will add its significant voice to calls for the DVD cover to be changed.''

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/sapphires-protest-racist-cover-20130804-2r7m7.html#ixzz2b1ECPabC

 

soundtrack for a revolution...

The item above published in the SMH stroked me, barely a couple of hours after having watched a doco on the ABC called Soundtrack for a Revolution... I had seen the play when it first came out at the Belvoir Theatre, Sydney... The movie was directed by Wayne Blair, a super talented young man as an actor and director, who also played in the Belvoir production...