Another Black History Month is about to fade and with it the assorted “salutes” of African-Americans overcoming lynchings, whippings and other forms of racial and social degradation portrayed in movies, documentaries and “special episodes” of series TV.
But this year, African-Americans get television more satisfying than any airing of “Driving Miss Daisy” on cable, and it comes from an unlikely place: the Academy Awards.
The 77th edition of the Oscars has the largest-ever number of African-American nominations. Jamie Foxx hit a record all by himself: The first person of color to snag two nominations in the same year, Foxx got a best-actor bid for playing singer Ray Charles in “Ray” and a supporting-actor acknowledgment as a cabbie menaced by Tom Cruise’s hitman in “Collateral.”
Joining Foxx are Don Cheadle of “Hotel Rwanda” in the best-actor race and “Million Dollar Baby’s” Morgan Freeman for best supporting actor.
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Meanwhile, Sophie Okonedo, who played Cheadle’s wife in “Rwanda,” got a nomination for best supporting actress, and there was recognition for people of color in the documentary feature (“Tupac: Resurrection”) and foreign-language film (South Africa’s “Yesterday”) categories.
Finally, Chris Rock hosts the Oscars (7:30 p.m. Sunday, WLS-Ch. 7). One of our sharpest comics, Rock is sure to flame-broil the rich and famous in the audience with his insightful and mocking humor–sticking it to the Man, as it were.
Rock’s already having fun with the gig, asking in Entertainment Weekly: “What straight black man sits there and watches the Oscars?” Answer: This one, if Rock is host.
The Oscars have always been one of those insular spectator sports for African-Americans. As fans of film, we’re drawn to the awards show, and we root for certain actors and movies just like everyone else.
But because we usually don’t have a significant representation of black nominations, many of us feel as left out as the actors of color in Hollywood themselves.
Even in the landmark year of 2002, when Halle Berry and Denzel Washington became the first African-Americans to win the top acting prizes at the same time (Will Smith also was nominated best actor for “Ali” that year), there was quibbling.
Some felt–mistakenly–that Berry won for her tragic performance as a single mother in “Monster’s Ball” only because she demeaned herself by doing a steamy, explicit sex scene with Billy Bob Thornton . . . considering her acting partner, she also deserved combat pay.
And like punishing someone for daring to do well, the following year only one black person was nominated for an Academy Award: Queen Latifah for “Chicago.”
It’s as if there has to be an asterisk when a black person makes a significant achievement. Hank Aaron is still bitter, and justifiably so, about the “backlash” he received from some white people after he broke Babe Ruth’s home run mark in 1974. Some whites thought Chicago would fall into Lake Michigan after Harold Washington was elected the city’s first black mayor in 1983.
But this one should be sweet. Despite competition from Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Aviator,” Foxx has become the one to beat, thanks to other honors he has been racking up.
This is one of those rare times when the maxim “It’s an honor just to be nominated” doesn’t taste so sour.
There has never been a better reason for blacks to stay up late on Oscar night.
See the documentary “Oscar’s Black Odyssey” at 1 p.m. Sunday on WGN-Ch. 9.
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E-mail Allan Johnson at [email protected].