Hollywood Shades of Color

American history will forever be inextricably bound to racism. Since its inception, American Cinema has been a microcosm of the U.S. itself; progressing and advancing in technology but still covered by the blanket of racism. Even as early as 1915, controversy loomed over the film "The Birth of a Nation" by D.W. Griffith. Based on the novel and play "The Clansman", the movie heroically portrays the Klu Klux Klan. It is tauted as an important film in history for its innovative technical achievements and also for its controversial promotion of white supremacy and glorification of the Ku Klux Klan, which continues to actively use it as a recruiting tool.

The fact is, since the history of Hollywood there has been a proportionate absence of people of color. Not only in the areas of writing, producing, and directing have there been voids of color but most notably at the executive levels in major studios where very few people of color exist in decision-making roles.

NAACP Hollywood exec director Vicangelo Bulluck lamented a "structural racism (in) Hollywood, where deals are being made behind closed doors."

In the latest WGAW report, minority writers made scant progress in any sector in the study period. "More than 30% of the American population is nonwhite, yet writers of color continue to account for less than 10% of employed television writers," Hunt noted in an executive summary of the report. "These numbers will likely get worse before they get better because of the recent merger of UPN and the WB into the new CW network, which resulted in the cancellation of several minority-themed situation comedies that employed a disproportionate share of minority television writers.

"The situation is grimmer in film," he added, "where the minority share of employment has been stuck at 6% for years."

Although many strides have been made over the years to break the walls of racism in Hollywood, the divide of "Black Hollywood" and "White Hollywood" still persists. The only light at the end of the tunnel is that "Black Hollywood" continue to gain more control in financing, writing and distributing films of substance.

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Report: White males still dominate writing ranks
Black Hollywood Writers: Few Employed