The problem here with this is that the movie biz is not pizza, but a hugely well-paying and massively prestigious business that people are dying to get into. And it’s very hard to break in.
If a Greek pizzeria hired an unrelated Greek at the expense of a blavck man, that ’s illegal and, yes, racist.
And the fact that your example raises an eerie echo of Spike’s Do The Right Thing is interesting…

you’re right, the movie biz generates more money so the comparison to any other sector of industry is off base unless the box office scores are comparable.

i mean you’re right it is exclusive, and prestigious, but MORE people are involved in flipping pies across the country than shooting hollywood pictures. the dynamics considered to reach those profession (education, opportunity etc.) are also precipitated by a history of racism. we need to address this and start bridging these gaps. i don’t see accusations really changing things at this point – they just stir up animosity and contrived media controversy. we know these conditions exist, lets work on them. point fingers and waste time, i say.

part of the point (and good catch on the spike lee reference), is that contracts and “cronyism” go hand in hand. it’s sometimes (a lot of times) who you know rather than who is the most “qualified” that gets you hired. but whether or not clint eastwood only hires “white” film crews isn’t even part of what spike lee was pointing out, in my opinion. and it wouldn’t be automatic grounds to charge racism for a white guy to hire a crew comprised of white people. emphasis on automatic.

yeesh…

This is totally a non-story and probably should have never had any attention called to it. I don’t remember who said it first, but people need get over the idea that they somehow have a right never to be offended by anything that someone else does.

The spat between Spike Lee and Eastwood is obviously a real story, but I thought Eastwood did a pretty good job of explaining his position on the casting and until someone can show me evidence that he only hires whites for his crew I think we can give him the benefit of the doubt on that. He has made some pretty incredible movies in his career, btw. Both of the two movies about Iwo Jima are awesome.

For Black people, the term “uppity” was (is) not just an insult, it was a threat, a warning. To be accused of being “uppity” was (and in some places still is) a notice to Black people that they had better keep their place or they’d be swinging from a tree. More often these days it means the threat of losing one’s job, having trumped up charges reported to the police, or a host of other negative consequences.

“Uppity” is a term a superior uses to an inferior. This is why the commentor in #80 heard this term used to her when she was a kid by Black adults. Guaranteed she never heard a Black adult say it to a White adult, unless they were very, very good friends.

“Uppity” as a threat or warning is NOT ancient history. And even though this MSNBC incident may be a “non story” for those who’ve never been on the scary side of hearing it, that doesn’t mean it’s not a story. It’s just not a story for you. And it doesn’t mean people are being hypersensitive.

This is not to say that the TV host that used the term is a racist, and she looks young enough to be part of this younger generation where “uppity” isn’t racial. It is to say that it’s troubling that a term like “uppity” would be the first word to pop into her head when describing the confrontational behavior of a Black person, and it sends off a lot of warning bells to Black folks.

On the upside, this is a learning opportunity. My suggestion for people who sincerely want to learn more about the history of the term “uppity” and why this incident became a “story” is to actually sit down and talk to some Black people, preferably over the age of 40. And I mean talk to more than one – more than just your one Black friend. You’ll find that people are usually happy to share their experiences with someone who’s genuinely interested and who’s not trying to prove a point or be defensive.

There’s also a wide, wide world of literature and history out there to learn from. “Uppity” is a term of great historical context, and there’s not one specific place to which I can direct you on the web. You gotta do some leg work yourself.

This is hard to confirm, and also isn’t necessarily an indication of racism…I mean, a huge majority of the pizza places in Brattleboro, VT are run by Greeks(for a small town there are like 6-8 of them), this doesn’t necessarily mean that a non-Greek would have a hard time working at one of those places (they’re also family run so), but it doesn’t seem many non-Greeks do…doesn’t mean they are racist though.

The problem here with this is that the movie biz is not pizza, but a hugely well-paying and massively prestigious business that people are dying to get into. And it’s very hard to break in.
If a Greek pizzeria hired an unrelated Greek at the expense of a blavck man, that ’s illegal and, yes, racist.
And the fact that your example raises an eerie echo of Spike’s Do The Right Thing is interesting…

I too had no idea there was (allegedly) something racial about the word “uppity”. My dictionary says it means “self-important; arrogant”. Can anyone direct me to something authoritative explaining the racial connotations? I’d like to know the history and background.

I think it is more of the tone and context that can be taken as racist than the eytmology.

I didn’t even know uppity was racially anything. I honestly wonder how many people would even put that together or if the person who said it even had a remote idea of what it meant.

It the fact that it is a really condescending thing to say to someone, and coming from a white person’s mouth directed at a black man or woman (or any other minority probably), racist undertones are brought up. The whole thing about how we treat(ed) blacks and other minorities as second class citizens makes the condescension sting that much more.

“involved in the filming. Clint msy very well have a lily-white production setup: it’s hard to confirm. It is, however, not uncommon in Holywood.

This is hard to confirm, and also isn’t necessarily an indication of racism…I mean, a huge majority of the pizza places in Brattleboro, VT are run by Greeks(for a small town there are like 6-8 of them), this doesn’t necessarily mean that a non-Greek would have a hard time working at one of those places (they’re also family run so), but it doesn’t seem many non-Greeks do…doesn’t mean they are racist though.

This really might not make sense…but I hope you see what I’m getting at.

Plus! Lee pointed out black soldiers’ involvement in WWII so I don’t know if he was even taking into account which crew Eastwood hired to set up the lights and cater the gig.

But my point was that Spike Lee should be free to make any observations he wishes, regardless of validity, without being called “uppity” for it.

There’s a big difference if you’re gonna leave those last 6 words out of the statement.