All Skinfolk Ain't Kinfolk: David Oyelowo and the Debate Over Who Gets to Play Black American Icons
Lawrence Ware, in an op-ed originally published by The Root, examines David Oyelowo's controversial podcast comments on Black British actors taking on iconic Black American roles, tracing a pattern that includes Cynthia Erivo's past remarks, and argues that casting decisions should account for whether actors understand and respect Black American culture.
David Oyelowo’s recent comments were supposedly intended as a call for Black unity. I think. Instead, they sounded like a lecture aimed at Black Americans from a Black British actor who has made millions of dollars portraying an iconic Black American on screen.
Oyelowo appeared on the One54 Africa podcast, where the topic of Black British actors taking roles from Black Americans came up. Responding to Druski’s viral skit about Black Brits playing Black Americans, he attempted to redirect the conversation, saying, “We’re not talking about the art of acting. We’re talking about scarcity. We’re talking about the fact that there’s not much pie.”
Now, we gotta be honest. He’s right.
The scarcity of quality roles for Black actors in mainstream films is real. But just because he’s correct doesn’t mean his comments don’t deserve criticism. What set the internet on fire is that a man who became famous playing Martin Luther King Jr. is now telling Black Americans they’re imagining things when they ask why so many iconic Black American roles keep going to Black actors who are not American.
As they say in the Black church, let’s call the roll.
Cynthia Erivo played Harriet Tubman in “Harriet.” Daniel Kaluuya played Fred Hampton in “Judas and the Black Messiah.” Idris Elba became a household name playing Stringer Bell on “The Wire.”
But here’s the thing. Erivo and Oyelowo have both said things that raise the eyebrows of Black folks who are descendants of slaves in this country.
“If you take the Nigerian accent like this, and you slow it down, you put a lot of slavery in there,” Oyelowo said on the podcast. “Then you start to put a little bit of subservience in it.”
He is suggesting that Black American dialect emerged when West African speech styles were altered under the pressures of slavery and subservience. But that’s not true. Southern Black English is not the language of submission. It is a distinct cultural inheritance forged through resilience, creativity, community, and survival.
But he is not the only Black Brit to say something like that. In 2013, Erivo did not hesitate to tweet that she would do something in a “ghetto American accent.” And her dismissiveness toward Black Americans who had an issue with that tweet inspired many on Black Twitter to create the #NotMyHarriet hashtag.
There is an easy solution to all of this. If they do not show that they understand and appreciate Black American culture, we need to stop letting Black Brits portray Black folks born in America. Period.
Daniel Kaluuya, Damson Idris, Naomie Harris, and Gugu Mbatha Raw are good. They have not gone on Twitter or a podcast and said something problematic about Black Americans. But Erivo and Oyelowo? Nah.
Directors, producers, casting agents, and everyone else involved in deciding who gets what parts should make it a point not to cast actors to portray Black Americans if they do not understand the culture or if they have publicly said offensive things about our community.
The bottom line is that what older Black folks used to tell us is true. All skinfolk ain’t kinfolk.
This op-ed appeared first in The Root. For more information, visit www.theroot.com.
Lawrence Ware is a contributing writer for The Root.